Fast-Track to Financing Program
Highlights
This program is designed specifically for businesses like yours, offering a unique chance to strengthen your business or commercialization plans. By participating, you can attract public financing or private investment, which is crucial for the growth and success of your innovative natural product or technology.
Key Benefits:
- Up to 40% coverage of expert costs, up to a maximum of $25,000.
- Non-dilutive, non-repayable funding, meaning you retain full control of your business.
- Expert support in areas such as market analysis, regulatory planning, and financial strategy.
Applying is straightforward, and if approved, this program will provide you with the resources and guidance needed to enhance your business plan, making it more appealing to investors. This could be the boost your business needs to reach new heights.
Financing Details
Type of Financing:
- Repayable Contribution: You can receive a contribution of up to 40% of the costs of hiring an external expert, to a maximum of $25,000. You are required to cover at least 60% of the expert costs over the project period.
Repayment Terms and Interest Rates:
- Non-Repayable Funding: The contribution from NPC does not need to be repaid.
- Fees: A non-refundable project administration fee of 5% of total project costs plus GST/HST is required. This fee is not considered an eligible project cost.
Eligible Expenses:
- The funding covers costs related to strengthening or revising your business or commercialization plan, including market analysis, IP planning, financial planning, and sustainability assessments.
Ineligible Expenses:
- The funds cannot be used for expenses outside of the scope of the project or for any costs not directly related to enhancing your business or commercialization plan.
Qualifications
- Must be a Canadian incorporated SME, start-up company, or academic research institute.
- Must have a novel natural product or technology that aligns with NPC’s definitions of natural products or technologies.
- Must fit within the TRL 4-9 of the Government of Canada’s established Technology Readiness Levels.
- SMEs and start-up companies must have the potential to achieve $10MM to $15MM in annual revenue within a reasonable period for the market or sector.
- Products or technologies being developed within academic research institutes must address an industry/sector challenge that has significant market potential.
- Must have the potential for significant economic, social, health, and/or environmental benefits.
- Must demonstrate technological advancement and benefits to the natural products ecosystem across Canada.
- Must show technical feasibility of the project.
- Must have potential for commercialization in Canada.
- Must have potential spillover benefits to more than one sector.
- Must have potential for improving the representation of women, visible minorities, and Indigenous peoples in the natural products ecosystem.
- Must be a member of Canada’s Natural Product Innovation Cluster.
Must request a minimum NPC Contribution of $5,000.
- Disqualifications:
- Technologies and solutions based on IT (software, hardware, AI, etc.) or mechanical solutions (drones, automation, etc.) that exclude a biological element.
Description
This program is designed to help your business create strong business or commercialization plans. These plans can attract public financing or private investment, which are essential for developing your natural product or technology.
You can receive up to $25,000 to cover 40% of the costs for hiring experts. These experts will help you with market analysis, value proposition, regulatory plans, IP plans, financial plans, production plans, and sustainability assessments. You will need to cover the remaining 60% of the costs.
The funding is non-dilutive and non-repayable, meaning you don't have to give up any ownership in your business or pay the money back. This program is a great opportunity to strengthen your business plan and make your innovation more attractive to investors and public funders.
Program Steps
Contact NPC:
- Email NPC at [email protected] to express your interest in the program.
Initial Review:
- An NPC team member will review your eligibility and the scope of your potential project.
Prepare Documentation:
- Gather the following documents:
- Business Plan or Commercialization Plan
- Financial Statements
- Market, Customer, and Competitive Analysis
- Value Proposition
- Regulatory Plan
- IP Plan
- Financial Plan
- Production Plan
- Sustainability Assessment
- Summary of the qualifications of the expert(s)
- Statement of Work(s) (SOW) for the expert(s)
- Gather the following documents:
Submit Application:
- Submit your application along with the prepared documentation to NPC.
Application Evaluation:
- NPC will evaluate your application based on criteria such as the novelty of the product or technology, market opportunity, business model, and the qualifications of the expert(s).
Feedback and Revisions:
- NPC will provide feedback on your application. You may need to revise and resubmit your application based on this feedback.
Final Review and Decision:
- The final version of your application will be reviewed by NPC Executive Management, and a funding decision will be made.
Notification:
- You will be informed of the funding decision. If approved, you will receive a contract outlining the project scope, reporting requirements, and key deliverables.
Project Administration Fee:
- Pay a non-refundable project administration fee of 5% of total project costs plus GST/HST.
Quarterly Reporting:
- Submit quarterly reports that include written and financial claims, invoices, and proof of payment to NPC for reimbursement of eligible project costs.
Annual Reporting:
- Provide annual reports during the project and for five years after the project ends.
