A brand new initiative wants to revolutionize Alberta’s gaming industry landscape with startups at the forefront.
In partnership with Alberta Innovates and PrairiesCan, Scaffold aims to double the number of small and medium-sized businesses in the province’s gaming sector by fostering innovation and attracting investment for promising startups.
Led by Matt Toner, Managing Partner of Shred Capital, Scaffold will provide instruction, mentorship, and workshops to help Alberta gaming entrepreneurs and businesses achieve success.
The program is designed to provide coordinated support to help game developers access the resources and expertise they require to launch new products.
Participants will gain valuable knowledge in a variety of areas – including investment attraction, marketing, staffing, and partnership development – to help them effectively commercialize their interactive digital media products.
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“The game industry is clearly in need of initiatives like Scaffold to reshape the industry landscape,” remarked Matt Toner. “By focusing on creating investable gaming companies from the remarkably rich grassroots game industry in Alberta, this approach gives us a chance to build back in a better way.”
With a vision to rebuild the gaming industry in a more sustainable, proactive, and resilient manner, Scaffold has garnered significant support from both government and private sectors.
The $2 million program has received $1 million in funding from PrairiesCan, the federal department that supports economic growth and diversification in the Prairie provinces.
In addition, this initiative is also receiving $750,000 from Alberta Innovates, a provincial organization that aims to accelerate research and innovations that benefit Albertans, and $250,000 from Shred Capital.
Participation in the Scaffold program operates on a cohort system and so far, each cohort has been fully subscribed. This demonstrates the need for programs like this and the excitement for the next big thing in gaming in both the gaming community and venture capital organizations.
Scaffold will host the inaugural Scaffold Game Investors Summit in Banff this October. The Summit will bring together industry experts from across the globe to assess, discuss, ideate and invest in the new landscape of Alberta’s gaming industry.
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