#8 - Toronto
#9 - Vancouver
#16 - Waterloo/Kitchener
Also worth a mention are Montreal, Ottawa, and Hamilton.
[1] http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/startup-...
(Saying this sadly, as I'm a Canadian)
But besides all this, there are popular and noteworthy startups based in Canada, like HootSuite, Shopify, 500px, UrtheCast and Freshbooks.
I get the impression that it is not, though I have a small sample size.
It will be interesting to see if bringing in new cultural perspectives can change that.
Vidyard (http://www.vidyard.com/), Pebble (http://getpebble.com/), BufferBox (https://www.bufferbox.com/), Couple (formerly Pair) (http://couple.me/), or Thalmic Labs (https://www.thalmic.com/myo/)
All the above are also YC alumni.
- Couple is in San Francisco.
- Vidyard is based in KW.
- BufferBox is based in KW, and got acquired by Google.
- Thalmic is in KW.
So two out of five have Canadian founders who left for the Bay Area. Three out of the five stayed, one of which has succesfully exited.
Vidyard's first round of financing came from exclusively American sources. Canadian investors did not join until they were well underway.
Thalmic's first round of funding came from angels that I can't find any info on, their series A came from exclusively American sources.
I'm not sure if these companies really support the notion that Canadian VC firms are ready to create success and nurture extremely early-stage startups.
Additionally, I think it is quite reasonable to argue that Kickstarter is the source of their success, but Kickstarter is still not yet available to Canadians. Not until later this summer.
There's also Freshbooks in Toronto.
Beside canadians participating in some large game jams and having cool events there, Quebec state is the second largest games producer in the world (behind US, and above the entire Japan)
They did quite well.
Apart from mature startup culture, for you as an Indian, these places also have an advantage of being relatively close, timezone-wise, to both U.S. (at least East Coast) which will be most probably your main market, and India where you will probably hire people.
I guess one would have to have more than an idea and a MVP.
Also, any differences between Canada's angels and VCs than the impression one would get from Hacker News stories which is probably more U.S. focused?
- Canada is somewhat unique in that there are federal and provincial subsidies for specific sectors related to technology (I.e. Video Game development tax credits, scientific research and develop credits - see http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site//cipointernet-internetopic.nsf/... for some of the big ones at the federal level). Most of these incentives don't require your business to make a profit. Some Angels and VCs have a preference to invest in businesses which are eligible to receive these incentives, and in rare cases will even ask you to relocate in order to a specific location in Canada to maximize incentives.
- There aren't THAT many VCs in Canada, and of the few that there are, some of the more active ones are are operated by pension plans (http://www.omersventures.com/) and arms-length government organizations ( https://www.bdc.ca/EN/solutions/venture_capital/ , http://www.marsdd.com/aboutmars/partners/iaf/, etc... ) . As can be expected, this affects the types of companies most likely to get funding in Canada.
- IMHO, the cliche that Canadians are conservative with their money is mostly true - historically the majority of the big money in Canada was made in resources, banking, real estate & manufacturing, which are all (for the most part) much less risky than early stage technology investing. Yes, there have been a few big tech winners - but they are almost rounding errors compared to the amount of cash made in these other industries. My personal hypothesis is the "conservative" cliche is somewhat self-enforcing, as the Canadians who like early stage technology end up moving to NYC or SF, have success there, and then rarely return. This has resulted in the creation of informal Canadian clubs in those locations, as well as formal organizations like http://www.thec100.org/ .
Some general links for more info: - http://www.cvca.ca/ - http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/061.nsf/eng/h_02772.html
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/canada/cit-pr...
What this means is that in theory, someone could land as a PR one Day 1, file the application exactly 3 years and 1 day later, and then leave Canada and go sit in a hut in Guatemala while the application is being processed. [1] After it is ready for the test/oath in 2-3 years, applicant flies back, declares a desire to live and die in Guatemala, and still gets his Canadian citizenship, a shiny new Canadian passport, and leaves the country. And all this is 100% legal, at least as per Canadian Citizenship Law as of 2013.
[1] Unfortunately, C&IC will only correspond to Canadian addresses, so the applicant does need a reliable mailing address in Canada
Good discussion here: https://secure.immigration.ca/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=8848... (see a post by dpenabill toward the end of the page), and the entire thread is good as well.
There is ambiguity about whether it's a rolling 5 years or whether it's 5 year cycles based on the date you first receive your PR status. To be safe, it's usually best to assume modulo 5 from the start of your PR status.
In the example above, if you filed the citizenship application 3 years and 1 day later, the maximum you can stay in your Guatemalan hut is just shy of 2 years, or else you risk losing PR status and jeopardizing your Canadian citizenship application.
[1] http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/newcomers/about-pr.asp#keep_sta...
(Having no dog in this hunt as I'm not Canadian nor do I have any claim on Canadian citizenship or permanent residence, much as I'd like to.)
The estimate is based on "processing time from receipt of application to final decision for 80% of cases".
The rather excellent British Expats (not just for Brits!) forum users keep track of the various processing times of Canadian immigration applications.
http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=33
British Expats forums is a great resource for anyone trying to move within the English speaking world.
I got my citizenship about ten years ago (I only know because I'm on my third passport), about six months after applying and taking the test. I had been resident for just under four years at the time.
Almost anyone can be a founder in Canada now. Congrats Canada!
If they really want to encourage foreigners to found startups, they should allow private investors to become angels, even if the investor in question is of foreign status. Think about it: you have a bunch of rich people injecting large amounts of money into your economy, and the only thing you have to do is give one person permanent residency - and there's a chance their company will be successful and contribute to the economy even more.
(There's already a way for rich people to buy their way into Canada, but it takes around a million dollars instead of a hundred thousand.)
Luckily it turns out I can speak the English reel gud. I now have a certificate to prove it!
There were other people in my test group who couldn't follow basic instructions that were given out before the test ("Please wait over there", etc.). I imagine they didn't do so well.
It was a bit risky because it was up to the official reviewing the application to accept it or not but I didn't feel like spending a grand and flying to another city for a day to take a test.
I don't know if things have changed and now a test is required without exception; all data indicate that not knowing well the country's language(s) is the main factor for not succeeding in it as an immigrant.
Personally I think that $50K in savings is more in line with realistic expectations of moving country, setting up shop and getting a company under way, funding is icing on the cake, it's not as if that's your money.
My impression of this kind of visa is it is should be attempting to attract young people with high potential but without necessarily having other great routes to the life they desire in North America. If you think they are targeting a different audience, say older foreigners with established businesses/careers who just want to move to Canada then 50K is reasonable.
Also there's definite risk on one side here, otherwise it's an opportunity for no one. If you have $50K of your own, why start a company in Canada rather than SV? I think to make this a worthwhile visa, Canada has to take on the risk that they are going to let someone into their first world country with a good social safety net because that person has untapped potential. Canada takes the risk if the savings threshold is low, but if the savings threshold is high they are not creating much of an incentive to move to Canada rather than an established startup hub and its the entrepreneur taking the risk.
Well, because you can't. You can't just simply walk into the US. That's the whole point why everyone raves about the Canadian Startup Visa. The requirements for the US for a foreign entrepreneur are one hell of a lot tougher in terms of funding/jobs created by company/etc.
That's an excellent question. My take on this is that by being more open to start-ups Canada hopes that if the numbers are high enough that they'll have another RIM on their hands one of these days. It costs them next to nothing (the venture capitalists / angels are picking up the tab) and they get more skilled workers either way.
I think quite a few entrepreneurs will see this as a way of moving to the states without the drawbacks (it's North America, after all) and may eventually use it as a stepping stone to the US if they're successful.
Compared to London, Berlin, Prague or Hamburg I'd stay in Europe if I had to make the choice.
If you already have a life on the go in some other place $50K is peanuts when moving to another continent. I've done it and even though we were pretty well prepared for the move the first year was astoundingly expensive. (family of 3).
For a permanent visa, requiring $10k savings is pretty reasonable. If you've been working as a programmer or engineer in the developed world, you should be able to save that much in 1 year, give or take a few months. If you're in an emergent country, 2 years or so.
$11k is a crazy (as someone else said, irresponsibly) low number, even for an individual.
The number for 7 people is absolutely ridiculous, fyi. $29k for 7 people? Absurd.
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P.S. In an initial, brief search, I did not find any mention of specific age qualifications attached to this program (beyond, I suspect, being at least 18 years old).
- Secure $75k in angel funding or $200k in venture funding, from a list of designated Canadian funders.
- Score relatively highly on a language test in either English or French, for both verbal and written ability (note that everyone must take this test, even those coming from English- or French-speaking countries).
- Have satisfactorily completed at least one year of higher education (no degree required).
- Depending on family size, have a minimum of $11k-$30k in the bank initially to support yourself.