Alberta’s annual technology celebration creates collisions between local startups, key mentors, investors, and partners across the province
Calgary, Canada – AccelerateAB 2017, which took place April 19 in Calgary to a sold-out crowd, was a resounding success. The speakers, sponsors, roundtables sessions companies, and participants enjoyed the day-long gathering of learning, startup pitch competition, and networking.
The conference included keynote addresses by Alexander Manu from InnoSpa International Partners, Cathy Han from 42 Technologies, and Bruce Croxon from Round 13 Capital. Along with the various panels and breakout sessions throughout the day, the 15 startups selected for this year’s Roundtables participated in a pitch competition presenting their company to the 400+ conference participants live onstage. The winner of the 2017 Roundtables Pitch Competition was Interface Fluidics, a nanotechnology startup commercializing a new platform to help energy companies produce more oil and reduce environmental impacts.
Judged by three industry leaders – Jacqueline Shan, Founder of Afinity Life Sciences, Mike Lake, COO of Entero, and Juan Benitez, Executive Business Advisor to Alberta Innovates and Kinetica Ventures – the Roundtables Pitch Competition startups were evaluated based on an in-depth pitch rubric that rated the pitch based on numerous criteria. The criteria that the judges evaluated included the startups’ ability to grab attention, the capacity to accurately explain their problem and solution, the know-how to defined and quantify access to their market, a justification for success, and an overall desire to find out more.
The Roundtables startups who pitched at the 2017 AccelerateAB event were: Advertiise, Gifty, Interface Fluidics, IR Optimizer, iSmartWays, Kinetisense, Leara eLearning, Nobal Technologies, RallyEngine, SpikeBee, Terrapin Geothermics, Virtuo, and Vivametrica.
The day-long AccelerateAB Roundtables session, which took place on April 18, matches high-potential startups in Alberta with mentors from The A100 and other industry experts. The 2017 Roundtables session provided high quality advice and coaching from people who have built, grown, and exited technology startups to this year’s selected participant organizations.
The conference would not have been possible without the help of the sponsors Alberta Enterprise Corporation, Alberta Innovates, PwC, Aspen Properties, Osler, BDC, Fasken Martineau, PayPal, RBC, TEC Edmonton, Innovate Calgary, Accelerate Fund, TECTERRA, Colliers International, Rainforest Alberta, Assembly Co-Working Space, BLG, The Agency PR, and Business Wire.
For more information about The A100 visit www.thea100.org and for AccelerateAB visit www.AccelerateAB.com.
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Contact:
Cynthia van Sundert
Executive Director, The A100
cynthia at thea100 dot org
+1 403 690 9339
Meghan Somers
meghan at theagencyinc dot ca
+1 587 899 0615
About AccelerateAB:
AccelerateAB is the province’s annual flagship technology event that brings together key leaders, investors, influencers and supporters of Alberta’s fast-growing startup community, with the goal of leveraging the success of the next generation of technology entrepreneurs across the province. Backed by some of the most high-profile and successful leaders in the industry and spearheaded by The A100, AccelerateAB is one of the best-connected events in the province.
www.AccelerateAB.com | @AccelerateAB
