Last Thursday, Canada’s Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander announced that the founders of Ara Labs Security Solutions are the latest successful applicants for permanent residence through the Start-up Visa Programme.
The Start-up Visa Programme, the first of its kind in the world, links experienced Canadian venture capital funds, angel investor organisations and business incubators with foreign entrepreneurs who want to launch their start-up companies in Canada.
Supported by the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation (NBIF), visa recipients Ehsan Mokhtari and Hadi Shiravi Khozani’s start-up company has developed a platform for the real-time monitoring of fraudulent behaviour affecting the advertising campaigns of its customers.
Formerly of Iran, both founders were PhD candidates at the University of New Brunswick prior to launching their company and obtaining a venture capital investment from the NBIF.
Alexander made the announcement at the University of New Brunswick’s National Research Council – Institute for Information Technology Building, where he noted that Mr Mokhtari and Mr Shiravi Khozani are the first successful Start-up Visa Program applicants in Atlantic Canada.
“Our Government is proud to welcome Canada’s latest successful applicants under the Start-up Visa Programme,” Alexander said. “These individuals are bringing innovative business ideas to Canada which will help fuel economic growth and job creation. Our Government remains focused on a fast and flexible immigration system focused on attracting skilled immigrants who are most likely to succeed in Canada.”
The Start-up Visa is viewed as an important part of the Government’s plan to build a fast and flexible economic immigration system, with a primary focus on meeting the new and emerging needs of the Canadian economy.
The first successful applicants through this programme were Stanislav Korsei and Oleksandr Zadorozhnyi, the founders of Zeetl Inc., which developed an application for companies to monitor customer complaints made on social media and establish a temporary phone link for the customer to call and have their complaint addressed.
Article published 17th November 2014