Feature
Update 2023/6/26
UN Innovators
Start-up Accelerator & Innovation Engine For Promising Cleantech Ventures
Quebec's Cycle Momentum offers personalized training, access to top investors
By Suzanne Forcese
“Quebec’s Cycle Momentum offers personalized training, access to top investors.
“Cycle Momentum is an accelerator and open innovation platform that brings together an international collective of entrepreneurs, investors, and innovators. Our mission is to enable entrepreneurs, investors, and companies to find innovative solutions to the major ecological challenges facing humanity.” -- Patrick Gagné, CEO Cycle Momentum
BECAUSE IT TAKES A VILLAGE
“We bring together a collection of innovators, entrepreneurs, mentors, and investors,” Patrick Gagné told WATERTODAY in an interview. “It is a horizontal platform that really is life-changing for the clean-tech start-ups just at the cusp of commercialization. For many start-ups, this is the impetus for moving forward that they would not otherwise achieve.”
Gagné who came to Cycle Momentum in 2020 with 25 years of experience in technology and entrepreneurship in Montreal, is also one of the organizers and partners of the
“We want investors to meet start-ups, we want entrepreneurs to connect with researchers. We want all these folks to come together and collaborate.”
The Quebec Climate Solutions Festival has taken its cue from Israel, “because Israel is really the most advanced in climate change technologies we are serving as the Canadian mirror. And in fact, Israel is also mirroring Canada. The Festival and its challenges to start-ups are putting Canada on the map as a global leader in climate change solutions.”
MENTORSHIP
“Cycle Momentum offers a unique opportunity for start-ups by bringing together mentors from Canada, the US, and beyond, that include business specialists, experts in intellectual property, digital marketing, engineers, clean-tech entrepreneurs, researchers, VCs, and corporate investors—all who understand the challenges of the start-up.”
By offering this selective mélange of advisors, Gagné adds that access to clients, investors, and top talent collapses time – something that is much needed in the race for climate change solutions.
Water technology, Ag-Tech, Clean Energy, Urban-Tech, and Green Chemistry are the sectors which Gagné identifies in that race for climate change solutions.
“We have recently announced our first cohort of the Acceleration program 2023 Global Edition dedicated to the ‘Beyond Plastic and Upcycling Sectors.’
The impetus for adding this challenge came from the recognition that “today’s economy is hugely wasteful. Resulting from a system based on the linear take-make-waste model, resource extraction and processing accounts for more than 90% of biodiversity and freshwater loss, while 45% of global GHG emissions stem from how things are made and used, how we grow our food, and how we manage our land and resources.”
CIRCLE OF PARTNER FUNDS
Cycle Momentum has strengthened the participation of investors in clean technologies.
“The more investors we have in this circle, the more we attract. It also benefits everyone involved in attracting top talent. We can have a 3–4-hour meeting with 5-10 start-ups, giving the start-ups a life-changing opportunity while providing investors with the opportunity to play a part in emerging technologies.”
Gagné adds that many corporate businesses such as Hydro Québec and Cascades have partnered in challenges with Cycle Momentum to engage world-class start-ups.
“We receive funding from the Québec Government and benefit from the collaboration of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, Cycle Capital, the Green Fund, Écotech Québec, Fasken, and the City of Montreal.
We are also attracting investments from small businesses and non-profits so it is exciting to see how this momentum circulates.”
Gagné is aiming to showcase and expand Québec’s and Canada’s presence on the world stage over the next few years following Cycle Momentum’s win-win-win model because it does indeed take a village.
|
