Investment in Alberta’s technology sector continues to grow

Several Calgary-based tech companies plan to hire more people and expand their office space as hundreds of millions of dollars pour into the sector.

In the first half of the year, Alberta attracted nearly $500 million in investment, briefed.in reported.

“We’re growing very, very quickly,” said Nick Beik, founder of Calgary-based Helsim, which provides online payment services to small businesses in Canada and the United States.

The company recently received $16 million in venture capital funding from investors in Toronto and New York.

“We’ve doubled our business in just the last six months, so our investors are very pleased with that progress,” said Beike from the company’s headquarters in Eau Claire.

The company grew by 400 percent last year. It went from 80 employees to 145 by the end of last year. It plans to hire 100 more people by the end of next year.

“My long-term goal is to build an anchor tenant in Calgary’s tech scene. So when people think of Calgary, they think of HelSim… The way Showify was able to do that in Ottawa, put them on the real road to the tech map. I want to do that in Calgary, too.”

「」「」」「」 Alberta’s tech sector secured $268.6 million in venture funding in the second quarter alone — compared to just $16 million in the same quarter a year ago. Collected.

Recruitment, office expansion

Another rising star on the city’s tech scene is Virtual Gurus, which provides virtual assistants to businesses across Canada and the States to handle a variety of administrative tasks.

Two years ago, the company had five employees. It now has 40 and plans to double that number by the end of the year, which will require more office space.

“We are looking at expanding upstairs to accommodate the growth,” said Margaret Glover-Campbell, the company’s chief executive officer.

Virtual Gurus, which aims to hire more people from minority groups, including people with disabilities and members of the LGBTQ community, recently received $10 million in funding from several venture funds. The funding will be used to help the company grow and launch new apps in the coming months.

New sources of funds

Calgary-based startup Zyzone, previously based on individual, private equity investors, recently raised $25.5 million in funding to help it expand. Zyzon offers people early access to their earnings and partners with nearly 3,000 businesses in the U.S. The company has 70 employees but plans to hire 15 more by the end of the year.

One of the investors is Alberta government-owned ATB Financial, which is providing the company with a $13 million debt pool for customers to use when they need a down payment on their income.

Tate Hackert, one of the company’s founders, said ATB’s support is a boost for his company and the city.

“This is a great story for Calgary,” he said.

“This shows that there’s a lot more to investing in than just oil and gas, and we’re really looking forward to being part of that success story, aren’t we?”

Finding employees is a challenge.

An ongoing challenge for most technology companies is finding employees to support their expansion plans.

“We’re hiring as many people as we can. It’s a tough market in Calgary because we have a lot of tech companies here that are trying to hire people,” Glover-Campbell said.

Helseem said he takes a unique approach to recruiting and gives high school seniors the most opportunities for recent graduates. It aims to recruit young professionals out of school and provide on-the-job training and mentoring.

“Our focus is on getting these young professionals to start their careers at Healthim instead of fighting for top talent,” Beik said.

He says the recent slowdown in the sector will help raise the level of demand for talent and help his company attract and retain workers.

Calgary has a lot going for it, says Beike, including an affordable cost of living and a good quality of life. Recently, he said, 20 percent of his company’s hires come from outside the city.

Brian Laby is an enterprise reporter with CBC Calgary. If you have a great story idea or tip, you can reach him at bryan.labby@cbc.ca or on Twitter @CBCBryan.