Indian startups are now shifting to Canada from the US

Posted on February 7, 2017

Ever since the US President, Donald Trump, announced the immigration ban on Muslims from seven Muslim – majority nations on January 28^th, 2017, the companies and the startups in the US have opposed the move because their businesses would be badly affected if the move was implemented. Many Muslims (or immigrants of other religions for that matter) have occupied the top posts in the top technical companies in the US and if they are prevented from returning to the country, the Companies’ productivities would be negatively affected. The Business Environment has deteriorated since Donald Trump became the President of the US. The country is currently not the nation where business can be done with ease. Read more on Donald Trump

As a demonstration of this fact, two startup founders from India: Sharoon Thomas and Rituparna Panda, the co – founders of Fulfil.io, were planning to setup their business in the US, until January, this year when Trump announced the immigration ban. They have now setup their business in Toronto, Canada!

“Cracking the US immigration system is very hard. The main issue there is ‘no stability’”, said Thomas who hails from the city of Kochi in India.

The duo came to Canada under the Canadian Startup Visa or SUV program. The duo has their office in the same building as that of the Company, Extreme Accelerator, in Toronto.

“Many founders from many countries such as India are either in the United States on a temporary immigration status or desire to go to the United States. Our feeling is that both of those scenarios are now at greater risk than in the past with new policies that are relooking at immigration, including the coveted H1B visa. With that situation now more difficult to predict with any certainty, there is a very strong case for Canada to step forward and try to bring some of those founders here, where we have a much more open and transparent immigration program and policies”, said Extreme Accelerator’s co-founder, Sunil Sharma.

Sunil Sharma plans to raise a dedicated fund to encourage entrepreneurs in the US, especially those who had immigrated to the US, to shift their business to Canada. Sunil Sharma believes that Indians are the world’s most prolific creators of startups hence; he thinks that Indians should set up their startup businesses all over the world and have their business headquarters in Canada.

“We think India is a great country to co-create startup companies with. The concept is to create mini multinational companies, where there’s a Canadian headquarters and an Indian operation and teams in both countries”, Sunil Sharma said.

The dedicated fund has already helped five entrepreneurs in the US, two of whom are Indians, shift their business to Canada. The Canadian SUV program allows up to five co-founders of a company and their immediate family members to immigrate to Canada. Fulfil.io allows retailers to list their products on its web platform and sell their products. It helps retailers compete against giants like Amazon in this sector.

It makes sense for Indian businessmen to shift their business to Canada form the US since the visa norms in the US have become unstable under the Trump administration and since Canada has a much more open and transparent immigration system and policies. Even those Indians (or other foreigners for that matter) who are citizens of the US or who have stayed in the US for many years, may find it difficult to return to the US if they have gone abroad for other purposes. Doing business will definitely be much easier in Canada than it presently is in the US. It’s time for Indian businessmen and Company employees to ‘look north’. Read more on Startup News