Alberta Catalyzer, the new provincial pre-accelerator for tech-focused startups, is kicking off the new year with its official name and its inaugural cohort of 35 participating entrepreneurs from across the province.
A collaboration between Platform Calgary and Innovate Edmonton, Alberta Catalyzer is providing education, mentorship, programming, and resources to help innovation-driven startup founders prepare for their next phase of growth.
“The name, Alberta Catalyzer, speaks to the power of this program to supercharge our innovation ecosystem throughout our province – it is a catalyst for the economic diversification and job creation that comes with strengthening our tech-focused economy,” said Innovate Edmonton CEO Catherine Warren. “Thanks go to the 150+ startup founders from across the province who submitted name suggestions and helped us select the winning name: Alberta Catalyzer.”
The name for the pre-accelerator was inspired by a submission from Nancy Mandaher, CFO and Co-founder of Sarcomere Dynamics, a robotics startup based in St. Albert. For seeding the chosen name, Mandaher received a $1,000 cash prize.
Over the course of the year, Alberta Catalyzer will support a target of 180 qualified founders with a program focus on prototyping, ideal customer profiling, creating a minimum viable product, and validating business models. The founders in the inaugural cohort represent food and beverage, solar energy, fintech and AI from urban and rural communities across the province and internationally looking to establish their business in Alberta.
