Canada luring startups with salary rebates

Canada is actively luring startups away from Silicon Valley, doing so with a very big incentive: paying 80% of workers salaries, as well as 50% of salaries for companies that choose to set up Canadian satellite companies rather than relocating entirely to the nation.

The information comes from The Wall Street Journal, which reports that many companies have taken Canada up on its incentive. One of those companies is the startup Mighty Cast, which relocated its headquarters to Montreal from Silicon Valley to cut its expenses.

As such, about 80-percent of the company's salaries have been covered in the form of a rebate check, which arrives regardless of the company's monetary success. Other US companies have also taken the nation up on its incentive, with places like Cisco striking deals with the government and otherwise setting up offices in the nation.

For the full rebate, companies must be "majorly controlled" by Canadian residents (though not necessarily Canadian citizens). If a company doesn't want to relocate or can't meet this need, launching a satellite is also an option, with the Canadian government covering 50-percent of salaries.

SOURCE: WSJ