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Growth

Go-To-Market Microgrant

The first call under Innovate BC's Microgrant Platform, the Go-To-Market Microgrant helps B.C.-based companies accelerate early sales and marketing efforts by providing non-repayable funding to support key early stage go-to-market activities. The call provides rapid, non-repayable funding of $10,000–$50,000 to help B.C. companies accelerate growth by catalyzing traction, equity creation, and enterprise value. With a streamlined 4–6 week intake, review, and contracting process, the program delivers fast, flexible support for innovators to act on their most pressing business opportunities.  

Whether it’s building brand awareness, launching campaigns, or investing in materials and talent to secure first customers, this call is designed to support early go-to-market activities.  

This initiative is funded by Innovate BC.  

Call Information

The Go-To-Market Microgrant is designed to help B.C.-based startups and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) accelerate their path to market success. Through non-repayable funding support, the call aims to:

  • Enable B.C.-based startups and SMEs to achieve early revenue traction.
  • Support strong go-to-market execution through marketing, branding, and outreach.
  • Improve investor readiness and sales performance.
  • Help companies expand their customer base and market footprint. 

Applicant Eligibility

Applicants must: 

  • Be a for-profit company headquartered in British Columbia
  • Be incorporated and in good standing in B.C. or federally
  • Have a product or service in-market or ready to sell
  • Be able to demonstrate:
    • A clear market opportunity
    • A plan to reach early customers or channels
    • Capacity to execute the proposed activities
    • Established product market fit
    • Secured funding or early revenue: 
      • Tip: From a venture capital perspective, your company has secured Pre-Seed or Seed Funding, great! If your company is post-Series A, you’re probably too late, and if you haven’t needed private capital, tell us why! Also, if this is a completely new line of business, almost like an incubated business within a business, that can be considered on a case-by-case basis.  

Priority may be given to: 

  • Companies who have completed additional ecosystem programming
  • Companies with export potential

Eligible Costs

The call supports a wide range of early sales and marketing costs, including but not limited to: 

  • Marketing & Communications: 
    • Salaries for marketing staff (including fractional or advisory roles) 
    • Paid advertising and digital marketing campaigns 
    • Marketing Tools 

  • Sales Enablement: 
    • Salaries for sales staff or consultants (including fractional or advisory roles) 
    • Sales management tools (first-year only); 
    • Legal costs associated with Contract Development/Review / Retention/Licensing.  

  • Market Development Activities: 
    • Customer validation and pilot demonstrations to secure first customers or test adoption in new markets. 
    • Advanced market assessments including segmentation, competitor analysis, and pricing studies. 
    • Channel and partnership development, including distributors, resellers, or key strategic alliances. 
    • Export readiness and market entry activities such as certifications, localization, or compliance reviews. 
    • Development of go-to-market playbooks or launch campaigns that accelerate customer acquisition. 
    • Regulatory or standards alignment required for entering specific industry markets (e.g., safety, data, or environmental). 
    • Third-party consulting services to refine value propositions, pricing, or positioning in target markets. 
    • Marketing asset localization (translation, packaging, or region-specific adaptation). 

  • Other Activities: 
    • Legal costs associated with the creation or review of standardized master service agreements, licensing terms, or other commercialization-related contracts required for market development, that are designed to streamline customer onboarding and ensure consistent, optimal terms for market entry and growth. 
    • IP protection and brand strengthening, including new trademark and patent filings tied to commercialization, or new foreign filing extensions tied to an expansion strategy. 

If there are activities not included above, they will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.  

Ineligible Expenses 

Funding cannot be used for: 

  • Retrospective costs (expenses incurred before approval) 
  • Ongoing activities and expenses not tied to the project 
  • Capital equipment purchases 
  • R&D, product development, or manufacturing 
  • Legal costs beyond IP filing and contract development. (ongoing prosecution costs are ineligible) 
  • Office rent, depreciation, or internal overhead 
  • In-kind contributions (only cash expenses are eligible for matching) 
  • Non-repayable grants of up to $50,000 per company.
  • Covers up to 75% of total project costs.
  • Requires a minimum 25% cash contribution from the applicant.
  • All funded activities must be completed by March 20, 2026.
  • Reimbursement-based funding: applicants must submit proof of payment for eligible activities. 
  • November 17, 2025: Application intake opens. 
  • November 30, 2025: Application intake closes.  
  • December 15, 2025: Award decisions to be shared with applicants. 
  • March 20, 2026: All technologies projects must have incurred all costs and submitted claims.  
  • March 20, 2027: Results reporting on first year of traction follow-up.  

Applications will be evaluated based on: 

  • Clarity of market opportunity and proposed activities (25%)
  • Readiness to execute (team, product, timing) (25%)
  • Potential impact on sales, partnerships, or visibility (25%)
  • Budget realism and alignment with eligible costs (25%) 

Applicants must submit the following via Innovate BC’s SurveyMonkey Apply portal: 

  • A short online application outlining:
    • Company background
    • Description of the market opportunity
    • Use of funds and expected outcomes (Project Description)
    • (Project) Budget and timeline
      • One supporting quote per subcontracted or third-party service (if applicable)
  • A current customer and/or investor pitch deck
  • A brief description of their IP strategy (Please do not upload any material subject to attorney-client privilege)
  • A risk management matrix  

To learn more about the Go-To-Market Microgrant, email Microgrant@innovatebc.ca

Call Guidelines

Call Guidelines

FAQ

Can Microgrant funding be used to attend an international trade show?

Travel is not an explicitly ineligible expense; however, it is not intended to be a primary cost under this call. Funding may be considered on a case-by-case basis when attendance at an international trade show is clearly tied to advancing commercialization and generating sales impact.

In most cases, the call is better positioned to support registration fees, booth costs, marketing materials, or advertising associated with the event rather than flights, hotels, or general travel expenses.

Applicants should clearly demonstrate how participation will contribute to repeatable revenue, customer acquisition, or new market development.

Do eligible salary costs apply to existing employees, new employees, or only contractors?

Salary costs are eligible only when they support a net new role created for the project. This can include either employees or contractors.

A net new role may include:

  • A new hire brought on specifically to complete project activities; or
  • An existing contributor (e.g., part-time staff, hourly workers, or contractors) whose responsibilities are being expanded into a new, clearly defined role tied directly to the project; or
  • An existing full-time employee whose current project or contract is ending and who is transitioning into a new project-specific role.

The key requirement is that the funded position must represent new, incremental work that would not occur without Microgrant support. Routine operational salaries are not eligible

How does Innovate BC define “early-stage revenue” for this Microgrant call? Are there limits on years in market, profitability, or total revenue generated?

For this call, “early-stage revenue” refers to companies that are still working toward establishing repeatable, scalable revenue, even if they have already generated sales. The focus is not on the absolute dollar value of past revenue, but on whether the company is still in the process of:

  • Validating product-market fit,
  • Transitioning from one-off or project-based revenue to repeatable revenue, and/or
  • Entering new markets or customer segments where repeatability has not yet been proven.

There are no strict limits on total revenue, years of revenue, or profitability. Companies that have raised pre-seed or seed capital—and even some that have generated significant revenue—may still be eligible if they can clearly demonstrate that Microgrant funding will materially accelerate their path to repeatable revenue.

For example, a company generating $1–$5M in revenue may still qualify if their existing revenue is not yet stable, recurring, or scalable, and the proposed project would directly support the development of repeatable revenue streams. However, higher-revenue companies will need to clearly articulate how a $50,000 grant will meaningfully move the needle and why they remain early-stage in terms of commercialization.

The key consideration across all applicants is the strength of the case that the project advances new repeatable revenue, not historic revenue levels alone.

How much funding is available, and how many projects will be funded?

As this is the first call of this kind for Innovate BC, we expect it to be highly competitive. We have ~$500,000 available for this intake and anticipate supporting approximately 15–20 projects, depending on project size and demand.

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