Three GrowLab Companies Nominated To Receive Permanent Residency From Startup Visa Canada

February 23, 2023

GrowLab announced this morning that it has nominated three companies to receive permanent residency from the Startup Visa Canada program: Cognilab, Retsly and Zeetl.

The Startup Visa Canada program was introduced on April 1st and currently has three streams to help foreign entrepreneurs to migrate to Canada: VC stream, Angel Investor stream and Business Incubator stream.

The Business Incubator stream is the latest addition to the program and was announced by Minister Chris Alexander last week at Canadian Business Incubator Association (CABI) annual conference. As a designated organization GrowLab is now eligible to put forward candidates from its cohort to receive the Startup Visa.

Since its inception, GrowLab has supported bright foreign entrepreneurs to accelerate their businesses in Canada.

Ukranian Stanislav Korsei, co-founder and CEO of Zeetl, shared in today’s announcement that he chose Canada for the better environment to grow businesses, as well as the support available for startup companies. Stanislav said: “As an entrepreneur, I feel more empowered by the Startup Visa Canada program. I can now focus on growing an innovative company in Canada to disrupt telecommunication industry world wide instead of worrying about visa applications and extensions for me and my family.”

Joshua Lopour, co-founder and CEO of Retsly, echoed that statement. He stated: “Canada has done a fantastic job supporting entrepreneurs with tax-based incentives. Now that the Business Incubator stream has been introduced, foreign business owners like myself can finally feel secure in calling Vancouver home.“

José Barrios, CEO of Cognilab added: “In the highly-competitive startup environment, entrepreneurs cannot afford to skip a beat. Foreign entrepreneurs growing their companies the US lose valuable time dealing with a broken immigration process that often takes years to complete. Thankfully, Canada gets it – the recently announced Canadian startup visa allows foreign entrepreneurs to easily move their companies and start creating jobs in the Canadian economy.”

GrowLab is currently accepting applications for its next cohort and welcome foreign entrepreneurs to apply.