Apply for UCeed investment
Applying for UCeed investment
UCeed investment is awarded competitively, based on a selection process specific to each fund.
Only projects and companies focused on active fund areas will be considered for support. UCeed will extend its investment platform to include additional sectors in the future.
For confidentiality reasons, additional documents cannot be uploaded as part of your application, but you can list other documents that you believe support your application in the Additional Information section for the review committee's consideration. To enforce concise submissions at the initial stage, character limits have been set to 500 words.
If your first application was not successful, you can apply for investment in the next quarter. In some cases, your company/project may not have been at the right stage of development the first time you applied.
Specific application requirements and timelines exist for each fund. Visit the fund page of interest to learn more about the process for each fund.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Staffing
You do not need full-time staff in place before you apply. But, one of the primary objectives of UCeed is to accelerate the development of technology and to do this effectively, your company will require a minimum number of dedicated, full-time personnel focused on developing the company and its associated technology. Should your company receive an investment offer from UCeed, we will propose a reasonable transition period to allow the company enough time to hire its T4 employee(s).
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Incorporation
Your company does not need to be incorporated before applying. However, UCeed only invests in companies so incorporation is required prior to the transfer of investment funds.
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Revenue share agreement
University of Calgary based startups do not need a Revenue Share Agreement (RSA) in place before you apply. However, should your company receive an investment offer from UCeed, one of the conditions will be that an RSA, if applicable, has been executed before UCeed advances funds.
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Investee’s Board seat
UCeed will not request a Board seat as a condition of investment but may request an observer status in some situations. If Innovate Calgary feels the investee may benefit from a governance structure, then it may recommend that an independent director join the Investee’s Board as a condition of investment.
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Staffing
You do not need full-time staff in place before you apply. But, one of the primary objectives of UCeed is to accelerate the development of technology and to do this effectively, your company will require a minimum number of dedicated, full-time personnel focused on developing the company and its associated technology. Should your company receive an investment offer from UCeed, we will propose a reasonable transition period to allow the company enough time to hire its T4 employee(s).
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Intellectual Property
UCalgary has an inventor-owned intellectual property (IP) policy, meaning that UCalgary creators own their inventions, but inventors must enter into a Revenue Sharing Agreement with UCalgary or Innovate Calgary when they are at the point of commercializing.
IP can be assigned to a spinout company in the most efficient and cost-effective manner with no encumbrances or special terms that would be considered detrimental to attracting capital from future sophisticated investors.