Canada

Edmonton

MEMBERS:

Innovate Edmonton, a division of Edmonton Economic Development Corporation

The conversion from potential to prosperity entails a bold commitment to an economy that nurtures and supports our strengths noted in this report. Through collaboration and shared aspiration, it is our job to showcase what we can create using our local, organic and differentiating assets.

Ecosystem by the Numbers

EARLY-STAGE FUNDING

<$50 m

GLOBAL AVG.

$687 m

ECOSYSTEM VALUE

$191 m

GLOBAL AVG.

$28.6 bn

MEDIAN SEED ROUND

$300 k

GLOBAL AVG.

$671 k

MEDIAN SERIES A ROUND

$2.3 m

GLOBAL AVG.

$4.7 m

SOFT. ENGINEER SALARY

$56 k

GLOBAL AVG.

$46 k

AI, Big Data & Analytics

The Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute is one of three institutes granted a combined $125 million as part of a Pan-Canadian AI Strategy. Drivewyze, a leader in connected truck services, which operates in North America’s largest weigh station bypass service, raised $15.9 million in a venture funding round in 2018. Social Asset Management (SAM), which analyzes open and connected data sources to spot early signals of emerging risks and potentially threatening situations, raised ~$2.5 million in 2020. Innovate and Startup Edmonton work with some of the city's most promising AI companies: in 2019 client members raised $72 million.

Life Sciences

Edmonton has a long history of leading in life sciences research and innovation, including creation of the Edmonton Protocol, a treatment for Type 1 diabetes developed at the University of Alberta. Building on successes like this, TEC Edmonton, Health City, The Institute for Health Economics, and the DynaLIFE, Merck Invention, and University of Alberta Health Accelerators all work with researchers and entrepreneurs to identify clinical needs and commercialize solutions. Examples of recent deals include Canadian Metabolomic Technologies ($4.2 million Series A), Pacylex ($3.9 million angel investment), and Tevosol ($1.5 million seed financing).

Reasons to Move Your Startup to Edmonton

Affordability and access to talent

Edmonton boasts an exceptionally affordable quality of life. Five post-secondary institutions make it a talent and academic powerhouse turning out thousands of talented graduates each year.

COVID-19 Policy

The government of Canada declared an emergency wage subsidy to cover 75 percent of salaries for qualifying businesses, for up to 3 months, retroactive to March 15, 2020. Employers of all sizes and across all sectors of the economy who see a drop of at least 15 percent in their revenue in March 2020 and 30 percent in the following months are eligible.

Favorable tax environment

Local companies benefit from the absence of a provincial retail sales tax. Research-intensive startups can claim a 40 percent tax credit on R&D expenses.