Canada’s ‘Grant Angel’ is building the ‘Spotify’ of grant funding

Founder Stephanie Sang shares her journey of becoming the go-to expert, creating a platform to match businesses with grants, and advice for early stage founders looking for non-dilutive funding.

Navigating grants in Canada is often a complex and time-consuming process. Outdated information, unclear eligibility criteria, and government jargon can make it difficult for any founder to even start.

And finding the right partner can be another challenge in itself. That’s how Stephanie Sang’s career took a turn. Growing up, she imagined herself working in corporate but became an entrepreneur after she kept getting recommended for support with grants. Sang started building the expertise when a company she worked for was transitioning into a new sector and the support that they brought in weren’t meeting expectations.

Now, the entrepreneur’s known as “Canada’s Grant Angel.” Her firm, Granted Consulting, has an over 92% success rate and has helped over 800 companies secure more than $100 million in funds—from hiring to training to market expansion and R&D. Sang has also been building her own platform, Get Granted, which will soon rename as Elivated. It aims to support more small- and medium-sized businesses with the same support they’d receive from a consultant. And its next version will tap into its nearly 15 years of data to not only match businesses with grants but suggest options like Spotify would with playlists.

“We understand that AI is being used a lot with grant writing right now, but a lot of it is slop because there are no grant databases out there,” highlights Sang. “The government doesn’t disclose this information and we only work on government grants [...] We have a database of about 18,000 applications. So we can build how we want the writeup to be done, what the voice of it is, and how much research needs to be done.”

She adds: “Hopefully that will help businesses be able to access them with greater needs faster with more guidance, but without handholding [...] That’s the goal: to get grants in the hands of businesses.”

Turning an unexpected challenge into a foundation of expertise

As a child, Sang told herself she would never become an entrepreneur. Coming from four generations of them and seeing her family work non-stop was enough to convince her that corporate was the path for her.

After graduating from SFU’s Beedie School of Business, she moved to Taiwan for work—a country she had never lived in and had no family roots. She eventually became the VP of business development for an original equipment manufacturer expanding from the automotive to medical field.

The growth required hiring more talent, training staff overseas to learn new technology, and establishing a facility. Sang and her team managed to secure a $3 million USD grant from the government, but they were left to handle the process on their own despite bringing in a consultant.

When Sang returned to Vancouver, one friend after another asked for help with grants for their businesses. Word spread beyond her circle, and she quickly became known as the go-to person, encouraging her to found Granted Consulting. Within its first four years, it had over a thousand clients. But with a team of five, they needed to scale to meet the demand for their services. It was then that Sang decided to build Elivated.

Along with matching and suggesting grants to businesses, Elivated will guide users through drafting and refining applications—including marking them and flagging any missing information or areas to strengthen. The platform is now in beta and expected to launch in the coming months.

“Grants are tricky,” says Sang. “They don’t teach you grants in school for a reason—they change all the time. Whether it’s educating your community on what matters or helping them access tech that supports them, if you can pay for a subscription and gain $10,000 in grant funding as a result, that return on investment speaks for itself.”

What early stage founders should consider ahead of seeking grants

For early stage founders looking to explore grants for the first time, Sang encourages a few considerations ahead of leveraging any support.

The first is to not start by searching for options. Instead, assess whether your business is doing “grant activities” that meet the needs of the government. These include creating jobs, upskilling Canadians, and increasing revenue that contributes to economic growth.

“Are you doing something innovative and unique that the government would want to put a stamp on you and say you’re a Canadian business, so that shows the world what we are capable of?” points out Sang.

She adds that operational needs like opening a new location aren’t identified as an activity. They are also likely to be regarded as risks the government is not willing to take.

Among other misconceptions Sang sees is founders assuming they qualify for grants based on identity alone. While some programs prioritize, say, underrepresented entrepreneurs, eligibility still depends on demonstrating business impact through growth or innovation.

Sang suggests trying Granted Consulting’s grant calculator to help determine if a business qualifies and how much it may receive. It’s designed to provide insight based on a series of questions, similar to what you would expect with a mortgage.

Advice for early stage founders looking to apply for grants now

As for founders ready to apply, Sang highlights that grants aren’t a one-off. Funding cycles change throughout the year, and new programs open as government budgets renew. Even if there are few options at one point in time, several more can become available within months.

She also reminds that grants aren’t retroactive. Applying after making a hire or purchase where funding was needed is too late. It’s why, she says, it’s important to stay up-to-date through a platform like Elivated to plan ahead.

When it comes to using AI, Sang advises against relying on the tech to write out applications. Reviewers can immediately tell when responses are AI-generated and, as a result, have become more selective. They’ll also question whether the content reflects the business and whether the plan can actually be executed.

Another best practice is to be realistic when selecting a grant. That means choosing one that aligns with your current goals rather than shifting your roadmap—like suddenly moving into AI—just to receive funding. Sang has seen that approach move businesses in directions they weren’t aiming to go.

“I think it’s important to have your strategy first—what are your business goals on a quarterly or monthly basis—and then identify grants that will match and support those goals?” she explains. “The only way you can do that is if you have a strong research team who can help you identify those opportunities, or you use a tech like what we have that will send you notifications when those grants change, close, or open to keep you informed about what you need to know.”