More than a decade after shipping its first memory foam mattress, GoodMorning.com founder and CEO Sam Prochazka says the company is just getting started.
"In the next decade, we’re shooting to have a quarter of all Canadians waking up on a GoodMorning.com mattress," he told Taproot.
The company was honoured at the virtual Start Alberta Tech Awards ceremony on Nov. 16 in the "Fast Growth Awards Over $5M" category. The awards recognize individuals and organizations that are making a significant impact in the province’s tech and innovation sector.
"We’re super proud that GoodMorning.com has been recognized by Alberta’s tech industry and Start Alberta," Prochazka says.
Sam Prochazka, founder and CEO, GoodMorning.com
Earlier this year, GoodMorning.com received recognition as a fast growing company from The Globe and Mail and Canadian Business magazine. The company says its revenues reached $40 million in 2019, and have tripled since the start of the pandemic.
Prochazka credits his company’s success in part to the "big advantage" of being Alberta-based.
"Wages are higher than most other cities and the cost of living is lower, so this is a place where people can really build wealth," he explained.
"We believe that we can attract talent from around the country and around the globe."
Combining the strengths of Edmonton and Calgary
Edmonton-based AltaML and Calgary-based Bessie were also recognized in part for their success across the province.
AltaML was honoured in the "Most Significant Cross-Community Collaboration of the Year" category for its Applied AI Lab, a cohort-based internship program that aims to "upskill approximately 240 interns over 3 years" in Calgary.
"With support from the community, government and industry, we were able to make the project happen, and it’s amazing to be recognized for that," says AltaML co-founder Nicole Janssen.
AltaML co-founders Cory and Nicole Janssen (left) at a funding announcement for the Applied AI Lab
The company opened its Calgary office in 2019 and argues that the respective strengths of Edmonton and Calgary combine to make Alberta "a powerhouse for applied AI."
"The AI Lab has been about building capacity through collaboration from the start and is a win-win-win for interns, industry and the community," says Lucas Scheer, AltaML’s managing director in Calgary. "We are very excited about the transformational impact of this program and the multitude of opportunities it creates."
Expanding across Alberta and beyond
Bessie, founded in 2019 by three friends at the University of Calgary, is a food delivery service that partners with local and natural farmers to help them reach customers.
Co-founder Spencer Kerber was honoured in the "Most Promising Startup Entrepreneur of the Year" category. He told Taproot that growing the company over the past year hasn’t been easy.
"Things haven’t always been perfect for us as individuals or as a team, but we’ve worked through those lows," he says. "It makes me so proud that I get to work with my co-founders."
The company expanded to Edmonton in August 2020 and Kerber credits relationships throughout Alberta’s tech innovation ecosystem for making it possible.
"Being in multiple cities requires a level of maturity and it rapidly speeds up determining the pieces of your business that are core and those that you need partnerships for," he says.
Bessie co-founder Spencer Kerber
Bessie was introduced to Edmonton’s Uproot Food Collective by individuals at Startup Edmonton and TEC Edmonton.
"They ended up being the perfect partner for us to get started in Edmonton," Kerber says. "We’re able to learn a lot from each other while working in the space."
The company’s next expansion will look a little different. Next year Bessie intends to introduce a new software-as-a-service offering for farmers that builds on the company’s own proprietary software.
"The software allows a farmer to manage their inventory and receive and schedule orders so they can focus on the farming and harvesting," Kerber says. "Bessie Box is why we know how these things work."
More winners
This is the third year for the Start Alberta Tech Awards. Other 2020 winners include:
- Most Significant Tech Transaction of the Year: Decisive Farming
- Tech Deal of the Year: Symend
- The A100 One to Watch Award: Provision Analytics
Find the full list on the Start Alberta website.