To kick off the sixth annual Edmonton Startup Week, a new startup partner has come to Alberta’s capital city.
Local hub Startup Edmonton has announced a partnership with Microsoft for Startups Canada to bring events, programming, and tech tools to the city of Edmonton. These resources will be made available to the 65 startups in Startup Edmonton’s portfolio, as well as tech members across the local community.
The announcement coincided with a fireside chat between Startup Edmonton CEO Tiffany Linke-Boyko and Microsoft for Startups national partnerships lead Allen Nizi at the Mercer Warehouse to kick off Edmonton Startup Week, which will feature more than 70 events across the city.
Startup Edmonton program members will also be eligible for technical support and development tools, and up to $120,000 in free Azure credits.
As part of the announcement, the two organizations’ highlighted a number of specific events and programming they intend to bring to the Edmonton startup ecosystem, including office hours, expert-led lunch-and-learns and dinners series, and bespoke events with a focus on artificial intelligence, and diversity and inclusion. Startup Edmonton program members will also be eligible for technical support and development tools from Microsoft for Startups, including up to $120,000 in free Azure credits.
“With over a decade of hard-won experience supporting area startups, we’re thrilled to team with Startup Edmonton to help these founders quickly scale their companies with streamlined access to technology and business connections,” said Adam Nanjee, Managing Director of Canada at Microsoft for Startups.
The collaboration with Startup Edmonton marks the most recent in a string of announcements from Microsoft for Startups across Canada, having partnered with Halifax-based hub Volta, and Toronto’s OneEleven and MaRS. Microsoft also launched the first Canadian location of its Reactor hub this month within the MaRS Discovery District.
Managed by Innovated Edmonton, a division of Edmonton Economic Development, Startup Edmonton also receives support from Alberta Innovates and the City of Edmonton. Launched in 2009, the organization claims 175 startups within its alumni portfolio.
“Our collaboration with Microsoft for Startups is an amazing opportunity to enhance opportunities for our founders to increase their skill-base, but also expand their networks to the world,” said Linke-Boyko. “I can’t wait for the Microsoft for Startups team to meet our companies and get more involved in the community.”
Disclosure: Microsoft for Startups is the current sponsor of BetaKit’s AI Nation series.