Tech entrepreneurs who attended SXSW with Alberta Innovates say they made important new connections to customers, investors, and partners.
SXSW is an annual, multi-stream festival and conference in Austin, TX, that sees hundreds of thousands attendees flock to its tech, film, and music programs each year.
"Universally, what I was seeing was companies picking up at least one or two connections that were of high value," Anthea Sargeaunt, founder of water-testing company 2S Water, told Taproot. "For (2S Water), one good, high-value connection makes this all worthwhile because we do enterprise sales. We managed to connect to Samsung … and that was curated for us by Alberta Innovates."
2S Water offers single- and multi-sensor water-measuring tools that detect contaminants such as metals almost instantly. The award-winning company has been through Plug and Play Alberta's accelerator, earning it an invitation to SXSW as a graduate of the Alberta Scaleup and Growth Accelerator Program.
The trip was invaluable, said John Chabluk, founder of software company QuoteToMe.
"I was able to meet with our new lead investor for a fund-raise that we're working to close right now," he said. "Putting a face to the name and being able to experience the in-person relationship … I was exposed to a massive network of theirs that was already in Austin."
QuoteToMe helps contractors order materials and equipment digitally, charging a small percentage on each transaction. It raised $2.5 million in 2021 and $1 million in 2020.
The delegation had specific goals in mind, said Doug Holt, associate vice-president of investments for Alberta Innovates.
"This was an opportunity wherein we could take 50 high-potential companies down to SXSW and help them with gaining new customers, gaining new partners, and getting new investment," he said.
The 50 entrepreneurs who attended SXSW with Alberta Innovates were also provided with curated meetings and events leading up to the conference. (LinkedIn)
The entrepreneurs arrived in Austin on March 7 and departed on March 13. The first two days of the trip were spent at curated meetings and events organized by Alberta Innovates outside the official SXSW programming. This was bolstered by the involvement of Alberta Innovates CEO Laura Kilcrease, who worked in Austin's tech scene before moving to Edmonton for her current post.
Kilcrease's Austin clout afforded the cohort entry into events they wouldn't otherwise have had access to, Holt said.
"Turns out she's a bit of a rock star in Austin," added Sargeaunt. "She really did a lot to build up the community there, and it's fantastic because we can now see how she's doing the same for Edmonton."
The trip's total cost has not yet been calculated, but Alberta Innovates covered things like travel, lodging, and venue rentals for its own events during SXSW.
Alberta Innovates took "a big risk" financing the expedition, but it will pay off, suggested Bradley Poulette, the CEO of Air Trail, an aviation software business that has gone through the Alberta Accelerator by 500 as well as The Alberta Innovates Revenue Accelerator.
"From everything that I saw first-hand, it will have a lasting transformative impact on our startup ecosystem for decades to come," Poulette posted on LinkedIn.
The tangible results of the trip are likely to appear more in the long term than right away, as the fruits of new connections need time to mature. Accordingly, Alberta Innovates plans to monitor the results of the trip to measure its success.
Sargeaunt will be speaking on a panel during the finale of Startup TNT's Cleantech Investment Summit on March 23. And Kilcrease is scheduled to be part of an announcement at the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) on March 24, alongside Technology and Innovation Minister Nate Glubish and Amii CEO Cam Linke.