Bengaluru : To attract start-up companies from the country and particularly from the City, for setting up their businesses in Canada, the Canadian government has launched an immigration scheme, “start-up visa” for entrepreneurs, according to Chris Alexander, Canadian Minister for Citizenship and Immigration.

The scheme was announced in 2013 and the first applications were received in 2014. Two groups of entrepreneurs have already applied for the scheme. “A dozen more applications are in the pipeline and I know a number of these are from Bengaluru. Although I cannot tell you the exact number of applicants from the City, the interest is very strong,” said Alexander. He was speaking to media after an interactive session with entrepreneurs and students at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, here on Tuesday.

Canadian companies and entrepreneurs are equally interested to invest and be part of the bustling and strong start-up ecosystem in the start-up capital of India he added.

The main requirement for an Indian start-ups is to enter into a deal worth around $ 75,000 with Canadian angel investors or with a Canadian venture capital fund to the tune of a quarter million dollars or with a Canadian start-up incubator that would agree to make the Indian start-up a part of their ecosystem. “We have asked angel investors venture capitalists to do this selection and they are happy to do it,” he said.