Although resources to get started as an entrepreneur in Canada are available, not everyone has access to them. Startup ecosystems can be fragmented, competitive, and hidden to newcomers, which is detrimental for local startups and community growth.

While Canada does not traditionally track metrics behind venture-backed startups for founders from diverse ethnic backgrounds, according to the Financial Post, they are on par with sentiments in the U.S., indicating a problem of underrepresented founders in Canada being underfunded and similarly, left feeling undervalued.

On the bright side, Canada is one of the most multicultural countries in the world with a constantly growing ethnic and immigrant population. To help Canadian entrepreneurs of minority and diverse ethnic backgrounds find resources available to help them build a startup, we released v1 of the Canadians of Color Startup Ecosystem Canvas. 

It was developed by the leaders of Founder Institute’s Canadian programs: Waterloo, Toronto, Montreal, and Western Canada, in an effort to help eliminate barriers to entry and encourage equality and access to financial and social resources for all Canadian startup founders.

This first release includes over 280 startup resources across Canada, organized by stage. While we spent many hours on this research, this is just a DRAFT, and more input is needed, so please leave your comments on this collaborative Google document to help us complete the list. There are definitely omissions on this current version. 

Text version included below, for ease of searching:

Startup Stages

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There is no one right way to build a technology company, but for the sake of simplicity we have outlined a basic, common, sequential framework.

1. Idea Stage

This is where new entrepreneurs get inspired, learn best practices, develop skills, validate ideas, and begin to build their team and product.

A. Inspire

• Startup Media: Centralized local information, listings, and news. (i.e. startup blogs/ publications/ lists/ FB groups/ newsletters)

1. Bay Street Bull
2. BetaKit
3. Black Business and Professional Association Blog
4. Black Professionals in Tech Network Blog
5. Startup Digest Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

• Inspirational Startup Events: Open, inclusive startup events that often focus on ideation. (i.e. Startup Weekend, idea fairs, and inspirational meetups)

1. Afrobiz
2. Black Business Conference
3. Black Entrepreneur Virtual Summit
4. BlackNorth Ignites
5. DMZ Black Innovation Summit
6. Elevate
7. ICON Talent Accelerate Symposium
8. LatamStartups Conference 8.0
9. Tech Inclusion
10. Tech Summit Black

B. Educate

• Best Practices: Beginner knowledge-sharing tech events. (i.e. beginner events that serve to educate more than inspire).

1. BlackNorth Initiative
2. Blacks In Technology - Toronto
3. Blacks In Technology - Vancouver
4. Blacks United in Leading Technology Forward - Toronto
5. Indigenous Advancement of Cultural Entrepreneurship
6. Montréal BlackTech
7. Startup Canada
8. Startup Founder 101
9. Startup Grind

• Training & Feedback: Skill & Idea development events and startup bootcamps for entrepeneurs. (Includes comprehensive training programs, like Founder Institute, General Assembly, Lean Startup Machine, code camps, etc)

1. BIPOC Capital
2. BIPOC Founders
3. Black Business Initiative
4. Black Entrepreneurship Program
5. Black Innovation Bootcamp
6. BrainStation
7. Canada SROP
8. CEE Centre For Young Black Professionals
9. Centre for Indigenous Innovation and Technology
10. Code Black
11. First Nations Technology Council
12. Founder Institute
13. General Assembly
14. Hackergal
15. ICON Talent Partners
16. IdeaConnector
17. Lean Startup Machine
18. Lighthouse Labs
19. Okwaho Equal Source
20. Tech Spark
21. The Canadian Centre for Aboriginal Entrepreneurship
22. Tribe Network
23. Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub

C. Validate

• Team Formation: Resources for teaming up (i.e. events or other resources that facilitate early-stage recruitment and cofounder matching, like CoFoundersLab, FounderDating, and entrepreneur networking groups and events).

1. Ashoka Canada
2. BIPOC Business Network
3. Black Business Association of BC
4. Black Business and Professional Association
5. Black Professionals in Calgary
6. Black Professionals in Tech Network
7. CoFoundersLab
8. FoundersBeta
9. Hispanotech
10. Indian Startups
11. Latin-Canadian Business Network
12. Tribe Network

• Build First Product: Hackathons & resources to build (i.e. hackathons and other builder-focused events and resources).

1. Hackergal Hackathon
2. Hacking Generational Wealth
3. Hacklab.to
4. McHacks
5. thespacebetweenus

2. Launch Stage

In this stage, entrepreneurs establish and formalize the company, develop the product, get feedback from customers, and prepare for the next step.

A. Start

• Establish: Law firms & banks for startups with programs specifically targeting Canadians of Color and other minorities in startups.

1. Aird & Berlis LLP
2. Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
3. BMO
4. Canadian Association of Black Lawyers
5. CIBC
6. Dentons
7. DLA Piper
8. Emerge Law
9. First Nations Bank of Canada
10. Goodmans LLP
11. McMillan LLP
12. Minority Owned Business Loans
13. National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association
14. Oziel Law
15. Royal Bank of Canada
16. Scotiabank
17. TD Canada Trust
18. Vancity Community Investment Bank

• Workspaces: Co-working and flexible workspaces for startups in Canada.

1. Canoe Coworking
2. Coworking Canada
3. Hervana
4. WeWork

B. Develop

• Formalize: Accounting, development and HR for early-stage startups.

1. AppStudio
2. April Mullings Finance & Tax Services
3. AWFS Consulting
4. BIPOC Executive Search
5. Black HR Professionals of Canada
6. CADJPro
7. Calibre Consulting
8. Carjoel Financial Associates
9. Cobella Financial Bookkeeping
10. CTRL ALT DEL
11. Formative Innovations
12. GMS Professional Corporation
13. Holbrook Goodman Technologies
14. Kaimera Media
15. Kaylo Digital
16. MyTax101
17. Next Step DIgital Solutions
18. Odgers Berndtson
19. See Girl Work
20. Team Taxman

• Prepare for Seed: Incubators and advanced mentorship (i.e. advanced knowledge sharing, later stage events and resources for startup TEAMS, Startup Next, etc).

1. AMEX Blueprint
2. Black Entrepreneur Program
3. Black Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition Incubator
4. Black Female Funders
5. Black Innovation Launchpad
6. Black Leaders of Tomorrow
7. Business Link
8. Canada Startup Co.
9. DMZ Black Innovation Programs
10. Empowered Startups
11. Futurpreneur Canada Black Entrepreneur Startup Program
12. Global Bridge: Canada-India
13. HXOUSE
14. ICUBE UTM Indigenous Entrepreneurship Program
15. Indigenous Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
16. National Indigenous Women Entrepreneurs Ecosystem
17. Pixelles BIPOC Creator Program
18. Toronto Business Development Centre Start-up Visa Program
19. We Are Women

C. Launch

• Seed Accelerators: Seed funding mentor programs (Techstars-style programs that provide funding)

1. Canada-India Acceleration Program
2. DMZ Black Innovation Programs
3. Futurpreneur Canada Black Entrepreneur Startup Program
4. Futurpreneur Canada Indigenous Program
5. LatAm Startups
6. RH Accelerator
7. Startup Reseau
8. Techstars Toronto Accelerator
9. Tribe Network

• Pitch & Demo Events: Show local startups for investment (i.e. demo days for companies seeking seed investment).

1. DMZ Black Innovation Summit
2. Pitch Better Canada
3. Pow Wow Pitch
4. Techstars Toronto Accelerator Demo Day

3. Growth Stage

Here, a startup proves their utility, receives recognition, and scales up. This usually requires funding, angels, VCs, and ways to connect them to startups.

A. Recognition

• Investor Networking: Connect professional investors with founders (i.e. events or groups that facilitate connections with professional investors vs. angels, venture capital associations).

1. Backbone Angels
2. Canadian Investment Network
3. Keiretsu Forum
4. The Indus Entrepreneurs

• Major Media: Mainstream local business press (i.e. major local or regional publications that frequently champion local businesses, major local or regional publications with a business section).

1. ByBlacks
2. The Afro News
3. The Resolve

B. Funding

• Angels/Micro-VCs: Seed-stage Investors

1. Ajay Malhotra
2. Anna Lambert
3. Clinton Senkow
4. Jonathon Araujo Redbird
5. Shamier Anderson
6. Sheldon James
7. Stephan James
8. Sydney Wong

• Venture Capitalists: Series A and beyond

1. Bay Mills Investment Group
2. BDC Capital
3. Black Opportunity Fund
4. Canada Startup Co.
5. Dream Maker Ventures
6. FIGR
7. Ideal Ventures
8. Indigenous Growth Fund
9. Inspirit Foundation
10. Marigold Capital
11. NDN Collective Fund
12. Raven Indigenous Capital Partners
13. RBC Ventures

C. Growth

• Infrastructure: Office space, HR, local business insurance (i.e. office space/ HR/ insurance providers for capital-rich companies to grow and scale).

1. Allstate Insurance
2. Aviva
3. Hays Canada
4. Instant Offices
5. Kijiji
6. LoopNet
7. Manulife
8. MaxPeople
9. Randstad Canada
10. Regus
11. Rogers Insurance
12. Spacelist
13. Travelers Canada
14. TruShield Insurance
15. Zensurance

• Expansion: Growth accelerators and consultants (i.e. programs and business consultants for capital-rich companies to grow and scale).

1. Accenture
2. Bain & Company
3. Bakau Consulting
4. Boston Consulting Group
5. Canadian Equality Consulting
6. Capgemini
7. Decade Impact
8. Deloitte
9. Ernst & Young
10. FTI Consulting
11. Gartner
12. Grant Thornton
13. KOJO Institute
14. KPMG
15. McKinsey & Company
16. Mercer
17. Oliver Wyman
18. Protiviti
19. PwC
20. Roland Berger
21. Tata Consultancy Services
22. The Diversity Agency
23. Tomee Sojourner Consulting

4. Canadian Startup Success Stories

Successful homegrown companies that have raised significant institutional funding, employ a large workforce, or have achieved liquidity.

1. Air Matrix
2. Beam.city DNA
3. Crescendo DEI
4. Cuboh
5. Drop
6. FitDrive
7. HRVSTR
8. Lagatos
9. Magnusmode
10. Nanoleaf
11. Psigryph
12. StonePaper
13. Trebble FM
14. Virtual Gurus
15. Wattpad

Supporters

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To facilitate the steps, every ecosystem needs strong supporters.

1. Canadian Startup Leaders

Successful local founders who lead the ecosystem & frequently mentor newbies.

1. Adam Nanjee
2. Adedoyin Omotara
3. Adeela Carter
4. Ahmed Ismail
5. Alexandra McCalla
6. Amoye Henry
7. Andrea Blaikie
8. Andria Barrett
9. Ashley Athill
10. Ben Melchionno
11. Bobbie Racette
12. Bryan Duarte
13. Bryan Johnson
14. Bryan Zheng
15. Casey Lau
16. Chad Ford
17. Claudette McGowan
18. Deep Singh
19. Devon Fiddler
20. Ejibola Adetokunbo-Taiwo
21. Eugenia Duodu Addy
22. Gelaine Santiago
23. Isabel Lopez Starck
24. Jarret Leaman
25. Jordan Jocius
26. Laurie Sterritt
27. Lekan Olawoye
28. Mark Podlasly
29. Michael Athill
30. Miryam Lazarte
31. Neha Bahl
32. Nilay Goyal
33. Rafael Miranda
34. Rodrigue Fouafou
35. Ryan Micheletti
36. Sammy Zoerb
37. Sergio Escobar
38. Sunil Sharma
39. Stacy-Ann Buchanan
40. Swish Goswami
41. Tamar Huggins
42. Vartika Manasvi
43. Yung Wu

2. Canadian Government Startup Resources

Public organizations that facilitate local economic development

1. Afro Canadian Chamber of Commerce
2. Canada - ASEAN Business Council
3. Canadian Black Chamber of Commerce
4. Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business
5. Government of Canada Aboriginal Entrepreneurship Program
6. Government of Canada Black Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub
7. Government of Canada Black Entrepreneurship Program
8. Indigenous Business and Investment Council
9. The Federation of African Canadian Economics
10. Toronto Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

3. Talent

Major local business or tech universities and employers that attract and retain local talent.

• Local Universities (universities with prominent technical or business programs which also include Black Canadian Studies programs or maintain diverse student bodies.)

1. Carleton University
2. McGill University
3. McMaster University
4. Queen's University
5. The University of British Columbia
6. Université de Montréal
7. University of Alberta
8. University of Calgary
9. University of Ottawa
10. University of Toronto
11. University of Waterloo
12. Western University
13. York University

• Local Employers: Major technical employers, like Microsoft or Google or large local companies, with large local offices, major technology companies that hire and attract diverse talent).

1. Amazon
2. Apple
3. Bell Canada
4. Cisco
5. Facebook
6. Google
7. HP
8. IBM
9. Intel
10. Microsoft
11. Oracle
12. Rogers
13. SAP
14. TELUS

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Learn more about the Startup Ecosystem Canvas here, and leave us your thoughts on the Canadians of Color Startup Ecosyten Canvas on this collaborative Google document (This is a perpetual work in progress, and more input is needed!)

Are you looking to build a startup? Then apply to the Founder Institute today