iRIDE: In this episode of My Great Canada, we welcome Rajesh Luhar, Chief Executive Officer of iRIDE. With an MBA in Finance from the University of California, Riverside, and leadership roles in corporate finance, Raj has an impressive background. He is a seasoned financial professional and has held several senior and executive-level positions at multiple Fortune 500 companies in the U.S.

Raj is originally from Tanzania. His family moved to India in the 1970s and, later, they eventually made their way to California. In the past few months, Raj has become a Canadian permanent resident, along with his family, where they have taken up residence in Vancouver, British Columbia.

When did you start looking at Canada and how did it even pop up on your radar as an option for your newest venture, iRIDE?

My wife and I had decided to do some research into living somewhere else. Maybe starting up our own company with some partners. We looked at different parts of the world. Europe was one of them. And then we had this inkling about wanting to do an e-bike startup. We subsequently looked at Amsterdam and other countries. We kept coming back to Vancouver, Canada, specifically. We’d been to Vancouver numerous times, absolutely loved it there, and frankly, it wasn’t that far from California. A 3-hour flight.

So, we decided to narrow our search to Canada, and in September 2021, we reached out to Immigration.ca to see what our options were for doing a startup.

The SUV program fits our team’s narrative pretty spot on. Unfortunately, COVID hit around the same time and slowed everything down. Nevertheless, once the process got going, it was seamless and pretty fast.

The assistance from Immigration.ca is very, very good. Especially given the circumstances that we had to deal with COVID.

Now, you’re in a position where your startup is moving through the beginning stages. Perhaps you can talk about the product that you’re hoping to put into the marketplace. What is the market segment you’re interested in hopefully penetrating?

So initially, we looked at all facets of e-bikes. But after more research, we decided to narrow it down and focus specifically on two markets.

One is a very entry-level type of e-bike that I would say is mass market. That we can produce rather inexpensively.

But the other one, the one we’re probably more focused on, is the B2B and the delivery market.

So right now you have Uber Eats and DoorDash. We looked at California for example. It’s all cars. Now we know that Downtown Los Angeles has a huge issue with cars. Then we looked at Vancouver, and I would say Vancouver is way ahead of any of the larger Metropolitan cities – they’re encouraging developments and products to market to help relieve congestion. It’s better for the environment, better for the community and, frankly, people’s health, right?

Those are the two that we’re primarily focusing on. We’re getting feedback from businesses and seeing what features they would like to see. There are a lot of opportunities.

Can you tell our listeners about your Start-Up Visa journey?

After reaching out to you, Immigration.ca, the initial conversations were very informative.

There were questions like: What’s our goal? What do we want to accomplish? And just being frank, very straightforward, which is what I wanted. You don’t want to get a sales pitch just for the sake of a sales pitch. But very, very informed conversations, and just honest, which was awesome because it allowed us to decide on how we wanted to proceed.

As it happened, Vancouver, BC, the government itself, was very supportive of these kinds of businesses. So the SUV program was the avenue we looked at based on Immigration.ca’s guidance. And it worked. That’s the proof in the pudding, right? It worked.

For people who are looking to go into the Startup Visa Program, you need a letter of support from a designated entity. At Immigration.ca, we generally like to work with entities that provide actual investment into the company. We typically work with Keiretsu Forum, an Angel-designated entity located in Toronto. 

How did you find Keiretsu Forum, which is backing your startup with an investment of $75,000? How did you find the interactions and the support?

I appreciated the transparency we had throughout our process. I mean, we had some tough conversations. We sat and they grilled us. We were nervous. But that kind of pressure tested our business model to make sure we knew what we were talking about. And it made them feel comfortable wanting to invest in us.

I can honestly say that, without their guidance, the journey would have been much more difficult, if not unsuccessful. They also allowed us access to the resources and guided us along the way when needed.

And lastly, they allowed us to listen in live to their other investor presentations. This was great because I sat through a bunch of them, where I was questioning:  “Do I want to put money into this startup?”

And being able to communicate with those companies directly. You know: “Hey, what do you guys think of this?” “What do you guys think of that?” It was great learning for us. We still listen to their meetings when we get a chance to.

Perhaps you can share some insight on the management team of your company?

Sure, so we’re fortunate to have four partners. The interesting part is two of us are from one country, the other one’s from another, and then myself from the U.S.

We all complement each other pretty well because our backgrounds are very different. So obviously mine is more financial executive management. We have one person who runs their own company that’s in logistics and marketing. The others are B2C-type businesses and manufacturing backgrounds.

So, the team that was put together was very diverse in terms of their talent. And we gelled, which is great. We just got along. Not to say we didn’t have tough conversations, but we managed this rather well.

Is there any advice that you might be able to share with would-be entrepreneurs in Canada who are considering the Start-Up Visa program once their project has been approved? 

Absolutely. We learned a lot. We learned through our mistakes. One of the best pieces of advice I can give to anyone thinking about taking on this endeavour is to start early. And do your research, so you’re well informed instead of just being dependent on others. I’ve had the good fortune of being part of a motivated investor team that stayed on top of everything. Our skills are complementary. We pushed each other.

If Canada is a place you’re looking into – go visit. Go take care of your basics. You know, your banking and meetings with the Board of Trade Business. Tour the locations. Little things like your housing – I know, that’s not so little. Understand the culture, understand how business works, and understand the business climate.

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