About ACCEL NORTH

ACCEL NORTH is a newly minted tech accelerator located in the vibrant core of downtown St. Catharines. Our accelerator is dedicated to building and scaling sustainable, globally competitive companies that allows for the highest probability for long term success. Our ecosystem has its own internal engines of incubation, external incubator partners that feed the tech accelerator.

ACCEL NORTH offers a customized approach to scale up and acceleration programming. Personalize mentorship and programming is designed around your strengths and weaknesses and helps to break down the barriers, problems or issues hindering the growth of your start-up. Our customized programming is a result of bridging mentors and partners with a support network to make sure that you are successful in your venture.

Our Mission:

ACCEL NORTH’s mission is to create a tech accelerator and innovation hub to bridge Buffalo and Niagara to the emerging Toronto–Kitchener–Hamilton corridor.  This initiative will help to positively impact the Region’s economy and job creation opportunities.

Our Goals:

• Attract and retain youth in the region by providing educational, entrepreneurial and sustainable career opportunities
• Provide a centralized location for private and non-profit innovation organizations to work collaboratively
• Create a large innovation ecosystem from incubation to acceleration
• Accelerate promising start-up innovators towards becoming self-sustained ventures
• Increase new job opportunities within the Niagara Region
• Cultivate an ecosystem of entrepreneurs, mentors, investors and solution providers

Why Niagara?

Niagara is ‘the link’ between Canada’s largest metropolitan area, Toronto, 55% of the US population and 60% of Canada’s – all within a one day’s drive.

We have direct access to a large and growing market of 1.86 million people within 45 km. Distribution and manufacturing operations choose Niagara Falls for its ideal border location next to New York State and its extensive multi-modal transportation network.

The recreational activities in Niagara are world renowned, with a thriving tourism sector, over 100 wineries & breweries, large provincial parks, beaches and a vibrant cultural scene, and much more. Niagara has all the big city amenities without any of the usual big city headaches like traffic or expensive real estate!

110 James St. in St. Catharines is a 48,930 square foot building that has been recently renovated from a Class B commercial office building into a Class A innovation hub. The space is centrally located in the core of downtown St. Catharines, across from City Hall and on the corner of Church St. and James St.

Benefits of Accel North in Niagara

A Tech Hub

ACCEL NORTH was created to provide an open and modern environment for companies to grow their start-ups with minimal overhead while having access to a wide range of support services, mentorship and networking opportunities in a state of the art facility.

An Accelerator

ACCEL NORTH is the first tech accelerator in Niagara that fills a gap in the innovation ecosystem when a company is ready to scale to commercialization.

Private Scale-up and Acceleration Suites

The 3rd floor provides startups with 7 private scale-up and acceleration suites ranging in size from 250 sq. ft. to 1300 sq. ft. Housing a number of these companies all under one roof will also have the benefit of allowing like-minded people to share ideas, questions, problems, and grow their companies in a tech community.

Partnerships

Our partners are the strength behind ACCEL NORTH and why we are able to provide the blueprints for success to help entrepreneurs in high growth industries take their next step to success. Our partnerships are community partners, innovation partners, technology and building partners.