CanExport SMEs: status, eligibility and how to prepare
CanExport SMEs pays up to 50% of the eligible costs of an export project, on a request of $10,000 to $50,000. The program is closed, and future intakes are posted when available. INNOVA Consult in Ottawa prepares the market work so a project is ready if a next intake opens. The business applies in its own name.
Status on 4 November 2026
Closed
All applications for the 2026–27 intake have been processed. The program posts future intakes when they are available.
- Program share
- Up to 50% of eligible costs; the company pays the other half
- Funding request
- $10,000 to $50,000 per project
- Total project value
- $20,000 to $100,000
- Project length
- Up to 12 months, aligned with the April-to-March fiscal year
- Apply
- At least 60 business days before the first activity
- Decision
- Within 60 business days of a complete application; up to 90 for U.S. projects
Who qualifies
Meeting the criteria makes a company eligible to apply; the program decides each application on its merits.
Eligible
- A for-profit business established in Canada
- An incorporated legal entity, a limited liability partnership or a cooperative
- An active Canada Revenue Agency business number
- 3 to 500 full-time employees
- $300,000 to $100 million in annual revenue declared in Canada
- Owns the goods or services it will export, of Canadian origin
- Targets markets that are new to it: under $100,000 in sales there in the last full tax year, or under 10% of total sales
Not eligible
- Sole proprietorships and limited partnerships
- Non-profit organizations
- Third-party representatives
- Franchisees (only the franchisor is eligible)
- A parent applying for its subsidiary, or any company applying for another business number
- A consultant applying for a client
- A project that mixes the U.S. with other markets
What CanExport SMEs pays for
Eight categories of activity. Consultant work sits in two of them, F and G.
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Category A: Travel to meet key contacts
Trips for meetings or events with buyers and partners; travel by consultants is excluded.
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Category B: Trade events
Participation in trade events, apart from travel.
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Category C: Marketing tools for the target market
Adapting marketing material for the market; website, hosting, e-commerce and marketing or CRM software are excluded.
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Category D: Interpretation
Interpretation services, with the language named in the application.
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Category E: Contracts and supplier diversity certification
Contractual agreements and supplier diversity certification.
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Category F: Consultants: business, tax and legal advice
Expert advice on legal, tax, regulatory and international business development matters. Preparing or filing documents goes beyond advice and is excluded.
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Category G: Consultants: market research, feasibility, key contacts and B2B meetings
Export market studies, feasibility studies, identification of key contacts, and B2B meeting programs and matchmaking. Monthly or ongoing mandates are excluded.
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Category H: Intellectual property protection
Protecting IP in the target market.
What it leaves out
- Employee salaries, wages and commissions
- Costs incurred, invoiced or paid before the project is submitted
- Retainers, monthly instalments and advance fees to a consultant
- Consultants hired through freelance platforms
- Preparing the application or the claims
- GST, including the GST share of HST
What a consultant may do
- Who applies
- The company. Its account contact is a person with legal signing authority and cannot be a consultant; a consultant cannot submit an application on behalf of a client.
- What is disclosed
- Pre-existing relationships or affiliations relevant to the project, consultants included. Failure to disclose may lead to rejection or to the end of the agreement. The application explains the work each consultant will do.
- When fees count
- Under categories F and G, for a consultant who is independent and unaffiliated, works at arm’s length and at reasonable value, brings expertise the company lacks, is based in Canada or a target market, and works under a contract with a scope and a cost estimate.
- Limits
- A consultant cannot act as an in-market representative or as an employee doing business on the company’s behalf.
What INNOVA prepares
Consultant work in Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. In-country legal and accounting firms are engaged per project and named in the proposal.
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Export market study
Which market comes first and why: demand, competitors, pricing and sales channels. Category G.
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Regulatory analysis and feasibility
Product and service requirements, import rules and licensing in the target market. Categories F and G.
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Legal and tax coordination
Advice lined up with the legal and accounting firms engaged in the target country. Category F.
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Key contacts and distributor search
Qualified lists of buyers, distributors and partners, screened and shortlisted. Category G.
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B2B meeting programs
Meetings with buyers and partners in the market: scheduling, briefing notes and follow-up. Category G.
For a software or SaaS exporter, the same category G work applies to the product: the market study and the key-contact list for the target market.
From account to agreement
- 1
Account
Register on the program’s online portal and complete My Profile; the program replies by email within 7 business days.
- 2
Account profile
With “Criteria Met”, the primary account contact completes the account profile.
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Application
Submit it through My Applications at least 60 business days before the first proposed activity.
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Decision
The program aims to decide within 60 business days of a complete application, up to 90 for U.S. projects.
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The project
Activities run between the start and end dates of the funding agreement. A contribution is reimbursed after costs are paid; a grant is paid per fiscal year once the agreement is signed.
Documents to have ready
- Certificate of incorporation, and a legal name change certificate if there is one
- Proof of annual revenue: the GST 34 return (FPZ-500-V in Quebec), or the T2SCH125 income statement for exempt or international-only companies
- For each consultant, a contract with the scope of work and a cost estimate
- For each trip, the dates, the travellers and the planned activities
- Every source of Canadian government funding for each expense
- Why each market was chosen, and how the product or service is of Canadian origin
How a CanExport project is scoped with INNOVA
- 1
The market and the product
You tell us what you export and where. We say which activities fit categories F and G and which belong to you.
- 2
A scope and a cost estimate
We write the scope of work and the cost estimate the application describes, market by market. Your company submits the application.
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The work
Once the project is approved, we deliver it between the dates of your funding agreement, with the records the claim or the results report needs.
CanExport SMEs and CanExport Innovation
CanExport Innovation is a separate program for one technology and one international R&D partner. It covers up to 75% of the costs of pursuing and signing a collaborative R&D agreement. Small and medium-sized companies, academic institutions and non-government research centres can apply, with a prototype at technology readiness level 4 or higher and authority over the IP.
Its December 2026 intake opens at 12 p.m. EST on December 1 for 24 hours, first come, first served. A company may hold one CanExport SMEs project and a project with another CanExport program at the same time, within $99,999 a fiscal year across all of them.
Questions
Is CanExport SMEs open now?
It is closed. On 4 November 2026 CanExport SMEs is listed as closed, and all applications for the 2026–27 intake have been processed. The program posts information about future intakes on its own page when it is available.
When does the next intake open?
The program has not announced a date. Projects run inside the federal fiscal year, from April 1 to March 31, and costs count only from the date the project is submitted, so a scope written now is ready for whichever intake comes next.
Can a consultant submit the application for us?
The company submits it. A consultant cannot submit an application on behalf of a client, and the account contact must be a person at the company with legal signing authority. A consultant can scope the activities and prepare the scope of work and cost estimate the application describes.
Do we have to disclose a consultant?
The applicant discloses pre-existing relationships or affiliations relevant to the project, consultants included, and failure to disclose may lead to rejection or to the end of the agreement. The application also explains the work each consultant will do, and the consultant must be independent of the company.
Are consultant fees an eligible expense?
They can be. Category F covers expert business, tax and legal advice; category G covers market studies, feasibility studies, key-contact identification and B2B meeting programs. The work is at arm’s length under a contract with a scope and cost estimate. Retainers, monthly fees, commissions and preparing the application are excluded.
How much funding is available?
A company requests $10,000 to $50,000 per project and the program funds up to 50% of eligible costs, so the project is worth $20,000 to $100,000. One company can receive at most $99,999 a fiscal year across all CanExport programs. About $31 million was available for 2026–27.
Can a software or SaaS company apply?
Yes, on the same criteria as any company: incorporated in Canada, 3 to 500 full-time employees, $300,000 to $100 million in revenue, and a product of Canadian origin that it owns. The program is open to most sectors. Website, hosting, e-commerce and marketing or CRM software costs are excluded.
Which markets are excluded?
A market is excluded where sanctions, export controls or financial-crime rules prohibit or materially limit the activities, or where a sister company already sells the same products there. The U.S. can only be the sole market of a project. A project names up to five markets, each new to the company.
How long does a decision take?
The program aims to decide within 60 business days of a complete application, and within up to 90 business days for projects that target the U.S. It asks companies to apply at least 60 business days before the first proposed activity.
What is the difference between CanExport SMEs and CanExport Innovation?
CanExport SMEs funds export development in new markets: travel, trade events, marketing adaptation, consultants and IP protection. CanExport Innovation covers up to 75% of the costs of pursuing and signing a collaborative R&D agreement with an international partner, for a technology at readiness level 4 or higher.
Tell us the market and the product.
We reply with what the project would cover, and with the next intake date once the program posts one.
Maksym Stepanenko, founder, in business since 2012. Products in public use, one of them in the App Store.