Global SaaS firms Vantage Circle and Eventcombo are making big bets on Calgary, Alta. with their new separate offices in the city and plans to hire hundreds of people.
Calgary Economic Development, an economic development agency funded by the City of Calgary, other levels of government, and the private sector, are supporting both Vantage and Eventcombo for their building plans.
“Its qualified and diverse talent pool, strong economy … are just a few of the reasons we selected Calgary.”
– Partha Neog, Vantage Circle
United States company Eventcombo said it is investing $10 million over three years to expand its operations and relocate to Calgary, with additional support from Invest Alberta, a Crown corporation of the province.
Both Vantage and Eventcombo are establishing their commitment to growing their businesses in Calgary, which ranked sixth place in StartupBlink’s list of the top 10 cities in Canada for startups. Calgary is Canada’s third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area.
According to Startup Genome, Calgary’s startup ecosystem, between the second half of 2020 and 2022, made an economic impact of more than $5.2 billion. The ecosystem grew by 2,156 companies, a 233 percent increase, between 2012 and 2021, according to the Alberta Technology Deal Flow study.
Despite the broader dip in the Canadian tech sector and beyond, Alberta remained resilient. In the first quarter of this year, Alberta surpassed Toronto and British Columbia in funding raised, securing $222.5 million.
In an aim to contribute to this growth, Vantage and Eventcombo said each of the companies plan to hire up to 250 employees in the next three years.
Based in New Delhi, India, Vantage Circle offers employee-engagement solutions and services to over 700 companies. It claims to have doubled its growth in the last one and a half years, now serving over 700 clients, including Deloitte, Infosys, Coinbase, Bosch, and DHL.
With the opening of its new Calgary office, which will also serve as its North American hub, Vantage Circle said it plans to expand its clients across North, Central, and South America.
“Calgary is an ideal city for our continued global expansion. Its qualified and diverse talent pool, strong economy, and impressive thought leadership in key sectors that require engaged workforces are just a few of the reasons we selected Calgary,” said Partha Neog, CEO and co-founder of Vantage Circle.
Vantage said it expects to grow its Calgary workforce as it did in India, where it said it increased headcount three-fold over the last three years. All jobs expected to be created in Calgary will include roles across business development, customer success, strategic partnerships and technical implementations.
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Founded in 2015, Eventcombo offers an event and attendee management platform for in-person, virtual, and hybrid events. Its platform includes features like ticketing, attendee interaction, marketing, branding, and analytics.
Eventcombo has worked with several Alberta-based organizations in the past to develop its innovation strategy, including Alberta Innovates and the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute.
As Alberta’s tech scene continues to scale, it has pulled in other companies from abroad that decided to set up shop in the province recently.
After Indian digital-services and consulting company Infosys established its office in Calgary in 2021, it announced plans in September 2022 to double its original hiring commitment, aiming to hire another 500 over two years.
Another Indian IT company, Mphasis, launched its Canadian headquarters in Calgary in 2021, announcing plans to hire 500 to 1,000 people.
Featured image courtesy Unsplash.
