The Pulse: Feb. 24, 2022

After a successful 2021 that saw Startup TNT raise more than $3.6 million for 26 companies, co-founders Zack Storms and Tim Lynn are planning on launching their own venture capital fund.

The fund, which Storms teased on LinkedIn this week, is an effort to "get more money off the sidelines and invested into local deals."

Using the connections he's built across 10 summits with more than 200 investors, Storms said the fund will help inject capital from potential investors who may not have time to participate in the investment summits and build capacity among up-and-coming venture capitalists who may want to launch their own funds one day.

While Lynn and Storms are still working out the finer details, the fund itself will be more approachable for entrepreneurs who are interested in delving into investing. At its investment summits, Startup TNT asks for a $5,000 minimum investment as opposed to a $50,000 cheque or higher. Storms sees the fund and Startup TNT benefiting each other as well.

"From an angel's perspective, you're investing in a company that now is also getting support from a sister VC fund, that is independent but connected to Startup TNT. I really believe that the fund can be like the final and really important completion of our goals," Storms said.

Those goals are rooted in community building, which includes fostering relationships with entrepreneurs and investors at events like TNT Happy Hour every Thursday.

"You have companies that come to one summit or to one happy hour, go back, work on their deals ... and then a year, maybe even two years later, here they are again, and they're raising capital. It's this long, low journey," Storms explained.

"So if a VC fund is participating in that, and is able to share some of its management fees and carry that it gets through successful exits, it can share some of that back with Startup TNT. That becomes a long-term sustainable revenue model."

Staying true to the ethos of Startup TNT of "just start," Storms and Lynn have their sights set on June for the fund's first close.

• Mayor Amarjeet Sohi has defended the decision to meet with the police commission in private — which council voted 10-2 in favour of. One anonymous attendee told Postmedia that the meeting on Feb. 23 was just a meet-and-greet event and substantial matters weren't discussed. Following the meeting, council voted to keep the discussion confidential in another 8-4 vote, with councillors Michael Janz, Andrew Knack, Ashley Salvador, and Anne Stevenson opposed. "I believe that good governance is governance that happens in public," said Coun. Stevenson.
• St. Albert city council has voted 6-1 against contributing additional funds to the regional air services opportunities fund managed by Edmonton Global. "St. Albert's a major player in the region, and if St. Albert pulls the plug on this we're saying something," said Coun. Wes Brodhead, the only councillor opposed.
• Alberta will announce on Saturday whether it is removing the provincial mask mandate, but the fate of Edmonton's mask bylaw is yet to be determined. Currently, the bylaw applies to public spaces and vehicles but not to schools. Coun. Andrew Knack said the city may review the bylaw before one of two triggers that require a review are met. "Council has the ability to revisit that earlier, and we may do so, based off a variety of factors," he told Global News.
• Some Edmontonians are turning to dollar stores to save money and make ends meet as the pandemic drags on and many products become more expensive, reports CBC News. Some note, however, that the package sizes of foods and other products are often smaller than they were before, and that dollar stores are, themselves, also raising prices.
• A whopping 90% of Concordia University of Edmonton Faculty Association members voted that they have no confidence in the current president's leadership. The faculty association, which ratified a tentative agreement with university administration after striking in January, said issues remain. "The workplace was still a very toxic, a very unstable workplace culture which is incredibly difficult when we're looking at a workplace characterized by disfunction, by fear, threats and reprisal," Glynis Price, the group's acting president, told Postmedia.
• MacEwan University political scientist Chaldeans Mensah said that the province may need to make some tough calls in its budget — to be announced today — and that it may need to choose between using increased oil royalties for paying down debt or putting it into the heritage savings fund. The province's debt has exceeded $100 billion since the last fiscal update.
• Pharmacies, doctors' offices and AHS clinics will begin to offer COVID-19 vaccinations for children aged five to 11 — from March 2 to 16, they will also be available on a walk-in basis. "We are constantly looking for ways to make vaccination easier for Albertans of all ages," Health Minister Jason Copping said in a release. "That is why we are increasing options for families who have made the choice to get their children protected."
• The Alberta Teachers' Association is cautiously optimistic after COVID-19 cases have decreased in classrooms roughly a week after the province axed its mask mandate.
• Alberta's historic heatwave last summer resulted in 66 deaths, according to a new report.

In Episode 5 of Bloom, hosts Emily Rendell-Watson and Faaiza Ramji discuss an announcement from the provincial government about a working group that will work on revitalization and investment in the Edmonton metropolitan region.

The Edmonton Metro Region Economic Recovery (EMRER) Working Group includes representatives like Lisa Baroldi from the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), Ashlyn Bernier of Samdesk, and Andrew MacIsaac from Applied Pharmaceutical Innovation (API).

"I'm a little skeptical in that I see a lot of these working groups and it seems like we pull from a lot of the same pool to populate them, but we don't always see on our side the dots connected on the actions," Ramji said.

"I'm more interested to see what the outcomes are of this working group and how they're going to be ... put into play quickly, because obviously every economy has taken a huge beating throughout COVID. And it'd be really nice to see how quickly people in Edmonton can bounce back."

The working group is expected to deliver a final report to the government this summer.

The podcast also touches on a new machine learning analyst program at NorQuest College that aims to fill a need for entry- to mid-level workers in the industry.

Plus, Startup Edmonton's Propel pre-accelerator program has announced its latest cohort: adewunmi skincare, Complete Solutions, Consulting International Inc., Deeleeo Inc., Fairly Staffing, FLIT, Re(source), SN Biomedical, Team CarePal, ValueLaw.ca, and YouTechSolution. It runs from Feb. 28 to May 20.

Ramji and Rendell-Watson also interview Startup TNT's co-founder, Zack Storms, about the non-profit's annual report for 2021 and its business model, plus a new venture capital fund.

Bloom is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and everywhere else you get your podcasts.