Edmonton puts the 'capital' in Alberta Capital Connect

Ten of 15 companies advancing to the finals of the Alberta Capital Connect program are from the Edmonton region. Each is eligible for the new Breakout Venture of the Year award at the ASTech Awards, set for Nov. 6. The program is meant to connect early-stage companies to investors, mentors, and advisors through one-on-one meetings and opportunities to get useful, focused feedback. Among the top 15 are two companies to be featured at Edmonton Startup Week: Zylotex, which makes fibre out of agricultural residues, and Aqtiva, which uses plasma-activated water to bolster crops in agriculture. Edmonton Startup Week runs from Oct. 5 to 9.

Many of the Edmonton and area finalists for Alberta Capital Connect work in or near health. One is St. Albert's MagnetaMR, which is advancing its AI-informed, portable magnetic resonance imaging scan to improve access to medical imaging in rural communities. Another is Nanostics, whose non-invasive ClarityDX platform for detecting prostate cancer continues to gather validation. FeynMed Solutions, which uses nanotech for wound care and more, has been granted a patent in Japan and received support from the National Research Council to work towards commercialization.

Other Edmonton participants in the final leg of ACC are Humble Insurance Brokers, an insurance provider launched by Harpuneet Kaur; 4TheLoveOf.Tech, which provides tech services to entrepreneurs, with an emphasis on coding and cloud services; Enerbund, which makes clean, modular, scalable power solutions used by remote and industrial clients; Prime Trucking Compliance, which makes tech to help truckers comply with regulations; and Wyzer Learning Inc., which offers AI-enabled language-learning through LingoSpace. Rus Matichuk, who chairs the board of Alberta Capital Connect, is a co-founder of Wyzer; company president Dave Talbert is the Wyzer rep taking part in the program. SenseHuman.AI, which makes hardhats with sensors to detect hazards, is a late addition, replacing Calgary's Neuraura.

— Colin Gallant

Correction: This file has been updated to more accurately reflect Rus Matichuk's role with Wyzer and to add Zylotex and SenseHuman.AI as local companies in the top 15.