The Canadian Media Fund (CMF) has announced a new funding announcement that will give $30,000 to 12 startups accepted into one of eight Canadian startup accelerator programs. The catch is that the companies had to have successfully gone through the CMF’s “Experimental Stream” funding program, which narrows down the list of companies who are actually eligible for the money.
Nevertheless, the Accelerator Partnership Pilot Program (A3P) could go a long way for a startup already accepted into one of the accelerator programs, all of which generally give around $50,000 to cohort members just for joining. The accelerators taking part in this program are: Execution Labs, FounderFuel, GrowLab, HYPERDRIVE, ideaBoost, INcubes, Inno-Centre and Ryerson Futures and Digital Media Zone.
As a government entity, INcubes founder Ben Zlotnick said that there’s only so much help the CMF can give to startups participating in either its “Experimental Stream” or its “Convergent Stream”. It benefits the accelerators in that due diligence and other work is already done with each of the companies, the companies have more of a financial runway and lastly there’s branding and marketing opportunities for all involved.
The CMF is advising companies to “fill in the opt-in form to confirm your interest in the A3P and select the accelerators that you would consider applying to. The CMF will then inform the selected accelerators of your interest. The form will also help the CMF follow up with the accelerators on the A3P.”
“The opt-in does not replace the actual application to the accelerator(s) of your choice. You still need to go to the accelerator(s)’ website and fill in the application form.”
A3P applicants must apply to an accelerator’s program for the project that was previously financed by the CMF through the Experimental Stream.
The CMF is a not-for-profit corporation that delivers $360.7 million in funding annually to support the Canadian television and digital media industries through the Experimental Stream and the Convergent Stream. The Experimental Stream encourages the development of innovative, interactive digital media content and software applications. Projects funded under the Experimental Program are to be developed for commercial potential by the Canadian media industry or public use by Canadians.
“Funding is allocated according to a selective process using an evaluation matrix, and not all projects submitted for funding are chosen”.