The Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund (OCIF) will provide up to $1.9 million to Combine Venture Builders over two years to support the rapid scaling of innovative early-stage Calgary technology companies.
OCIF is a $100-million initiative launched by the City of Calgary in 2018 and is an important tool to accelerate the economic strategy, drive innovation and support a more diversified economy. More than $77 million has been allocated to 25 projects to date and has led to investment commitments of between $780 million and $1 billion.
Founded in 2020, Combine is a Calgary-based venture studio that works with corporate partners and top-tier entrepreneurs through Combine Labs to turn the best ideas into market-defining, venture-funded companies with rapid customer adoption. Through its in-house resources and network of industry experts, Combine plays a co-builder role providing hands-on product development, design, people, operations and fundraising for ventures.
Under the two-year agreement with OCIF, Combine Labs will identify more than 20 problem-solving concepts and collaborators a year, which will lead to the creation of a portfolio of six or more high-potential scaling companies. Combine will support these companies to lower their risk and increase scalability to achieve pre-seed, seed stage and Series A funding through a network of investors.
“There’s no shortage of people in Calgary with promising ideas to solve problems, but there is a strong need to support them to scale to the size of their ambitions. Combine will play the important role of taking some of the high-potential startups in Calgary to a higher level of business success,” said Brad Parry, President & Chief Executive Officer of Calgary Economic Development and CEO of OCIF.
An example of a scaling company in Combine’s portfolio is Agora Labs, an automated impact accounting platform that enables companies of all sizes to easily measure, track and manage Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance.
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