Ontario Center of Innovation – Ready 4 Market

ByMaurice

Description:

Ready 4 Market (R4M) is Ontario’s leading pre-seed investment fund. Through the fund, OCI co-invests with angel and other investors in early-stage Ontario-based start-ups with competitive IP commercializing transformative technologies to support their growth into scalable businesses. R4M is a competitive co-investment fund, with hundreds of companies considered for funding closing around 20 investments each year.

Comments on Funding:

Investments are up to $250,000 and total round sizes range from $500,000 to $2 million.

Eligibility:

Applicants must:

  • be academic affiliated;
  • be Ontario companies;
  • be passionate entrepreneurs to further their early-stage commercialization and support their growth into a scalable business.
  • be companies that are headquartered and predominantly located within the Province of Ontario. Current company headcount must be >50% located in Ontario (not projected).
  • be early-stage technology companies that are close to commercialization;
  • be agnostic across sectors including (but not limited to) IT, Robotics, AI, Cleantech and Advanced Manufacturing with a minimum addressable market size of $100M (excludes human health and life sciences technologies;
  • meet the investment criteria:
    a. have a minimum addressable market size of $100M, and private sector co-investment is required.
    b. must undergo a rigorous due diligence and selection process;
    c. have long-term competitiveness, strong IP, unique value proposition, and capacity to scale;
  • be best suited for startups that:
    a. have Intellectual Property from an Ontario-based academic institution or part of a Campus Incubator/accelerator at Academic Institutes (Companies with their team /IP origins at a university (“university spin-out”), college or research hospital are also eligible, even if not campus affiliated.);
    b. must be Incorporated for no more than five years (Ontario or Canadian for-profit incorporation) and have principal operations in Ontario;
    c. must be companies that have raised less than $1 million in third-party capital are eligible for their first R4M investment;
    d. must be early-stage companies that are raising pre-seed and seed investments (total round sizes range from $500,000 to $2 million).

Applications Steps:

Applicants must complete the online interest form to indicate their company’s interest in Ready 4 Market.

About the author

Maurice

Maurice (Moe) Muise learned the ins-and-outs of government while an employee of the Government of Canada in Ottawa for 10 years. His current focus is helping small businesses in Ontario to identify and maximize government grants to grow their business. Click here to learn more about Moe’s background and how he can help your business.

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