Mumbai-based start-up accelerator Reseau, launched by Ajay Ramasubramaniam and Sweta Tiwari, has short-listed 35 Indian start-ups to participate in the inaugural cohort of Startup Bridge Canada (SBC).

Reseau announced SBC in December 2020 a six-week pre-market entry start-up programme for growth stage Indian start-ups to access and understand Canada and build their strategy for North America foray. The programme, which will be run virtually, received 276 applications. Some of the short-listed start-ups include AssessHub, Discover Dollar, Signzy, Catalyst Green, GetNatty, WhatsLoan, Zimyo, Oleo and Rockmetric.

The 35 founders in the cohort have cumulatively raised in excess of $26 million. The average team size of one-thirds of the cohort is 40, while three start-ups have team sizes exceeding 100.

Advantage Canada

“Having been in the Canada – India corridor for almost 12 years, I can confidently say that this is by far the strongest group of Indian enterprise tech B2B start-ups being exposed to the Canadian market and its stakeholders, ” said Ajay Ramasubramaniam, co-founder and CEO, Startup Reseau.

“As an organisation, we are always looking to unlock global market opportunities for Indian start-ups seeking to expand internationally, by way of structured market access programmes. From a standpoint of access to talent, setting up and operating a business, Government support at the Federal and Provincial levels in the form of tax credits, grants, etc, Canada is a very attractive destination for start-ups. Indian start-ups including Paytm, Sequretek, Gray Routes and Remitr have already set up shop in Canada for strong reasons like tapping into specific talent and using it as a base to expand into the North American and European markets” added Ramasubramaniam.

The short-listed start-ups operate in a wide variety of industries, including financial services, infrastructure, large enterprise accounts and ESG (Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance). Over 50 per cent of the cohort applies fast growing technologies like AI / ML.

In addition to the proximity to major US business hubs, Canada presents a stable economy, large corporations and their innovation and R&D centres, a strong tech ecosystem, ease of doing business, favourable business immigration, and start-up visa programs. To further facilitate entry of Indian start-ups in Canada, Startup Reseau has tied up with the Government of Alberta, Government of British Columbia, Government of Ontario and economic development agencies including Toronto Global, Montreal International to help a cohort of Indian entrepreneurs grow, scale, and promote their businesses.

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