Canada is full of big ideas. From coast to coast, founders are building technologies with the potential to reshape industries, strengthen communities, and solve problems that extend far beyond our borders. But while innovation is everywhere, successful companies are not. The difference between a brilliant idea and a globally competitive business often comes down to one thing: the right support, at the right time, from the right people.
In Waterloo Region, that support has had a home for nearly two decades.
For almost 20 years, the Accelerator Centre (AC) has helped shape the entrepreneurial identity of Waterloo Region, earning a reputation as one of Canada’s most established and respected startup accelerators. We were built on a simple belief: when you back founders early, you don’t just build companies—you build futures.
We’ve spent two decades proving that entrepreneurship is not just an idea or a buzzword. It is a craft. It is a discipline. It is a commitment to building something meaningful from nothing. And we are proud to be the place where many of Canada’s most ambitious early-stage founders come to do that work.
Over the years, we have supported more than 1,000 companies as they’ve transformed early concepts into real businesses, creating jobs, raising investment, and driving innovation across industries.
What sets us apart is our founder-first approach. We exist to create an environment where founders can accelerate progress at the exact moment when momentum matters most.
From the beginning, we’ve been grounded in what founders actually need in the early stage: access to capital, tactical support from experienced experts, and industry connections that open doors. These aren’t trends for us. They’re core to who we are and how we operate.
Founders who walk through our doors join a culture that is ambitious, demanding, and forward moving. It’s a place where progress is expected. Where execution is valued. Where the real work of entrepreneurship happens, every day.
A major part of that work is helping founders access capital. Even the strongest ideas need fuel. We’ve always understood that early-stage funding can be the difference between a company that stalls and a company that scales. That’s why we help founders access diversified pathways to capital, connect to investor networks, and build the readiness they need to raise pre-seed and seed funding with confidence.
But we also know that capital alone doesn’t build sustainability. Revenue does. Customers do. Market traction does. That’s why we emphasize building strong revenue models and helping founders sharpen their business fundamentals early, so their companies are built not just to raise money, but to last.
Equally important is our commitment to real support from experienced experts. We believe founders need more than advice; they need hands-on help. We surround founders with people who can roll up their sleeves and help execute, troubleshoot, and accelerate. Whether a founder is navigating sales strategy, intellectual property, or emerging technologies like AI, we connect them with tactical expertise that helps move the business forward.
And we know entrepreneurship is powered by relationships. That’s why industry connections are central to what we do. We act as a bridge between founders and the networks that can change the trajectory of a company: investors, mentors, corporate partners, alumni, and ecosystem leaders. We create spaces where introductions become partnerships, conversations become customers, and founders gain access to opportunities that might otherwise remain out of reach.
Over time, this work has contributed to something larger than any single startup. It has helped build a culture of innovation that has become part of Waterloo Region’s identity.
Our impact is visible not only in the companies we support, but in the ripple effects those companies create. When founders succeed, they build teams. They create jobs. They attract investment. They inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs to believe that building something world-class from Waterloo isn’t just possible—it’s expected.
As Waterloo Region continues to grow as a national leader in innovation, we remain one of its strongest foundations: a trusted institution that has spent nearly 20 years proving that early-stage founders deserve more than encouragement. They deserve a community that challenges them, experts who guide them, pathways to capital that support them, and a network that believes in them.
Because the future of Canadian innovation will not be built by accident.
It will be built by founders—and by the organizations with the credibility, experience, and conviction to back them early.
And in Waterloo Region, we are proud to be that place.
