Get Backers

Raise money from the public. In Canada. Legally.

Twenty-one days to get your company ready. Three days competing on a live broadcast in front of investors. Then your offering opens to anyone in the country — not just accredited investors, not just people you already know.

Apply to September 2026Applications close August 28, 2026
Up to $1.5M
in a twelve-month period
From $100
minimum investment
Free
to apply and to complete

Stage 1 · Backers Bootcamp

Twenty-one days to be ready

A course you work through, not a webinar you watch. Sessions run online and Gwen — the AI that works inside your Backers workspace — drafts alongside you. By day 21 you have the three things a company needs to raise from the public, and most founders start with none of them.

Your corporate record

Incorporation, cap table, directors, the minute book. Unglamorous — and the thing that most often stops a raise two days before launch.

Your offering document

The Form 45-110F1 every issuer must provide: what you do, what the money is for, and what could go wrong. It is certified before anything opens.

Your audience

The people who will actually fund you. You build it during the 21 days by posting to your channel, and how well you do it is part of how the top ten are chosen.

Everyone who completes the Bootcamp may launch an offering. Nobody is dropped for finishing behind.

Stage 2 · Backers Live

Three days. One house. Ten companies. And the audience can invest while you pitch.

The ten strongest companies from each cohort are flown to a private location in Canada to compete on a live broadcast. You stay there for three days, work with experts, and pitch on air in front of judges — while anyone watching can put money into the companies they believe in, on the spot.

You compete

Rounds, judges and eliminations across three days. The format owes as much to reality television as to a pitch competition, because a pitch nobody watches raises nothing.

It goes out live

Streamed on the Backers Live channel and pushed into the feed. Every session becomes a replay your offering keeps afterwards.

Viewers invest on air

Your offering is pinned to the stream. A viewer taps Invest, verifies who they are, signs the risk acknowledgement, and their money goes into trust — during the broadcast.

Everyone else still launches

Missing the top ten costs you the stage, not the raise. Every company that completed the Bootcamp opens on the same Launch Day.

Being selected for Backers Live is not a view on whether a company is a good investment. It allocates attention, nothing more.

Stage 3 · Your offering

Open to anyone in Canada

Backers is a registered funding portal, so your raise runs under the start-up crowdfunding exemption — National Instrument 45-110. Ordinary people can invest, not only the wealthy or the well-connected.

Anyone can back you

No accreditation test. Investors can put in from $100, up to $2,500 each per offering — so a raise is built from many people rather than a few.

Ninety days to raise

An offering stays open for up to 90 days, and a company may raise up to $1.5M across a rolling twelve months.

Investors are protected

Everyone reads the offering document, signs a risk acknowledgement, and may withdraw within two business days. Their money sits in trust until the raise closes.

September 2026

  1. August 28, 2026
    Applications close

    Anyone can apply. We read all of them.

  2. September 1, 2026 – September 21, 2026
    The Bootcamp runs

    Twenty-one days. On the final day, companies going live sign for the 1%.

  3. September 22, 2026
    Top 10 announced

    Who goes on stage. The selected are told privately first, so they can travel.

  4. September 25, 2026 – September 27, 2026
    Backers Live

    Three days on air. Offerings open together on September 26, 2026.

What it costs

Nothing to apply, and nothing to complete the Bootcamp.

Companies that decide to go forward sign an Issuer Access Agreement and pay an access fee of $9,999.99 plus tax in four monthly instalments. It pays for the diligence work of assessing whether your company can be listed.

That fee pays for the assessment and does not guarantee a listing. Backers may complete its review and decline, and the fee is not refunded if it does.

When you are eligible to go live you sign for 1% of your fully diluted equity, and when your raise closes Backers takes 8% of what you actually raised.

Advisory, marketing and Gwen are separate services you can buy if you want them. None is required, and buying them does not affect selection or listing.

How the top ten are chosen

Completing the Bootcamp earns the right to launch. Selection for Backers Live earns the audience, and it is decided on what you did during the 21 days.

  • How ready the company actually is — corporate record, financials, document
  • The size and engagement of the audience you built during the Bootcamp
  • How clearly you explain what you do and what the money is for
  • Whether the raise is realistic for the stage you are at

Backers reviews every company before it lists and may decline to list one, even when every step is complete and every box is signed. We are the registered portal and we carry that responsibility.

Questions

Mostly about National Instrument 45-110, the rule that makes this legal.

What is NI 45-110?+
The start-up crowdfunding exemption. Securities law normally requires a company to file a prospectus — an expensive document — before selling shares to the public. NI 45-110 creates an exception for small raises made through a registered funding portal, which is what Backers is. It has applied across the participating provinces and territories since 2021.
How much can my company raise?+
Up to $1,500,000 in any twelve-month period, counting every distribution your company and its affiliates make under this exemption. A single offering may run for up to 90 days.
How much can one person invest?+
Up to $2,500 per distribution. If a registered dealer has determined the investment is suitable for them, that rises to $5,000. There is no accreditation test — that is the point of the exemption.
Can investors change their mind?+
Yes. A purchaser may withdraw within two business days of subscribing by notifying the portal, and gets their money back. Until the offering closes, all subscription funds are held in trust rather than passed to the company.
What happens if we do not hit the minimum?+
The offering does not close and every subscriber gets their money back from trust. You cannot take a partial raise below the minimum you set.
Who can use this exemption?+
Broadly: a company whose head office is in Canada, that is not a reporting issuer (not already listed on a public market), and not an investment fund. Your directors and officers must reside in a jurisdiction where the exemption is available.
What is the Form 45-110F1?+
The offering document. It describes your business, how much you are raising, what the money is for, your minimum, the deadline, and the risks. It is not reviewed or approved by any securities regulator — you are responsible for it being true. Backers helps you build it during the Bootcamp, and it must be certified before your offering opens.
And the Form 45-110F2?+
The risk acknowledgement every investor signs before they can put money in. It states plainly that they could lose everything, that the investment is illiquid, and that no regulator has reviewed the offering.
Do I have to become a reporting issuer afterwards?+
No. Raising under 45-110 does not make your company a reporting issuer, so there are no continuous disclosure obligations under this exemption. Your obligations to your new shareholders come from corporate law and whatever you agreed with them.
Can investors sell their shares?+
Not readily. Securities bought this way are subject to resale restrictions and there is no public market for them. Investors should expect to hold indefinitely, and every investor is told this before they invest.
Is my raise guaranteed if I pay the access fee?+
No. The access fee pays for the diligence work of assessing your company. Backers may complete that review and decline to list you, and the fee is not refunded in that case. It is stated in the Issuer Access Agreement and stated here, before you pay.
Does Backers advise investors on my deal?+
No, and it is not allowed to. A funding portal relying on this exemption may not provide advice about the merits of a security. Backers checks eligibility and runs the process; whether a company is a good investment is entirely the investor’s own judgement.
What does Backers take?+
An access fee of $9,999.99 plus tax in four instalments for diligence, 1% of fully diluted equity signed when you become eligible to go live, and 8% of what you actually raise. Advisory, marketing and Gwen are optional extras and never a condition of listing.
What if I do not make the top ten?+
You still launch. Completing the Bootcamp is what earns the right to open an offering; Backers Live allocates attention, not permission. Every company from the cohort opens on the same Launch Day.

This page is a plain-language summary and not legal advice. The governing text is National Instrument 45-110 itself, and the rules can differ slightly by province. Get your own counsel before you raise.

September 2026 is open

Free to apply. It does not create a company or commit you to raising.

Apply to September 2026

Backers Securities Inc. is a registered funding portal. We do not advise companies or investors on the merits of an investment, and nothing on this page is a recommendation or a promise that you will raise money. Start-ups fail often and investors can lose everything they put in. Regulatory information.

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