Partners & Perks

Innovation Factory connects our clients with exclusive discounts and key referrals to services that help accelerate their growth. Check below for specific perks, and more information about our partners that are dedicated to supporting and collaborating with clients.

Click on any of the perks and partners below to learn more about claiming. In most cases, reach out to your client services manager for a connection or if you have any questions about the perks and partners.

Not yet a client and interested in connecting with these partners and perks? Click Here

Are you interested in becoming an annual partner?

Click here to access Innovation Factory's Partnership Opportunities Package.

City of Hamilton

Hamilton is ranked as one of Canada’s most diversified economies, one of Canada’s top 10 places to invest and one of Canada’s top 10 cities for tech talent. The mandate of Hamilton’s Economic Development Office is to act as the central point of contact for business assistance. Its services are geared to serve new start-up companies, corporate relocations, and the expansion and retention of existing business. Its mission is to serve as the catalyst for continued economic growth, job creation, and revitalization in Hamilton.

Innovation Factory can connect you with the right people at the City of Hamilton that will support your local development, regional expansion and international growth.

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McMaster Innovation Park

Where Innovation Goes to Work. McMaster Innovation Park (MIP) is Hamilton’s hub for innovation and development. The industries of focus include life sciences, advanced manufacturing, and aerospace. MIP is Canada’s premier research park offering a collaborative space for start-ups, entrepreneurs, researchers, and industry partners to connect and bring ideas to life. MIP acts as a bridge between research and industry; building relationships and accelerating commercialization.

Innovation Factory clients can access discounted booking rates for meeting rooms when booked through your client services manager.

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McMaster University

As Canada’s most research-intensive university, McMaster University is ranked in the world's Top 75 by the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings. With teaching and research strengths in Health Sciences, Engineering, Science, Business, Humanities and Social Sciences, McMaster is dedicated to advancing human and societal health and well-being.  

Innovation Factory will connect our clients to the right people and places at McMaster. Whether you’re looking for hands-on support from McMaster’s Business Incubator, The Forge; or wanting to access one of the University’s state-of-the art research facilities; or strengthen your talent pool by hiring co-op students or graduates, reach out to your client services manager to make the connection.

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Mohawk College

Mohawk College has been providing a quality, higher education experience to students in Hamilton and the surrounding area since 1967. As one of Canada’s leading colleges for applied research, Mohawk is working collaboratively with a growing number of industry, government and community partners to create innovative solutions to practical problems. These opportunities provide Mohawk students with valuable real-world experiences that cannot be replicated in a classroom.  

Innovation Factory will connect our clients to the right people at Mohawk. Let us introduce you to Mohawk’s Entrepreneurship hub, SURGE, or their hub of applied research and innovation, IDEAWORKS or help you hire developing talent through The Agency within the McKeil School of Business.

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Gowling WLG

Gowling WLG connects Hamilton to the world, and the world to Hamilton. As an international law firm with over 1,400 legal professionals in 19 offices around the world, the firm’s specialist teams collaborate across borders, service areas and sectors to help businesses succeed - no matter how challenging the circumstances.

Gowling WLG leverages international networks and touchpoints in a broad range of business sectors to accelerate Hamilton’s potential for pioneering innovation. Whether you are looking for intellectual property solutions and creative commercialization strategies, or you need to get connected with financing or other professional services, Gowling WLG delivers solutions that help your business thrive. Gowling WLG would be pleased to offer free introductory meetings with Innovation Factory clients.

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SimpsonWigle LAW LLP

SimpsonWigle LAW LLP provides legal services to businesses - large and small, privately owned and publicly held, not-for-profit and charities, as well as individuals who own and run these enterprises. The areas of practice keep pace with business demands and include Business Law, Tax Law, Commercial Litigation, Wills, Trusts and Estate Planning, Business Families Continuity Planning, Employment and Labour Law, Immigration, Condominium Law, Bankruptcy, Insolvency and Restructuring, Real Estate and Land Development, as well as Construction Law.

SimpsonWigle LAW LLP would be pleased to offer free introductory meetings with Innovation Factory clients to discuss their legal needs.

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Meridian

You can feel good about banking with Meridian.  Meridian Credit Union is the second largest credit union in Canada and by far the largest in Ontario. Meridian Credit Union is a growing organization and delivers a full range of financial services online, by phone, by mobile and through a network of over 80 branches and 15 Business Centers in Ontario.  We have over $27 Billion in Assets under management and serve more than 375,000 Members and 25,000 businesses.

Meridian offers clients of Innovation Factory 12 months free banking.

They also provide a host of other services targeted at startups and small business.

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Ridout & Maybee LLP

Canada’s Intellectual Property and Technology Law Firm Ridout & Maybee LLP is a full-service Canadian IP firm with offices in Toronto, Ottawa and Burlington serving clients across the country and internationally. The firm consistently ranks as one of Canada’s top IP law firms in both Canadian and international surveys of in-house counsel.

Ridout & Maybee LLP is especially interested to support export-capable manufacturers of physical goods and free initial consultations are available.

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BDO Canada LLP

Fueling Canadian technology companies. With specialized industry knowledge and experience, BDO offers tax, accounting and advisory services to technology startups and scale-ups across Canada. We can help your business today and grow with you for tomorrow. With extensive national and international resources, we scale our services to accommodate the rapid growth characteristics of successful businesses. BDO offers a variety of services targeted at startups. From launching your business to attracting capital, to expanding into foreign markets. For more information click here to view BDO Start Smart Program.

BDO holds regular office hours and workshops at Innovation Factory.

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Bereskin & Parr LLP

Bereskin & Parr LLP is a leading Canadian full service intellectual property law firm serving clients across all industries around the world. With strong scientific backgrounds and specialized expertise, Bereskin & Parr LLP’s lawyers and agents provide start-up and early stage companies with comprehensive IP services in every aspect of patent, trademark and copyright law. Founded in 1965, the firm has grown to be one of the largest IP firms in Canada with offices located in major economic and technology centres. The firm and its award-winning professionals are consistently ranked as the benchmark for IP law in Canada.

Bereskin & Parr offers complimentary office hours to IF clients and 20% off professionals’ fees for the first 20 hours of IP legal services.

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Cowan Insurance Group

As a prominent Canadian-owned and operated full-service independent insurance brokerage and consulting operation, Cowan Insurance Group provides real value in insurance and risk management solutions to individuals and businesses of all sizes. With over 450 employees operating out of 12 locations across Canada, they partner with leading national and international carriers to advise on and create:
  • Tailored well-being and group benefits solutions, disability management, and retirement programs for your Canadian employees
  • International benefits for employees coming into Canada and working abroad
  • Commercial insurance and risk management solutions, including errors and omissions, directors and officers, and cyber risk, specializing in property, casualty, and credit insurance
  • Key Person Insurance, wealth and asset management and financial/succession planning services for individuals

Innovation Factory clients can ask Cowan about TECHLIFE.  From startup to scale up to large enterprise, Cowan Insurance Group understands technology company lifecycles.

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BDC

BDC is the bank for Canadian entrepreneurs. It provides access to financing, as well as advisory services to help Canadian businesses grow and succeed. Its investment arm, BDC Capital, offers a wide range of risk capital solutions. For more than 75 years, BDC’s only purpose has been to support entrepreneurs in all industries and at all stages of growth. For more information and to consult more than 1,000 free tools, articles and entrepreneurs’ stories, visit bdc.ca.

BDC can offer tech companies:

  • Access to both debt and equity financing as they grow.
  • Repayment terms aligned with their cash flow.
  • The ability to scale without diluting ownership.
  • Access to a seasoned network of advisors to help tackle growth challenges.
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Jones DesLauriers

Jones DesLauriers is a leading insurance, risk management, and employee benefits firm. An industry disruptor, they combine two of the country’s largest independent commercial insurance and benefits brokers. Together, they bring a wealth of intellectual capital and a multidisciplinary approach to serving client needs with best-in-class planning and solution strategies. Jones DesLauriers is the broker of choice for quality conscious insurance buyers who appreciate thoroughly planned, cost effective strategies to insurance and risk management. Their employees are some of the most knowledgeable brokers and consultants in the industry, providing comprehensive insurance advice to allow clients to make informed buying decisions.  

Innovation Factory would be happy to make a warm introduction to the best connections at Jones DesLauriers.

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CBRE

CBRE provides commercial real estate services across the globe. The Innovation Corridor Group focuses on office, lab, and manufacturing spaces in Hamilton and the Toronto-Waterloo Corridor. We help companies find the next great space to grow their team and business. The ICG has more than 30 years combined experience in commercial real estate and has diverse skill and knowledge sets that allow them to represent companies from all sectors of tech.

CBRE holds regular office hours at Innovation Factory.

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NeuronicsWorks Inc

NeuronicsWorks is a multi-faceted engineering services firm that offers turnkey electronic design solutions and provides support through the entire product development lifecycle from ideation to manufacturing. NeuronicsWorks capabilities include hardware design, embedded firmware, software development, application design and development, mechanical and industrial design, graphic and UI/UX design, prototyping, testing support, qualification and certification, mass manufacturing support, Box Build Assembly and PCBA assembly.

NeuronicsWorks offers Innovation Factory clients free consultations.

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Microsoft for Startups

Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub helps remove traditional barriers to building a tech company by democratizing historically inaccessible resources including expert mentorship. Founders can get started on the platform in minutes and gain free access to the technology and support that’s critical to turning dreams into life-changing products.

The benefits vary depending on the stage of your startup.  Microsoft provides benefits that scale with you as your business and team scale. Examples of the types of benefits you can get access to:
– Mentors who are experts in your industry or technology type to help validate your idea
– Azure sponsorship credits that grow with you as your needs increase
– Microsoft 365 productivity tools including Teams for video conferencing, Word, PowerPoint, etc.
– GitHub and Visual Studio Code for developer collaboration

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Google Cloud for Startups

Get access to startup experts, your Google Cloud and Firebase costs covered up to $200,000 USD (up to $350,000 USD for AI startups) over 2 years, technical training, business support, and Google-wide offers.

See the link for more details.

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Amazon AWS

Amazon Web Services provides startups with low cost, easy to use infrastructure needed to scale and grow any size business. AWS Activate is a program with resources designed to help startups get started on AWS.

Let Innovation Factory refer you to AWS for $5K in credits good for 2 years, 1 year of AWS Business support (valued at $1500), plus the opportunity to apply for more.

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Canarie

The DAIR Cloud provides entrepreneurs with free, high-performance, made-in-Canada cloud resources for product development, testing and demonstration.

With DAIR, businesses receive free cloud resources that enable rapid and scalable product design, prototyping, validation and demonstration.

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SolidWorks

Free CAD for Entrepreneurs and Startups from SolidWorks.

12-month accounts of 3DEXPERIENCE Works including Solidworks for CAD, simulation, visualization, and more: Details here.

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Peninsula

Peninsula provides small businesses with an alternative to an in-house human resources team. Peninsula started as a small business and our mission is to help other small businesses achieve their version of success!

One month free access to your own HR and Health and Safety team

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Hubspot

HubSpot is a software platform that helps you generate leads, close deals, manage your pipeline, and delight your customers. HubSpot offers a suite of products for customer relationship management (CRM), content management (CMS), marketing, sales, and customer service: powerful alone, and even better when used together.

Innovation Factory is an Approved HubSpot for Startups Partner.  Apply now to receive the Startup Friendly Pricing to HubSpot’s growth stack software package (All-in-one CRM, Sales, Marketing, and Services plans).

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GitHub

GitHub helps startups plan, track, collaborate, build, test, and deploy software with a holistic and secure platform that scales with them. Go from idea to IPO on the world’s best software development platform with free access to GitHub Enterprise.

Get up to 20 seats of GitHub Enterprise free for one year and 50% off in year two.

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TD

Work with a local TD Tech small business specialist to get the most from your banking relationship. Access tailored products and services, along with tools and resources, all designed to support you and your business.

TD Tech Offer: Open an Unlimited Business Chequing Plan and receive a waiver of the monthly fee for one year, and more.  TD Clean Tech Offer: Receive a waiver of the monthly fee for two years.

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Stripe

Stripe simplifies payments for startups. Whether you’re creating a software subscription service, an on-demand marketplace or an e-commerce store, Stripe’s payments platform helps you build and scale your business online.

As a member of the Innovation Factory community, Stripe offers you:
+ $20K CAD fee-free processing (some restrictions apply)
+ Atlas incorporation for $250 (normally $500)
+ Early access to new product features and exclusive Stripe events
+ Priority-level service

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Ownr

Ownr is the leading platform for Canadian businesses to automate legal work, including incorporations, legal documents & ongoing company compliance. 25,000+ entrepreneurs and lawyers trust Ownr to provide a simple, fast and intuitive legal experience.

As an Innovation Factory portfolio company, you are eligible to receive 15% off your first year on Ownr, which can be used by new businesses to incorporate or existing businesses to manage everything from ongoing company changes to tailored agreements and Employee Stock Option Plans.

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Pocketed

Pocketed helps thousands of small and start-up businesses, just like you, access billions of dollars in untapped non-dilutive funding available every year. Through their (free to use) intelligent matching platform, you are provided a curated list of grants, tax credits, and competitions eligible to your business. You can then access the support you need to get funded through grant writers, legal experts, and more.

Through our partnership with Pocketed, you receive exclusive access to their basic platform and incentives on their premium Pocketed+ service.

25% off upgrades to Pocketed+ (with your referral code)
50% off the first grant through our Managed Solution (with your referral code)
50% off unlimited paid consultation

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Amara Studios

Amara Studios Still & Moving Images creates incredibly powerful photography or videos for companies that are not typically seen as visually appealing or easy to find the story behind the product or service.  We have worked with waste management, transportation, financial, manufacturing, life science and Medtech companies, and more. Our clients require content across many channels — of course social media and advertising but also internal & investor facing. Most often the process begins with the client idea or goal and we work with them as a production team using our past experience to help move the process along quickly and create content above and beyond what is expected.

Just a Minute Video – Let Amara Studios create a 1-minute interview style or explainer video to introduce your company, your research, or your product.
Includes:

  • Half day shoot
  • Professional production, cameras, lighting and planning
  • Script review
  • Post-production services
  • Including basic graphic, lower thirds, titles and royalty free music
  • Delivery as Full HD and 1080p

$1000 + HST (package value $1,500)

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Hybrid ideas

Hybrid ideas is an award-winning branding and design studio. They help businesses define what makes them great, then express it clearly and consistently using superior design.

Whether your startup needs a new brand, website, packaging or other marketing collateral, Hybrid ideas will work with you to develop a brand identity that will have customers and investors buying in.

Innovation Factory clients can access a free hour of brand consulting and save 15% on all services.

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Amar-VR Law

Amar-VR Law is a law firm dedicated to the vision of creators, innovators, and entrepreneurs. Utilizing innovative technology to make navigating legal obstacles more accessible and affordable, Amar-VR Law ensures its clients have an easy, convenient, and memorable experience. Bringing an idea to life is a demanding task that combines an undying passion with dedication and perseverance. With dedicated legal services for Start-Ups and early-stage companies, Amar-VR Law eases the burden by helping their clients build, protect, and grow their businesses.

Amar-VR offers Innovation Factory clients:

  • A free 1-hour initial consultation
  • Unlimited free 15-minute consultations (twice per week)
  • 50% off Incorporation service fees
  • A personalized client portal with 24-hour remote access to your files and documents
  • Flexible rates tailored to your business
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Cion Studio

Cion Studio build and host apps, websites, and digital products so companies don’t need to hire a full time development team. They also offer search engine marketing, social media ads, as well as content creation. Enjoy all the benefits of a dedicated product development and marketing team, at a fraction of the cost.

Cion Studio is offering the following perks to IF clients: 

Design:

  • Design for one home page or landing page
  • Review and give feedback for your company’s app or website

Marketing

  • A free marketing consultation where we help you come up with the best strategy for your business

DevOps:

  • Set up your app/website on the Cion Studio hosting platform (build on GCP) for free, and set up continuous deployment and automatic testing. This includes one staging environment and one production environment (Cion Studio doesn’t cover the Google Cloud Hosting bills)
  • Cover setup costs and any maintenance/monitoring cost for the first month. After one month, paying Cion Studio to maintain your infrastructure is 100% optional. You will have full admin access to the cloud project
  • Provide all hosting at cost for the entire life of the project, meaning Cion Studio will not add any markup on the price of servers and storage
  • One free technical consultation with a Cion Studio developer who will help you make architecture decisions or answer any questions you have
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