Sustainability Resources
Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (WEKH)
Located at the Diversity Institute at the Ted Rogers School of Management, the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (WEKH) is a national network and accessible digital platform for sharing research and resources, and leading strategies. With 10 regional hubs and a network of more than 250 organizations, WEKH is designed to address the needs of diverse women entrepreneurs across regions and sectors. With the support of the Government of Canada, WEKH spreads its expertise from coast to coast, enabling service providers, academics, government and industry to enhance their support for women entrepreneurs.
We invest in B2B (and B2B2C) startups leveraging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to disrupt industrial sectors for the benefit of all. We deeply understand markets that endure outsized inefficiencies because the AI/ML was just not ready to meet the complexity of their needs, until now. With a forward eye towards human health and climate, we plan to unleash a cascade of trapped value in the most important hypergrowth sectors of the decade.
Weave VC
Weave VC is a Western Canadian seed fund, looking to finance Western Canadian (Manitoba -> West) founded, incorporated, or operated companies, at the pre-seed to seed stage of growth.VU Venture Partners is an early stage fund focused on investing in pre-seed to Series A.
At V1 Climate Solutions, we live and breath the First-of-a-Kind (FOAK) problem in climate tech. Our unique approach involves combining new partnerships, industry expertise, brazen creativity, and analytical rigor to address needs across every facet of the FOAK problem. Whether you’re a startup, investor, corporate, fund manager, or project developer, we can help you find the right answers to your FOAK questions.
The University of Waterloo is a leader in experiential and work-integrated learning. With over 25,000 students across 120+ programs ready to be hired, we're committed to assisting you in discovering the co-op talent you require. Connect today to hire tomorrow's generation of talent.
Thin Air Labs is a venture capital and services firm creating human value by helping early-stage startups scale globally. Thin Air invests in Pre-seed and Seed stage startups via Thin Air Labs Fund I and also offers customized startup services because they believe supporting ventures requires more than just capital.
TELUS Community Safety and Wellness Accelerator
The TELUS CSW Accelerator has brought proven acceleration programming to work on social issues in Alberta with incredible companies, from Alberta and the world. Each of the companies have compelling technology combined with passion and commitment to delivering purposeful solutions that meet collective challenges. The TELUS CSW Accelerator powered by AlchemistX is part of the Alberta Scaleup and Growth Accelerator Program that is run by a consortium led by Alberta Innovates, including Technology and Innovation, Edmonton Unlimited and PrairiesCan.
Surgically Clean Air is a leading premium air purification solutions provider with a mission to purify the air where we work, live and play. Recognized as a top Canadian Fastest-Growing Company since 2018, SCA optimizes indoor air quality for enhanced health and performance.
Streamline helps climate technology companies find, win, and manage government procurement and grant opportunities. Their AI-powered software platform is saving companies 80% of their time in writing.
Social Venture Institute (SVI) 2024
Social Venture Institute offers mission-based entrepreneurs an opportunity to share challenges, successes, and experiences with peers in an atmosphere of trust and goodwill. Over 28 years, SVI has provided over thousands of entrepreneurs the opportunity to strengthen their business skills, network with other social enterprise leaders, and rejuvenate their passion and vision.
EDGE is a hub for entrepreneurs, innovators and changemakers to start or scale up ventures, find community and collaborate. We believe entrepreneurship can make meaningful changes in society to create a more equitable and sustainable world. EDGE provides entrepreneurial programming, a coworking space, networking, events and access to funding for entrepreneurs at all levels.
SheBoot is a national non-profit corporation, preparing women founders to pitch their business and secure investment. Our goals are to Increase access to capital for women-owned and led, scalable technology or technology-enabled firms, and to increase the number of women investing. Our annual training program helps women founders build their knowledge and skills, expand and strengthen their network, and pitch their business to land investment.
San Francisco Climate Week is a community-powered event series that aims to bring together the climate community to connect, collaborate, and take action on climate change. SF Climate Week will feature a wide variety of events organized to educate, inspire, and engage attendees: April 21-27th, 2024.
Renewal Funds is Vancouver-based impact venture capital firm investing in early growth stage
companies in Canada and the U.S. We invest in technology platforms and product innovation
companies operating in the following impact sectors: the energy transition, mobility, food systems,
zero waste and resource conservation. We support exceptional founders driving meaningful
climate and ecosystem impacts at scale, whose business we can help grow with our capital,
networks and expertisePositive Ventures is a pureplay early-stage impact investing venture capital firm headquartered in São Paulo and San Francisco, galvanizing support for bold and daring founders building solutions to today’s most vexing social and environmental challenges with an entrepreneurial and technology-first approach.
At Plug and Play, we invest in Pre-Seed & Seed startups. Our value is our network. We partner with over 500 companies across the world. And we connect startups and businesses to help startups shine and businesses innovate!
We help technology founders ride the biggest waves. Commercializing science and technology is our expertise - turning breakthroughs into the next generation defining companies.
BioCreate is an $11.6-million program moving Ontario’s biotechnology scene forward. It’s funded by Ontario Genomics and FedDev Ontario to connect highly-vetted health, food and agriculture and clean-tech companies with $150,000 funding, 18 months of business mentorship, access to critical infrastructure and the opportunity to pitch to investors for further funding.
Relevant experience with CleanTech, ClimateTech, blue and green economy; OceanTech, Consumer Products, Renewable energy, solar, EVs, and the Circular Economy. At Nova Ray Consulting, I specialize in guiding sustainability-focused businesses towards lasting impact and profitability. We help clients and partners with decision-making, offer discovery, strategic and actionable customer-focused insights, product strategy, and UX research/design. With a wealth of experience across sectors, I offer bespoke strategic solutions that also integrate environmental stewardship with business success. Let's collaborate to drive positive change and sustainable growth in the ever-evolving landscape.
NAIT Mawji Centre for New Venture and Student Entrepreneurship
The Mawji Centre is NAIT’s vibrant on-campus community dedicated to inspiring an entrepreneurial mindset. In short, we help students start businesses. Through free, extra-curricular programming, mentorship with business leaders and entrepreneurs, competitions and events, guest speakers and networking, and an assortment of resources and supports, the Mawji Centre provides students with structured guidance from ideation to launch and personalized coaching for students with existing business ventures and advanced circumstances. We have a Manager, a Lead Entrepreneurship Consultant, an Executive in Residence, and a deep and experienced roster of over 40 mentors to work with students.
Mighty Capital
Mighty Capital is the go-to venture capital firm for product-first early-growth companies. In 5 years, we have achieved 3 IPOs, 3 Exits and 3 Funds. Founders and other VC firms invite us to invest because we help our portfolio companies sell faster, hire top talent, and initiate M&A discussions, by giving them exclusive access to over 300,000 product managers including Chief Product Officers through a platform called Products That Count.MaRS Discovery District is North America's largest urban innovation hub supporting over 1200 Canadian start-ups with business advisory, market intelligence, talent services, capital advisory, connections and much more. The RBC Women in Cleantech Accelerator, powered by MaRS, supports 10 early-stage women-led cleantech ventures through a dedicated 2 year cohort program. Recruitment for the next cohort will begin in the summer of 2024.
LearnLaunch Fund + Accelerator
LearnLaunch Fund+Accelerator invests in diverse entrepreneurs on the mission to drive access, equity, and outcomes across K-12, higher ed and workforce training markets. In addition to up to $200k in funding, companies participate in an edtech contextualized accelerator program that includes extensive individual coaching to scale business and impact.
INVESTMENT INTERESTS: Undercapitalized Founders, Future-of-Work+Learning, Workforce Development, EdTech, Mental Heath, Innovative Schools, AgingTech/SilverTech, Early Childhood, Children's Book Publishing, Modernized Montessori, Vertical SaaS disrupting legacy industries, and Climate/Sustainability.
iSAW, international Strategic Accelerator for Women, is a not-for-profit organization with a mission to achieve gender economic equality in the workplace, through a groundbreaking approach which embraces the need for systemic change in the workplace. The iSAW digital ecosystem unites motivated professionals, business leaders, and individuals in a "What Works" platform that enables them to implement effective strategies for diverse, inclusive and thriving workplaces.
Innovation Factory is a not-for-profit business accelerator and a regional innovation centre, serving as the catalyst for technology innovation in Southern Ontario since 2010. Providing business services, training, mentorship, and strategic connections, Innovation Factory helps drive market adoption, revenues, investment, jobs and leverage of intellectual property. Innovators can also access sector-specific resources including exclusive smart transportation test environments and data and formal life science and health innovation ecosystems.
Innovate Calgary is the innovation headquarters of the University of Calgary.
We offer a wide range of programs, facilities, educational resources, and
expert guides to help students, researchers, and startups move from ideation
to commercialization and beyond.IBET Climate is a venture studio focused on high impact climate opportunities. We build companies that will each address at least 1% of global GHG 's once scaled.
The Hub350 space, located in Mitel’s former headquarters at 350 Legget Drive in Kanata, serves as a meeting place for industry leaders, academia and finance professionals to collaborate on projects – offering KNBA member companies unparalleled access to the connections and resources that the tech park offers. The 12,000-square-foot “living lab” features open-concept meeting rooms as well as smaller private offices, lounges, booths, seating areas and auditoriums with stadium-style seating where founders can pitch their businesses to potential investors. In addition, it houses a full-service media studio where companies and individuals can produce and broadcast stories and promotional materials. Hub350 aims to create a connected innovation community & “world class 5G hub” to further position the Kanata North Technology Park as a global competitor for talent, ideas, and investment.
Hitachi Ventures invests in innovative companies that address society’s key technological, social, and environmental challenges. From offices in Munich, Boston, and Silicon Valley, we invest globally with a broad investment mandate in both stage and sector and a particular interest in supporting strong entrepreneurs driving social good.
Genesis helps build amazing tech companies. As Newfoundland and Labrador’s pre-eminent innovation hub, Genesis is known for its flagship incubator program, Enterprise, which began over twenty five years ago. Since its inception, Genesis has expanded its programming to support start-ups from the ideation stage all the way to scaling their business. Genesis’ mission is to create economic wealth for the province by developing and supporting tech entrepreneurs.
The percentage of women in Venture Capital firms are still vastly underrepresented.
1) The lack of women entering the field of venture capital is due to systemic barriers.
2) There is still a lack of momentum needed to shift these existing barriers for women to enter the venture capital world.
The Allyship was established to address the diversity gap that exists in the investment community and to finally push the needle on changing today’s unbalanced statistics toward women in the investment community. We aim to accelerate the current pace of social change and get at least 30% of women to make up the space in the investment industry.
Equities News is an innovative impact investing media platform dedicated to empowering investors to make positive social and environmental progress through their investments. With a focus on digestible and informative content linked to companies, investment strategies and people who inspire action, Equities News is committed to helping NextGen investors drive meaningful change in the world of finance.
Envisioning Partners ("Envisioning") is a leading impact investing venture capital firm based in Seoul, Korea. Envisioning invests in innovative startups addressing critical problems of our time, particularly climate change, in Korea and the US.
Entrepreneurship@UBC provides programming, mentorship, networking opportunities, and co-working space to UBC students, faculty, staff and recent alumni. Our thriving ecosystem is where inventors and innovators of all kinds can accelerate their potential towards a sustainable future. We create a space where people can be bold and brave by inspiring curiosity and continuous learning to create remarkable outcomes.
Entrepreneurship is not intuitive and ultimately important. Pocket Mentor is an app and nearly-released LMS that helps you work through the 20% that makes 80% of the difference in starting and creating something meaningful. It also becomes the framework for casual mentors to work with the entrepreneurs.
EnergyLab is Australia’s largest climate tech startup accelerator and innovation ecosystem dedicated to reaching net zero emissions. We connect talented founders addressing the global climate crisis to the mentors, advisors, partners, peers and investors they need to succeed.
Elev8 and Perform Inc
Elev8 and Perform Inc, founded by an international athlete and health advocate, leverages preventative medicine through exercise and sport. Our revolutionary devices, services, and wearable technology enhance aerobic capacity, strength, and recovery performance. With extensive pilot testing and $50,000 in funding, we are advancing our MVP to redefine athletic potential for elite athletes and individuals striving to improve their health through sports and exercise. Join us in achieving your health goals and reaching the next level of performance.
E²JDJ
E²JDJ is an early stage VC firm focused on scalable, high growth, and innovative businesses that digitize and drive efficiencies and productivity across the food supply chain that improve the quality, resilience and sustainability of the food system, and ultimately human and planetary health.DiscoveryLab offers events where teams pitch plans to a panel of investors and advisors. Scalable innovations in any sector, location or stage of development are presented as are transformative technologies for diagnostics, medical devices, therapeutics, biotech, agtech, AI, cleantech, edtech, fintech, food/drinks, materials, energy, environment and resources. Presenters receive constructive feedback on the business plan summary and slidedeck they submit beforehand, a video recording of their pitch, an evaluation and scores, new connections and leads for gaining support and mentors.
Cross-Border Impact Ventures is an impact venture capital firm with a social sustainable mission: to revolutionize venture capital investing in health technologies that improve the health of women, adolescents, and children. We invest in early-growth stage health technology companies commercializing medical devices, diagnostics, therapeutics, and digital health innovations and leveraging cutting-edge technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. All innovations we finance are aligned with UN SDGs 3 and 5 and are located in North America, Europe and Israel with ability to scale technologies to Emerging Markets. We are driven by our belief that good health should not be restricted by gender, age, race, wealth and borders and seek to expand access to our portfolio’s world-class technologies inclusively and globally.
Communitech was brought to life by founders who saw the need for a community of support for Canadian tech. Our products are directly informed by needs identified by our tech community. We offer support to founders via access to Growth Coaches, through our events and Peer2Peer networks and much, much more.
Central Okanagan Economic Development Commission
OKGo is a collaborative partnership between the Central Okanagan Economic Development Commission, Tourism Kelowna, and Accelerate Okanagan that tells the stories of innovators and entrepreneurs in key business sectors and positions the region for future economic prosperity. In an effort to increase the value proposition of the Central Okanagan to attract business events, meetings, talent, entrepreneurs and investment, OKGo shares success stories of local businesses in key sectors including: Clean Tech, Agriculture, Viticulture, Manufacturing, Aerospace, Digital Tech, Cannabis, Post Secondary Institutions. From startups to expansions to thought leaders, we can help with everything you need to make locating your business or event here fast and easy.
Find programs and services to help your business grow. Whether you're an entrepreneur, a business,
or a not-for-profit organization.Brinc is a global venture accelerator headquartered in Hong Kong. Our mission is to enable the transition to a more sustainable, equitable, and inclusive future by empowering game-changers. Our sector-specific programs offer hands-on support and connections to a global network.
Black Entrepreneurship Alliance
Black Entrepreneurship Alliance (BEA) is an initiative to amplify and advance the next generation of Black entrepreneurs and professionals. In partnership with Black Creek Community Health Centre and York University’s YSpace, BEA comprises of a suite of incubator and accelerator programming.
Bioenterprise
Bioenterprise Canada’s Food & Agri-Tech Engine provides support to innovative entrepreneurs to advance their solutions and technologies to market across Canada. We provide customized mentoring and advisory services in Agri-Food business acceleration, growth planning and investment readiness, as well as support to businesses across the agri-food supply chain with respect to adoption of innovation. If you’re an innovative start-up looking to bring an Agri-Tech or Food-Tech innovation to market, contact us today.BDC Capital’s new $500 million Thrive Platform for women – the largest investment platform of its kind in the world – includes a $300 million Thrive Venture Fund dedicated to make direct equity investment in Canadian women-led technology businesses at seed and Series A/B stages. The Fund is sector agnostic and invests in companies with strong growth and scalable market potential, that bring together the right innovation, team, and resources to transform today’s markets.
Bay Bridge Ventures is a venture capital firm investing in early-stage disruptive technology companies solving for Climate Change. Bay Bridge Ventures is created upon the belief that the future’s most successful companies will be those that solve critical problems facing the environment and humanity. Innovations for climate will be accelerated by the advancement of foundational technologies such as AI & Big Data, Advanced Computing, Sensors & IoT, High-Bandwidth Connectivity, Energy Storage, Robotics, and Synthetic Biology.
Audaxa Ventures (formerly theVenture.Fund) invests early stage capital in the most promising solutions at the intersection of climate and health that are being led by diverse Women and Non-Binary Founders.
Atargis has developed an innovative twin hydrofoil-based wave energy converter technology (CycWEC) that can deliver affordable, renewable electricity from ocean waves at grid-scale. The Atargis CycWEC combines real-time sensors and predictive algorithms to enable maximum efficiency power conversion in a wide range of sea states across the globe.
ArcTern Ventures is a venture capital firm obsessed with helping solve the climate crisis and rethinking sustainability. ArcTern, based in Toronto with offices in Oslo and San Francisco, invests globally in breakthrough technology companies solving climate change and sustainability - we call it #earthtech. The fund was founded in 2012 on the premise that accelerating the transition to a carbon-neutral economy will disrupt all industries and present an unprecedented opportunity for outsized financial returns. Solving our planet's biggest problems will lead to big rewards—for companies, their investors, and of course, Mother Earth.
Anthropocene Ventures invests in pre and seed stage climate tech companies that leverage hard science and novel engineering to create a global economy more closely aligned with the earth’s ecology.
Founded in 2016, originally as the MaRS Catalyst Fund, Amplify Capital is a leading impact venture capital fund. We invest in early-stage startups that address critical challenges in climate, healthcare, and education through innovative and scalable solutions. By targeting underserved markets and opportunities often overlooked by traditional investors, Amplify aims to achieve both exceptional impact outcomes and superior financial returns. We amplify capital through direct investments and by encouraging our partners, investors, and co-investors to prioritize companies where purpose drives profit. Our investments today are crucial in shaping a sustainable and equitable world for tomorrow.
Alwyn Capital is a pre-seed, VC fund backing the next generation of innovators committed to developing biotech solutions that will create a more sustainable, efficient and equitable future. A notable early investor in pioneering firms like Geltor, Blue Nalu, Avant Foods, and Cultured Decadence (acquired by Upside Foods), Alwyn Capital has been instrumental in shaping the burgeoning alternative protein landscape.
Alberta Innovates manages nearly 1,300 projects in a portfolio valued at $1.33 billion. We work with innovators in all sectors of the economy and all corners of the province to drive entrepreneurship, applied research and industry development. With our impact-based funding programs and services, we are transforming energy systems for a net-zero world, promoting the responsible use of land and water, leveraging provincial strengths in agriculture, and contributing to improved health and well-being by harnessing digital tech and data. We are also advancing emerging technologies and strengthening entrepreneurship for a strong and diversified economy.
Accelerator Centre
At the AC, we exist to help ambitious dreamers like you impact global change through your business. We’re your hub for action that provides an extensive selection of customizable opportunities for you to tap into—allowing you to rapidly bring your innovation to life. Over the past year we have supported over 300 startups, provided mentorship, access to capital, networks, and platforms to scale. These startups have gone on to achieve remarkable success, generating millions of dollars in revenue, creating jobs, and making significant contributions to our community.The Alberta Accelerator by 500 Global is at the forefront of fostering tech innovation in the heart of Alberta's burgeoning tech ecosystem. Our program is uniquely designed to support both local and global entrepreneurs looking to scale their ventures within the Edmonton-Calgary Corridor. With a focus on growth and scaling for early-stage startups, our non-investment program offers bespoke programming tailored to key sectors in the region, personalized coaching and mentorship from industry experts, and access to 500's global network of partners and startups.
9Zero is the global home for climate tech providing a physical and digital hub for all stakeholders. Our purposeful community is driving connections, talent, and capital, moving everyone faster. In-person, starting in downtown San Francisco, with our official opening on April 2nd!