Over $110,000 in investments were awarded to startups at Inventures’ pitch competitions this year.
Taking place in Calgary, Inventures ran from May 31 to June 2 where it saw over 3,000 people in attendance. This 2023 installation held four different pitch events open to startups from Canada and beyond.
Provincially-funded Alberta Innovates launched Inventures in 2018 to bring together innovators, angel investors, venture capitalists, and industry leaders.
Most of the startups that received funding at Inventures 2023 are based in Alberta, with the exception of those that participated in the international pitch contest.
International competition
Thirty companies participated in the international competition, which awarded $10,000 to each winner of the six categories in the contest, totalling $60,000.
Inventures introduced the global event in 2019 to attract innovators from across the world to Alberta.
Half of this year’s recipients come from Canada, with Ottawa-based Delphi, Vancouver company GlüxKind, and Edmonton-headquartered Kello Inclusive. Other countries with representatives were the United States and Singapore.
The 2023 categories for the international pitch event and its winners are:
- The Metaverse: Delphi Technology Group
- Computing Infinity: GlüxKind Technologies
- Future of Work: Kello Inclusive
- Agriculture/Food: Teora PTE
- Cleantech: Urban Machine
- Health Innovation: Vistim Labs
Ascent
The Ascent pitch competition provided $50,000 in cash, meant to help startups and innovators from the University of Calgary (UCalgary) commercialize their product or service.
TurnCO2, which offers CO2 capture technologies for the food and beverage industry, won the top prize worth $30,000. AI fashion advisor LEWK and Climate Change Materials, which is developing technology that embeds biomass wastes into construction materials, each received $10,000.
Winners will also go through the four-month Ascent program, where they will get access to training and coaching from UCalgary’s Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking, matching them with mentors from the community.
HerStory
The51, which invests in women-led ventures, named the winners of this year’s HerStory pitch competition.
HerStory is open to women and gender-diver entrepreneurs where they can tell a panel of investors about who they are and how they came to their business idea.
From the 30 finalists selected in the previous round, five Alberta-based companies were selected to receive investments from HerStory’s “Capital Champions.”
The amount invested for each recipient was not disclosed. Winners may receive an investment of up to $51,000, subject to due diligence.
HerStory’s 2023 awarded businesses and its founders are:
- UpRow – Kelsie Williams
- Fuse Financial – Aamna Zia
- Nyah Health – Hoda Soboh
- Village Wellth – Liz MacRae
- Animal Healthlink – Leilani Mustillo
For students
A student pitch competition also took place, naming three Alberta-based startups as finalists to participate in a student entrepreneur showcase.
The finalists were Quack, which allows salespeople to call multiple prospects at once; Wire Financial, a banking app that targets South Asians; and drone mapping software provider Threshold UAV.
Featured image courtesy Inventures.