CALGARY, April 25, 2019 /CNW/ – A new strategic partnership between StartAlberta and San Francisco-based Crunchbase expands Alberta’s richest database for the startup community – giving Alberta entrepreneurs even greater exposure to national and international investors.
StartAlberta fills a void within the Alberta ecosystem, as a free and open-source central dealflow directory that external stakeholders, investors and entrepreneurs can use to connect with each other and identify investment opportunities. Crunchbase is North America’s leading platform for helping investment professionals discover innovative companies and connect with the people behind them. It does this by aggregating investor and founder data for both public and private companies in real time.
Under this partnership, StartAlberta’s database will be directly linked to Crunchbase – which reaches over 50 million professionals worldwide.
“By partnering with other data platforms, StartAlberta is making Alberta’s technology sector more visible beyond Alberta’s borders” says Rebecca Giffen, Executive Director of the Venture Capital Association of Alberta (VCAA).
“This new partnership allows StartAlberta to leverage the outstanding reputation and reach of Crunchbase, giving investors and founders who create profiles on StartAlberta unprecedented international exposure,” Giffen adds.
Kristina Williams, President and CEO of Alberta Enterprise Corporation, says StartAlberta fills an important need, and complements their own efforts to attract venture capital funds to the province.
“In any business, but particularly in the technology sector – which is reliant on capital to bring big ideas to fruition – a company’s success depends on its ability to make the right connections,” Williams explains.
StartAlberta’s platform also provides a critical forum for telling the story of Alberta’s entrepreneurial successes. This helps build the case for investing in the Alberta technology sector.
StartAlberta was developed in partnership with Alberta Enterprise Corporation, the A100 and other organizations that form the backbone of Alberta’s technology ecosystem. StartAlberta is a self-sustaining entity, operating under the stewardship of the VCAA.
In their Alberta Technology Competitiveness Report, Invest Alberta recently highlighted the value of StartAlberta as a single directory for investors – and mentioned it among their midterm recommendations.
According to Giffen, StartAlberta plans to continue pursuing data partnerships to further increase exposure of Alberta dealflow to investors, both nationally and internationally.
“Our goal is to make Alberta startups impossible to ignore,” Giffen says.
About Alberta Enterprise Corporation:
Alberta Enterprise Corporation promotes the development of Alberta’s venture capital industry by investing in venture capital funds that finance early-stage technology companies. We focus on funds that have a strong commitment to Alberta, including a full-time presence in the province. In addition to capital, we support Alberta’s venture capital ecosystem by connecting investors, entrepreneurs, and experienced technology executives who share our passion for building a bright, innovative Alberta.
Since our inception we have committed $184 million for investment to 17 VC funds, covering a diverse range of forward-looking industries including information technology, industrial technology, and life sciences. Our funds and their partners have invested more than $490 million into Alberta technology companies. www.alberta-enterprise.ca
About the Venture Capital Association of Alberta (VCAA):
The VCAA is Alberta’s primary industry association for venture capital, private equity, angel investors and other interested in furthering the industry in Alberta. Our members invest primarily in Information and Communications technology, Clean Energy technology, Agricultural, Biological and Life Sciences companies as well as more traditional industries. The VCAA generates opportunities, events and programs on behalf of our members to create dialogue, educational opportunities, advocacy and networking. www.vcaa.ca
About Crunchbase:
San Francisco-based Crunchbase is the leading platform for professionals to discover innovative companies, connect with the people behind them, and pursue new opportunities. Over 50 million professionals—including entrepreneurs, investors, market researchers, and salespeople—trust Crunchbase to inform their business decisions. And companies all over the world rely on Crunchbase to power their applications, making over a billion calls to our API each year. www.crunchbase.com
SOURCE Alberta Enterprise Corporation
