The Waterloo Accelerator Centre is an award-winning startup accelerator in Waterloo, ON that is dedicated to building and scaling sustainable, globally competitive companies and giving startups the highest probability of long-term success. It was ranked by Sweden-based intelligence agency UBI Global as the #1 private business accelerator in Canada and among the top 5 accelerators in the world. It has also been named Accelerator of the Year at the Canadian FinTech and Al Awards in 2018 and 2019.
Dr. Paul Salvini, the Accelerator Centre CEO states that “Our cleantech program is nationally recognized as a Canada Clean50 Top Project due to its great contribution to sustainable development and clean entrepreneurship in Canada. The Accelerator Centre created the program based on a clear need to clean, support, strengthen and future-proof the Canadian economy. We are very excited to support the region’s most innovative thinkers with our funded cleantech market validation.”
The Accelerator Centre program offers startups one-on-one guidance and mentoring from an in-house mentor at regular intervals for an average of 24 months. The program also provides access to market research and connections with various investors to accelerate the development of your company.
The Accelerator operates on a four-phase program; Explore, Build, Grow and Scale. The first stage, known as Explore, attempts to help the start-up discover products that someone wants through market validation. The second stage, Build, helps create a product and develop a solid business foundation. The third stage, Grow, expands the companies customer base and grows the business through sales. The final stage, Scale, helps achieve a repeatable business model and helps the business prepare for global success.
The Accelerator Centre is a program that mentors a select few startups in southern Ontario, of which AMPERe was one of the chosen few and has since graduated from the course. The program offered expert guidance and advice on a variety of topics and helped AMPERe develop some strong contacts with potential future clients and investors. In evaluating the future potential of AMPERe engines, the accelerator centre commented that “ The radical design possesses the efficiency, cleanliness, weight and price point to disrupt today’s engine market and its fueling regime could very well make the transportation industry carbon-free.”
Graduating from the Waterloo Accelerator Program is another major milestone in the development of AMPERe’s future and an accomplishment that provides our company with better direction and purpose.