Welcome to this week's Sunday Briefing. In this edition:
CURA brings low-carbon cement technology to Calgary
Alberta Innovates redesigns its support system for entrepreneurs
Alberta AI companies raised $162 million in 2025
P.S. Did someone forward you this email? You can subscribe right here. And for real-time updates, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
$6.8 million in federal funding backs five Alberta AI companies
Photo: Unsplash
The federal government has announced $6.8 million in funding for five Alberta-based organizations through the Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative, a program designed to help businesses bring AI technologies to market and speed up adoption across key sectors.
The largest single investment goes to the University of Alberta, which will receive $3 million in non-repayable funding to build the Canadian AI Compute Vault — a secure, high-performance compute infrastructure initiative designed to strengthen Canada's AI sovereignty and give businesses access to trusted cloud environments for developing and deploying AI in areas including defence, security, and deep tech.
The remaining four investments are repayable. Darkhorse Emergency Corp. gets $1 million to expand exports of its AI-powered analytics platform, which optimizes risk analysis and resource allocation for fire and emergency departments.
NTWIST Inc. receives the same amount — $1 million — to accelerate commercialization of AI-powered productivity solutions for advanced manufacturing.
Vertical City Inc. lands $1.3 million to scale its AI and machine learning software for global market expansion.
Localintel Inc. closes out the group with $500,000 to commercialize its Location Intelligence Content Platform, which turns complex location data into narrative-ready content for municipalities and economic development organizations.
Want to reach Calgary tech leaders? Advertise in the Calgary Tech Journal to get in front of founders, investors, and innovators. Contact [email protected] to learn more.
📰 Need To Know
CURA chooses Calgary to scale low-carbon cement technology. Originally developed at the University of British Columbia, the company is focused on decarbonizing cement manufacturing — one of the world’s most emissions-intensive industries — through a lower-energy, lower-carbon process. Calgary Economic Development
Leadership update: Innovate Calgary. Shawn Baxter will take on the role of interim president and CEO of Innovate Calgary, while continuing as associate vice-president (Strategy, Enterprise and Commercial) at the University of Calgary. University of Calgary
How Alberta Innovates plans to streamline support system for local entrepreneurs. Alberta’s primary innovation engine is redesigning how it supports entrepreneurs in the province. Calgary.Tech
Top 10 largest AI company funding rounds in 2025. Last year, Alberta tech companies using artificial intelligence raised $162M across 20 publicly announced funding rounds. Start Alberta
Calgary’s CURA wins Web Summit Vancouver PITCH competition. CURA is developing electrochemical technology aimed at reducing emissions from cement production, one of the world’s most carbon-intensive industries. Calgary.Tech