Invest Nova Scotia Accelerate
$40,000
Accelerator, Grant
Description:
Delivered virtually, Invest Nova Scotia Accelerate is a milestone-based program that helps Nova Scotia start-ups get investment-ready. We are focused on five sectors where we can leverage our deep in-house expertise and our network of experts and investors to deliver value to our clients:
1. Agriculture Tech: start-ups addressing the global food production challenges while reducing dependency on fossil fuels or petrochemicals.
2. Clean Tech: start-ups addressing climate change and clean air, water and soil.
3. Health Tech: start-ups developing new therapeutics, medical devices or digital health technologies solving large unmet healthcare needs.
4. Ocean Tech: start-ups developing solutions in ocean health, fisheries and aquaculture, offshore energy, shipborne technologies and marine bioresources.
5. Software: start-ups working on software solutions leveraging artificial intelligence, computer vision, blockchain, or data network effects to solve large unmet market needs.
Comments on Funding:
Invest Nova Scotia Accelerate is being delivered in a five-month sprint. Participating companies each receive up to $40,000 in non-dilutive, non-repayable funding to address key technical and business milestones. Companies are eligible for participation in one cohort of the Accelerate program.
In addition to funding, companies get access to a series of acceleration activities and resources. Resources are tailored to the cohorts to provide support where participants need it most. Participants should make every effort to take advantage of all the activities and resources offered, which include:
Meetings with advisors matched from our network of sector-focused investment and technology commercialization executives.
Workshops on a variety of investment-readiness topics. Topics will be tailored to the cohort participants’ industries and needs. Subjects covered during previous cohorts include human resources, IP strategy, term-sheets, raising capital, storytelling and more.
Perks Program offers discounts to 100+ vendors such as Hubspot, Google Cloud, Zoom, Slack, AWS and more.
A minimum of five awards is expected in the current round of Invest Nova Scotia Accelerate.
Applications are closed. Stay tuned for future intake announcements.
Eligibility:
Applicants must:
1. Be a Nova Scotia-registered business in good standing (current registration on the Registry of Joint Stock Companies), have a permanent establishment, with most of the workforce and senior leadership residing Nova Scotia. Details on how to register with Nova Scotia Registry of Joint Stock Companies (RJSC) are available from Service Nova Scotia.
2. Have less than $1 million in cumulative sales and less than $250,000 in equity investment (including convertible debt) raised to date
3. In addition to having identified a large market pain and market opportunity and having established a company around a customer-validated solution, competitive applicants have conducted a thorough competitive analysis and achieved proof of concept or minimum viable product (MVP)
4. Entrants must be the majority owner(s) (51 per cent or more) of the company and plan to work full-time with the business
Invest Nova Scotia investment portfolio companies are ineligible for this opportunity.
Application Steps:
Applicants were asked to complete the Microsoft Word APPLICATION FORM, answering the questions in the boxes provided, and submit it online.
Please note that Invest Nova Scotia is unable to accommodate updates once summaries are submitted.
For any questions you may have, reach out to Kaitlin Webb at accelerate@investnovascotia.ca.
Documentation Needed:
No specific documentation has been identified.
About the author
Maurice