Updated June 2026 · Verified against Investissement Québec guidelines
Mixed (Advance + Reimb.)
Loan Provincial Active

Investissement Québec — Project Financing

Investissement Québec
Loan Range
Varies
Ongoing
Visit Official Program →
Difficulty
Hard
Payment
Mixed (Advance + Reimb.)
Trend
Stable
First-Timers
—
Financing share
50%
Investissement Québec — Project Financing offers funding that varies by project. Provides financing solutions to support Quebec businesses at all stages of development, including loans, guarantees, and equity investments. The program covers up to 50% of eligible costs. Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis.

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Eligibility & Details

What this program funds and who can apply

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Program Description

Provides financing solutions to support Quebec businesses at all stages of development, including loans, guarantees, and equity investments.

Eligibility Requirements

  • Business headquartered or operating in Quebec
  • Project generates clear economic spinoffs for Quebec (job creation, productivity, exports)
  • Not a retail business, restaurant, catering company, or transportation service provider (for most streams)
  • Government bodies and non-profits are ineligible for most ESSOR financing components
  • Real estate developers are ineligible
  • Demonstrates capacity to service the financing (loans and guarantees) or accept equity terms
Provinces
Industries
All
Business Stage
Startup Growth Expansion

Quick Assessment

Difficulty
Hard
Competition
Moderate
First-Timer
Not rated

Funding Details

Amount
Varies
Type
Loan
Level
Provincial
Financing share
Up to 50% of eligible costs
Deadline
Ongoing

Program Scorecard

Competition, effort, and approval at a glance

Competition
Moderate
Deadline
Ongoing
Approval
Moderate
Accessibility
2/5

Difficult — significant preparation needed

Competition
3/5

Moderate competition — prepare a strong application

Difficulty
4/5

Complex — detailed documentation needed

Approval Rate
Processing Time
Budget Trend
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How to qualify

Insider tips, common pitfalls, and what successful applicants look like

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Insider Tip

IQ is primarily a lender and investor — not a grant provider.

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Rejection Pitfalls 7

  • Business not headquartered or significantly operating in Quebec
+6 more pitfalls
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Success Profile

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Evaluation Criteria

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How Investissement Québec judges your application

What the reviewer scores, what gets applications rejected, and what to write.

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Written answers1no length limits stated

Distilled from 6+ source documents on investquebec.com, condensed into one brief. Sources as of 2026-09-07.

6 of the sources

The form1 prompts shown

Contact details4 sections
  1. 1Prénomshort answer
  2. 2Nomshort answer
  3. 3Courriel professionnelshort answer
  4. 4Téléphoneshort answer
Company3 sections
  1. 5Entrepriseshort answer
  2. 6Secteur d'activitéselection
  3. 7Région administrativeselection
Your request3 sections
  1. 8Quel type de service désirez-vous ?selection
  2. 9Souhaitez-vous nous en dire plus sur vos besoins ou vos objectifs?written answer

    Souhaitez-vous nous en dire plus sur vos besoins ou vos objectifs? (Merci de ne pas partager des informations personnelles ou confidentielles)

  3. 10J'aimerais m'abonner à l'infolettrecheckbox

Investissement Québec states no length limits for these answers.

Judged against2 questions

  1. 1

    Is this a financing request we can route?

    Show them Select Financement as the service and state the financing need or project objective in one or two non-confidential lines.◦

  2. 2

    Can our team reach this business?

    What to show them in Premium

Where applicants failin Investissement Québec’s words

“Merci de ne pas partager des informations personnelles ou confidentielles”

From application to money

  1. Contact Investissement QuébecContact Investissement Québec via public intake
  2. Send the service requestSubmit intake with Financement selected
  3. Route identifiedRoute depends on product selected
  4. Product-specific formDÉPART emailed form; clicSÉQUR; referral partners
In the funder’s words · 4
Contact Investissement Québec
Investissement Québec through the public contact intake
Send the service request
Submit the public contact intake with Financement selected, then follow the route Investissement Québec identifies for the applicable loan, investment, or government programme.
Route identified
Any later applicant and submission route depend on the product selected.
Product-specific form
DÉPART uses its own emailed form, PIEC and PSCE volet 2 use clicSÉQUR, and Fonds Impulsion uses referral partners.

Quoted lines are word for word from the source documents; lines marked ◦ are our reading of them.

What's in this Playbook

Everything you need to secure Investissement Québec — Project Financing

Not a marketing summary. The actual checklist, intel, and stack strategy reviewers look for.

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Application Playbook

Step-by-step process, required documents, and expenses

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Application Steps

1 Contact an IQ regional advisor Call 1-844-474-6367 or use the contact form on investquebec.com. Request a meeting with the regional advisor for your area. IQ has advisors in all 16 Quebec administrative regions. This call is free and is the most important step — advisors design the full financing stack.

Required Documents 7

✓ 2–3 years of financial statements (audited preferred)
✓ Business plan with financial projections

Eligible Expenses 3

Ineligible Expenses 8

Deadline Notes

Ineligible Organizations

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Funding Stack Strategy

Compatible programs, clawback risk, and combined funding potential

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Compatible Programs

NRC-IRAP (most common pairing CanExport SMEs SR&ED provincial tax credit CED Quebec BDC FedDev Ontario (not applicable Fonds FTQ / Caisse de dépôt
Combined Funding Potential See your total funding potential

Clawback Risk

Medium Risk
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How Investissement Québec — Project Financing Compares

Side-by-side with similar programs

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Program Amount Difficulty Payment Deadline
Investissement Québec — Project Finan... Varies Hard Mixed (Advance + Reimb.) Ongoing
CanExport SMEs Up to $50,000 Moderate Mixed (Advance + Reimb.) Between intakes — the...
CED Quebec — REGI Business Scale-up a... CED publishes no dollar range.... Moderate Reimbursement Ongoing
BDC Newcomer Entrepreneur Loan $25,000 to $50,000 Easy Loan Ongoing
Quebec R&D Tax Credit (CRIC — Researc... 20-30% tax credit (CRIC) Hard Tax Credit Offset Ongoing

Related Programs

Other programs you might be eligible for

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Frequently Asked Questions

Quick answers to the questions founders most often ask about Investissement Québec — Project Financing

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Is my business eligible for ESSOR grants?
Only if headquartered in Quebec, not in retail/restaurant/real estate, and undertaking feasibility studies or digital transformation (not full-scale projects). ESSOR grants max at $50,000 for SMBs.
What's the realistic grant amount for digital transformation?
ESSOR Component 1C covers up to 50% of digital plan implementation costs, capped at $50,000. Typical SMB grants range $20,000–$50,000 — not for equipment or working capital.
Do I need to repay ESSOR grants?
No — ESSOR Component 1A–1C grants are non-repayable. But all other IQ financing (loans/guarantees) requires repayment. ESSOR grants are taxable income in the year received.
Can I stack ESSOR with NRC-IRAP?
Yes — IRAP covers R&D costs, ESSOR covers digital transformation. Avoid overlapping expenses (e.g., same software purchase). IQ regional advisors help design compliant stacks.
Why do most applications get rejected?
Weak economic spinoff justification (no job creation/export plan), non-eligible sector (retail/real estate), or missing financial statements showing repayment capacity for loans.

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