Business
Funding a business in Fredericton
Manage expectations: most of what is called “funding” is a loan, and the rest is a tax credit or a wage subsidy. The genuinely non-repayable money is small and downtown, or federal and for non-profits. Here is all of it, with the amounts and the catch.
Loans built for starting out
Below-bank rates, patient terms, and in two cases a mentor attached.
-
$5,000 to $50,000
Fredericton-area startups; apply through Ignite’s business advisors.
Program page ↗ -
Up to $150,000
Small businesses in York, Sunbury, Queens and Carleton counties; first-timers get a dedicated stream, and 18-to-34-year-olds a Youth Loan.
Program page ↗ -
Up to $75,000
Citizens or permanent residents aged 18 to 39, pre-launch or under a year of real sales; $25,000 from Futurpreneur, $50,000 from BDC, two years of mandatory mentoring. Newcomers to Canada (under five years) can borrow up to $25,000 with limited credit history.
Program page ↗ -
Up to $350,000
Online, for businesses with 24 months of operation, a profit and a credit score of 600 or better; the first $100,000 needs $100,000 in revenue, beyond that $250,000.
Program page ↗ -
Up to $1.15 million
Businesses under $10 million in gross revenue; $1 million in term loans plus a $150,000 line of credit, government-guaranteed, applied for at the branch.
Program page ↗ -
$5,000 to $750,000
Status and non-status First Nations, Métis and Inuit entrepreneurs in Atlantic Canada: micro loans to $5,000, women and youth to $25,000, general to $750,000, plus non-repayable contributions of 40 to 90 percent under the Aboriginal Business Financing Program.
Program page ↗ -
Up to $250,000
Black business owners and entrepreneurs across Canada; check FACE for the current intake.
Program page ↗
Contributions and grants
Where the non-repayable money is, and how little of it is for a new shop.
-
Up to 50% of capital costs
Atlantic SMEs starting, expanding or modernizing; interest-free, unsecured and repayable for businesses, non-repayable (up to 75 percent) for non-profits and business-support projects.
Program page ↗ -
Not published
Scale-up and productivity projects (interest-free repayable) and innovation ecosystems (non-repayable, non-profits). Sole proprietors, corporations, co-ops and Indigenous businesses all qualify.
Program page ↗ -
Case by case
Growth, export and job-creating companies: payroll rebates, conditionally repayable assistance and, under the 2025 tariff response, working-capital loans to $5 million. Not a startup fund; call the Navigators first.
Program page ↗ -
Varies
Small and medium firms commercializing a technology; advice first, then contributions toward R&D salaries. 1-877-994-4727.
Program page ↗ -
Up to $4,000 per façade
Businesses inside the downtown BIA: 50 percent matching grants for façades (two per building), security to $3,500, parking lots to $3,000, beautification to $250. The budget runs out; ask DFI whether this year’s is open.
Program page ↗ -
$322,400 community pool for 2027
Non-profits and community organizations, not businesses: community funding, arts, culture and heritage, climate action. Applications September 1 to October 9, 2026.
Program page ↗
Tax credits
Money you get back, provided you had money to spend.
-
50% for individuals
Your investors, not you: New Brunswick individuals get a 50 percent non-refundable credit on up to $250,000 a year invested in an eligible NB small business (up to $1 million in strategic sectors for investments after March 17, 2026); corporations and trusts get 25 percent. Register the business first.
Program page ↗ -
35% refundable
Canadian-controlled private corporations doing eligible research and development, on up to $6 million of expenditure for tax years beginning after December 15, 2024; 15 percent basic rate above that.
Program page ↗ -
15% fully refundable
NB corporations, on the same expenditures that qualify for SR&ED; stacks with the federal credit.
Program page ↗
Wage subsidies
Cheaper hiring, on a calendar.
-
50% of minimum wage (private sector)
Employers with 50 or fewer full-time staff hiring youth 15 to 30 for summer; non-profits get 100 percent. The 2026 intake closed December 11, 2025; the 2027 call opens in the autumn.
Program page ↗ -
100% of minimum wage, 12 weeks
Non-profits and First Nations at 100 percent, municipalities at 50, for 35-hour student placements; the employer window ran January 5 to February 6 in 2026.
Program page ↗ -
Ask WorkingNB
Employer wage incentives for hiring unemployed New Brunswickers, and living-allowance support while you start a business under the Self-Employment Benefit. Rates are set case by case; the Fredericton WorkingNB office is the door.
Program page ↗
Equity, and what has closed
For the record.
-
Seed and venture
Innovation startups with intellectual property and a scalable model; NBIF takes equity, not applications for a coffee shop.
Program page ↗ -
Closed
Stopped taking applications on February 19, 2024. Anyone still advertising it is out of date.
Program page ↗
Every figure on this page was read off the linked primary source on September 19, 2026. Fees, thresholds and intake windows move; the sources are there so you can check the day you need them, and if we are wrong, tell us.
Next
New to Canada and building here?
Settlement, the pathways, credentials, and the loans and workshops built for immigrant owners and professionals. Most of it free.
The newcomer’s guideAsk Freddy, owner edition
The questions you’d rather not phone City Hall about
Keep reading