FedDev Ontario Business Scale-up and Productivity: No-Interest Funding Up to $10 Million

By OptiVal Editorial Desk

Most business owners hear “government funding” and picture grants. The FedDev Ontario Business Scale-up and Productivity stream is a different animal: no-interest repayable funding of $125,000 to $10 million per project for established businesses in southern Ontario. You pay it back, but you pay no interest. For a company planning a big equipment upgrade or a late-stage product launch, that is about as cheap as growth capital gets.

This is FedDev Ontario’s core stream for growing and established companies. It runs on a continuous intake, so there is no round deadline to chase. Here is what it offers, who qualifies, and how to think about an application. All program facts below were verified against FedDev Ontario’s official pages on October 10, 2026.

What the FedDev Ontario Business Scale-up and Productivity stream actually offers

FedDev provides repayable contributions, which work more like a loan than a grant. The key numbers:

• Funding normally runs from $125,000 up to $10 million per project.
• The money is a no-interest contribution. You repay the principal, with no interest charges.
• FedDev normally covers a maximum of 50% of eligible project costs. You and your other funding sources cover at least half.
• Preference goes to projects that maximize funding from other sources, so a smaller FedDev ask relative to total project cost strengthens the application.
• Your matching sources of funding must be identified when you apply, and confirmed within 30 days if the project is approved.
• Eligible costs are new costs essential to the project, such as labour, expertise and equipment. Land and buildings, basic or applied research, and refinancing existing debt are not eligible.

Because it is repayable, FedDev expects a project with real commercial prospects, not just a good cause. The contribution must also be incremental: it should make the project happen or happen faster, not replace financing you could have secured on your own. That is worth internalizing before you spend a week on the application form.

Do you qualify?

The bar is clear and unforgiving, which is actually good news: you can self-screen in about five minutes. FedDev Ontario’s official eligibility requirements for this stream:

• A for-profit business, located and operating in southern Ontario at the time of application.
• Between 5 and 500 full-time employees.
• Incorporated and registered to do business in Canada or Ontario for at least the past three years.
• Co-operatives and Indigenous businesses can also apply.

Note what is missing: there is no requirement to be tariff-exposed, no specific sector, and no minimum revenue figure published. If you are an established company in southern Ontario investing in growth, you are in the target population. Companies with fewer than five employees or less than three years of incorporation are out, which makes this program a complement to earlier-stage supports rather than a substitute.

Projects that fit, and projects that do not

FedDev groups fundable work into three buckets:

1. Developing, commercializing or producing new products, processes and services. Think late-stage product development (technology readiness levels 7 to 9), process improvements that reduce your environmental footprint through new technology, demonstrating a new technology in a working setting, or market diagnostics and studies. Basic research is explicitly excluded.

2. Improving productivity, capacity and competitiveness. This is the bucket most manufacturers will recognize: acquiring, adapting or adopting new technologies or processes, equipment upgrades, automation and related skills development, clean technology adoption, and building management capacity. Projects that use technology made in southern Ontario or Canada get a favourable look.

3. Scaling up or expanding into new markets. Launching new products or services, integrating into domestic or global supply chains, using venture or angel investment to support growth, or reshoring production, R&D mandates or expertise back to southern Ontario.

Every application must show long-term economic benefit: creating and maintaining jobs, growing revenue, increasing exports, and leveraging private-sector money. FedDev expects you to quantify those results and report on them later, so build your projections on numbers your bookkeeper can defend.

How it compares with FedDev’s tariff response funding

FedDev Ontario also runs the Regional Tariff Response Initiative (RTRI), which is the tariff-specific program: non-repayable support of up to $2 million for demonstrated liquidity needs, alongside larger pivot projects. The two programs serve different jobs. RTRI is time-bound and aimed at businesses hit by trade disruptions. The Business Scale-up and Productivity stream is the always-open core program for companies investing in growth regardless of tariffs. If your project is a genuine expansion play, BSP is likely the cleaner fit, and you can only submit one FedDev application at a time.

How to apply

FedDev Ontario is accepting applications, and the intake is continuous, with no published deadline. The process is old-school but straightforward:

1. Gather your mandatory and supporting documents before you start.
2. Download the Application for Funding form to your computer. It must be opened in Adobe Acrobat Reader 10 or later, not in a web browser.
3. Use the official Application Guide to complete each section. Leave question 22 blank.
4. Attach all mandatory and supporting documents through the form’s Add Attachments button.
5. Make sure the submitter is authorized to bind the company, then submit and keep the confirmation message.

If approved, you sign a contribution agreement and confirm all matching funding sources within 30 days of notification. Funding is reimbursed against approved costs as the project proceeds, not paid up front in a lump sum, so plan your cash flow accordingly.

Two practical tips. First, projects with clear, measurable economic outcomes and strong financial capacity do best, because FedDev has to believe you can repay the contribution. Clean books and realistic forecasts are part of the application whether you realize it or not. Second, if you want the application done properly rather than squeezed in between quarters, get professional help. We help small businesses find funding and prepare applications; a funding readiness review starts with our consulting time at $125/hr, and you can check which programs you may qualify for with our eligibility calculator before spending a dollar. Book a free consultation and we will tell you honestly whether BSP is the right vehicle for your project.

Program links: FedDev Ontario: Funding for businesses in southern Ontario (who can apply) | How to apply

Related reading: How to Write a Government Funding Application That Gets Approved | Browse the Learn hub