up to $2.5 million in funding from the provincial government, the Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund (OCIF), and the province’s largest research and innovation agency Alberta Innovates, with the aim of helping agriculture start-ups in the region to expand their operations.
Accordingly, both Alberta Innovates and OCIF will contribute $1 million each, while grants worth $500,000 will be given by the provincial Department of Agriculture and Forestry. Under the initiative, Thrive Canada is expected to mentor about 25 Canadian agri-food start-ups, which will include four Calgary-based organisations and ten companies in Alberta.
According to OCIF board chair Mark Blackwell, the project will help foster the “agri-food tech renaissance” in the country. While this is the Fund’s first investment in the industry, it would not be the last, he added.
Meanwhile, Thrive Canada’s founder and Chief Executive John Hartnett pointed out that innovation and technology play a crucial role in discovering solutions to ensure sustainable cultivation of food for the global population. “$26 billion has been invested across this space over the course of the last year, in a year that’s been really challenging for everybody,” he added. “There’s also been an increased focus on key areas around food supply chains, renewed priority around climate change, net zero and sustainability, and even a greater focus on the UN sustainability goals.”
According to Hartnett, Calgary was chosen as the company’s Canadian headquarters partly owing to the strong talent pipeline of entrepreneurs available in the city. “If entrepreneurs can go solve some of these challenges, it really helps farmers do more with less in a sustainable way,” he said. “With entrepreneurs, we’re obviously not just investing, but we’re creating an ecosystem and creating a platform to grow and scale those companies.”
