Uncertainty over the Trump administration’s immigration policy and travel ban has technology start-ups increasingly looking to Canada.
Uncertainty over the Trump administration’s immigration policy and travel ban has technology start-ups increasingly looking to Canada.
Sunil Sharma, a partner in Toronto based Extreme Venture Partners , is a designated investor in Canada’s Start-up Visa program. The program grants permanent residence to founders of companies who locate to Canada. Sharma says unsolicited requests for funding have increased threefold in the last month.
« With [this] kind of uncertainty, entrepreneurs are finding it a riskier idea that they are going to be able to move or stay in the U. S., so there has been an increase in the volume of applications, » Sharma said.
One of the companies Extreme Venture Partners invested in is Fulfili. IO, a business management software start-up. Co-founder Sharoon Thomas, says the company chose Canada over the U. S. because « the U. S. system is very difficult to navigate. » Thomas says recent events in the U. S. now makes him feel good about his decision. « There’s a lot of things uncertain about a start-up and you don’t want one more thing on your list to be worried about, so I think that stability is a big factor. »
Political uncertainty led a group of entrepreneurs to set up True North , a for-profit venture designed to help U. S. tech workers with H-1B visas to relocate to Vancouver.
Co-founder Michael Tippett says « tens of thousands » of people have come to its website and they are working with tech companies’ human resources managers to explore options to move teams to Vancouver. « If people have valuable skills and they are able to come in and contribute to the economy, they are more than welcome to make Canada their home. »
San Francisco based payment start-up Kash plans new hires in Toronto because of fear of disruption from the Trump administration. Kash CEO Kasra Nejatian is a Canadian citizen and U. S. green card holder, who was born in Iran. « I’m 100 percent sure more U. S. firms will move offices to Canada and more Canadian firms will hire people stranded because of this order. »
Nejatian sent a tweet after the executive order first hit telling H-1B visa holders he would help them find a job in Canada. Nejatian says he received 200 emails in two days in response.
« It almost doesn’t matter how the courts end up determining this law, » he said. « People don’t want uncertainty. «
