TELUS Community Safety and Wellness...

Nineteen global companies to each present their innovative technologies that support improved safety and wellbeing; one company to be announced as recipient of VC funding during live virtual event on April 19, 2022

EDMONTON, Alberta, April 14, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The TELUS Community Safety and Wellness Accelerator (CSW) powered by AlchemistX, in partnership with the Edmonton Police Foundation and funded by Alberta Innovates, together are proud to announce that the first cohort of nineteen startups has completed the intensive 12-week program and will present their innovative technologies and solutions at a Demo Day in Edmonton which will be streamed during a live, virtual event on April 19, 2022.

“We are extremely proud of all of the incredible companies in our first CSW cohort. They embraced the program and went all-in. They are ready to fast track their innovation and scale rapidly and we should all be very proud of what this incredible accelerator has set to do. A big thank you to all our partners, team members, community supporters and our entrepreneurs,” said Ashif Mawji, Chair of the Edmonton Police Foundation.

The TELUS CSW aims to improve the safety and wellbeing of Edmontonians by applying innovative perspectives from global technology disruptors that are addressing complex social challenges such as racism and hate, domestic violence, personal safety, and mental health and wellbeing.

By helping these technology startups realize their potential, together the TELUS CSW and partner organizations are enabling them to provide previously inaccessible resources, products, and solutions to local social service agencies. More importantly, this initiative aims to foster partnerships between like-minded tech founders from around the world with Edmonton-based community social service agencies and organizations to harness stronger, more effective impact.

Join the TELUS CSW Demo Day on April 19 at 10:30 a.m. MT, register here.

The TELUS CSW Accelerator powered by AlchemistX is part of the Alberta Innovates Scaleup and Growth Accelerators Program supported by a consortium led by Alberta Innovates. The consortium includes the Alberta Ministry of Jobs, Economy and Innovation, Innovate Edmonton, and PrairiesCan.

The full list of startup companies in the first cohort of the TELUS CSW powered by AlchemistX is below. For more information on each company, please visit the TELUS CSW Accelerator Lookbook.

Anima-ey (Israel)

Areto Labs (Alberta)

Brave Technology Coop (Canada)

Budee Solutions (Canada)  

Clearhead (New Zealand)

Defynance (United States)

Digital Public Square (Canada)

Every Two Minutes (United States)

Kara Technologies (New Zealand)

Maslo (United States)

NavigateIO (Canada)

Nucleos (United States)

OTTAA (Argentina)

PALcares (Alberta)

Pedesting (Alberta)

Rubicon (Canada)

Sightbit (Israel)

Xena Vision (Turkey)

About TELUS Community Safety and Wellness Accelerator

The TELUS Community Safety and Wellness Accelerator (CSW) is sponsored by the Edmonton Police Foundation in conjunction with various partners, including ATB Financial, TELUS, Motorola, U of A, AMII, Edmonton Police Service and others. Using a combination of data, artificial intelligence and machine learning, entrepreneurship, mentorship, domain expertise, funding, structured accelerator programming and other key ingredients to help create successful social impact ventures, its mission is to help solve our community’s challenges and create a sustainable model to help bring those solutions to the world. Being one of the first in the world with this unique combination will allow the CSW to demonstrate the social impact power of Albertans. Learn more.

About AlchemistX

AlchemistX is the Corporate and Government Services division of Alchemist Accelerator, a venture-backed accelerator focused on accelerating the development of seed-stage ventures that monetize from enterprises. CB Insights rated Alchemist the top accelerator based on median funding rates of its grads (YC was #2). The accelerator's primary screening criteria is on teams, with primacy placed on having distinctive technical co-founders. The organization provides founders a structured path to traction, fundraising, mentorship, and community over the course of a time-bound program. Backers include many of the top corporate and VC funds in the Valley — including Khosla Ventures, DFJ, Cisco, GE, Next47 (Siemens), and Salesforce, among others. Notable Alchemist alumni include LaunchDarkly, Rigetti Quantum Computing, mPharma, Matternet, and Mightyhive.

About Edmonton Police Foundation

In support of the Edmonton Police Service, the Edmonton Police Foundation advances excellence and transforms community policing by raising funds and investing in those in support of attaining excellence.

About Alberta Innovates

Alberta Innovates is the province’s largest and Canada’s first provincial research and innovation agency. For a century we have worked closely with researchers, companies and entrepreneurs – trailblazers who built industries and strengthened communities. Today we are pivoting to the next frontier of opportunity in Alberta and worldwide by driving emerging technologies across sectors. We are a provincial corporation delivering seed funding, business advice, applied research and technical services, and avenues for partnership and collaboration. Learn how Alberta Innovates.

About Innovate Edmonton

Headquartered in Alberta’s capital city, Innovate Edmonton leverages, unites, and promotes home-grown innovation as a gateway to solving the world’s most pressing problems. We harness the power of the public and private sectors, ground-breaking academic research, and purpose-driven investment to build a shared prosperity and open international markets. From sustainable climate solutions to public health and digital education, Edmonton is a leading global centre for inspiration, ingenuity, and inclusion. Learn more about Innovate Edmonton and read our inaugural annual report here.

About Prairies Economic Development Canada (PrairiesCan)

Prairies Economic Development Canada (PrairiesCan) is the federal department that supports economic growth in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Its programs and services help businesses, not-for-profits and communities grow stronger. Its mandate is to support economic growth and diversification in the Prairie provinces and advance the interests of the region in national economic policy, programs and projects.

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