What We Look For — and What We Do Not
We work with a limited number of companies. These are the conditions that determine whether an application progresses.
Seven Conditions
A company may be suitable for review if the following are in place. Meeting all seven does not guarantee selection; failing two or more generally means a company is better served by building for another twelve to eighteen months first.
International Ambition
Founders building solid businesses who are seeking international growth — and a capital market that can fund it.
Growing Revenues
Typically a minimum of CAD $2M in annual revenue, with growth. Exceptions for DeepTech and resource companies with strong verifiable assets.
External Capital Raised
Typically at least $2M previously raised from external investors — evidence that third parties have already underwritten the business.
Proven Technology or Resources
For technology businesses: proven technology that is monetising. For resource companies: proven resources with exploration upside.
Minimal Burn and Capex
A business model that does not consume capital faster than the public market can realistically supply it.
Disruptive, Scalable Model
A business model that scales beyond its home market — the story public investors pay attention to.
Audited Financials
Completion of audited financial statements is required before a transaction can proceed. We help plan the audit path if one has not started.
Clear Ownership
A comprehensible ownership structure, with the ability to evidence ultimate beneficial owners through every intermediate entity.
Projects We Do Not Review
These are firm exclusions rather than preferences. Applications falling into any of these categories are declined at the screening stage.
The Reasoning Behind Each
No product, technology, licence or asset
Public-market disclosure requires something a third party can examine. An idea, however strong, provides nothing to disclose and nothing to verify.
Single-idea stage projects
A company at concept stage has no financial history to audit, no customers to reference and no basis on which an investor could assess it. Private capital serves this stage; public markets do not.
Opaque ownership
Every participant in a transaction is required to identify ultimate beneficial owners. A structure that cannot be documented cannot proceed, regardless of the underlying business.
Sanctioned projects
A legal constraint on every participant, not a matter of discretion. Any connection to a sanctioned person or jurisdiction ends a review.
Defence and military projects
Export control, security clearance and disclosure obligations create a combination of constraints that sits outside our expertise and our mandate.
Critical dependence on government contracts
Revenue concentrated in public procurement carries political and renewal risk that public investors discount heavily, and that a smaller issuer is poorly placed to absorb.
Speculative crypto and token projects
Where the value proposition rests on token appreciation rather than operating revenue, the securities analysis alone makes a conventional process impractical.
Unverifiable financial performance
Figures that cannot be supported by records will not survive audit. Discovering that during a process is expensive; discovering it beforehand is free.
Expectation of guaranteed outcomes
No one can guarantee financing, regulatory approval or admission to trading. A company that requires such a guarantee is looking for something that does not exist.
Unwillingness to disclose ownership
Public companies disclose their significant holders continuously. A shareholder unwilling to be named should not be a shareholder in a public company.
No preparation budget
Auditors, counsel and qualified persons are engaged directly by the company and paid on their own terms. Without a budget, preparation cannot begin.
Assess Your Position Against These Criteria
The RTO Readiness Score covers the same ground in fourteen questions and returns an indicative band. It is informational only and does not constitute an approval, an offer or financial advice.
Think Your Company Meets the Criteria?
Submit your company for a confidential assessment. We will tell you plainly whether a Reverse Takeover is realistic for your stage — and what the pathway would look like.
Confidential assessment · Selective admission · No obligation