Take a Hot Girl Walk down to Edmonton Startup Week

Edmonton Startup Week has arrived, bringing dozens of events to Edmonton Unlimited and many other venues. Among them is a wealth conversation hosted by HG Investment Club on Oct. 8, bringing together four experts to discuss different angles on the topic: tax and investment strategy, serial entrepreneurship, philanthropy, and the legal side of building wealth. "​This won't be a conversation about having everything figured out," the event page reads. "We'll talk about confidence, risk, career and life transitions, financial independence, mistakes, opportunities, and the questions women are often expected to already know the answers to."

HGIC started as Hot Girls Investment Club, "a deliberately provocative name for an equally deliberate idea," the organization says. "Hot" is not an appearance standard — rather, it represents the qualities of agency, intelligence, curiosity, nerve, and conviction. "Women should feel as natural around risk, ownership and capital as they do anywhere else." The group's first gatherings were around private poker tables, where play, risk, and conversation were used to make investment culture more social and accessible. So far, the club has curated five private experiences for women investors, emerging capital allocators, founders, and operators. It's now developing partner-supported pathways where qualified members can participate in structured investment opportunities. HGIC is assembling a founding advisory committee to help shape the platform's national relevance, partnership strategy, member experience, and long-term credibility. Those interested in exploring a partnership can reach out online.

This is one of many efforts to get more women involved in angel investing and venture capital. Among them is The51 and its non-profit partner, Movement51, which aims to activate $2.5 billion in women-led capital by 2030, "fueling an economy powered by women's ownership, leadership, and investment influence." Another is Women's Equity Lab, whose founder Joelle Foster was in Edmonton on Sept. 24 for the Lab2Market Summit on a panel about building and scaling women-led ventures. Also on that panel was Kate Ellis of Antigoni Studios, which is working on activating capital to accelerate the next generation of femtech. On the entrepreneur side of things, the sold-out Women in Tech & Innovation event on Oct. 6 will hear from Sophie Gray of Dive-Thru and Jolene Ali of Gummy Nutrition Lab.