Sprout Fund

What a whirlwind this week was. Still recovering. It started with the Plug and Play Tech Center Expo in Calgary followed by 3 intense days of Inventures 2024. I've attended Inventures since it started back in 2018 (I think) and this was by far the best and most productive one yet. Without hyperbole I can also state that it was the best conference event that I've attended in the last few years - hands down. Met over 100 founders and a dozen or so investors that Sprout Fund is likely to syndicate with in the future (hint, hint BDC IT Venture Fund, GreenSky Ventures, and TALLGRASS VENTURES, LLC among others). Well done Alberta Innovates - amazing. This just gets better and bigger every year. Had a blast facilitating the 500 Global panel on Fundraising Strategies and talk "for real" with Al-Karim K. (Propra), Mukul Pal (AlphaBlock), and Louis Kolla (Runnr) who shared their very different fundraising journeys and lessons to a standing room only audience. Lots of great knowledge transfer happened there. that's to Fatima Mohamed, Rosa Cai, and Luk Pham for making that all happen. Learned a great deal at Platform Calgary's Commercializing Quantum session. I feel a little smarter about this topic now (but not yet smart enough to invest). Thanks Karam-Ali Talakshi, Nathan Karbonik, Terry Rock, Jennifer Lussier, Bilal Rasool and the rest of the Platform team. Enjoyed some down time socializing with so many like minded folks at Startup TNT as they took over the James Joyce Pub and hosted hundreds of folks and likely broke the 🔥 code. Also enjoyed the startup pitches, especially the Student Pitch Competition organized by Craig Elias and Brandy Old and Bow Valley College - inspired to see the next gen of founders honing their skills on stage. Sooooo looking forward to Inventures 2025 - just need to catch up on some sleep first and get through the stack of new contacts made this week. Kristina Milke Laura Kilcrease Lan (Scaleup) Tan Reesa John Abhay Ghatpande, PhD, MBA Rahim Nathu Lawrence Korngut

We are pleased to continue to support our portfolio company, Levr.ai, in its mission to help SMB's access capital. https://lnkd.in/gk-Z3ukS Shaheel Hooda Abhay Ghatpande, PhD, MBA Christiana Manzocco

Growth Catalyst returns to Edmonton this April! Join the ranks of 68 ambitious companies who have experienced remarkable growth. Early program participants achieved an impressive average of 40% YoY revenue growth post-program. Crafted specifically for ambitious CEOs and teams, this immersive program is designed to propel your business forward. Here's what you can expect: 🚀 Develop a customized playbook tailored to your unique business needs—a crucial step in achieving sustainable growth. 🔗 Foster team cohesion, turning your vision into collective action and driving alignment within your organization. 🔍 Elevate your growth plan with expert input from seasoned professionals—an affordable alternative to traditional consulting services. Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to scale your business. Learn more at https://lnkd.in/ekWx6Zp Your growth is our success. Let’s get you there! 🌱 #GrowthCatalyst #Edmonton #YEGBusiness #EdmontonBusiness #BusinessGrowth #AlbertaBusiness Alberta Innovates, Campus Innovation Consulting Group, CFO Group Inc., C-Tribe x Gaming, Edmonton Global, Edmonton RIN, Edmonton Unlimited, EO Edmonton, Innovate Canada, Mitacs, Prairies Economic Development Canada I Développement économique Canada pour les Prairies, TD

Kristina Milke and I are thrilled to announce that Abhay Ghatpande, PhD, MBA has joined Sprout Fund II as our Senior Investment Associate in #vancouver. Abhay brings a wealth of experience in startup building and operations, having spent over 13 years scaling B2C and B2B startups. We are confident that he will contribute significantly to Sprout Fund’s mission of finding, investing in, and supporting innovative tech startups across Western Canada. Please join us in welcoming Abhay to our team! Sprout Fund II is looking to invest in early-stage B2B SaaS startups led by inspiring founders. If you are a startup founder actively fundraising or about to start the process, please visit our site https://sproutfund.vc to get information on our thesis and/or reach out to us.

The cat is out of the bag. I am super excited to announce our Exclusive Partnership with CenterEdge Software! With this Partnership CenterEdge Customers current and future can now offer Frictionless Ordering and Pickup experiences to their guests utilizing the Innovative Truffle platform. This Partnership showcases truffles unique ability to enable f&b tech providers to add automation to their existing tech stack. Sprout Fund Accelerate Fund #frictionless #trufflegobox #cloudkitchens #kitchenautomation #digitalordering

Check out my daughter Mia Filan's mobile cappuccino company YEG Cappuccino Service. We're gearing up for the holiday season with egg-nog and gingerbread lattes plus candy-cane mochas for pop-up employee appreciation events and Christmas parties.

Threshold Impact Venture Mentoring Service is looking to add to their team. This program is very special to me so if you know anyone that you think would be a great asset to the program please have them apply. https://lnkd.in/gkqvRTqk

Ok ok ok, if you've seen my last few posts about #YEGstartupweek you'll know I'm involved in a conversation about growing teams as well as a round table chat about SaaS metrics (if you haven't registered yet, what are you waiting for?). You're probably wondering "Arden's an investor, why isn't he talking about investing?!?" Well, wonder no more! I'm excited to join fellow venture investing colleagues Andrew Goldner (GrowthX), Kristina Milke (Sprout Fund), and Tim Lynn (Startup TNT) on a panel moderated by our very own Christiana Manzocco of Alberta Enterprise Corporation (AEC). The title says it all - " The Journey to Venture Funding" where we'll illuminate, elucidate, and ruminate on what early-stage founders need to know about raising 💰 💵 ! Registration link is below and here's a "Where's Waldo" secret for you - I'm sitting on a fourth panel during Startup Week and I'll take whomever figures it out and DMs me for a coffee. Attend all four of the events I'm participating in and I'll buy you lunch! Having lunch with me present is entirely optional of course - nothing wrong with dining alone... 😁 https://lu.ma/3y6uza1q