We provided a shortlist of 10 homegrown Calgary tech startups to watch earlier this year. These companies are already proving us right as they continue to impress the local tech community.
We’re adding 5 more to this year’s official watchlist. These startups have been turning heads and deserve to be recognized for the impact they’re making in the province.
Alethea Medical
Alethea Medical uses artificial intelligence (AI) in the medical diagnostics field, where its e-consult platform provides doctors with predictive support and expedited specialist communication. The startup’s App allows family physicians and nurse practitioners to record patient images; access the AI Decision Support tool for Ear, Nose, and Throat and Dermatology; and send requests for advice to specialists.
Founded by Calgary doctor Devon Livingstone, the company has already helped more than 16,000 patients. Last year, Technation recognized Alethea with a 2022 Ingenious Award in the AI category for the company’s work with diagnostic AI. Alethea is continuing to develop its technology while it decreases specialist wait times for patients by an average of 50% based on the e-consults performed through the app.
OneVest
OneVest is Canada’s first Wealth-as-a-Service (WaaS) platform. The company provides digital wealth management services that can be embedded in consumer-facing products through a set of simple APIs. This enables fintechs, credit unions and traditional banks to offer a digitally native user experience for personalized wealth management to their end customers. And it can be launched in a matter of weeks.
Founded in 2021 by Amar Ahluwalia, Jakob Pizzera and Nathan Di Lucca, OneVest raised a $5 million seed round in 2022 that was led by Luge Capital and included OMER Ventures and Panache Ventures. The funding news came on the heels of fellow Calgary-based fintech Neo Financial launching its actively managed wealth platform called Neo Invest, which is built on the OneVest platform.
PayShepherd
PayShepherd wants to become the “system of record” for financial transactions between industrial facilities and contractors. Working as a billing management and contract assurance platform, the company eliminates billing discrepancies and improves relationships in the industrial and manufacturing segments. PayShepherd’s solution sits between facilities and the contracted workforce to identify billing issues, increase visibility and accountability into operations, increase speed and efficacy, and offer real-time data to reduce overall services spend by up to millions of dollars per year
Launched in 2018 by Wesley Sessenwein, Jennifer Hunter and Johan Lee, PayShepherd raised a $3.8 million seed round in 2022 that included previous investor Thin Air Labs and with support from the A100. The investment will enable the company to expand product & engineering capabilities, strengthen operations across Canada and the U.S., open up new verticals, and further develop ecosystem integrations.
PurposeMed
PurposeMed is a secure virtual care platform connecting healthcare providers with their patients across Canada. The company builds and operates telehealth brands, including HIV prevention services provider Freddie, the virtual ADHD clinic Frida, as well as Affirming Care Pharmacy.
Last year, PurposeMed was named to Communitech’s Team True North which includes high-performing tech firms tracking to $1 billion in annual revenue with growth rates that match the top 1% of companies globally. Early this year PurposeMed received over $3.5 million from PrairiesCan to scale-up operations and extend delivery of its telehealth solutions to at-risk and underserved communities in Canada.
Westgen Technologies
Westgen was founded in 2018 by engineers Ben Klepacki and Connor O’Shea who were motivated by a tragic accident at a wellsite in Northern Canada. Driven to improve safety and reduce methane emissions, they developed the patented EPOD technology which is a solar-hybrid power generation system that eliminates methane venting from pneumatic devices and reduces emissions by up to 99.5%.
The company is dedicated to empowering the energy evolution by providing practical solutions that can be widely deployed to eliminate emissions. By combining expertise in carbon policy, facilities, engineering, power generation, and productization, Westgen is becoming a force for progress in achieving emissions reduction and energy security.
Photo by Ryunosuke Kikuno on Unsplash
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