“Venture capital investment in Alberta is off to an incredibly strong start. We have been watching the sector grow exponentially over the past few years and the growth over the first quarter of 2022 is very exciting.
“From January through March 2022, venture capital investment in Alberta tech companies was $466 million, eclipsing the total amount of investment seen in all of 2020, which was itself a record-breaking year (until 2021). Alberta is neck and neck with British Columbia and Calgary is closing in on Vancouver’s total investment dollars, at $433 million.
“It is amazing to see Alberta tech companies continue to mature. The real strength of our tech and innovation sector is our early-stage deals. In the months and years to come, we will start to see more Alberta-based startups mature and attract greater investment. This is evident in the average deal size, which increased by 474 per cent from last quarter and 56 per cent from Q1 in 2021. In early 2022, we have seen that most especially with Neo Financial, which raised $191 million.
“Also in the first quarter, Neo Financial announced its expansion in downtown Calgary. We continue to see tech companies of all sizes build up and grow into Alberta, including AWS, Rogers-Shaw, Mphasis, Infosys, Benevity, Symend, Jobber and HCL Technologies. This in turn helps to attract more talent as the opportunities available to them increase and diversify. When paired with our high quality of life and low cost of living, Alberta is an ideal destination for tech professionals and private investment.
“Recent reports show that Calgary is leading the continent in tech talent growth and Edmonton’s talent growth is in line with the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City. Alberta’s tech and innovation sector is creating thousands of jobs, which is helping to drive our unemployment rate to the lowest it has been since spring 2015.
“Venture capital investment will be different every quarter, following companies as they grow and mature. In the first three months of the year, our province captured more than 10 per cent of total investment dollars and more than 13 per cent of total deals.
“Alberta continues to solidify its reputation as a major player for tech and innovation. From our work to set up accelerators that support entrepreneurs and startups as they begin to put their ideas into action to the additional funding provided to the Alberta Enterprise Corporation, and from our investments into dedicated spaces in post-secondary institutions and supports for women to enter STEM fields to our investment into govlab.ai, Alberta’s government is committed to growing technology and innovation in our province.
“Now, more than ever, I am excited for the future of our province and our economic diversification, including in the tech and innovation sector. This will be Alberta’s decade and we’re just getting started.”