The rise of Shopify, based in Ottawa, Ontario, has boosted Canada’s tech scene in recent years. But what’s it actually like raising money for an early-stage startup in Canada these days?
Zack Elias and Ross Correia, two Shopify alums, are a case study of the possibilities and challenges that lie before Canadian startups. The two cofounded their startup, Reactiv, last year and were candid about the process of raising money. It was hard, they said—day after day, pitch after pitch. Elias and Correia often felt, especially in Canada, that investors didn’t understand how ambitious they were. But they pushed forward.
