Different by Design
Since the 1970s, Alberta has ranked first among Canadian provinces in GDP and income per capita, and only third globally, trailing Ireland and Norway. As Canada’s oil and gas industry headquarters, Alberta holds the nation’s highest concentration of accredited investors (more than twice the national average).
However, with the economic fallout from Covid-19, rising environmental pressures, and Canadian crude falling to an all-time low of less than $5 per barrel in March 2020, investors must look for new ways to protect and grow portfolios over the coming decades. Oil and gas no longer provides the most attractive risk-adjusted returns, with an increasing shift toward industries such as software and technology.
Concurrently, Alberta’s appealing lifestyle, low tax rates, and plentiful grant programs have attracted a flood of technology entrepreneurs. Alberta is now home to Canada’s highest concentration of tech talent, ranks third globally for the development of artificial intelligence, and is expected to lead venture capital funding in Canada over the coming decade.
In response, international investors are taking notice, with several prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firms establishing offices in the province. Meanwhile, many foreign and out-of-province investors desire a trusted and reliable access point to one of North America’s fastest-growing technology hubs.
Enter Allied Venture Partners
As a result of these converging market forces, Allied was created to serve at the nexus of three critical market participants in Western Canada’s technology ecosystem:
Expand access for local angel investors to high-growth investment opportunities from established VC markets across North America.
Create a trusted access point for foreign investors seeking global diversification into Canada's fastest-growing technology hub.
Improve access to outside venture capital, knowledge, and networking opportunities for local entrepreneurs pursuing scale and growth.
Allied cultivates meaningfully differentiated value for Canada's technology ecosystem by providing education and empowerment for angel investors, capital and networking for startup founders, and a credible access point for diversification among foreign investors.
Since 2020, Allied has grown to more than 1,900 investors globally and has deployed over $5 million into early-stage technology startups.
Allied in Numbers
1,900
Investors
$5.8MM
Deployed
20
Companies
32
Investments
12
Follow-ons
$500MM
Aggregate Val.
How it Started
Hi, I'm Matt Wilson, Founder and Managing Director at Allied Venture Partners.
I moved to Calgary in 2013 after exiting my Toronto-based CPG startup. While looking for ways to stay connected with the startup ecosystem, I began consulting with early-stage startups, helping with their sales and marketing strategies. Concurrently, I discovered angel investing as a way to combine my passions for entrepreneurship and investing.
Unfortunately, at the time, there wasn't much VC or angel activity in the province of Alberta, and we hadn't yet developed the high-tech industry we have today. So, I strategized to focus my investor education on outside, established VC markets, like Silicon Valley, New York, Boston, and Toronto.
While working my day job at a large media and marketing agency, I spent evenings and weekends learning everything I could about venture capital and private markets. I joined every possible angel syndicate and VC fund, and quickly developed a diverse pipeline of dealflow from across North America.
“Find a way to get in the same room as the best. Then, listen and absorb as much as possible, learning from their successes and avoiding mistakes.”
As a long-time public market investor, I've always applied a portfolio strategy to mitigate risk through balance and diversification. When it came to angel investing, I leveraged this same approach.
My first few years in the venture world were spent at the growth end of the spectrum, investing in mid and later-stage companies (notably Pinterest and Lyft) to mitigate risk while learning the industry. Through networking with other investors, I gained access to a multitude of unique opportunities, effectively crafting a VC apprenticeship and learning by doing in an otherwise complex and technical asset class.
As I gained more knowledge and experience, I shifted my focus to earlier Seed and Series A startups. I have since invested in over 100 tech companies.
After receiving my first distributed shares in 2019 (following the Pinterest IPO), I began searching for ways to institutionalize my knowledge and solve the issues I faced when aspiring to angel invest in Western Canada.
What began as a business school capstone thesis for an early-stage venture syndicate based in Calgary, Canada, became a reality in 2020 when I launched Allied VC. As outlined above, our mission is to help solve the early-stage funding gap for Canadian startups by:
Improving access to capital for local entrepreneurs,
Providing greater access to venture-scale opportunities for local investors; and,
Acting as a trusted intermediary for foreign investors seeking access to Canada’s fastest-growing technology hub.
Since 2020, Allied has grown to over 1,900 limited partners from two dozen countries. Our LPs have worked at some of the world’s largest technology companies, and we are proud to support our talented founders in building world-class organizations.
If you’re an early-stage founder seeking capital, please reach out. For investors, whether you’re a new or experienced angel investor, we invite you to join the Allied Investor Network and gain access to our deal flow.
Sincerely,
–Matt
“If a solution doesn’t exist, create one.”
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Founders
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Investors
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