Tech@RBC Momentum Grants

Accelerating the growth of the next
generation of U of T technology startups

The 2024 Tech@RBC Momentum Grants will award $25K to four U of T ventures to help them scale faster.

Applications are closed.

Overview

Introducing the Tech@RBC Momentum Grants, designed to provide non-dilutive financial support to early-stage tech startups. Four grants, valued at $25K each, will be awarded to successful applicants who demonstrate alignment with at least one of these themes:

What can the Momentum grant be used for?

The $25K Momentum grant can be used to cover the costs of products and services that are critical to helping companies scale, including but not limited to: 

  • Legal, financial, accounting, and other professional services
  • Protecting intellectual property (IP)
  • Marketing (brand development, web design, customer acquisition, advertising, PR) 
  • Product design and development 

Momentum grant recipients will also receive: 

  • Mentorship
    • Two mentorship sessions with the RBCx Early-Stage Ventures team focused on advising, mentoring, and supporting pre-Series A tech startups across Canada  
    • Additional opportunities to engage with a broad range of domain experts at RBC 
  • ONRamp Membership
    • Access to U of T Entrepreneurship’s co-working space at the new Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus
    • Access to our exclusive Startup Perks program
    • Includes up to three (3) ONRamp memberships for team members
  • Demo Booth
    • A demo booth at the True Blue Expo @ U of T Entrepreneurship Week (March 7, 2024) 

How it works

To be eligible for a Tech@RBC Momentum Grant, ventures must: 

  • Have current, full-time U of T students*, or recent alumni (i.e. graduated no earlier than June 2021), form at least half of the founding team.
  • Lead applicant must be a current U of T student and a member of the founding team.
  • Be incorporated by the time the funds are awarded.
  • Secured less than $250,000 in total funding and generated less than $100,000 in revenue since inception.
  • Have completed Level 1 of U of T’s IP Education Program (each student) 
  • Be available for in-person interviews the week of January 29, 2024 

*This includes U of T students from all three campuses, international students, undergraduate, masters, graduate, post-doc and professional degree students.  

In addition, we strongly encourage applications from teams that are diverse and representative of the U of T student body. 
We also strongly encourage teams to be active members of one of U of T’s 12+ campus accelerators. 

December 4, 2023

Applications open

January 15, 2024

Deadline to apply

Jan 29 – Feb 2, 2024

Finalist interviews

Early February 2024

Recipients announced

March 7, 2024

True Blue Expo @ UTE Week

Successful teams will demonstrate the following on their application: 

Traction – Early revenue, customers, minimum viable product, letters of interest from potential clients, etc. 

Impact – Working on a solution that will have a broad and positive impact on society. 

Use of funds – Outline how (and for what purpose) the funds will be used and how it will impact the growth of the company. E.g. “If I receive the grant I will hire a marketing person who will help me potentially grow my business by X% in the coming two quarters.” 

Team – Domain expertise, skillset, commitment, additional supports (advisors, mentors, etc.) 

Alignment with themes:  

  1. Enterprise SAAS (software as a service)  
  2. FinTech
  3. IoT (internet of things) 

Please direct all questions regarding the Tech@RBC Momentum Grants or application process to:

entrepreneurs@utoronto.ca
Subject line: Questions: Tech@RBC Momentum Grants

2024 Grant Recipients

Spero Analytics

Spero Analytics builds automated IoT solutions for large-scale greenhouse gas monitoring, enabling landfills and oil refineries to track and mitigate methane emissions in compliance with environmental regulations.

Learn more.

Pendium Health

Pendium Health, founded by a group of physicians, is developing a suite of AI-powered tools to improve physician productivity and support comprehensive patient care.

Learn more.

SilicoLabs

SilicoLabs has developed a no-code behavioural analytics platform for creating real-world simulations for humans and AI.

Learn more.

Factors Education

Factors Education built the first worksheet as a conversation tool driven by AI for K-12 classrooms. The idea is to save our teachers 90% of time prep-ing and marking assignments, and offer students a fully personalized discussion on any subject with immediate feedback.

Learn more.

Delivered by U of T Entrepreneurship in partnership with RBC