By Teri Kirk
No matter the size of your business or your industry sector, finding funding is one of the biggest and most common challenges faced by entrepreneurs today.
The problem, however, is not the availability of funds – in fact, Canada offers one of the richest arrays of government incentive programs in the OECD and vibrant capital markets. In the first half of 2014, Canadian governments disbursed $5.68 billion in incentives to businesses and organizations, and venture capital (VC) deals reached $897 million. As a member of MBOT, you will be interested in learning that businesses in Ontario received the highest levels of funding across the country, with $2.5 billion in government incentives, and $331 million in VC financing.
Therefore the problem is not the amount of funding available to companies, it is identifying and accessing these sources of funding. In 2011, the Jenkins Report on access to federal R&D concluded that it was nearly impossible for companies to navigate the “densely populated initiatives spanning many departments and agencies at both the federal and provincial levels.”
Each month, our blog posts will share information on how your business can tap into these important sources of funding.
On the capital markets side of the ledger, potential sources of financing that will be discussed include friends and family, angels and accredited investors, credit, debt and bank financing, VC financing, reverse takeovers, institutional investors, and mezzanine financing. On the government side, we will explore more than 4,500 different sources of grants, contributions, tax credits, and vouchers. Future posts will also discuss how to overcome the most common pitfalls entrepreneurs encounter when applying for funding.
Do you have a specific question about funding or a topic you’d like to see covered in our next post? Don’t hesitate to leave a comment on this post contact me.
Teri Kirk is Founder and CEO of The Funding Portal. You can reach her by email at [email protected]. Visit www.thefundingportal.com
