Stream 1: Grow Your Business Online

Grow Your Business Online helps small, consumer-facing businesses with yearly revenues under $500k to take advantage of e-commerce opportunities. It provides advisory services as well as micro-grants of up to $2,400 to help with the costs related to adopting digital technologies.

Stream 2: Boost Your Business Technology

Boost Your Business Technology helps small and medium sized businesses that require more advanced technology. These businesses will be able to access a grant from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) to cover up to 90% of the cost of advisory services to develop a digital adoption plan, to a maximum grant value of $15,000. The business will then have the opportunity to apply for a zero-interest loan of up to $100,000 from BDC to implement the technology.

No, the zero-interest loan is only for businesses that are eligible under Stream 2: Boost Your Business Technology.

Companies that can demonstrate a minimum of $500K in revenues either in year 2020, 2019 or 2018 are eligible for the Boost Your Business Technology stream. If they do not meet these criteria, they may apply to Stream 1: Grow your business online.

Yes, you may submit applications to CDAP for multiple businesses. Each business will need to operate separately from the other(s) and have its own digital adoption plan.

You will have 6 months from the time you receive your personalized link from ISED to BDC to complete your loan application. If you’ve completed a digital adoption plan through another recognized program, you have 30 days to apply. If you exceed this timeframe, you will be ineligible for the loan.

Zero-interest loan of up to $100,000 with a 5-year term + 12 months capital postponement (total of 6 years). CDAP is a four-year program, so you can apply for the program until 2026.

The amount of the loan is determined by the size of your business. If your annual gross revenues are:

• between $500,000 and below $5M you can request a loan of between $25,000 and $50,000
• $5M and more, you can request a loan between $25,000 and $100,000

The loan must be used solely for the implementation of a digital adoption plan that is recognized by the CDAP Boost Your Business Technology stream .

Please note that although the loan request is being made under CDAP, applicants must meet CDAP eligibility criteria and BDC credit worthiness requirements to receive a loan offer.

The first step before applying for the loan is to have a digital adoption plan that is recognized by the CDAP Boost Your Business Technology stream. If you already have a digital adoption plan that was developed through a recognized government digital adoption program, you may be eligible to proceed directly to a loan application without developing a new plan.

Once your digital adoption plan has been reviewed by CDAP and if you are interested in applying for a loan, ISED will send you an email with a personalized link.

Please note that although the loan request is being made under CDAP, applicants must meet CDAP eligibility criteria and BDC credit worthiness requirements in order to receive a loan offer.

No. The loan under this program must be used to implement your digital adoption plan. You must be willing to attest to the use of the funds. Please understand that CDAP can audit you on this point.

The program eligibility is only one step in the process of making the loan request.

Your business may be declined for multiple reasons. For example, it may not have met BDC’s credit worthiness criteria (ex: credit history, etc.).

Please note that although the loan request is being made under CDAP, applicants must meet CDAP eligibility criteria and BDC credit worthiness requirements to receive a loan offer.

Also, as the CDAP zero-interest loan is part of a standard loan application, standard banking practices apply. A declined loan request is reflected in your credit score. This is part of the consent you provide when applying for the loan.