York Entrepreneurship Development Institute (YEDI) is a venture fund, startup accelerator, incubator and entrepreneurial community located within York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. YEDI facilitates collaboration between students, alumni, and academic and business leaders.^[1] The organization was founded in 2013 by businessman Dr. Marat Ressin, a native of Russia with close ties to the Jewish community in Canada.^[2]

York Entrepreneurship Development Institute is a sector-agnostic start-up supporting organization that provides mentorship to entrepreneurs and not-for-profit organizations. Upon graduation, the entrepreneurs receive formal certification from The Schulich School of Business (York University) and YEDI.^[3] The accelerator programs also assist high potential start-ups with securing funding.^[4]

YEDI holds events aimed at creating connections between members from different industry sectors.^[5] Start-ups and entrepreneurs use the YEDI spaces during their start-up programs to make prototypes and have a co-working space located within facilities of York University and YEDI's partners.^[6]

In 2016, Marat Ressin, president and founder of YEDI, received an award for Excellence in Innovation.^[7][8]

In 2017, YEDI was named a Designated Business Incubator for the Canadian government's Start-Up Visa Program.^[9][10]

In 2018, YEDI was ranked the No. 1 University-Linked Business Accelerator in the World by UBI Global, a Swedish data and advisory firm.^[11][12][13]

In 2019, the company was recognized as the "Best Business Support Organization in Canada" at the CanadianSME Awards.^[14]

YEDI is a general partner of Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association.^[15] In March 2016, YEDI partnered with Israeli Ariel University to share its methodology with students through an intensive two-week business acceleration program that was launched for the first time on August 7, 2016.^[16][17] In 2018, Plekhanov Russian University of Economics opened the Joint Department of International Finance and Economics of Small Business Development with YEDI.^[18] In 2020, YEDI brought its International Program to Kazakhstan in partnership with Suleyman Demirel University.^[19]