The Pulse: Dec. 14, 2021

From startups to scaleups, pivots, new investments, and funding announcements, Edmonton's tech ecosystem flourished in 2021 despite the pandemic.

"Edmonton was recently named the fastest-growing tech sector in North America (by CBRE)," Catherine Warren, CEO of Innovate Edmonton, told Taproot. "And we are one of the top three cities globally for affordable tech talent, with over 50% growth in our talent pool in the past five years," she continued.

"Currently, there are more than 930 startups and scaleups in the region, working on solutions to some of the world's biggest issues, including pandemic recovery, clean energy, and digital equality."

This past year saw the city crack the top 50 on CBRE's list of the top tech talent markets in North America; female entrepreneurs Ashlyn Bernier and Abby Aiyeleye were honoured for their contributions and success in the industry; new startups like Llearner and Zipstall grew; AltaML announced a collaboration to help students gain experience with AI projects; TalkMaze founder Ghalia Aamer represented the city internationally; and Future Fields shipped its first commercial project and raised $2.2 million in seed funding.

Many other local entrepreneurs also raised financing to grow their businesses: Showbie announced that it raised an additional $7.5 million in Series A financing in February; G2V Optics secured $2.6 million in growth capital; QuoteToMe raised $2.5 million to scale up; dealcloser secured $1.75 million; and more.

Plus, TEC Edmonton shut down at the end of June to reflect the needs of the evolving tech sector; the first YEG Startup Community Awards were hosted; and Startup TNT organized Investment Summits III and IV, resulting in more than $2 million invested in Prairie companies.

• Masks will still be mandatory in Edmonton going into 2022. The temporary mandatory face coverings bylaw remains in effect though new conditions have been added to trigger a review. Once active COVID-19 cases remain below 100 per 100,000 population for 28 consecutive days or the provincial health order regarding face coverings is rescinded, council will have 30 days to decide whether to leave the bylaw in effect, amend it, or repeal it.
• A local man is educating bar staff on how to better serve people with disabilities. Brad Bartko — who uses a wheelchair and founded the consulting business Disability Accessible by Design — has already worked with three watering holes in Edmonton.
• A quarter of all online COVID-19 misinformation comes from the United States and India, according to a new study out of the University of Alberta which analyzed 9,657 pieces of COVID-19 misinformation between January 2020 and March 2021.
• Hope Mission's Great Gift Giveaway begins today. Staff at the organization will spend the week packing and delivering gift hampers — which are tailored for age and interest — to kids around the city.
• The provincial government will be providing free rapid tests to Albertans before the holidays. Tests will be available at pharmacies and additional details are expected to be announced during the COVID-19 update on Dec. 14.
• The provincial government is rewriting the drafts of several proposed and controversial K-6 course curriculums, after a majority of school boards refused to pilot the proposed changes. The courses include social studies, fine arts, and science.
• Former Wildrose Party leader and perpetual premier hopeful Brian Jean won the UCP nomination for the Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche byelection. Beyond criticizing Jason Kenney, Jean has also previously stated that he is the candidate to beat NDP leader and Edmonton-Strathcona MLA Rachel Notley in 2023.

Confetti Collective, which started as a pandemic-era side business for local bakery Confetti Sweets, has become a permanent fixture of the company's brick and mortar shop in Sherwood Park thanks to a warm embrace by customers.

Ubiquitous at Edmonton-area farmers' markets for well over a decade, Confetti Sweets opened up a storefront in Sherwood Park back in 2014. In early 2020 owner Kathy Leskow decided to significantly expand, not knowing a pandemic would soon derail her vision.

"We actually took a big risk and tripled our space with leasing another bay in February 2020," Leskow told Taproot. "To earn revenue for the extra space, we had plans to launch a birthday party program and to open a café style concept. COVID became a thing one month later and our plans were put on hold."

Vendors that had become her "market family" thanks to years of selling alongside them at farmers' markets had an uncertain future in those initial months after things shut down. "Farmers' markets had no idea whether they would be able to continue as usual," said Leskow. "In April 2020 I invited about 15 of them to sell in our space, and it grew from there. Now we have over 50 brands in our store."

With so many new products coming into the store and taking over the company's social media, Leskow and her team eventually decided to spin the effort out into a separate entity called Confetti Collective.