One of the country’s largest professional services firms has inked a long-term deal to become a “trusted adviser” to startups in Invest Ottawa’s incubator at Bayview Yards.
MNP said this week it’s signed an agreement to provide both financial and professional backing to early stage companies at the local innovation hub for up to three years. Financial terms of the deal were not released.
Invest Ottawa CEO Mike Tremblay said MNP has a strong track record of working with companies in a broad range of sectors, particularly tech. He said its experience in helping startups tap into government programs such as the emergency wage subsidy and various R&D grants will go a long way toward putting companies in Invest Ottawa’s incubator on solid footing as they aim to scale up.
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“It was natural for them to jump in and become a full-on sponsor, and I’m really thrilled that they are,” Invest Ottawa CEO Michael Tremblay said. “These (services) really matter when you’re an early stage company trying to figure it out.”
The Calgary-based firm, which has more than 80 offices across Canada, also has thousands of clients in the agricultural space – another plus for Invest Ottawa as the economic development agency aims to grow the city’s agritech sector, he added.
“That was very attractive to us,” Tremblay said. “We’re trying to build that business over time.”
Invest Ottawa already has agreements with a number of other corporate and institutional partners, including Microsoft, RBC and the Business Development Bank of Canada.
