Frequently asked questions

First, you need to schedule a call to present your project to us. A selection subcommittee will then evaluate the technological innovation and commercial potential of your project. If the project passes this stage, you will be invited to present it to the selection committee within 30 days. This committee will then evaluate your project in depth. The review can take 2 to 3 weeks. Finally, you will be sent a positive or negative answer, or a request for additional information.

For our purposes, an innovative technological project means that your project has a technology component (the project as a whole can have a technological aim, or can include a technological stage of production / business process), and an innovative aspect (the project must include an added value proposition compared to existing offerings on the market).

Consult our portfolio of companies for a better idea of accepted projects.

To maximize companies’ chances of success, projects in collaboration with one or more partners are preferred. However, you can submit your project even if you are alone. Depending on your company’s technological potential, your project progress and several other variables, yes, your project could still be selected.

Any innovative technological entrepreneurial project can be accepted at ACET. Furthermore, candidates do not need to be still studying: our goal is to maximize technology companies’ chances of success, regardless of their origin. For this reason, technological potential is a much more important factor in project selection than the background of the entrepreneur.

At a minimum, you must have a proof of concept or alpha prototype of the technological innovation that will be at the core of your business project; preferably be a team; and have commercial potential from a technology standpoint.

If you meet the qualifying criteria listed above, you can schedule a call with us at any time.

Our support is personalized in that we support each company individually rather than all companies in a general way. There is no cohort. We respond to your company’s specific needs and our support is adjusted according to your pace, your project development stage, your knowledge, your requests, etc.

We primarily set ourselves apart from other accelerators by the nature of our personalized support as explained above, by our Acet Capital investment funds that helps you transition to the commercialization stage, and by our partnership with iA7, a market intelligence service that gives you a global strategic outlook on your market (market analyses, competition and technology studies, identification of business opportunities, establishment of monitoring systems, etc.).

The following investment criteria refer to key factors that will influence our investment decisions:

• Your company must be incorporated and have its head office in Quebec.
• The major part of your company’s operations must take place in Quebec.
• You must demonstrate strong entrepreneurial ability: skills, experience, ability to surround yourself with the right people, openness to coaching, etc.
• At least one of your cofounders must be involved full-time in the company.
• You must demonstrate that the target market is large and contains plenty of growth potential.
• Your business model must demonstrate growth potential that is sufficient to achieve profitability in an acceptable time frame.
• The funds must serve to accelerate the achievement of steps that add value to your company, that is, the completion of your product’s technological development and its commercialization.
• Risk sharing with other investors is encouraged. You must also contribute financially to the project as much as you can.
• Fiscal projections must be based on credible assumptions.
• The uniqueness of your product/service makes you stand out from the competition and creates a barrier to entry. This uniqueness should, if appropriate, have intellectual property protection.
• Your company must propose an exit strategy and define the steps to achieve it.
• The investment cannot be used to repurchase the stake of existing partners.
• The project must respect environmental protection measures and meet the requirements of all regulatory bodies.

When it comes to reinvestment, the achievement of agreed-upon benchmarks during the previous round will be very important. These benchmarks can be technological (technical production), commercial (storefronts, early adopters), financial (interest from new funders/contributors) or related to human resources (hiring an expert, forming an expert panel).

A reinvestment in your startup is possible for a maximum of $500 000 per company, for all stages.

For companies in the seed and startup phases, a holding period of 6 to 7 years is seen as realistic.
Following this holding period, a release should be possible and could take various forms:

• Share buyback by existing shareholders.
• The sale of the company to a major player in the industry that is interested in the company’s market potential and its intellectual property.
• A merger of the company with another company.
• And, rarely, an IPO (initial public offering).

A company at the precommercialization stage is a company that must have developed a working prototype and have a preliminary sense of its added value. Approaches to clients who are “early adopters” have been done to confirm assumptions about the product and the market. The business model is starting to take shape.

A company at the commercialization stage is a company that is preparing its sales strategy and refining its business model. The target market and how to reach it are better defined. Initial sales are expected within the next six months.

A company at the growth stage is a company that has reached an advanced stage of sales maturity (series A) and steady growth.