Quebec Small Business Loans Guide

Finding the right loan that will meet your particular business goals is a challenging task. Searching through many websites, each with hundreds of pages of information that may not meet your needs, isn’t everyone’s preferred method of getting a loan. We’ve compiled this complete small business loans guide for Quebec entrepreneurs and business owners to help you locate the best lender.

Here, you can find loans specifically targeted at small-sized enterprises, providing a breakdown of the most important points about each one. As a result, you can reduce the seemingly endless process of navigating through websites and get closer to getting your money.

Quebec Startup and Business Business Loans Programs

A successful business helps the economy grow, and that’s exactly what the loans below will help achieve.

Invest Quebec’s Collective Entrepreneurship Program

What exactly is it? The Quebec collective entrepreneurship program is an essential driver of economic growth. Non-profit and commercial organizations can depend on the financing specialists of Investissement Quebec to provide the financial assistance they require to realize their fullest potential.

Moreover, as a complement to financing options for businesses, Investissement Quebec will make it simpler for social economy companies to implement their plans through capitalization loans that complement different sources of capital. By providing additional advantages, quasi-equity loans allow companies to obtain the required funds to start up, expand, and consolidate projects with favorable conditions.

What they can offer:

• Competitive rates on loans
• In partnership with other lenders
• Guaranteed reimbursement of net losses that an institution of finance that has granted you the loan, line credit, or other type of short-term finance
• Quasi-equity Financing as subordinated debt
• Purchase of preferred shares within a cooperative

Repayment terms and loan amount

A minimum loan that is available is $50 thousand. The program can cover up to 100% of project expenses, typically in conjunction with lenders. It will allow you to keep your liquid assets in good condition to continue operations.

Regarding loan repayment, you might be eligible for a payment deferral for 24 months. The financial institution is considering offering loan guarantees with variable terms; however, their availability will be contingent on the company’s situation.

How do you qualify?

Regardless of their area of business or industry, cooperatives, and NPOs must participate in commercial activities to be qualified.

Examples of projects eligible for funding:

• Construction, expansion, acquisition, or renovation of a building
• Equipment or machinery purchased for purchase
• Working capital
• Financing worker-owned cooperatives to buy shares of the employer
• Refinancing

In addition, we are expanding our reach, preparing for market entry into a new area, and considering acquiring intangible assets, such as trademarks or patents, which can significantly enhance a company’s competitive advantage in the market.

Invest in Quebec’s Productivity Innovation Financing

What exactly is it? Investissement Quebec’s Productivity Innovation initiative works to help companies accelerate their growth by increasing efficiency and creativity. The aim is to inspire businesses to take more concrete actions to harness innovation across all forms and implement processes and technologies like automatization, digitization, robotics, and artificial intelligence.

Repayment terms and loan amount

Each business’s situation is different and thus needs a unique plan. Investissement Quebec’s Productivity Innovation initiative offers flexible conditions tailored to meet your requirements.

They provide a term loan of $50 or more to those who qualify. They also offer greater flexibility through the deferral of principal payments for as long as 48 months.

How do you qualify?

Every business operating within Quebec which wishes to expand through innovation and productivity falls within the following sectors:

• Primary agriculture
• Mining
• Construction
• Manufacturing
• Trade in wholesale
• Retail trade
• Storage and transportation
• Technical, scientific, and professional services
• Services for sanitation and waste management

Exclusions could be applicable. Startup operations are not included.

The investment company’s Productivity Innovation initiative wants to identify innovative projects that boost the productivity of small business loans. It could involve a new product, process commercialization, or other operational procedures. Moreover, each option requires careful consideration.

Examples include:

• A process of innovation involving innovative technologies (e.g., expert consulting fees, study costs, etc.)
• Acquisition of new equipment to enhance productivity (e.g., automation, robotization, etc.)
• Integration of information technology to improve the efficiency of processes (e.g., software programs, software)
• Developing new product selling methods (e.g., e-commerce platforms, etc.)
• Improvement or development for new product ideas (e.g., R&D costs, etc.)
• Introducing new organizational processes to improve flexibility (e.g., consulting fees, etc.)

SMBs and Large Corporations Project Financing

What exactly is it? For small and medium-sized organizations and corporations aiming to create novel ideas, the SMB and Large Corporation Project is designed. This SMBs and Large Corporations Project financing initiative can help by offering customized financial support. Furthermore, it caters to businesses of different sizes and encourages innovation for growth. The way they’ll do it includes:

• Credit at competitive rates
• In partnership with other lenders
• Guaranteed repayment of short-term financial obligations is crucial. Moreover, it enhances creditworthiness and provides peace of mind.
• Quasi-equity financing, such as debentures or subordinated debt, offers unique advantages.

The loan’s amount and terms of repayment

The fund can be used to cover 100% of project expenses. The minimum amount of funding is set at $50,000. It is possible to delay the date of principal repayments – as long as 24 months. However, the loan comes with varying terms based on the business’s circumstances.

How to be qualified

The criteria to qualify for this type of loan can be flexible. Here are some scenarios of the industries which could be eligible for these finance options:

• Agriculture
• Insurance and Finance
• The real estate industry (some activities are not included)
• Similar actions and sales to those of the retail sector
• Other industries where the customer base is composed mainly of people, excluding the tourism industry

The eligible projects could be:

• Equipment or machinery purchased for purchase
• Modernization, expansion, or construction of a structure
• Market entry into a new area
• Refinancing
• Tax credit financing
• Transfer of ownership or business succession through a share purchase
• Acquisition or merger
• Acquiring intangible assets (trademarks and patents.)
• Working capital
• Marketing of services or products
• Exporting
• Innovation