Canada invests in Ottawa incubator and accelerators over the next five years through its Canada Accelerator and Incubator Program.
Invest Ottawa, a Canadian province-based incubator and accelerator, will receive up to C$7.7m ($6.8m) over the next five years to continue its work supporting local businesses.
Invest Ottawa works in collaboration with Canada-based investment management firm Wesley Clover and Queen’s University technology transfer service Parteq Innovations.
The funding has come from the National Research Council Canada’s Canada Accelerator and Incubator Program (CAIP). It provides non-repayable contributions to “outstanding” accelerators and incubators over a five-year period. The funding to Invest Ottawa has helped with the creation of L-Spark, an Ottawa-based incubator-accelerator supporting businesses in the enterprise software market.
Bruce Lazenby, president and chief executive of Invest Ottawa, said: “I am pleased to be supporting L-Spark as they begin aligning talented entrepreneurs with the industry leaders and strategic partners they need to realize growth and success.”
Sir Terry Matthews, founder of Wesley Clover, which was formed from the sale of Newbridge Networks for C$10.8bn, added: “We are delighted to be working with regional partners, Invest Ottawa and Wesley Clover, and local partner Launch Lab, to deliver an integrated Eastern Ontario Business Accelerator.”
Steven Liss, vice-principal (research) at Queen’s University, said: “L-Spark’s model of pairing entrepreneurs with practised mentors will infuse start-ups with unparalleled knowledge of the enterprise software sector.”
