DEEP TECH DAY
October 7
Alberta is entering a new era of deep tech
Bringing together the community for a full day of high-quality programming, connection and conversation.
We’re creating a curated room of deep tech founders, investors, researchers and ecosystem leaders to explore the realities of building, financing and scaling across Alberta.
Expect opportunities to learn from investors and peers, exchange ideas, make meaningful connections and spend time with people who understand the challenges and opportunities that come with building deep tech.
Agenda and speaker details are coming soon.
Morning Session - Edmonton has done this before
Why The Matrikon Story Matters
Matrikon was built at a time when industry was changing quickly. Facilities were becoming more automated, different systems weren’t always talking to each other, and companies were sitting on more and more data without an easy way to use it.That created an opportunity.
Starting here in Edmonton, Matrikon worked alongside industry to solve those problems — and over time, turned that technical know-how into products and technology that could be used well beyond Alberta.
For Deep Tech founders, there’s a lot in that story that still feels familiar: start with a tough problem, build alongside your customers, figure out what can scale, and don’t be afraid to think globally.
Matrikon started with Nizar Jaffer Somji.
An engineer by training, Nizar founded the company in Edmonton in 1988, initially bringing his own technical expertise to some of industry’s toughest automation and data challenges.
But he didn’t stop at consulting.
Nizar saw the opportunity to turn what Matrikon was learning on the ground into software, products and intellectual property that could be used again and again. That shift helped take Matrikon from a one-person Edmonton company to a publicly traded global business with more than 600 employees and customers across six continents.
In 2010, Honeywell acquired Matrikon for approximately $144 million.
Today, Nizar continues to build and invest through the Jaffer Group of Companies, while championing entrepreneurship, research commercialization and the connection between industry and academia.
Shaheel Hooda
Shaheel Hooda is a finance and fundraising advisor, General Partner at Sprout VC, and angel investor who helps startups strengthen financial readiness and prepare for early-stage fundraising.
Amit Monga
Amit is President of EECOMOBILITY, an AI battery and energy systems company. A former investment banker and venture capitalist, he brings deep expertise in finance, technology, and scaling companies.
Joining Nizar, Shaheel Hooda and Amit Monga will be coming to this session blah blah blah.
Afternoon Session 1 - No Playbook: Building Deep Tech Companies
There’s no step-by-step guide for building a Deep Tech company.
The technology is complex. Commercialization takes time. Capital works differently. Customers can be hard to crack. And some of the biggest decisions have to be made when there isn’t an obvious right answer.
No Playbook is a candid conversation with founders who have been in those moments.
Each founder will bring one real challenge they faced while building their company and unpack it — the situation, the decision they made, what worked, what didn’t, and what they’d do differently today. The conversation will get into capital, customers, commercialization, talent, scaling and the decisions that can change the direction of a company.
If you’re building, investing in or supporting Deep Tech, come for the stories behind the companies and leave with lessons you can apply to your own work.
Tiffany Linke-Boyko
Principal, Flying Fish
Dr. John P. Davis
Co-Founder & CTO, Zero Point Cryogenics
Dr. Ryan Tucker
Co-Founder & CEO, G2V Optics
Jalene Anderson-Baron
Co-Founder & COO, Future Fields
Afternoon Session 2 - From Pilots to True Traction
Not every pilot creates momentum. The right ones can change the trajectory of a company.
Landing a pilot can feel like a big win. But the real question is what happens next.
Was it the right customer? Did the pilot prove something that matters? Is there a path to a larger commercial relationship? And perhaps most importantly, does it show that customers actually want what you’re building?
From Pilots to True Traction looks at pilots through the lens of investors who see companies at different stages and know what separates early promise from real commercial traction.
We’ll get into choosing the right customers, what a strong pilot should prove, turning early wins into deeper commercial relationships, and the signals that show a company is ready to scale.
If you’re building a company, commercializing technology, investing, or supporting founders, this is a conversation about making sure the next pilot gets you closer to where you actually want to go.
Kristina Milke
General Partner, Sprout Fund
Aditya Aggarwal
Managing Partner, Industrial Innovation Venture Fund, BDC
Alicia Lenis
Vice President, Chrysalix Venture Capital
David Goldman
Partner, Celesta
Afternoon Session 3 - What Makes a Deep Tech Company Worth Betting On?
What Makes a Deep Tech Company Worth Betting On?
Great technology gets attention. But what makes an investor actually want to bet on the company behind it?
This conversation gets into the stuff that’s harder to put on a pitch deck: the founder, the ambition, the conviction and the potential to build something much, much bigger.
How do investors assess a founder before all the proof points are there? What separates impressive technology from the foundation of a great company? What does global ambition look like when you’re building from Canada? And what makes someone lean in and say, “I want to be part of this”?
We’ll also flip the conversation around: what do founders get wrong about investors? What do investors sometimes miss about founders? And what have years of building, backing and working alongside entrepreneurs taught us about the people who go the distance?
This is not your typical panel. Expect stories, strong opinions, rapid-fire questions and a conversation that goes wherever the most interesting ideas take it.
Allen Lau
Co-Founder & Operating Partner, Two Small Fish Ventures
Janet Bannister
Managing Partner, Staircase Ventures
Meet the Investors
Some of Canada’s leading deep tech investors are coming to Edmonton Startup Week — and they want to meet Alberta founders.
1-on-1 Investor Meetings – October 8, 2026
Is this for you?
- Commercializing science, engineering or research-based innovation
- Building in areas such as AI, quantum, life sciences, energy, advanced manufacturing, robotics, industrial technology, semiconductors or related fields
- Preparing for an upcoming financing round
- Interested in beginning investor relationships before you raise or looking to better understand what institutional deep tech investors want to see
Focus: B2B software; AI-enabled technology; enterprise efficiency/productivity; sector-agnostic technology companies; Canadian startups.
Janet Bannister, Managing Partner
Focus: Vertical AI platforms; Physical AI; AI infrastructure; advanced computing hardware; smart energy
Allen Lau, Co-Founder & Operating Partner
Focus: Deep tech; AI infrastructure; semiconductors; robotics; advanced hardware; space/defence; industrial technology
Charles Lespérance, Partner
David Goldman, Partner
Focus: Industrial innovation; advanced manufacturing; agriculture; mining; industrial IoT; automation and digitalization
Aditya Aggarwal
Managing Partner, Industrial Innovation Venture Fund
Focus: Resource-intensive industries; energy transition; mining; industrial innovation; robotics; AI/IoT; manufacturing and machinery
Alicia Lenis, Vice President
Focus: AI-native deep tech; frontier AI research commercialization; Venture Scientist Fund; broader Inovia software/tech platform
Isaac Souweine, Venture Scientist Fund, Partner
Focus: Health & life sciences; energy; social impact; early research commercialization; community/university startups
Jennifer Erickson, Associate, UCeed Health & Life Science Funds
Manuel Garcia, Senior Associate, UCeed Energy Fund
Focus: Sector-agnostic technology startups; AI and software; fintech; deep tech; healthtech; consumer technology
Shambhavi Mishra, Associate Partner
Meet Local Edmonton Investors
Arden Tse, Principal
Yasmine Al-Hussein, Investment Manager
Kristina Milke, General Partner
Shaheel Hooda, General Partner
Tiffany Linke-Boyko, Principal
Key Info
- Open to deep tech companies from across Alberta
- Limited curated 1:1 investor meeting slots on October 8
- Founder preparation and coaching available before the event
- Application deadline September 5
Selected companies will be invited to attend an investor readiness workshop on September 23 by Sprout Fund. The session will be available in hybrid format so founders from across Alberta can participate.
Are you building in deep tech and looking to connect with an investor during Edmonton Startup Week?
Deep tech founder visiting Edmonton for Startup Week? If you’re interested in connecting with investors while you’re here, we’d love to hear from you. Reach out directly: [email protected] to explore opportunities.