New Angel Investor Group Launches in Western Canada
Allied Venture Partners aims to expand the pool of available capital for technology startups while providing investors greater access to high-potential deal flow.
CALGARY, Oct 8, 2020: Today, Allied Venture Partners announced the official launch of its angel investment group dedicated to expanding the pool of available capital for technology entrepreneurs, while providing investors with greater access to diversified deal flow. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, AlliedVP will focus on seed-stage investments from across North America, aimed at driving additional foreign investment into Western Canada's technology ecosystem, while providing local investors with increased diversification and access to high-potential deal flow opportunities.
"Western Canada is one of the fastest-growing technology ecosystems in the world coupled with the highest concentration of accredited investors in the country, following many decades as Canada's energy capital," says Matthew Wilson, Founder and Managing Director at Allied Venture Partners. "With our attractive lifestyle offerings, government grant programs, and emerging presence onto the world stage as an AI/ML hub, foreign investors are taking notice. As a result, our region is anticipated to lead venture capital investment in Canada over the ensuing decade."
"AlliedVP is a welcome addition to the angel investment landscape in Calgary," says Alecia Peters, Director of Innovation at Calgary Economic Development. "Access to early-stage funding is critical to advancing our startup ecosystem and adds the essential fuel needed to grow and scale world-class companies. Increasing angel investment and providing connectivity to global investment communities is a great win for the local ecosystem."
The launch of Allied Venture Partners comes on the heels of Wilson's former experience as a startup founder/operator, followed by eight years as an independent angel investor and venture capital scout; having invested in several notable startups, including Pinterest Inc., which went public in 2019 at a $10 billion valuation, and Lyft Inc., which also IPO'd in 2019 at $24.3 billion.
Allied Venture Partners operates exclusively on the popular AngelList platform, with the mission of democratizing the early-stage investing process for entrepreneurs and investors. Wilson credits his strong personal network following nearly a decade as an early-stage investor and has built an advisory team of notable entrepreneurs, VCs and fellow angels from established venture capital markets, including Silicon Valley, Toronto, New York, Chicago, London and Sydney.
"The current economic environment due to Covid-19 has resulted in many traditional early-stage investors taking refuge on the sidelines," said Wilson. "When we take a step back and assess market conditions at a macro level, we can see the current environment is highly reminiscent of the 2008 financial crisis and 2001 dot-com bubble. We believe this current environment presents a unique and highly attractive opportunity to plant the seeds for significant asymmetric value-capture over the ensuing decade as companies become increasingly resilient. Now is THE best time this decade to invest in early-stage technology startups."
About Allied Venture Partners: AlliedVP is Canada’s newest angel investor group dedicated to diversifying Western Canada’s funding ecosystem for technology entrepreneurs and investors. The group’s threefold strategy aims to broaden the pool of available capital for local startups, provide local investors with greater portfolio diversification via outside deal flow opportunities, while acting as a trusted conduit among foreign investors wishing to gain access to Canada’s fastest-growing technological hub. Startups can apply for backing and investors can join the group free-of-charge by visiting allied.vc.
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