Québec Tech has acquired $7 million CAD from the Québec authorities to assist startups scale internationally.
One of essentially the most recognizable hubs in Montréal’s startup ecosystem is rebranding.
Startup Montréal, the non-profit group that has supported early-stage Montréal startups since 2019, will now be often known as Québec Tech. The rebranded group has additionally adopted a brand new mandate to develop the international footprint of Québec tech corporations with excessive export potential.
“We do great stuff, but we need to be more well-organized and align a few things together to be sure that our entrepreneurs are well-supported by the system.”
The transition to Québec Tech is supported by $7 million CAD in funding over three years from Québec’s Ministry of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade (MEIE) by the Stratégie québécoise de recherche et d’investissement en innovation (SQRI2) program. The federal authorities and the City of Montreal already present some monetary help.
Richard Chénier, common supervisor of Québec Tech, will unveil the rebrand at this time, day considered one of Startupfest in Montréal’s Old Port.
The innovation hub mentioned its shift in focus is “for Québec to benefit from high productivity and remain competitive against other international ecosystems.” The authorities funding can even help Québec Tech’s operations in Ax-C, a brand new startup innovation house within the centre of Montréal’s enterprise district, within the Place Victoria tower.
Québec Tech’s help companies will debut this fall, with a three-pronged strategy specializing in international launch methods, promotion and visibility, and constructing connections.
“This support will create fast, efficient access to tools for high-potential startups, and develop initiatives to accelerate the commercialization of innovations created by these companies, so that they can export more quickly,” a spokesperson for MEIE wrote in a press release to BetaKit.
Some initiatives beforehand run by Startup Montréal will proceed working, albeit “in a different form,” Chénier mentioned in an interview with BetaKit. The Revelations competitors, for instance, sometimes awards 20 startups a $20,000 grant, but it surely’s unclear if this may change. Mouvement des accélérateurs d’innovation du Québec will take over the group’s weekly electronic mail and LinkedIn newsletters.
“The reason why we made this shift is we have to improve the way that we work here in Québec with our startups,” Chénier mentioned. “We do great stuff, but we need to be more well-organized and align a few things together to be sure that our entrepreneurs are well-supported by the system.”
The information comes at an unsure time for the Québec startup scene, following the sale of Montréal startup hub Notman House and the upcoming closure of Québec Numerique, an event-focused, Québec City-based digital hub.
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Chénier was appointed because the Startup Montréal common supervisor final September. He informed BetaKit that this transition has been within the works since earlier than his appointment. The workforce interviewed roughly 90 Québec entrepreneurs over the previous 12 months to perceive the challenges current for Québec-based startups within the early-to-late progress phases.
Simon De Baene, co-founder and CEO of Workleap, was consulted throughout this course of. “It’s simple: we need a much stronger tech ecosystem in Québec, where building companies like Workleap is not an exception but the norm,” he wrote in an electronic mail to BetaKit. “I am very proud to be involved with Québec Tech. Their unwavering dedication to helping great companies from here reach the global stage is truly inspiring.”
Chénier outlined a persistent drawback for brand spanking new corporations in Québec: going international on the proper time. Québec Tech seeks to treatment this by guaranteeing that startups have the assets and connections to scale on the “sweet spot.”
“If you are not at the right place at the right time, you will miss the train,” he mentioned, including that Québec has loads of help for early-stage startups, however much less so for scale-ups.
“What we are observing is, if they want to start to grow, and the companies are at that level, the best programs that they can have access to are in Ontario,” Chénier mentioned, referencing Communitech and Invest Ottawa.
Dropping “Montréal” from the group’s identify signifies a push to broaden the scope of its actions within the province, Chenier defined. He expects Québec Tech help actions to happen in Québec’s three primary enterprise hubs—Montréal, Québec City, and Sherbrooke—however mentioned that any tech startup wherever in Québec might use their companies.
On the branding facet, in a nod to the shut relationship between Québecois and French entrepreneurs, Chénier says his workforce was impressed by France’s tech ecosystem help group, French Tech.
In international locations with a extra mature tech startup scene, akin to France or Sweden, startups get extra simply related to native companies, which in flip assist put fledgling corporations on the map globally, Chénier mentioned. He sees Québec Tech utilizing an analogous strategy to enhance Canadian productiveness. “If we connect our best startups to our established companies, we will help to move the needle.”
