Common to each accelerator program:
Dedicated Mentor
You’ll work with a dedicated mentor, one-day per week, who brings years of experience to the table. Each company in our program works with the L-SPARK team and their dedicated mentor to create and execute on a customized plan.
Get Pitch Ready
Our pitch experts are on-hand to give you actionable advice on ways to improve your pitch. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to put your pitch practice to the test during our demo and pitch days, ultimately preparing you for the opportunity to pitch at our marquee events.
Broaden Your Network
Throughout the program, you’ll pitch to venture capital firms, angel investors and corporate partners as appropriate. These meetings will broaden your network and will help you start a dialogue about potential investment or partnership.
Deep Tech. Enterprise. SMB. : SaaS Accelerator
The SaaS accelerator will challenge you to think about how to perfect product-market-fit, identify early adopter prospects, define your sales channels, grow your revenue, build your team, navigate government funding and help you get you “pitch ready” – introducing you to potential angels and VC’s as you raise funding.
We achieve this through an intensive program, tactical and strategic support, relevant workshops and advice from a dedicated mentor who will join your team one day per week. We run weekly Ops Meetings with members from L-SPARK to test your assumptions, brainstorm options, and prepare you for customer and investor meetings.
Women in Tech : Compass North Accelerator
Created in partnership with Queen’s University, Compass North is a five-month accelerator program for women-led companies in the greater Kingston region. Through hands-on mentoring and tactical workshops with industry experts, this program is designed to help you accelerate the growth of your company.
Connected Car : Autonomous Vehicle Accelerator
Founded in partnership with BlackBerry QNX, our Blackberry/L-SPARK Accelerator works with startups who are developing next-generation applications focused on vehicle connected services and cloud connectivity to the vehicle.
Medtech : TELUS L-SPARK Medtech Accelerator
The TELUS L-SPARK Medtech Accelerator supports companies in developing innovative connected medical devices and services aligned with emerging global IoT security standards. This program targeting the medical technology vertical is an offshoot of our Secure IoT Accelerator launched in 2019.
Connected medical devices are part of the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), a segment that was already growing at 25% annually pre-COVID-19. It was predicted that by 2030, 40% of hospitals, practices, and health care organizations will have implemented IoMT into their processes – a rate that is likely to increase with the wider implementation of telehealth catalyzed by the pandemic.
As Canadian leaders in information, communication and cybersecurity technologies, TELUS, BlackBerry, Solace, and CIRA have come together to create a technology platform designed for medtech innovators to accelerate the creation, integration, and commercialization of connected medical devices. Participating companies will have pre-commercial access to this Platform, which follows the GSMA IoT Security Guidelines, including implementation of IoT SAFE.
