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Rainforest Summit was centered around an amazing line-up of speakers and opportunity to participate and share unique perspectives that helped collectively and collaboratively craft a story of the entrepreneurial journey within the Edmonton area ecosystem: what worked, what did not, where we want to go, and how we are going to get there. The event focused on scorecard assessments, the Rainforest model, pillars of innovation, best practices, the importance of storytelling, and challenging past narratives that helped the group realize Edmonton’s innovation potential.

Edmonton’s Startup Week brings entrepreneurs, local leaders, and friends together over five days to build momentum and opportunity around your community’s unique entrepreneurial identity. It's a time to build connections, discover what is possible, celebrate new companies, and inspire entrepreneurship in all of us. The 8th annual Edmonton Startup Week had over 3,000 people that attended, 60 events, 10 companies launched and hundreds of new connections made. Although last year’s Startup Week was almost entirely virtual, our community still came together to celebrate what it means to be a part of  Edmonton’s Startup Community.

For over four years, Cecile has been the sole employee of the NAIT Mawji Centre, NAIT's entrepreneurship incubator. During that time, she has helped guide student businesses to launch.  She has been singularly dedicated to positively impacting students' lives through entrepreneurship. Since one person can't do it alone, Cecile is a master connector. She has lined up dozens of businesspeople to work with the students. As well, Cecile constantly brings in guest speakers to talk to the students. Not many people can match her address book. Cecile has also taken a leadership role in the post-secondary ecosystem. Cecile helps plan regular meetings and actively initiates school events for students for both groups. She is one of the driving forces of this collaboration.

A worthy celebration showing companies that are making an impact here and around the world from Edmonton. The first of many more to come. Excellent food. great drinks, fun group of Edmontonians and all around the best part - entrepreneurship in Edmonton.

Semi-annually, Startup TNT holds a summit to celebrate the Prairie startup community and invest in local entrepreneurs in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Startup TNT's Investment Summit IV brought together the community in a time where the community needed it the most. Not only did the team at Startup TNT host this pan provincial summit as an incredible virtual event, but it was through their ingenuity and risk taking that they were able to deliver the event in an engaging hybrid fashion, with watch parties across the prairies and live pitches. At the TNT Summit, a total of $1.25 million was raised for startups in Calgary, Edmonton, and Saskatchewan. This brings TNT to an aggregate total of over $5 million raised for companies since its inception in 2019.

Marginalized communities often have fewer trees, green spaces, and resources - let's fix that. Shrubscriber uses urban heat island, flooding, food security, and energy poverty data to identify community partners needing trees.  The social enterprise startup is continuing to add community partners and the most vulnerable areas are chosen based on three criteria: community need, project sustainability, and public access.

With progress being made over the past year, and the launch of its MVP app in the last few weeks, Veto is a decision-making assistant that helps people quickly funnel relevant search results into a card-based voting session that people can use as individuals or in a group to get the best result from the options. They have built in a rewards system in which the Vendors that users are deciding between can provide coupons to users who choose them as the top result. This allows for a new form of advertising/marketing that not only incentivizes users to get back to the older habits of returning to in-person dining, but gives Vendors a way to reward potential new customers for choosing them while simultaneously giving thanks to loyal customers in a tangible way. They have big expansion plans, and want to continue applying their technology to help users make decisions in their daily lives.

As an early-stage tech company in a fairly competitive market, Rocketfire Labs has been able to quickly understand and address client challenges. The gaming industry contains highly loyal clientele that are striving for the next best-class technologies to provide them with a better or unique playing experience. Although a newer player in the startup space, the team has made excellent headway and is taking mentorship opportunities from other entrepreneurs.

Ruth is a new Edmonton company that is making sustainable period care easier than ever. Founded by two U of A female alumni, the startup has made waves locally and across Canada. Notably, they launched their sustainable pads on Kickstarter - reaching a fully funded campaign in under 48 hours. The crowdfunding campaign was 208% funded by the end, netting just over $14,500 from 249 supporters. Ruth is involved with local Edmonton investment events, including the StartupTNT Cleantech Summit and has participated in Innovate Edmonton programs such as the ERIN Coach program. The founders are mentored through the U of A Venture Mentoring Services and are actively involved with the U of A Health Innovation Hub.

Zipstall had its official launch in September 2021, their team is growing, they are consistently onboarding new partners and they do a really great job of supporting other local businesses through their business model.  Zipstall has adopted a very forward-thinking approach when it comes to parking.  They have taken the long-known problem of parking downtown and how this acts as a deterrent to those living outside the downtown core in terms of wanting to visit downtown.  Their app makes it simple to find parking downtown, provides you directions to get to the lot and then rewards you with dollars to spend at local businesses downtown.  They are growing and have no plans to slow down anytime soon with expansion plans for 124th Street and Whyte Ave.

Lan is awesome!  She knows everyone, has worked with everyone, and is always looking out for the ecosystem. Her passions run deep for innovative entrepreneurs and loves bringing the best people together. Through her work with multiple accelerators, inventure$, GrowthX, Alberta Innovates, past work with TEC, and her work on Rainforest, she is literally one of the best connectors out there - she is the glue. She is especially passionate about helping folks who have a challenging time entering the ecosystem.

Colin seems to know everyone. Many of the external connections that MacEwan School of Business made in the last year were introductions made by Colin. His willingness to connect people with his large network that spans many different areas including tech, energy, social impact, cannabis, indigenous business, investments and the general entrepreneurship ecosystem, has impacted many individuals. His selflessness, and willingness to meet folks for coffee, despite his busy schedule is one of the many ways he ‘pays it forward.’ His willingness to connect aspiring entrepreneurs with key networks is invaluable.

Amir is a natural connector. Despite COVID-19, Amir has managed to find ways to engage with and lead community events. He has personally hosted a number of connector events at the dealcloser office in the past few months, including a meeting between a group of startup founders, supporters, and senior staff, and Downtown City Council Rep, Anne Stevenson, as well as a startup community network event that was attended by Mayor Sohi. Amir is a natural connector - he looks for ways to put you in front of folks that can help you, or where mutual relationships can be fostered. He is willing to go out of his way to make connections to folks he knows and will help anyone find a resource or person to help them with a question they may have.

Salem is a newcomer to the startup ecosystem and has made tremendous leads to connect entrepreneurs, social workers, startup founders, city employees, and the Mayor with each other. In his role as Director of Stakeholder Relations and Engagement with the City of Edmonton, he was tasked with creating much-needed communication between city administration and council, and startups. From connecting startups to the right city administrator, to listening to and helping startups get the information they need, Salem has a no BS, cut to the chase attitude that saves time and helps to red tape for startups.

Areto Labs is a B2B SaaS social enterprise building a suite of apps for companies to deploy inside their digital communities, like Slack and Twitter. Their culture-building program combines machine learning with behavioural science and the latest corporate culture research to leverage scalable software that automates connection and inclusion to improve the employee experience. These apps post positive, inclusive, culture-shaping messages, and at the same time, use A.I. to measure and display sentiment analysis. Insights and data are displayed on a private dashboard, which helps companies understand their digital communities, measure how the bots' nudges are improving their culture and business outcomes, and leverage the built-in recommendations to build inclusion and productivity.

For 20 years, Gail Powley, P.Eng, has used her cross-Canada experience in collaborative business and community building to help grow Edmonton’s and Alberta’s tech sector. As President at Technology Alberta, Gail works with 50 volunteers and leaders—recently co-creating Covid-programs that assist hundreds of Alberta tech companies and young professionals. Gail serves on the ERIN Steering Committee, the U of A Alumni Council and Computing Science Advisory Committees, Rainforest Connector (Entrepreneur Panel) Series, StartAlberta Awards Committee (Category – Cross-Community Collaboration), is an APEGA award-winner on diversity policy initiatives, and is a co-founder of young professional and diversity groups such as MentorUP and WiSER.

Eden Redman is the Co-founder, President, and now Executive Director of NeurAlbertaTech—a U of A neurotech student group turned non-profit organization. Under his leadership, NeurAlbertaTech is quickly establishing itself as Alberta’s premier neurotechnology innovator network through accessible hands-on skill development and commercialization support for student-led projects. Since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, Eden has incorporated an additional for-profit organization, through which he works to deliver live brain-generated art experiences in virtual reality. Last but not least, he is the CTO of 8 Bit Cortex, which works to gamify mental health assessments. An after-degree student himself, his actions have directly led to the creation of 5 full-time summer jobs for current students.

Startup TNT is a community gathering place for entrepreneurs, investors, scientists, and startup supporters of all kinds to have fun, make friends, and build companies together. Startup TNT is on a mission to increase the pool of sophisticated investors in the province of Alberta and help them invest in local startups. Twice a year, they hold a summit to invest in entrepreneurs from the community. This isn’t a pitch competition—it’s a deal screening process. We gather 30 new and seasoned investors to invest real money into real companies with real potential. They have raised over $2 million for 11 startups since 2020. 

Startup Edmonton wants to see more tech-enabled companies start and scale in Edmonton! Supporting entrepreneurs as they build and grow tech-enabled products and companies is at the heart of Startup Edmonton. They’re here to help you each step of the way with mentorship, programs, workspace, and community events. Since 2009, Startup Edmonton has brought together problem solvers, entrepreneurs, developers, students, founders, mentors, and investors to transform ideas into some of Canada’s most exciting and successful startup and scaling companies. Startup Edmonton has raised over $111 million by affiliate companies and members since 2009 and has launched over 75 companies at Launch Party since 2010.

Codo.ca is a product of Laser City Laser Tag. After temporarily closing in March 2020, parents told Laser City Laser Tag how their kids were having a tough time being stuck at home and were missing out on socialization. Luckily for the business, they’d recently launched their in-person Minecraft Day Camps, so they decided to try and re-purpose those for an online product. They launched Codo.ca to provide online After-School Clubs, Day Camps, and Birthday Parties for kids ages 6–12. Since then, they’ve hosted nearly a thousand kids from all over North America. They’re now raising a seed round to allow them to dramatically grow Codo and provide online kids activities after the pandemic!

RUNWITHIT Synthetics creates living, digital models for cities architecting the complex futures of energy transition, economics, equity and accessibility, mobility, and resilience. Their platform technology and methodology enable the rapid development of scenario-based models to inform the intersections of people with the future. Subject matter experts, researchers, and industry specialists collaborate to contribute models of people, economics, technologies, policies, sustainability, utility, and transportation infrastructure that interconnect with the models and expertise of others. Once these models are brought to life in RUNWITHIT’s hyper-localized, geospatially accurate Single Synthetic Environment, they deliver limitless, sophisticated answers to all of the “what if” questions. Decision-makers then have access to expansive, quantified outcomes of their choices.

Kristina Milke is a business leader and mentor in the tech and innovation space in Alberta. Her deep experience and thought leadership are regularly sought out as the innovation landscape continues to grow in Alberta. Kristina is a Partner in Sprout.vc, an early-stage technology fund, the Chair and founding mentor of the Threshold Impact VMS program, and is on the Board of Directors for the Edmonton Screen Industries Office. She is also a CPA/Chartered Accountant with a bachelor’s degree in Commerce from the University of Alberta and a former General Manager of Investopedia. She was previously the Corporate Divisional Controller for Intuit Canada as well as the Divisional Controller and Ethics Officer for Spar Aerospace.

MNP is a leading national accounting, tax, and business consulting firm in Canada. Committed to the success of Edmonton and Alberta’s entrepreneurs, MNP helps promising ventures grow and thrive, and they proudly serve and respond to the needs of their clients in the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors. Through partner-led engagements, their experienced professionals provide a collaborative and cost-effective approach to doing business, and provide personalized strategies to help people and organizations succeed across the country and around the world. MNP also works closely with their clients to transform innovative ventures into rewarding businesses that advance economic growth and social well-being.

Laurie Wang is a communications executive who has led award-winning teams over the last 12 years. Formerly the co-founder of Squid Arms, an Edmonton startup, she is passionate about startups and tech. Laurie is also a member of the Forbes Communications Council, where she regularly publishes marketing best practices on expert panels. She currently oversees the People, Culture & Communications teams at Legal Aid Alberta. Proudly Canadian, Laurie was born in a refugee camp in Thailand and came to North America when she was three. Her family’s journey is what drives her to serve communities and help level the playing field—whether it’s media for local startups, mentoring young women, establishing bursaries for University of Alberta students in financial need, or raising awareness for legal aid.

Ashlyn Bernier is COO at samdesk (www.samdesk.io), where they leverage AI to detect disruptive events based on open-source data. She began her journey in community building when she started ABCampus in 2012. She was the inaugural Manager of VMS and has since served several Edmonton startups in operational roles. She was the founding Co-Chair of the Edmonton Advisory Council on Startups (EACOS), has volunteered with Startup Edmonton, Startup Weekend, is a VMS Mentor, and is a Director with Innovate Edmonton. She believes the key to Edmonton’s innovation ecosystem reaching its potential is community leadership, a principle she champions at every opportunity.

DrugBank augments human intelligence to improve the world’s health. Their products enable companies to improve healthcare delivery through precision medicine or clinical software applications and uncover insights through data science in drug discovery. In addition to their paid products, their publicly accessible resource, DrugBank Online, has been cited in over 10,000 academic publications and is used by millions of researchers and health professionals globally. DrugBank Online is a comprehensive, free-to-access, online database containing information on drugs and drug targets. As both a bioinformatics and a cheminformatics resource, DrugBank combines detailed drug data with comprehensive drug target information.