UPS partners with Startup Canada to position entrepreneurs for growth

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OTTAWA ON, MARCH 9, 2015 – Startup Canada, a national entrepreneur-led movement, and UPS Canada, a leading logistics partner for entrepreneurs, startups, and small businesses, announced a strategic partnership today to support Canada’s growing entrepreneurial community.

Entrepreneurs will now have access to knowledge and tools to help them to scale their startups. As well, Startup Canada Members will have access to member savings with UPS.

“When building a national partnership for Startup Canada, I look to work with partners that share our commitment and passion for helping entrepreneurs to succeed and who share our long-term vision of creating an environment and culture for entrepreneurial growth,” says Victoria Lennox, the Co-Founder & CEO of Startup Canada. “I believe that UPS Canada shares our commitment to entrepreneurs and will be an invaluable partner in growing Canadian entrepreneurship locally, nationally and globally in 2015 and beyond.”

Through this partnership, Startup Canada and UPS will host monthly #StartupChats on Twitter to enhance entrepreneur knowledge of robust supply chain management, logistics for e-commerce start-ups, global diversification, and other key topics.

UPS will also play a critical role as a member of Startup Canada’s Private Sector Leadership Advisory Council to advance industry collaboration with the entrepreneurship community, and will support Startup Canada in producing the 2015 Startup Canada Awards and Startup Canada Day on the Hill. Both events present significant opportunity for networking, recognition, and collaboration among entrepreneurs, industry, and policy makers.

“We are proud to partner with Startup Canada as the connective link for collaboration and innovation to help entrepreneurs grow and build for the future,” says Paul Gaspar, Director Small Business at UPS Canada. “Entrepreneurship is a powerful force driving invention, productivity and economic growth in Canada and we are eager to work with startups that will have fundamental impacts on the country. We feel that there is no better way to support them than to partner with an organization that offers strong and broad national support to the entrepreneur community.”

UPS will also provide strategic and valued support to the Startup Canada Catalyst Fund, a financing program for innovative and high-impact community projects run by Startup Canada Communities to advance entrepreneurship at the local level.

More information on these programs will be released as it becomes available.

For more information, contact:

Kathryn Forrest

Communications & Marketing Manager, Startup Canada

1-844-782-7801 ext. 106

press@startupcan.ca

Nikkol Zezza

Manager of Public Relations & Social Media, UPS Canada

905-676-1708

mediarelations@ups.com

About Startup Canada

Startup Canada is a grassroots, entrepreneur-led movement founded in May 2012 that has become the most recognized, energized and active entrepreneurship organization in Canada. Startup Canada’s programs have mentored more than 20,000 Canadians, grown to represent more than 80,000 entrepreneurs, and increased entrepreneurial momentum, wealth and jobs in Canada while promoting Canada’s diversified economy and high quality of life.

Startup Canada is recognized globally as the benchmark for fuelling grassroots entrepreneurship. It has educated the leaders of peer organizations in the United Kingdom, Malaysia, South Korea, South America and the United States.

About UPS

UPS is a global leader in logistics, offering a broad range of solutions including transporting packages and freight; facilitating international trade, and deploying advanced technology to more efficiently manage the world of business. UPS serves more than 220 countries and territories worldwide. The company can be found on the web at ups.com®.