The Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund (OCIF) is committing up to $675,000 over the next three years to QAI Ventures to bolster Calgary’s emerging quantum technology sector and accelerate the development of homegrown talent and startups.
The strategic investment will support a two-phase program — a pre-accelerator and an accelerator — to train 54 individuals and back three Calgary-based startups with early-stage capital. The initiative is designed to expand the city’s pipeline of quantum innovators and establish Calgary as a leader in applied quantum technology.
“Calgary has demonstrated to the world that our city is the place to be if technology is your passion,” said Mayor Jyoti Gondek. “Through the investment in QAI Ventures from City Council’s Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund, we are now elevating our economy by building a robust quantum ecosystem that will support innovators in addressing our most complex challenges.”
Participants in the pre-accelerator will work on prototype solutions to industry challenges, while the five-month accelerator will offer teams access to mentorship, commercialization support, and cutting-edge quantum-AI tools. At the end of the accelerator, three Calgary-based companies will receive capital investment to advance their applied quantum solutions.
“By supporting the development of quantum talent and startups, we’re not just investing in technology — we’re investing in the people and ideas that will drive Calgary’s economic future,” said Brad Parry, CEO of OCIF and President and CEO of Calgary Economic Development. “This initiative strengthens our innovation economy and ensures we remain competitive on the global stage.”
QAI Ventures, a Swiss-based venture capital fund and quantum ecosystem builder, will establish operations at Calgary’s Quantum City to run the programs and integrate with local academia and industry. The company’s CEO, Alexandra Beckstein, emphasized the importance of early collaboration between startups and corporates to drive real-world impact in sectors like finance, energy, and life sciences.
“The future of quantum and AI innovation lies in collaboration,” said Beckstein. “Through QAI Ventures’ ecosystem, startups gain direct access to strategic mentorship, industry partnerships, and the resources they need to scale — from prototype to commercialization.”
Quantum technologies, which harness the principles of quantum mechanics, have the potential to revolutionize sectors by offering powerful new approaches to drug discovery, logistics, financial modeling, and artificial intelligence.
The QAI Ventures initiative is the latest in a series of strategic investments by OCIF. To date, the fund has allocated more than $86 million to 34 projects, helping to create or retain over 3,000 jobs, scale nearly 900 companies, and generate more than $900 million in economic activity.
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