Startup funding is one of the biggest challenges any early-stage startup can face. Navigating the right choice can be tricky and must be carefully considered in order to find the right fit for your startup. We thought we’d help make the process a little bit easier by compiling a list of helpful resources tailored to your city. This exhaustive list includes venture capital, angel investors, and other forms of fundraising. Also visit our startup funding portal to search over 1,000+ sources of funding here.
The list below is are some of source of startup dilutive funding:
Equivesto is an equity investment portal that connects early-stage companies and small businesses to the capital they need to grow through the crowd’s contributions. With Equivesto, Canadian companies of all industries can raise between $25,000 and 1.5MM, and turn their communities into investors with a minimum investment of $100 CAD.
Market Readiness Investment Program is designed to support early-stage companies that are an academic spin-off that was created for the purpose of commercializing Intellectual Property (IP) developed from research conducted in an Ontario-based academic institution (university, college, and/or research hospital).
Maple Leaf Angels (Toronto): Their MLA48 commits to make investment decisions within 48 hours and focuses on promising young companies in Ontario’s information, communication, and entertainment sectors to obtain early stage financing. In particular, their members’ expertise investing in early-stage technology companies focusing in: Fintech, ICI, and Healthcare.
Ryerson Futures (Toronto): Focused on market-validation and customer-acquisition, Ryerson Futures invests in companies that have demonstrated the ability to scale quickly. They work with several Fortune 500 companies such as Rogers, Visa, and Barclay to deliver a unique accelerator experience. Startups in the program range from education to tech.
AngelOne Investor Network (Oakville): It is a member-based not-for-profit investor network deemed one of the most active angel groups in Canada according to the National Angel Capital Organization. Angel One focuses on early stage companies based in Ontario with valuations of less than $3,000,000 in SaaS, ICT, Healthcare, CleanTech, and Industrial sectors.
Capital Angel Network (Ottawa Gatineau): A not-for-profit organization of accredited Angel investors with over 50 members and invested in over 40 companies. They connect entrepreneurs with angels and investments are made individually.
Purple Angel (Ottawa): Its members consists of several retired alumni of Bell Northern Research (BNR). It is an informal group bound together by the relationships and experiences of the members and prospective investments are reviewed collectively by the group. Interestingly, they have invested in companies that have no revenue, and invested in companies that have bootstrapped to cash break even and need expansion capital.
Georgian Angel Network (Collingwood): GAN has been established to connect angel investors in the Barrie, South Georgian Bay, Orangeville,v and Muskoka/Huntsville regions with entrepreneurs needing equity capital to commercialize their innovations. You can submit your business plan with them directly.
Southwestern Ontario Angel Group (London): A not-for-profit corporation that facilitates the introduction of entrepreneurs to potential investors through presentations, investment meetings, networking opportunities and more. Membership is comprised of individual angel investors interested in financing privately-owned companies and/or ventures typically in an early stage of development. You can even take a quiz on their site to see if your startup is investment-ready.
Spark Angel Network (Whitby, Oshawa, Cobourg): Spark Angel investors typically tend to gravitate to companies in sectors that mirror their area of expertise including but not limited to information technology, energy, automotive, telecommunications, internet, enterprise software, SaaS applications applications and other innovative firms that are market ready and have high growth potential. Most investments will be made in the $250k – $400k range. They have, through co-investments and relationships with other angel groups in Ontario pooled investments of up to $2 million.
Golden Triangle Angel Network (Cambridge): It is a not-for-profit corporation operating under the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation’s Angel Network Program.
York Angel Investors (Vaughan): Their portfolio companies benefit from their Member expertise in IT (digital media, software, mobile, telecom, web-based services, software as a service, online applications, enterprise, etc.), life sciences (healthcare, biotech, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, etc.), clean technology, retail, and other industries. They have currently invested in over 40 deals, totalling roughly $10.8M. Successful exits typically occur after 3-7 years.
MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF): The IAF has invested up to $500,000 in Ontario technology companies.
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Check out the second series of startup funding on non-dilutive sourcing of funding for startups in Toronto here.
About the Author:
Maddy is a recent graduate of Biochemistry and Human Biology from the University of Toronto. While she is passionate about research, she hopes to contribute to the startup community and learn more about entrepreneurship. In her spare time, Maddy loves reading and watching Sci-Fi shows and movies. Her favourite author is Michael Crichton.