The Lazaridis Scale-Up Program, a pan-Canadian program that helps growth-stage companies expand globally, will hold an information session on Tuesday in Halifax about its second cohort.

The program gives 10 companies the opportunity to fast-track their growth by working with experienced mentors and experts from around the world. It focuses on meeting the need for more globally competitive technology companies in Canada, and the jobs and economic benefits that come with them.

The information session on the second cohort, which will begin in October, will be held at the Innovacorp headquarters at 8:30 am on Tuesday. Registration is available here. Anyone interested in applying for the program must do so by June 30.

“Our first cohort of companies was incredible, and we learned a lot together,” said Kim Morouney, executive director of the Lazaridis Institute for the Management of Technology Enterprises at Wilfrid Laurier University. “Everything we do is built around the specific companies in the cohort, but the mission remains the same: we want to identify the top scale-up firms in the country and give them access to the resources they need to grow their businesses and create value in Canada.”

The companies that participated in the first year of the program benefited from one-to-one mentorship from executives with scaling experience who were specifically chosen for each participant based on their industry and current challenges.

“After just six months, we're a different company than when we started,” said program participant Jordan Kyriakidis, president and CEO of Halifax's QRA Corp. “We have more of a direction and a focus on where we want to go. And we feel like we have the tools to actually get there.”

The program opens up market opportunities and prepares companies for their next round of financing. The upcoming 2017-2018 program includes one weekend module each month between October 2017 and February 2018. A final weeklong session will take place in March 2018.

The Lazaridis Institute is using Hockeystick for its applicant management process, as part of the first phase of the national scale-up data platform announced last month.