Canada’s Start-Up Visa: All You Need To Know About Angel Investor Groups

Canada immigration news: Angel investors are one of the three designated categories of organizations who must back an applicant for permanent residence in Canada under the Start-Up Visa program. 

They can belong to any one of nine groups.

Those include:

• Canadian International Angel Investors, a Canadian company which helps early-stage technology companies move to Canada and assists key members of those companies to immigrate here;
• Ekagrata Inc., a private investment and holding company that seeks to build long-term businesses with a global presence;
• Golden Triangle Angel Network, a network offering angel investors who want to take an active role in the companies in which they invest pre-selected, investment-ready opportunities;
• Keiretsu Forum Canada, a global investment network with more than 50 chapters and over 3,000 accredited private equity investors, venture capitalists, family offices and corporate/institutional investors;
• Oak Mason Investments Inc., an early-stage venture fund targeting global entrepreneurs;
• Southeastern Ontario Angel Network, a network created to help move investments from accredited investors into companies being developed in southeastern Ontario;
• TenX Angel Investors Inc., a company that invests in start-ups and helps scale up sales and marketing and business model innovation;
• VANTEC Angel Network Inc., a group of angel investors that supports British Columbia-based companies, and;
• York Angel Investors Inc., a member-based not-for-profit group of accredited investors seeking to invest in early-stage start-ups primarily in B2B and B2C SaaS, fintech, clean tech, IoT, insure tech, health tech, industrial automation, CPG, and marketplace solutions.

Angel investors are high-net-worth individuals who provide financial backing for small start-ups or entrepreneurs, usually asking for ownership equity in these companies. 

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In day-to-day business, angel investors can be members of the entrepreneur’s family or friends.

Under the Start-Up Visa program, the groups that provide access to these much-needed investment dollars can only come from that list approved by the Canadian government.

When a prospective immigrate to Canada decides to apply under the Start-up Visa Program, his or her business idea must get the support of either a venture capital fund, angel investor group, or a business incubator.

These organizations choose which business proposals to review and each has its own intake process for proposals and criteria used to assess them. 

If that organization gives the Start-Up Visa program applicant’s proposal the two thumbs up, it will provide a letter of support, allowing the prospective immigrant to continue with the process.