Vancouver small business grants and funding (2026)

What does the City of Vancouver offer small businesses?

Help with buildings and permits, not cash for running costs. The City's business unit is now its Business and Economy Office; the Vancouver Economic Commission's old website redirects there. None of the City's current programs pays for wages, rent, equipment or marketing. The table lists everything we could confirm on the City's and the business improvement areas' own pages on October 4, 2026.

What a business improvement area does for you. Vancouver has 22 BIAs, from Chinatown and Gastown to Kerrisdale and Marpole. They are funded by a levy on commercial property that landlords usually pass on to tenants, so if you rent a storefront in one you are probably already paying for it. They spend it on promotion, safety and street beautification; most do not run cash grants. Ask yours what it offers before you assume nothing: Chinatown and Strathcona, for example, take requests for free graffiti removal.

Where can you get a small business loan in Vancouver?

Mostly from five places, and which one fits depends on how long you have been in business. A brand-new business is a Futurpreneur or WeBC borrower; once you have 12 to 24 months of revenue, BDC and the banks open up. Every row below was checked on the lender's own page.

Loans reserved for particular founders are worth knowing about if they fit you. Black business owners can borrow up to $250,000 through the federal Black Entrepreneurship Loan Fund. Indigenous entrepreneurs in BC can apply for First Citizens Fund business loans, delivered by All Nations Trust Company and four Aboriginal Capital Corporations, one of them Tale'awtxw Aboriginal Capital Corporation. Newcomers have their own loans, covered below.

Can you get business funding in Vancouver with bad credit?

Yes, from a few lenders, but nobody lends without looking at your credit. "Bad credit" means different things to different lenders: a score below a cut-off, a past bankruptcy, or no Canadian credit history at all. This is how each route treats it, in the lenders' own words where they publish them.

• WeBC (women-owned businesses): "While we do not have a minimum credit score (exceptions apply), we will weigh your credit history against the strength of your business plan." Of the lenders on this page, this is the clearest statement that a strong plan can outweigh a weak score.
• Futurpreneur (ages 18 to 39): it checks every applicant's personal credit score but publishes no minimum. Its loans need no collateral, which helps if you have no assets to pledge; the mentoring requirement is part of how it manages the risk.
• No Canadian credit history (newcomers): this is the one case with loans designed for it. Futurpreneur's newcomer loan of up to $25,000 requires you to have "limited or no established credit history in Canada", and BDC's Newcomer Entrepreneur Loan (up to $50,000) is pitched at people with little to no credit history.
• BDC's standard loans: a personal credit score of 600 or higher for its online Small Business Loan, and a good credit track record for Start-up Financing. If your score is below 600, start elsewhere.
• Banks and credit unions under the CSBFP: the lender judges creditworthiness and decides; the government guarantee makes some lenders more willing, but it does not replace a credit check.
• Community Futures: a "developmental lender" that weighs character and capacity alongside credit, and the usual answer to this question in rural BC. It is not an option inside Vancouver (no office covers the city).

What helps: a written business plan with a two-year cash-flow forecast, some money of your own in the project (WeBC usually expects 25%), personal taxes filed and current, and an explanation of what went wrong if your credit was damaged by a one-off event. Grants do not check credit, but the ones a new Vancouver business can get are small and specific (see the City table and the BC and federal table).

Can a sole proprietor get a grant in Vancouver?

Yes, but you lose most tax credits and the larger federal programs. Of the 292 programs a for-profit business can use from Vancouver, 78 require you to be incorporated, including 13 of the 15 tax credits. The other 214 do not list incorporation as a condition; check each one's terms, because some ask for a registered business name or a business number.

If the programs you want need a corporation, our guide to sole proprietorship vs corporation sets out what incorporating changes.

Where can you get free business-plan help in Vancouver?

Mostly from the lenders and settlement agencies, now that Small Business BC is gone. Small Business BC, the provincially backed advice centre that many guides still send Vancouver founders to, made a voluntary assignment in bankruptcy effective December 5, 2024; its web address now redirects to a Government of BC resources page. These are the free options we could confirm:

• Futurpreneur: its loan comes with up to two years of mentoring, and its BC office is at 2015 Main Street (by appointment).
• WeBC: free advisory support for women-owned businesses, including help with the business plan and cash-flow forecast its loans ask for.
• S.U.C.C.E.S.S.: free workshops on self-employment and starting a small business in BC, in Mandarin and Korean, plus free tax help for small businesses.
• WorkBC Self-Employment Services: a 48-week program of planning and launch coaching with financial support while you start, for people who are unemployed and meet EI-related criteria. S.U.C.C.E.S.S. delivers it at its Richmond WorkBC centres; ask your nearest WorkBC centre which provider serves your address.
• The City's Commercial Renovation Centre: not a business plan, but free help with the permit side of a fit-out, which is where many first budgets go wrong.

Help for newcomer and Chinese-speaking founders in Vancouver

The money comes from two federal-backed lenders; the advice comes from S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Of the three large Vancouver settlement agencies, S.U.C.C.E.S.S. is the one that lists small-business workshops: MOSAIC and ISSofBC list settlement, language and employment programs, and MOSAIC's job-training program for women ended on March 31, 2026.

• Futurpreneur Newcomer Program: up to $25,000 ($12,500 from Futurpreneur and $12,500 from BDC) for citizens or permanent residents aged 18 to 39 who have lived in Canada less than 60 months and have limited or no Canadian credit history.
• BDC Newcomer Entrepreneur Loan: up to $50,000 for permanent residents or protected persons who immigrated less than three years ago and have a viable business plan.
• S.U.C.C.E.S.S.: free entrepreneurship workshops (Mandarin and Korean sessions on starting a small business in BC, financing sessions with BDC and WorkBC) and a website in more than 20 languages, with Traditional and Simplified Chinese listed first.

溫哥華的小企業主：S.U.C.C.E.S.S. 提供免費的中文（普通話）創業及小型企業講座。新移民創業貸款：Futurpreneur 新移民計劃最高 $25,000，BDC 新移民創業貸款最高 $50,000。

More newcomer programs across Canada are on our newcomer and immigrant grants guide.

How many funding programs can a Vancouver business use?

354, as of October 4, 2026. That counts every grant, loan, tax credit and support program in the GrantCompass catalogue that a business in the City of Vancouver can reach, after removing programs limited to other parts of BC. Only 2 of the 354 are run by the City. 244 are listed as active and 104 are between intakes, so roughly two in three were not waiting for a new intake on that date.

• A for-profit business can apply to 292 of the 354. The rest are for non-profits, institutions or students. 207 of those 292 are listed as active.
• 86 active grants and awards accept a for-profit business, and 78 of them are not reserved for a particular group of founders. The others are set aside for women-owned, Indigenous-owned, Black-owned, newcomer or young founders.
• 45 of the 354 exist only in BC (30 of them active). Everything else is a national program a Vancouver business applies to on the same terms as anyone in Canada.
• 78 of the 292 require you to be incorporated, including 13 of the 15 tax credits. That matters if you run a sole proprietorship (see the sole-proprietor answer below).

Method: records in data/catalog-master.json that are not closed or discontinued and list BC or all of Canada, minus 9 records whose own geography excludes a City of Vancouver business (Community Futures' rural offices, northern BC trusts, Victoria and Kelowna city programs, a Vancouver Island lender and an in-person Montreal accelerator). "Active" is the catalogue status checked against funders on the dates shown on each program page; it is not a promise that a given intake is open today.

Who gets PacifiCan money in Vancouver, and how much?

Between 4 and 22 agreements a year with Vancouver businesses since 2022, typically for about $1.2 million each. PacifiCan is the federal economic development agency for BC, and it is often described as the biggest source of money for Vancouver businesses. Its own payment records tell a narrower story:

It was different in 2020 and 2021. In those two years the agency signed 641 agreements with Vancouver businesses at a median of about $43,000; the records describe them as support "to support business needs while recovering from COVID-19". That relief ended, which is why older lists still make PacifiCan sound like a small-business grant.

What that means for a small business: PacifiCan's main business program makes repayable contributions to incorporated companies with a track record of growth (it was not accepting applications on October 4, 2026), its one open business stream is for tariff-hit firms with at least $1 million in revenue, and in Vancouver about two in three of its recent business agreements went to technology, life-science and manufacturing firms. If that is not you, your money is more likely to come from a loan, a provincial grant or a tax credit, which is what the rest of this page covers. If it is you, see the PacifiCan program page for the streams taking applications.

Method: federal Proactive Disclosure of Grants and Contributions (open.canada.ca), all agreements by PacifiCan and its predecessor, Western Economic Diversification, with recipients in British Columbia: 4,718 rows, collapsed to the latest amendment of each agreement by the agency's agreement number (2,874 agreements; each amendment is filed as a new row). "Vancouver" means the recipient's city is recorded as Vancouver, so Burnaby, Richmond and other Metro Vancouver cities are counted separately. "Business" means the record's recipient type is for-profit or sole proprietorship. The data lists agreements of $25,000 or more and runs about four months behind, so 2026 is incomplete. It does not cover IRAP (whose records carry no city), tax credits, loans from banks or credit unions, or provincial programs. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.

The BC and federal programs Vancouver businesses use most

Two of the best-known names are closed, and the open ones are mostly for training, vehicles, R&D and exports. These programs work the same for a Vancouver business as for any business in BC or Canada; the full provincial list is in our BC grants guide. Status is as of October 4, 2026, from the funder's page where we could read it and from our catalogue otherwise.

Film and TV producers have their own provincial tax credits (Film Incentive BC and the Production Services Tax Credit) and Creative BC programs; see the Film Incentive BC and Production Services Tax Credit pages for current rates.

Burnaby, Richmond or Surrey: does any of this change?

The lenders and the BC and federal programs are the same; the City and BIA programs are not. The heritage façade grant, the Commercial Renovation Centre, the DTES pilot and the BIA grants above apply only inside the City of Vancouver (and the BIA grants only to members). Other Metro Vancouver cities run their own permits and business improvement areas, which this page does not cover. Two things carry over exactly: no Community Futures office covers Burnaby, Richmond, Surrey or North Vancouver either, and S.U.C.C.E.S.S. delivers WorkBC's self-employment program at its Richmond centres.

Federal money follows the same pattern across the region. Since January 2022, PacifiCan's disclosed agreements went to recipients in Vancouver (145), Burnaby (43), Richmond (18), North Vancouver (17) and Surrey (17), out of 725 in BC.

What changed for Vancouver businesses in 2025 and 2026

• December 5, 2024: Small Business BC made a voluntary assignment in bankruptcy, according to its trustee's notice. Its website now redirects to a Government of BC resources page.
• September 1, 2025: the BC Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit rose from 17.5% to 25% of eligible salaries and wages.
• November 30, 2025: Innovate BC's Go-To-Market Microgrant ($10,000 to $50,000 for early sales and marketing) closed after a two-week intake.
• January 2026: the City started a two-year pilot letting small businesses open in vacant Downtown Eastside storefronts without a development permit.
• March 2, 2026: the Downtown Van BIA's 2026 grants for members (beautification, activation, security cameras, patios) closed after a month-long window.
• March 23, 2026: the B.C. Employer Training Grant opened for 2026/27 training starting on or after April 1, 2026.
• March 31, 2026: MOSAIC ended its Next Steps job-training program for women.
• April 1, 2026: BC's new 15% Manufacturing and Processing Investment Tax Credit began, for corporations' equipment spending after March 31, 2026.
• April 2, 2026: the Strathcona BIA's safety grant opened for the year, running to March 31, 2027.
• August 10, 2026: the CleanBC Go Electric commercial vehicle rebate program opened.
• As of October 4, 2026: PacifiCan's Business Scale-up and Productivity program is not accepting applications, while its Regional Tariff Response Initiative is; Innovate BC's Ignite program remains closed; and the Vancouver Economic Commission's old website redirects to the City's Business and Economy Office.

Questions Vancouver business owners ask