NEXT Canada Searches for Country’s Top Innovators and Entrepreneurs

NEXT Canada, a national non-profit delivering programs to accelerate the growth of high-potential innovators, announced it has opened applications for the 2018 Next Founders program.

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The Next Founders program helps select Canada’s most promising entrepreneurs by providing mentorship, access to capital, and unparalleled founder development.

It is one of three programs delivered by NEXT Canada, which launched in 2010, and is now supported nationally by over 300 entrepreneurs and business leaders.

Eligible companies will also have access to $30,000 of non-dilutive funding.

NEXT Canada Also Creates Jobs

While the primary beneficiaries of the NEXT Canada programs are the entrepreneurs and innovators that bring new ideas to the world, the participating companies have created over 1,300 new jobs in Canada.

For example, these Canadian companies are all alumni of the NEXT Canada program:

• Nymi, which has raised more than $32 million for its biometric wristband that authenticates the wearer using their heartbeat
• inkbox, whose semi-permanent tattoos have inked customers in 154 countries
• Blue J Legal, which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to help lawyers predict the outcome of lawsuits
• Sampler, a SaaS platform to help marketers manage online promotions.

“Next Founders seeks out the country’s most talented entrepreneurs and helps them build upon their initial successes. Next Founders helps them take their ventures to a new level by providing them with the tools they need to grow, and with the confidence that they can scale their company here in Canada.”

Sheldon Levy, CEO of NEXT Canada

Mentorship and Education are The Keys to Success

Next Founders is not just about funding; it is about promoting and educating entrepreneurs to scale their businesses to the next level.

The program includes interactive sessions delivered by successful Canadian entrepreneurs alongside masters-level courses taught by North America’s top faculty from Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, Harvard Business School, and MIT.

After a Founder Immersion Week in early-May, participants may opt-in to flexible summer programming. This offers participants with offices outside of Toronto the ability to customize their programming and travel to the city to fit their schedules.

In addition to recruitment events in partnership with Communitech, Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), and DMZ, NEXT Canada will be offering office hours (in-person and online) to interested applicants.

The organization and several of its alumni will also be hosting a Twitter Talk on March 1 and a Facebook Live application webinar on March 13.

Individual founder applications will be accepted online until March 20^th.

To learn more about this exciting program for Canadian entrepreneurs, check out their website at www.nextfounders.ca.

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