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The obstacles are rarely about the business. They are about incorporation, how long the company has existed, and a credit and filing history that a newly arrived founder has had no opportunity to build.
Arrange a Call →Most business programmes ask for Canadian incorporation and a filing or revenue history. A founder who arrived recently can satisfy the first quickly and the second only with time, which shapes what is realistically available in the first years.
Who does this work. Lexaltico LLP’s government funding and grants service is led by Mitch Parmasar, who is not a lawyer and does not provide legal advice. Where a matter calls for legal advice — a funding agreement, a governance question, a repayment demand — it is handled by a lawyer at Lexaltico LLP. The firm is responsible for all of the work described on this page.
Yes, subject to the same requirements as anyone else, and those requirements are where the difficulty usually sits. Programmes generally ask for Canadian incorporation, a place of business here, and often a trading or filing history — typically a year or two of statements. Immigration status matters less than people expect for most business programmes, which look at the company rather than the owner, but a newly formed company simply has no history to show. The practical question is therefore what is available in the first two years and what to put in place so that more is available afterwards.
Tell us briefly what is going on. A lawyer reviews every enquiry and replies within 2 business days.
A lawyer replies within 2 business days. Urgent? Call +1 416 333 6200, answered 24/7. Submitting this form does not create a solicitor-client relationship.
Most business funding programmes assess the company: is it incorporated in Canada, does it operate here, how many people does it employ, what do its statements show. They are not generally concerned with where the owner was born or how long they have been here.
That is good news and it has a sting. The requirement a newcomer founder most often cannot meet is a trading history, because the company was formed last year. No amount of explanation substitutes for two years of statements, and this is the constraint to plan around rather than argue with.
Incorporating is quick and is the precondition for most programmes. It is worth doing with the funding requirements in mind: the company’s name properly registered, a bank account in the company’s own name, a clear share structure, and record keeping from the first month.
The common repair job is a company incorporated hastily, operating under a slightly different trading name, with banking in a personal account and no minute book. All of that is fixable and all of it is easier to do at the start.
If most programmes want a filing history, the useful work in year one is creating one that will stand up: filings made on time, statements prepared properly, a bank account that tells a coherent story, and records of what the business actually did.
That is not a funding strategy in itself, which is why it gets skipped. It is what makes a funding strategy possible in year three, and a founder who does it is in a materially different position from one who does not.
Some support does not depend on trading history. Advisor-led innovation funding assesses the project and the team rather than the statements, so a genuinely technical early-stage company may be a candidate. Municipal and regional programmes, business support organisations and newcomer-specific entrepreneurship services frequently work with new companies by design.
Non-repayable grants for a business with no history are scarce, and it is worth being clear about that rather than spending the first year looking for them. Advice, space, mentoring and training are more available than money at that stage, and they are what is actually on offer.
Newcomer founders are a target market for people who charge to fill in grant applications and for services implying an inside track. There is no inside track to a government programme; eligibility is published and assessment is on the application.
Anyone who promises funding, or asks for a share of a grant that has not been awarded, is not offering what they appear to be offering. Ask what specifically will be done, what it costs, and get it in writing before agreeing to anything.
A first grant comes with a contribution agreement: restrictions on what may be spent, reporting obligations, record-keeping requirements, audit rights, and circumstances in which money becomes repayable. It binds a new company exactly as it binds an established one.
Read it before signing, and note particularly anything about intellectual property and anything asking for a personal guarantee. A guarantee converts the company’s obligation into the founder’s own, and is usually negotiable.
The honest first conversation is about what is available now and what is not, and what to put in place so that more is available in two years. That is more useful than a list of programmes the company cannot yet apply to.
Programme fit and eligibility are led by Mitch Parmasar, who is not a lawyer. Incorporation, the share structure, a funding agreement and a personal guarantee are handled by a lawyer at Lexaltico LLP. Fees are quoted and agreed in writing before work begins.
Our lawyers offer an introductory call for most matters. Call, email, or book online. Do not sign anything before speaking with us.
55 University Ave, Suite 1100
Toronto, ON M5J 2H7
2 Sheppard Ave East, Suite 303, Toronto, ON M2N 5Y7
Monday to Friday: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Evenings & weekends by appointment
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A lawyer replies within 2 business days. Urgent? Call +1 416 333 6200, answered 24/7. Submitting this form does not create a solicitor-client relationship.
Lexaltico LLP
How Lexaltico LLP handles personal information, under PIPEDA and Ontario law.
When you use a form on this site, email us or telephone us, we collect what you choose to send: your name, email address, telephone number and a description of the situation. Nothing on this site requires you to give more than that.
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We do not collect sensitive personal information through this website. Detailed personal and legal information is collected only after a solicitor client relationship exists, through the channels set up for that purpose.
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Privacy Officer, Lexaltico LLP
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privacy@lexaltico.com
+1 416 333 6200
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Short, and written to be read rather than scrolled past.
This site publishes several hundred pages about Ontario law. They are written carefully, they cite statutes and cases by name, and they are reviewed. None of that makes them advice about your matter. Law is applied to facts, and we do not know yours.
The difference is practical rather than technical. A page explaining that spousal support is usually indefinite after a twenty year marriage is accurate as a general statement and may be wrong about you, because of a domestic contract you signed, a period of separation you have forgotten, or an income that is not what a tax return says it is.
Law also changes. Pages carry a review date where one is relevant. A page reviewed last year may not reflect an amendment made since, and a page about a subject currently before an appellate court may be overtaken between your reading it and your acting on it.
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We must confirm in writing that we are prepared to act. Not every matter is one we can take, and saying so early is better than taking a file we cannot properly serve.
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It can also create a problem for you. If you send us detailed information about a dispute and we are later approached by the other side, what you sent may affect whether we can act for either of you.
So tell us the shape of the problem and leave out the detail: the area of law, roughly when it arose, and whether anything is urgent. That is enough for us to say whether we can help. The documents come after the retainer.
Case results described anywhere on this site are real and are described accurately, and they are specific to their own facts. A settlement at three times the original offer happened because of that employer, that contract and that person’s history. It says nothing about what your matter is worth.
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Every limit on what this website tells you, and every thing it does not do, in one place rather than in small print at the bottom of each page.
Four limits, and they matter in this order.
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Lexaltico LLP is regulated by the Law Society of Ontario under the Law Society Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. L.8. All lawyers practising in Ontario through the firm are members in good standing.
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Immigration consulting is provided by Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants in good standing with the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants under the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants Act, S.C. 2019, c. 29, s. 292.
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