Co-funded by the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario, the SmartStart Seed Fund supports new ventures led by Ontario's next generation of entrepreneurs by offering funding, professional advisory services and networking opportunities with leading entrepreneurs and investors.

Entrepreneurs can access seed funds through three different streams:

    • Stream A – $30,000 for youth entrepreneurs aged 18-29
    • Stream B – $60,000 for youth entrepreneurs aged 18-29
    • Stream C – $30,000 for non-youth entrepreneurs aged 30+


SmartStart applications are open and will be evaluated bi-monthly (for Stream A) or once every four months (for Streams B and C) until March 2016.

For full details, please see Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE)’s website.

Entrepreneurs must submit an application for pre-screening by the deadlines noted on this application page for each respective stream.

Candidates who make it past the pre-screening round will be invited to apply through the OCE platform as a final step. These respective deadlines can be found on OCE’s website. The company must show proof of the matching funds at the time of this submission.

Questions? Contact Marylin Ma, Account Manager, Startup Services Group at marylin.ma@communitech.ca