When building your tech startup, every bit of funding helps. Here are three grant funds that will have you training up your team and hiring bright new talent in no time.
B.C. Employer Training Grant from Work BC
What it is: A grant that helps your company provide skills training to new or current employees. You can develop new skills, upgrade current ones, or improve someone’s employability.
How much you can get: Depending on the stream, you get anywhere from 40% to 80% of eligible training costs covered, up to a maximum of $10,000 per trainee. Employers can receive up to $300,000 per fiscal year (April 1 – March 31).
Who’s eligible? BC private and non-profit companies. Must be operating with a BC business licence for at least one year, have a Business BCeID Account, and have a job available in BC for the participant at the end of training.
Eligible recipients: Canadian citizens, permanent residents, and Canadian refugees. The employee must either be currently employed or unemployed and seeking skills training to be employed by the company that applies.
The fine print: Training topics must be either essential skills, technical skills, soft skills, management skills, business skills. The employer picks a stream from Foundational, Technical, or Workforce.
ISI grant program from New Ventures BC
What it is: A flexible wage-subsidy program to help you hire a non-co-op student for a business or a tech role. Through work experience, mentorship, and training, the grant program is designed to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs in BC.
How much can you get? Up to $5000 per grant, and up to 2 grants per year.
Hired in the past, too? Up to 2 retroactive grants are allowed as well.
Who’s eligible? Tech companies or non-profit tech organizations in BC, applying to hire a student enrolled at an accredited post-secondary institution in BC.
Eligible types of students: Part time, full time, international, and students off for a semester (like summer). Interns and non-accredited co-ops are also permitted.
The fine print: Companies must agree to offer entrepreneurial and business training to the student, including online Market Validation Training.
It’s a matching fund, so you put in as much as you get back: up to $5000 in funding for your student’s wages.
Career-Launcher Internship Program from the Government of Canada
What it is: A wage subsidy and employee-matching program for Canadian companies and eligible organizations to hire highly-skilled post-secondary grads as interns. The idea? To facilitate the transition of highly-skilled postsecondary grads to a rapidly changing labour market.
How much can you get? 50-70% of the intern’s salary, up to $15,000 total. An extra $3000 is eligible for interns who identify as persons with a disability or who are members of an Indigenous group.
Who’s eligible? Canadian companies or subsidiaries, non-profits and a list of other types of organizations hiring in clean tech, natural resources, and digital tech roles. Companies must hire recent grads to intern for 6-12 months.
Eligible types of interns: Recent post-secondary graduates who are 30 or under when the internship starts. They must be Canadian Citizens, permanent residents or have Canadian refugee status.
The fine print: Employers must have an established payroll system and a process for supervising and mentoring interns. Internships are posted online where students can apply to them.
Don’t see a program that’s a fit? New Ventures BC has compiled a list of youth hiring and training grants for tech companies.
This article was co-authored by Rachel Burns and Sabrina Minasola of New Ventures BC.
Disclaimer: Substantial effort has been made to provide accurate and complete information on the grants listed. However, we cannot guarantee that there will be no errors. We do not assume any legal liability for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information disclosed herein.
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