BDC Capital Partners With Rotman’s Creative Destruction Lab

BDC Capital, a subsidiary of the Business Development Bank of Canada, has entered into a three-year partnership with Creative Destruction Lab, the entrepreneur training program embedded within the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.

The partnership officially confers the title of Founding Partner on BDC Capital and also earns it a spot on the advisory board at Creative Destruction Lab (CDL).

“We are looking to support as many of Canada’s high-potential early-stage companies as we can, while connecting them to the mentorship and private investments that they need,” says Dominique Bélanger, Vice-President, Strategic Investments and Partnerships at BDC Capital. “We’re now looking to partner with other select accelerators that have demonstrated their ability to produce and support world-class venture-fundable startups in the IT, healthcare and industrial/clean/energy technology sectors. Rotman’s Creative Destruction Lab is a perfect fit.”

The CDL runs an eight-month program that aims to develop student-initiated innovative ideas for commercial markets.

Graduates of the Creative Destruction Lab will also be eligible for BDC Capital’s convertible note investment program, a kind of short-term loan, meant to support a fledgling business during its earliest and most fragile stage of life, that can be converted into shares in the company at a later point, typically after raising a round of real-world venture capital. The notes are repayable after a two-year term if they aren’t converted into equity.

The convertible note program has seen BDC Capital invest $13.2 million in 87 companies across Canada since 2012, with private investors providing an additional $38 million.

BDC Capital already has ongoing partnerships with six other accelerator programs, including GrowLab, Extreme Startups, HYPERDRIVE, Founder Fuel, Execution Labs, and Launch36, as well as a collaboration with health sciences accelerator Accel-Rx.

The Creative Destruction Lab has been intending to get into biotech and healthcare oriented tech applications, and will pursue that line of development with BDC Capital.

Budding entrepreneurs interested in applying for the third cohort at Creative Destruction Lab can apply here before August 28.

Graduates of CDL’s first cohort include Thalmic Labs, Bionym and Vote Compass.

Creative Destruction Lab claims to have generated $100 million in equity value since 2012 and aims to reach $1 billion.