Tech Roundup
July 7, 2026
Aeternum has found two financial backers, earning $85,000 and mentorship for Project Aegis, its initiative to securely store family memories online. DMZ and American Express selected the company for the Backing Canadian Small Businesses program, offering $10,000 in non-dilutive funds and 12 weeks of mentorship. National Research Council Canada made a $75,000 commitment shortly thereafter.
Aeternum allows families to upload and access photographs and other important files in a private setting away from social networks that profit from sharing user data. By contrast, Aeternum is a "vault" that both shields data from third parties and ensures it isn't wiped at the whim of a tech giant. "Everything that we've been using for the last couple of decades, primarily social media for content dissemination purposes, (no longer has) a very good reputation in terms of privacy protection and data ownership," founder Aaron Tong told Taproot in 2025. "I know many people that don't use traditional social media for sharing family-related — especially children-related — content. A lot of them don't even find it safe for their family, especially their younger children, to be engaged in social media."
Tong also said Aeternum benefits people on the other end of the age spectrum, noting older adults can get left behind when digitizing memories. "There is a massive blind spot in consumer tech right now: we expect our aging parents and grandparents to navigate complex digital interfaces just to preserve their own family history," he wrote. These new funds will allow the company to further develop its user interface and user experience to make its service more accessible.
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Headlines
- Zero Point Cryogenics was profiled by The Logic for its goal to build the near-absolute-zero freezers the quantum industry needs. "If you want to explore tiny things at a fundamental level, you need to slow them down. Our job is to remove what's called thermal noise," said CEO Christopher Cassin. "Cold is quiet. The colder you are, the quieter it is."
- CarePros founder Charles Wong has launched PurposeFund, a founder-led advisory practice supporting founders, boards, and executive teams building technology-enabled service businesses across North America and Asia. The practice focuses on strategy, governance, leadership, long-term value creation, and angel investment, drawing on Wong's decade of experience across healthcare, technology, real estate, and social impact.
- Jobber has opened a new office in downtown Vancouver, formalizing its expansion beyond Edmonton. The company's Jessica Delaney shared a look behind the curtains on LinkedIn, noting the team effort required and the opportunities for in-person collaboration the office represents.
- Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute Canada CIFAR AI Chair Kevin Leyton-Brown was part of an international team that warned networks of AI agents could spread misinformation in ways that are more effective and harder to detect than past disinformation campaigns. The team's paper, published in Science, argue that large-language models and multi-agent systems could lead to "swarms" that lead to people losing trust in other social media users. "I think the biggest problem is that they might just destroy our ability to talk to each other. On social media, we might just stop believing that anyone we don't know is a real person," Leyton-Brown said.
- Matt Aubin of KEEN Creative discussed serial entrepreneurship on the Executive Wins podcast. He shared how community, leadership, and incremental improvements shaped his journey building multiple businesses, including Blakhausens, VentureOut, and Woven Technologies.
- Serial entrepreneur Kari Enns, founder of ScaleIQ, joined the Business Development Podcast to discuss how resilience, community, and authentic human connection will be key competitive advantages as AI reshapes business.
- MacEwan University has appointed Kassie Burkholder as its new associate vice-president of entrepreneurship, a newly created role. Burkholder, a MacEwan alumna and a Top 40 Under 40, most recently served as executive director of corporate and continuing education at NAIT.
- Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline Corp. and two partners will proceed with the Greenlight Electricity Centre, a $4.6-billion power station in Sturgeon County that will serve a data centre. The facility is slated for completion by mid-2030 and will be built in an industrial area owned by Pembina, which is funding the project along with Morgan Stanley and Kineticor.
- Alberta has not conducted a comprehensive assessment of the cumulative environmental effects of its rapidly expanding AI data centre sector, land-use ecologist Brad Stelfox argued in a report submitted to the Alberta Utilities Commission. He estimated that one proposed data centre near Calgary alone would consume about 500,000 cubic metres of water annually. Similar concerns led Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew to reject a large AI data centre proposed for farmland south of Winnipeg, citing environmental and economic drawbacks.
- Lime has acquired Neuron Mobility Canada and will take over its e-scooter and e-bike operations in St. Albert, Beaumont, Red Deer, Blackfalds, Lacombe, and Sylvan Lake, as well as other Canadian cities.
Jobs and opportunities
- Jobber is hiring a staff software engineer.
- The Alberta Motor Association is hiring a director of information technology.
- The University of Alberta is hiring a solution architect.
Happenings
Here are some events coming up over the next seven days:
- July 7: Speed Networking starting at 5pm at P.F. Chang's
- July 7: Dirty Soda Social starting at 6pm at Hawke Prohibition Distilleries
- July 8: Community Coffee starting at 9am at Edmonton Unlimited
- July 8: Discover & Validate: Learn the Foundations of Customer Discovery starting at 6pm at Edmonton Unlimited
- July 9: Loan Readiness: Understanding Financial Projections starting at 1pm online
- July 9: Marketing 101 with Chris Lerohl starting at 6pm at Edmonton Unlimited
- July 13: Business Model 101 starting at 6pm at Edmonton Unlimited
And here are some upcoming events to keep in mind:
- July 20: ERIN Member Monday online
- July 22: Tech For Good Alliance Working Group at Arcadia Brewing Co.
- Aug. 1-4: BioRob 2026 at Edmonton Convention Centre
Visit the Taproot Edmonton Calendar for many more events in the Edmonton region.
This roundup was sponsored by Edmonton Unlimited.
Now is the time for us, Edmonton's innovators, and our city. Headquartered in Alberta's capital city, Edmonton Unlimited harnesses the power of possibility and brings the very best of Edmonton to the world.