Alberta has a long history of technology, and as its tech sector matures, a new crop of startups is introducing itself to the world. The province boasts ambitious companies that aim to change the world. From one of Canada’s first B-Corps, to a startup that hopes to be the province’s first billion-dollar unicorn, there’s a lot going on in Alberta.
Here are six to watch:
Benevity – “Harness the power of goodness”
Benevity is a leader in corporate social responsibility with its employee engagement software. The technology services major companies such as Coca-Cola, Apple and Nike, among others. Benevity offers solutions for giving, matching, volunteering and community investment. The software is available in 17 languages and boasts 10 million users. To date, Benevity has processed nearly $3 billion in donations and has raised $40 million in its Series C in October 2019.
Benevity also holds the distinction of being one of the first B-Corps in Canada.
Attabotics – “Reinventing your supply chain”
Attabotics offers the world’s first 3D robotic goods-to-person retrieval and storage with real-time order fulfillment. The company has seen explosive growth since its founding in 2016, with many employees, including engineers and project managers, coming over from the oil and gas sector. The founders were inspired by the framework of any colonies, condensing rows and aisles into a patented storage structure. Robotics can move in the horizontal and vertical space, storing and delivering goods to people at the perimeter to pick, pack and ship orders.
“I believe what Calgary has been looking for is a new purpose for its talented people,” said founder and CEO Scott Graville, speaking to the Calgary Herald in 2018. “We wouldn’t have been possible had there been a really strong oil and gas industry in Calgary…To compete as a startup technology company in this market against oil and gas, historically, was almost impossible.”
Attabotics announced a $25 million Series B raise in July 2019 to miniaturize fulfilment centres with robots.
Instantgrid – “Next-generation location intelligence platform”
Leveraging experiences with the 2011 Slave Lake wildfire, the 2013 Alberta floods and the 2016 Fort McMurray fires, Instantgrid has sought out novel solutions for management of crisis response within the insurance industry. The platform leverages open data to provide location intelligence and mapping visualizations. Now, with 12 million different features, the platform works within not just crisis response, but a variety of industries, including city zoning and land use analysis.
Jobber – “Software for growing home services businesses”
Jobber is an award-winning SaaS platform that provides home services management software to small businesses. The platform simplifies and streamlines everything from scheduling and dispatching to online booking and invoicing. Ultimately, Jobber’s goal is to help small business owners spend less time on paperwork and more time on growing their business. The company’s award-winning app is used in over 60 countries. Jobber continues to grow at an impressive rate, increasing its workforce by 70% in the last 12 months alone. “There’s much more to Edmonton and Alberta than natural resources, and we are committed to demonstrating this not only on the North American stage but globally, as well,” says Jobber’s CEO & co-founder, Sam Pillar.
If Jobber’s meteoric growth continues, Sam hopes it means it will be the first billion-dollar tech company in Edmonton.
Chaordix – “The power of participation”
Chaordix is the global standard for crowdsourced brand and product innovation. This cloud-based platform is fully-responsive and enterprise-ready and has participants in 191 countries. Since 2009, the platform has worked with brands such as LEGO, American Airlines and Virgin.
The company was an early adopter of crowdsourcing technology to help enterprise-level organizations connect with their customers and solve unique business challenges. “Over the years our platform has evolved into a holistic community engine powering always-on communities for organizations of all sizes,” says Terry Sydoryk, CEO of Chaordix.
Validere – “AI & IoT intelligence to optimize oil & gas quality, logistics, and trading.“
Validere provides oil & gas organizations with real-time product quality data and predictive AI insights using IoT data. Validere’s goal is to help organizations optimize operational and trading decisions through data transparency. Validere was founded in 2015 and graduated from San Francisco’s Y-Combinator and Toronto’s Creative Destruction Lab accelerators in 2016.
The company now operates out of offices in Calgary, Toronto, and Houston and announced a $7 million seed round in 2018.
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