Last year, a report from national law firm Osler uncovered “impressive signs of growth, renewal, and resilience in the ecosystem” in Alberta.
And CBRE’s 2023 Scoring Tech Talent report found that Calgary experienced a 61% growth in tech talent over five years—the second-highest rate in Canada next to Vancouver.
There has “never been a more exciting time to be in tech in Alberta than today,” Nate Glubish, the Minister of Technology and Innovation for Alberta, boldly stated, citing the region’s many signals of strength.
In 2024, Alberta innovators continue to carry the torch, and investors continue to follow the light. Below, we showcase some of the regional startups who are securing capital to write their next chapter of growth.
VIRTUO
Virtuo, a homeownership concierge platform that connects and streamlines tasks associated with moving and beyond, secured a $3.5 million seed funding round led by ATB Private Equity and TELUS Ventures in December.
Chief executive officer Casey Kachur says her company’s aim is to “make the homeownership experience amazing.”
“This investment enables us to do just that,” the cofounder stated at the time of the transaction, “and because we’re capital efficient, we can make it go a long way to continue improving how we provide our first-class customer experience and empower homeowners through the moving process.”
This funding will fuel Virtuo’s expansion across Canada and into the U.S., enabling it to bring its customer experience to more homeowners and partners, including realtors, mortgage providers, and builders.
With this latest round, Virtuo has now raised over $7 million.
Virtuo operates in over a dozen North American cities, including Toronto.
FILLIP
Fintech startup Fillip closed a $5 million seed round led by Toronto-based Staircase Ventures.
Founded in 2018 by former CDL-Rockies’ site lead Alice Reimer, Fillip calls itself the first digital payment platform built for business fleets.
Fillip was named one of 10 homegrown Calgary startups to watch in 2023 after winning the top prize of $250K at the inaugural Calgary Fintech Awards in 2022.
With this latest injection of funding, Fillip is becoming a digital payment leader for Canada’s on-the-road business expenses.
Fillip provides businesses, of all sizes, with a digital fuel payment and tracking solution allowing them to save time and money, simplify accounting, and optimize fuel and maintenance expenses.
The platform’s software provides increased transparency, fraud reduction, and real-time visibility and control of company fuel cards.
WOVEO
The other 2022 Calgary Fintech Award winner also raised more capital recently as it seeks to expand its offerings in Canada.
Woveo believes that community savings and lending practices are the keys to breaking the cycle of underrepresentation of new immigrants in the Canadian financial system.
The Alberta fintech recently confirmed that it secured $2.3 million in seed funding from new and returning investors including BKR Capital, Relay Ventures, and Northpine Foundation.
The funding builds on a $1.5 million pre-seed round last year, bringing the Canadian startup’s total funding to $3.8M.
Woveo’s suite of services includes group savings, credit-building programs, credit score monitoring in partnership with Equifax, and cash advances targeting Canada’s “underbanked” communities.
Woveo’s approach to community savings and lending practices enables community organizers to pool funds and fundraise in order to facilitate communal credit transactions. The app also features social payments with cash-back promotions via white-labeled physical and virtual cards designed to enhance the user experience.
The company was founded in Calgary in 2021 by Chininga as well as operating officer James Muhato and chief of technology, Sergio Fernández.
CNERGREEN
Cnergreen announced a $2 million seed round led by Rhapsody Venture Partners, a US-based venture capital firm specializing in hard-tech investments, for its work developing and manufacturing nanoparticle-based foam technology.
Chief executive officer of the advanced materials startup, Ali Telmadarreie, said in a statement that the capital “will enable us to fast-track field trials and commercialization.”
Cnergreen’s flagship product drawing the attention of investors is its patent-pending ArmorFoam technology.
Developed at the University of Calgary, ArmorFoam enables underground foams to remain stable for months at high pressures, temperatures, and salinities.
The first application of this technology is aimed at improving CO2 enhanced oil recovery in the oil and gas industry.
Cnergreen has recently scaled its manufacturing capabilities, the company stated, and is currently conducting field testing in conjunction with an existing CO2 project.
Cnergreen was founded by Telmadarreie and Steven Bryant in 2019.
OPENHOUSE AI
A company applying artificial intelligence solutions to the homebuilding industry has secured seed capital: OpenHouse.ai announced recently a $1.5 million round led by Trico Ventures.
With over three million new homes needed by 2030 to address Canada’s housing crisis, developers require new tools to optimize planning and improve efficiency throughout the construction process, as well as better understand market demand and home buyers’ needs—and “AI holds the key,” according to the founders of local startup OpenHouse.
Launched in 2022, Alberta’s OpenHouse.ai deploys technology to accelerate the digital transformation of a traditional industry through AI-driven personalization.
This includes products such as OpenPredict, which helps builders understand where the market is heading with foresight into market demand and shifting buyer behaviour, and OpenFlow, which brings everything together to identify bottlenecks and prioritize actions to optimize construction operations, reduce construction cycle time, and minimize waste.
The platform promises “accurate demand prediction and on-demand intelligence”— insights that allow builders to close more sales, build optimal products, and deliver world-class customer experiences, according to cofounder Will Zhang.
The new funding will equip OpenHouse.ai to deploy its product offerings to more home builders across North America and help address the housing supply gap, according to a statement released by the firm.
Leave a Reply