Ax.c

What Ax.c does

Ax.c is a 100,000 square-foot physical innovation hub and coworking ecosystem located on the former trading floor of the Montreal Stock Exchange at Place Victoria in downtown Montreal, Quebec. Operated by the École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) and conceived through its Centech incubator, Ax.c provides workspace and community infrastructure for Quebec's technology startup ecosystem, currently hosting over 100 organizations across startups, incubators, accelerators, investment funds, large corporates, and innovation support organizations.

The hub's commercial offering comprises five product lines: private offices (ranging from 2-person startup offices at $425/month to 30-person enterprise offices at $14,579/month, with multi-year leases for incubators/accelerators and large companies), 40-seat coworking space with Solo ($250/month) and Shared ($350/month) tiers, a Shared Space program for 6 incubators/accelerators at $4,200/year, an Investor Lounge membership for VC funds at $3,000/year, and two event venues — Le Square (up to 190 guests) and Le Parquet (up to 350 guests). Supporting amenities include 19 meeting rooms, 17 private booths, and a prototyping workspace.

Ax.c's business model blends subscription-based recurring revenue from workspace rentals and memberships with transactional revenue from event space hire. The initiative was capitalized by a $48 million founding grant in March 2023 from the Quebec government (MEIE), the federal government (CED), and the City of Montreal, supplemented by $5.25 million in financial support through 2029 from building partners Bell, Google, Desjardins, and Fonds de solidarité FTQ. The City of Montreal renewed support at $500,000/year for three years in June 2026, and a strategic partnership with DMZ (Toronto/New York/Tokyo) was announced on the hub's first anniversary. An 11-person core team led by Director Geneviève Leclerc operates the facility, which officially opened on June 9, 2025.

Name

Ax.c

Legal name

Ax.c

Website

https://espaceaxc.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Ax.c is a 100,000 sq ft physical innovation hub at Place Victoria in downtown Montreal, operated by ÉTS, providing private offices, coworking, event venues, and an investor lounge for Quebec's tech startup ecosystem. Funded by $48M in government grants and $5.25M from corporate building partners.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Innovation Hub and Coworking Services

akta.pro primary industry

Corporate Venture Studios & Incubators (Build/launch ventures) (FSANAHAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Corporate Accelerators & Startup Programs (FSANAHAD), Makerspaces & Fab Labs (Open Build Studios) (EDAMADAC)

Keywords

• Innovation hub services
• Coworking space rental
• Startup office leasing
• Event venue rental
• Investor networking space

Headquarters

HQ city

Montréal

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Infrastructure, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Private Office Rental: Rental of private offices to startups, incubators, accelerators, large companies, and NPOs. Pricing varies by organization type and office size. Startups receive preferential rates with 1-year renewable leases. Incubators/accelerators have 3-5 year leases. Large companies pay private sector rates.
2. Coworking Memberships: Monthly subscriptions for hot-desk coworking space with 40 available workstations. Two tiers: Solo ($250/month, non-attributed desk, monthly commitment) and Shared ($350/month, attributed desk, 3-month minimum). Includes access to meeting rooms and common areas.
3. Investor Lounge Membership: Annual membership at $3,000/year for investment funds, providing access to a private reservable office, common areas, preferential event space rates, website visibility, and exclusive networking with high-growth startups.
4. Shared Space Membership: Annual membership at $4,200/year for incubators and accelerators, providing one fixed workstation among 6 shared desks, 4 hours of meeting room access per month, and visibility similar to tenants.
5. Event Space Rental: Rental of two event spaces (Le Square and Le Parquet) for conferences, workshops, cocktail parties, galas, and demo days. Le Square accommodates up to 190 people; Le Parquet up to 350 people. Members receive free or discounted access.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Ax.c is a 100,000 square-foot physical innovation hub and coworking space in downtown Montreal that provides private offices, hot-desk coworking, shared space for incubators/accelerators, an investor lounge, two event venues, a prototyping workspace, and meeting rooms to Quebec's technology startup ecosystem. The hub operates on a subscription and rental model, bringing together startups, investors, incubators, accelerators, large companies, and support organizations under one roof to enable daily collaboration, networking, and innovation.

Product overview

Ax.c is a physical innovation hub and coworking ecosystem rather than a software product. The company offers a portfolio of commercial real estate and workspace services: private offices for startups and enterprises (varying sizes from 2 to 30+ people), flexible coworking hot-desk space (40 workstations), shared space for incubators/accelerators (6 dedicated workstations), and an exclusive Investor Lounge for venture capital funds. The hub also operates two event venues—Le Square (up to 190 guests, state-of-the-art) and Le Parquet (up to 350 guests, open atrium)—plus supporting amenities including 19 meeting rooms, 17 private booths, and a prototyping workspace. These offerings are designed to serve the Quebec tech startup ecosystem by providing physical infrastructure, community, and networking opportunities under one roof.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Private Offices Private furnished offices of varying sizes (2 to 30+ person capacity) leased to startups, incubators, accelerators, large enterprises, and innovation organizations, with 24/7 secure access. Startup offices (2-8 people) range from $425-$1,725/month; large company offices up to $14,579/month.
• Coworking Space
• Shared Space for Incubators and Accelerators
• Investor Lounge
• Le Square Event Space
• Le Parquet Event Space
• Prototyping Workspace

Named customers7 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered minor, flagship and core.

• AxelysminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 July 2026NPO supporting Quebec research institutions in intellectual property and innovation transfer. Co-organizes Breakpoint Origin networking event at Ax.c.
• Front Row VenturesminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 July 2026Co-organizes Breakpoint Origin networking event at Ax.c with Axelys.
• École des entrepreneurs du QuébecminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 July 2026Organizes Clinique d'expert.e.s speed-coaching events at Ax.c to support entrepreneurs with expert advice.
• StartupfestminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 6 July 2026Annual startup festival partner hosting Bootcamp: De fondateur.rice à PDG at Ax.c before Startupfest (July 6-7, 2026). Event brings founders, investors, and experts together.
• DMZflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 June 2026Strategic partnership with DMZ, a world-leading incubator based in Toronto with presence in New York and Tokyo. Creates a startup mobility corridor between Montreal, Toronto, New York, and Tokyo. Ax.c startups gain facilitated access to DMZ spaces and network, while DMZ startups are welcomed in Montreal. Partnership announced June 2026 on Ax.c's first anniversary.
• École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 31 March 2023Ax.c is an initiative of ÉTS (École de technologie supérieure). Centech, ÉTS's incubator, was the driving force behind creating this innovation hub. ÉTS leads the project with Director Geneviève Leclerc.
• CentechcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerÉTS's technology incubator. Under former CEO Richard Chénier's leadership, Centech drove the creation of Ax.c. Centech continues as an ecosystem member providing startup support programs at the hub.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC): Operator of large-scale innovation campuses in Cambridge (MA), Miami, Philadelphia, and other cities, providing coworking, private offices, labs, and accelerator residencies. Highly comparable to Ax.c in product mix (workspace + venture community) and multi-tenant ecosystem model.
• 1871: Chicago-based startup hub providing workspace, programming, and corporate partnerships to a large member base. Highly analogous to Ax.c as a non-profit innovation hub orchestrating startups, investors, and corporates in a single facility.
• Notman House: Historic Montreal startup community space operated by the OSMO Foundation. Serves a similar local tech-startup community with workspace, events, and programming, and overlaps with Ax.c's geographic and audience focus, though at much smaller scale.
• Capital Factory: Austin-based startup hub and accelerator housing hundreds of startups, corporate partners, and investors. Comparable to Ax.c in its community-led, multi-stakeholder GTM and event-driven engagement model.
• Station F: World's largest startup campus in Paris, hosting thousands of startups, dozens of corporate partners, and accelerator programs under one roof. Operates a comparable hub-and-ecosystem model to Ax.c, though at vastly larger scale and with for-profit backing.
• DMZ: Toronto-based world-leading startup incubator with offices in New York and Tokyo. DMZ is Ax.c's international strategic partner and the most directly comparable operator — running a startup hub with multi-tenant programming, investor access, and corporate partner engagement.
• MaRS Discovery District: Toronto-based urban innovation district hosting startups, corporate partners, investors, and programming. Comparable to Ax.c as a city-anchored, multi-stakeholder innovation hub with workspace, events, and ecosystem-orchestration activities.
• Centech: ÉTS-affiliated deep-tech hardware and medtech incubator in Montreal. Sister organization to Ax.c under the same parent institution, providing acceleration programming to member startups; Ax.c and Centech operate as a complementary hub-and-incubator pair in the Quebec ecosystem.

Broad incumbents

• Galvanize: US-based operator of tech-focused coworking and education campuses, often co-located with venture and accelerator programs. Comparable to Ax.c in combining workspace with venture-community programming, though at larger scale and with commercial education offerings.
• WeWork: Global coworking and flexible-office operator. Competes with Ax.c's coworking and private-office products across Montreal but does not focus on the startup-ecosystem curation or accelerator-style programming that differentiates Ax.c.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/espaceaxc
• Instagraminstagram.com/espaceaxc
• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Ax.c