Applicants would need to obtain the support of a designated organisation. Only once they have this support would they be able to apply for a Start-up Visa. Once you have the support of a designated organisation for your business, you would need to obtain a Letter of Support from the designated organisation.

Thereafter, you would need to include the Letter of Support along with your application. It is worth highlighting that the officers would refuse your application if:

• You do not include the Letter of Support along with your application or,
• You do not meet any of the eligibility requirements that follow in this section

Designated Organisations

As mentioned above, you can only apply for a Start-up Visa once your business idea or venture has the support of one of the designated organisations specified subsequently. Organisations typically select the business proposals that they wish to evaluate. So, if an organisation decides to review your business proposal, it would assess the viability of your business. In addition, it would assess the growth potential of your business as well. It is worth mentioning that each organisation would typically have its own intake processes and criteria. Once an organisation opts to support your business idea, it would provide you will a Letter of Support.

Start-up Visa – Designated Venture Capital Funds

To qualify for receiving a Start-up Visa, you would need to meet the eligibility criteria prescribed. For instance, you would need to secure a minimum investment of $200,000 from one or more of the following designated Canadian venture capital funds.

• BDC Venture Capital
• Blackberry Partners Fund II LP (doing business as Relay Ventures Fund II)
• Celtic House Venture Partners
  • Celtic House Venture Partners Fund III LP
  • Celtic House Venture Partners Fund IV LP
• DRI Capital Inc.
• Extreme Venture Partners LLP
• Golden Opportunities Fund Inc.
• iNovia Capital Inc.
• Lumira Capital
• Mobio Technologies Inc.
• New Brunswick Innovation Foundation Inc.
• Oak Mason Investments Inc.
• OMERS Ventures Management Inc.
• Pangaea Ventures Fund III, LP
• PRIVEQ Capital Funds
  • PRIVEQ III Limited Partnership
  • PRIVEQ IV Limited Partnership
• Quorum Group
  • Advantage Growth (No.2) LP
  • Ontario SME Capital Corporation
  • Quorum Investment Pool Limited Partnership
  • Quorum Secured Equity Trust
• Real Ventures
• Rho Canada Ventures
• Rogers Venture Partners, LLC
• Summerhill Venture Partners Management Inc.
• Tandem Expansion Management Inc.
• Top Renergy Inc.
• Vanedge Capital Limited Partnership
• Version One Ventures
• Wellington Financial LP
• Westcap Mgt. Ltd.
  • Canadian Accelerator Fund Ltd.
• Yaletown Venture Partners Inc.

Start-up Visa- Designated Angel Investor Groups

To qualify for receiving a Start-up Visa, you would need to meet the eligibility criteria prescribed. For instance, you would need to secure a minimum investment of $75,000. This is applicable if the investment comes from investors affiliated with one or more of the following designated Canadian angel investor groups.

• Angel One Network Inc.
• First Angel Network Association
• Golden Triangle Angel Network
• Oak Mason Investments Inc.
• TenX Angel Investors Inc.
• VANTEC Angel Network Inc.

Start-up Visa- Designated Business Incubators

To qualify for receiving a Start-up Visa, you would need to meet the eligibility criteria prescribed. For instance, you would need to gain acceptance into one of the following designated Canadian business incubator programs.

• Canada Accelerator Co (d/b/a HIGHLINE)
• Communitech
• Empowered Startups Ltd.
• Extreme Innovations
• INcubes Inc.
• Innovacorp
• Innovate Calgary
• Interactive Niagara Media Cluster o/a Innovate Niagara
• Knowledge Park o/a Planet Hatch
• LaunchPad PEI Inc.
• Real Investment Fund III L.P. o/a FounderFuel
• Ryerson Futures Inc.
• Toronto Business Development Centre
• Waterloo Accelerator Centre