Are you considering moving to Montreal for setting up your entrepreneurial venture? Here is a guide with all the highlights of the city’s startup ecosystem and all the advantages of moving to Montreal. This guide can help you make up your mind about your decision of moving into this developing startup hub.
Montreal has a GDP of $156 billion and a population of 4.1 million people. The people in the city are from diverse cultural backgrounds, and a significant share of the population consists of skilled workers. There are more than 90,000 skilled ICT workers in Montreal alone.
Montreal is home to more than 2000 companies with an average valuation of $4.1 million. The city is a booming startup ecosystem which is attracting the right amount of venture capital funding. For job seekers in the startup ecosystem, the steady job market of the city is one of the main reasons for them to consider moving to Montreal.
Why are more and more Startups moving to Montreal?
Montreal at one point was one of the least preferred cities for businesses, but the city built itself as one of the top startup ecosystems in the world over time, and now it is rapidly growing each day. Move to Montreal for high impact and high growth startup culture. The startups in Montreal create ample jobs from time to time and are the best places for professionals to get some hands-on experience of working in a startup.
Montreal’s Talent Pool is Brilliant and By Moving To Montreal You Can Leverage It
A good team of workers is the backbone of any firm. If you are an entrepreneur who intends to set up a startup in Montreal, you will be pleasantly surprised at the strength of the human resource capital the city has to offer. The University of Waterloo is one of Canada’s top colleges and attracts recruiters like Apple, Google, and Facebook. Thanks to the growing startup ecosystem in Montreal, more and more students are now moving to study and grab an entrepreneurial opportunity after graduating.
Montreal also has a very diverse pool of talent as the city is home to immigrants from different parts of the world. The continuous flow of immigrants, students, and professionals keep replenishing the talent pool offering a versatile human resource capital to the companies in and around Montreal.
One of the significant advantages of moving to Montreal for setting a startup in the city is that the talent here is cheaper than other American hotbeds. As the Canadian dollar is lower than USD, you can get the best of skilled workers for a more reasonable cost as compared to the American counterparts. Not just that with Canada’s universal health care system, you can even save up on the cost of getting insurance for your employees.
The Government of Montreal is Startup Friendly!
A city with a government that is startup friendly is probably one of the most attractive ones in the world and Montreal is one of them. The Montreal government is boosting the startup ecosystem by offering many initiatives. A range of federal and state funding programs are available for startups to help them launch successful ventures without much hassle. These grants are easily accessible and are just an application away for the startups that need it.
The government has also introduced initiatives that offer a lot of benefits to venture capital investors in a bid to increase the venture capital funding in its startup ecosystems.
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Move to Montreal and Join an Awesome Startup Community
Irrespective of the niche you are building a business in or working in, the startup community in Montreal is extremely supportive. There are several business accelerators programs, business incubators, and similar organizations in the city that are helping brilliant ideas turn into soaring businesses. A number of startup events aimed at bringing together the various startups, investors, entrepreneurs, and academia are held in the city by the startup community. This allows startups to interact with each other and also helps in building the right connections that may be useful in the long run.
Rapidly Growing Tech Startup Ecosystem in Montreal
A lot of tech entrepreneurial leaders who are nationally acclaimed had their beginnings in Montreal. The city’s tech startup system is starting to get noticed by internationally. Some of the subsectors that are creating an impact in the broader tech niche are:
Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics Startups In Montreal
The subsector of advanced manufacturing and robotics has played an essential role in shaping the regional economy. There are more than 3200 companies in this sector which are responsible for creating over 120,000 jobs in Montreal. Some of the critical areas in this niche that are seeing a growth spurt include additive manufacturing, collaborative robotics, smart manufacturing, and smart textiles and advanced materials. The sector has managed to investors from across the country. The government of Quebec invested close to $400 million for three years to help develop this rapidly growing sub-sector.
AI, Big Data & Analytics Startups In Montreal
This subsector’s exponential growth does not come as a surprise as the city has the largest number of AI scientists. Not just that, Montreal boasts of a prestigious group of Deep Learning researchers at the Montreal Institute of Learning Algorithms which is not only the best but also the largest group in the world.? The AI ecosystem in Montreal is a top global AI hub and was responsible for generating 19% of the foreign direct investment in 2016.
A notable success story is that of Element AI that raised $102 million in Series A funding in 2017. This is the largest an AI company has raised globally in this round. Tech honchos like Facebook, Samsung, Google, and Microsoft have tapped into the potential of the AI ecosystem in Montreal by investing in the local startups in this sub-sector.
Gaming Startups In Montreal
The gaming industry in Montreal is a lucrative one and is the center of the Canadian gaming sector. If you plan to move to Montreal to be a part of its booming gaming sector, you get to be a part of its pool of 10,000 odd gaming professionals. The favorable tax credit for multimedia labor that allows a refund of up to 37.5% for the eligible candidates is one of many conducive factors for the gaming ecosystem. The city is home to gaming publishing honchos like Warner Brothers, Ubisoft, Game Loft and Electronic Arts. The indie game sector of Montreal is also notable for the world’s biggest cooperative of indie studio and gaming startups.
Three Startup Genome members are playing a significant role in bringing unconventional startups to the forefront. These members are Real Investment Management, Centech, and the City of Montreal. Some of the ecosystem partners fuelling the startup culture in Montreal are as follows:
District 3
Quartier de l’innovation
Arche Innovation
PME MTL
Notman
Capital Intelligent
Reseau Capital
Montreal Inc
Startup Fest
Montreal is a gold mine of entrepreneurial opportunities and benefits which can be leveraged to set up and run a successful venture. The dynamic startup ecosystem also provides a great job market for those wanting to work in it. Montreal is a mix of all the right elements needed for a startup ecosystem and moving to Montreal is worth it, thanks to all the favorable factors.