By Teri Kirk

The federal government announced Tuesday the launch of the new CanExport Program, which will help Canadian SMEs to develop new export opportunities. Read on to learn if this new fund is a match for your business.

Quick facts about CanExport 

• The Fund will provide grants between $10,000 and $99,999 per project and will cover up to 50% of project costs.
• Export activities in all countries are eligible, provided Canada has not imposed trade or economic sanctions for that region.
• The five-year $50M fund will be delivered by the Trade Commissioner Service (TCS) of Global Affairs Canada in partnership with the National Research Council Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP).
• Eligible activities that can attract funding under the program include:

• Business travel to target markets;
• Participation at trade fairs and trade missions;
• Adaptation of marketing tools for a new market; and
• Market research.

Activities that are not eligible include:

• Ongoing core/operational activities;
• Activities in a market where you have been actively exporting over the last 24 months;
• Promotional efforts that are considered to be “normal business activities,” as opposed to the long-term development of export markets;
• Promotion of language training or other educational services where the funding for the training is from Canadian federal or provincial/territorial government sources;
• Investment promotion or the seeking of entrepreneurial immigrants; and
• Activities involving used equipment, unless the equipment is reconditioned or rebuilt, and the benefit to Canada would be close to or equal to benefits obtained from the sale of new equipment.

Eligibility criteria

• For-profit companies with 1-250 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees.
• Have no less than $200k and no more than $50M in annual revenue declared in Canada.
• All industry sectors are eligible, except for the agriculture, food and beverage, fish and seafood and wine, and beer and spirit sectors.

 More information on this fund and additional programs that support export can be found on fundingportal.com.

Teri Kirk is Founder and CEO of Funding Portal. You can reach her by email at [email protected].