Toronto’s global accelerator

The DMZ

The DMZ , Ryerson University’s business accelerator, has soared during Toronto’s tech boom. In just a few years, it has helped 383 companies raise more than $563.6 million in funding, established a sales growth accelerator program averaging $1.1 million raised per startup, and assembled a world-class network of advisors and investors. Last year, UBI Global ranked it the best university-based incubator in the world. “Our mindset is strictly focused on the entrepreneur, more than anything else,” says executive director Abdullah Snobar. For him, that means helping entrepreneurs get what they want most: growth, and access to international markets. “Companies are coming to the DMZ not just to have a place to live, but also to strategically expand their business through sales and revenue.” The DMZ has been relentless in its quest to help its entrepreneurs grow and go global, giving them access to U.S. investors and customers through its two-week DMZ Roadshow and a new DMZ satellite office in New York. Today, it’s setting its sights even higher, throwing its doors open to entrepreneurs from around the world through its new DMZYYZ program. “We appreciate that we have a lot of great Canadian startups coming out of the space,” says Snobar. “But if we’re not getting into the international market, then we’re not doing our job, which is to help startups build great businesses.” DMZYYZ will fly international entrepreneurs to Toronto for two weeks and give them a crash course in everything Toronto tech, one-on-one meetings with investors and access to the DMZ’s rolodex. “And, of course, we complement that with the Start-up Visa program, which we’re a designated organization for,” says Snobar. The ultimate goal? Convince the world’s best founders to start companies in Toronto. “It all comes down to our first value, which is to put founders first. Does it support our founders? If the answer isn’t yes, then it’s not worthwhile doing.”