Alberta launches database to connect investors with startup companies

A new platform to connect entrepreneurs to capital has been kick-started in the province, in what organizers say is the first partnership of its kind in North America.

Start Alberta is a new catalogue where tech companies can postlistings for potential investors and venture capital groups to see, much like a virtual jobs bulletin board.

"We found that although we do have many investors here in Alberta, particularly many angel investors, it can sometimes be hard to find them," Christiana Manzocco, the interim director of the program, said.

"[It's] to really serve as a one-stop shop for the Alberta ecosystem to connect to capital, job ecosystems, communication, and support."

The program is run in partnership between the government's crown corporation the Alberta Enterprise Corporation, the A100 tech non-profit and the Venture Capital Association of Alberta.

The group saidit's the most comprehensive investment database for startups in the province. Manzocco saidit's been under development for the last two years.

One academic saidthis kind of initiative is necessary if the province is committed to diversifying its economy.

"This private equity market is very opaque. It's very difficult for investors to understand investment opportunities or for the corporations to understand potential investors. So providing a facility where these organizations can identify each other I think is a good step," Michael Robinson, a professor at the University of Calgary and Chen Fong Fellow in entrepreneurial finance, said.

He added that many existing database sites are run by venture capital firms for their own benefit.

"It's no one's interest to do this because they can't figure out how to make money ... and that's where having a government entity providing support is helpful."

Start Alberta is being supported by Dealroom.co, which runs similar databases in countries across Europe and Asia.

The platform will host more than 1,500 start ups in Alberta, representing 22,000 jobs.

Employees are already researching companies to have them automatically added to the database. Manzocco added companies can go find their listings and add information, pitches and customize their own page for investors.

Alberta set a record for venture capital investment in tech in 2020 with $455 million in financing, and is poised to crush that figure this year.