Atlantic Canada Business Grants

Alumni

Early Stage Commercialization Fund (ESCF)

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Amount:

$100,000.00

Type of Program:

Grants

Description:

The Early Stage Commercialization Fund (ESCF) helps move New Brunswick university, college and institutional research to market. The ESCF assists the academic & institutional research communities in pursuing commercialization opportunities by providing up to $50,000 in funding and go-to-market support.

Projects can be applied for in one of two phases:

Phase 1: for technologies that have achieved proof of concept and are now in initial stages of development.

Phase 2: for projects that have clarified the opportunity for commercialization as well as target markets and potential revenue streams.  

Comments on Funding:

Funding is up to $50,000 for projects in either Phase 1 or Phase 2. A given project can receive at most one Phase 1 award and one Phase 2 award, up to a maximum of $50,000 in each phase.

When It Ends:

Ongoing

Deadline:

Next deadlines to be determined

Eligibility:

Applicants must be:

  • research personnel, including professors, research staff, and faculty members, at approved New Brunswick research institutes,
  • graduate, and college students, as well as post-docs, provided a faculty member is a co-applicant.

Eligible expenses include: 

  • intellectual property development,
  • assessment of market potential,
  • development of go-to-market strategies,
  • business plans and strategic plans,
  • development of intellectual property protection strategies,
  • proof-of-concept or prototype development,
  • technology design and optimization. 

Application Steps:

1

Applicants should apply through the NBIF Research Portal.

Documentation Needed: 

Applicants must submit:

  1. 1
    the application form,
  2. 2
    a technical report, including a financial report of expenses, at the end of the 1-year funding period.

Other Things to Note:

Innovacorp and New Brunswick Innovation Foundation (NBIF) are proud to be working together to deliver the Early Stage Commercialization Fund (ESCF) in both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick 

Program Contact:

Early Stage Commercialization Fund (ESCF)

Application Portal

Apex Hybrid Business Plan Competition

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Amount:

$10,000

Type of Program:

Competition

Description:

The Apex Business Plan Competition challenges participants to be innovative and creative as they develop, direct, organize and present a business plan or new venture to a panel of judges and mentors. The competition has two tracks: 

  1. 1
    The Student business plan track (open for students enrolled in post-secondary institutions);
  2. 2
    The New venture track (open to recent alumni, non-students and students running early-stage ventures).

Comments on Funding:

Funding is $30,000 in cash prizes.

The prize for the winners of the New Venture Track is $10,000 (allocated to up to 3 teams).

When It Ends:

Ongoing

Deadline:

Next deadlines to be determined

Eligibility:

Applicants for the Student business plan track must:

  • be actively enrolled full- or part-time students in a postsecondary institution (worldwide),
  • have not competed in Apex with the same business before, unless team can show a significant pivot in their business idea;
  • have personally conducted the business plan analysis and prepared all financial projections (up to 2 years) together with the team members.

Applicants for the New venture track must:

  • own a venture that:
  • has less than $1 million/year (CAD) in revenues;
  • has fewer than 25 employees;
  • is less than 5 years old;
  • have the rights to use any content not created by the participant, and the content must be correctly sourced.

Application Steps:

1

Applicants must submit the online application form;

2

Applicants must compete in the elevator pitch round;

3

Applicants must compete in the presentation round.

Documentation Needed: 

Applicants must submit:

  1. 1
    the executive summary;
  2. 2
    the investor pitch deck, if applying for the new venture track;
  3. 3
    a business plan, if applying for the student business plan track.

Other Things to Note:

The registration deadline for the 2023 competition was December 15. 

Program Contact:

Apex Business Plan Competition | IBEC | Faculty of Management | UNB

Exploration Fund

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Amount:

$25,000

Type of Program:

Investment

Description:

The Exploration Fund offers up to $25,000 in the form of a SAFE agreement to businesses who meet the eligibility criteria and successfully pass through the fund’s due diligence process. 

Comments on Funding:

Funding will take the form of a SAFE agreement of up to $25,000.

When It Ends:

Ongoing

Deadline:

Rolling deadline

Eligibility:

The applicant must be a current Saint Mary’s University (SMU) student or recent alumni who is running a start-up that has:

  • strong user feedback, or traction via early orders or sales;
  • proof of concept, MVP (Minimum Viable Product), or a product already in market;
  • plans to grow the business;
  • well-defined, short-term strategy;
  • clear market differentiation.

Application Steps:

1

Applicants must apply by attending an introductory meeting;

2

Applicants must go through the due diligence process.

Documentation Needed: 

No specific documentation has been identified.

Program Contact:

Exploration Fund – Saint Mary's University Entrepreneurship Centre