Atlantic Canada Business Grants

New Brunswick Innovation Foundation

Venture Capital Fund (VCF)

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Amount:

$500,000

Type of Program:

Investment

Description:

The Ventrure Capital Fund provides New Brunswick startups with the venture capital they need to rapidly grow and deliver their innovative products to customers. This investment will take the form of equity through the purchase of preferred shares, common shares or issuance of convertible debentures.
Capital raised from the Venture Capital Fund is intended to fully support a business for a 12 to 18-month period.  

Comments on Funding:

Funding will take the form of seed investment (i.e., preferred shares, common shares or convertible debentures) ranging from $200,000 to $500,000 per round.

When It Ends:

Ongoing

Deadline:

Rolling Deadline

Eligibility:

The applicant must:

  • a New Brunswick startup,
  • have the potential to scale rapidly;
  • have a minimum Viable Product;
  • have a novel concept or unique business model;
  • have domain or technical expertise in market space;
  • have a well-rounded management team;
  • have a minimum of 12-18 months of runway.

Application Steps:

1

Applicants must contact the Venture Capital Fund team at proposals@nbif.ca

Documentation Needed: 

Applicants must submit:

  • a business plan,
  • three-year financial projections with monthly detail for the first year, and quarterly detail for the following two.

Investors would also like to see a plan towards raising additional rounds of financing, to see the milestones that will create a path that will allow you to raise larger rounds of financing at a higher valuation.

Program Contact:

Venture Capital Fund (VCF) - NBIF

Venture Capital Investment Process - NBIF

Research Assistantships Initiative (RAI)

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Amount:

$60,000.00

Type of Program:

Wage Subsidy

Description:

The Research Assistantships Initiative (RAI) provides applied researchers funding to hire undergraduate and graduate student research assistants. Funding is advanced to the college or university first, and then paid out to the student(s) in the form of a salary, award, or stipend. 

Comments on Funding:

Funding is in the form of stipends of up to $7,500 per undergraduate, and up to $15,000 per graduate. A maximum of up to $60,000 may be requested in each application.

When It Ends:

Ongoing

Deadline:

February 7, 2022

Eligibility:

The applicants must:

  • be universities, colleges or applied researchers.
  • hire undergraduate and graduate student research assistants.

Application Steps:

1

Applicants should apply through the NBIF Research Portal 

Documentation Needed: 

​Applicants must submit the application form.

Other Things to Note:

The duration of the award is two years.  

Program Contact:

Research Assistantships Initiative (RAI)

Talent Recruitment Fund

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Amount:

$100,000.00

Type of Program:

Award

Description:

Talent Recruitment Fund is intended to help institutions recruit or retain promising early stage researchers into faculty / independent researcher positions. This award is intended to foster excellence in applied research, and to support those research programs with the potential for significant economic impact (direct or indirect) for the province of NB.  

Comments on Funding:

The minimum award size is $30,000 and the maximum award size is $100,000. NBIF expects the normal award size to be $55,000 and the institution will need to justify any deviation away from this normal.

When It Ends:

Ongoing

Deadline:

Rolling deadline

Eligibility:

The candidate for the award:

  • must not yet have agreed to take up the role for which the institution is applying, 
  • may or may not already be working at the institution and may occupy the position that the award is requested for - only if they occupy the position in a temporary capacity. 

The applicant must:

  • be an institution,
  • retain or recruit promising early stage researchers into faculty / independent researcher positions,
  • apply for a role that is: 
  • full-time and physically based in nb,
  • at least 3 years in duration, and with a reasonable expectation that the role will become permanent in the future,
  • a faculty position. post-doctoral fellowships are not eligible (for universities),
  • the primary purpose of the role is to conduct research (and not, for example, to teach),
  • permits the individual to engage in independent research activities that are not under the direction of another researcher, 

Application Steps:

1

Applicants should apply through the NBIF Research Portal 

Documentation Needed: 

​Applicants must submit the application form.

Other Things to Note:

The award end date is 2 years later, at which point all the funding must be exhausted. Any unspent funding remaining after the award end date must be returned to NBIF.  

Program Contact:

​Talent Recruitment Fund - NBIF

​Talent Recruitment Fund - Application Portal​​​

Equipment Fund

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Amount:

$150,000.00

Type of Program:

Grant

Description:

The Equipment Fund aims to increase the province’s applied research capacity by supporting the purchase of equipment. Up to 33% of the equipment cost may be requested, understanding that requests to NBIF may be no larger than $150,000. This fund may be used to leverage federal programs for research equipment (e.g. NSERC RTI) or it may leverage other source of funds. 

Comments on Funding:

Funding is up to 33% of the equipment cost up to a maximum of $150,000. The matching portion of the funding may be cash or in-kind contributions (including institutional contributions) but cannot be from another provincial government source.

When It Ends:

Ongoing

Deadline:

February 23, 2022

Eligibility:

The applicant must: 

  • be a researcher,
  • use the funding for the purchase of equipment (both hardware and software) directly linked to the research program,
  • show that the equipment will broadly benefit New Brunswick, that it will help produce new IP which the researcher intends to commercialize, that the knowledge generated will be shared outside academia, and that the researcher and their team are able to do the work proposed,
  • start the project within 18 months of the decision date, if accepted. 

Application Steps:

1

Applicants should apply through the NBIF Research Portal

Documentation Needed: 

​Applicants must submit the application form.

Program Contact:

​NBIF Equipment Fund - NBIF

​Equipment Fund - New Brunswick Innovation Foundation​​​