MAIN Québec (Mouvement des accélérateurs d’innovation du Québec) will spend $29 million on a project that will fuel the coaching of 375 Quebec startups. To do that, MAIN is getting a three-year, $12.5 million subsidy from Quebec’s government, running from now until 2023.

The project seeks to help Quebec startups reach their growth stage faster.

“We need the inventiveness and audacity of our new entrepreneurs to accelerate innovation and increase our collective wealth,” said Pierre Fitzgibbon, Quebec’s Minister of Economy and Innovation. “Support projects such as PMEit encourage Quebec’s entrepreneurial fibre. It’s the kind of initiative that we must support to help entrepreneurs in a context of economic recovery.”

The companies will receive intensive coaching up to a maximum value of $75,000, according to MAIN Quebec. This will help them transition from commercialization phase to growth phase.

MAIN says it possesses a network of more than 500 coaches and experts that “understand startup reality.” They’ll help startups regardless of where in Quebec they’re located.

Marie Eve Proulx, the minister for regional economic development, said that regional economic development in Quebec rests on visionary companies who make a bet on new technologies.

“In every region, there are audacious young business people ready to tackle the challenges that come with entrepreneurship,” said Proulx. “We are lucky to be able to count on such strong allies as MAIN and its partners to support them. The Quebec government is proud to renew its support for PMEit.”

Not the first time MAIN has done this

The first version of MAIN’s service helped support 171 companies between 2018 and 2020, in collaboration with 38 organizations. The startups came from 15 different regions throughout the province, including about half from outside of Montreal.