Calgary and Edmonton's 17 most investable cleantech ventures

Foresight Canada announced the honourees for its second annual Foresight 50, a list of Canada’s most investable cleantech companies. 17 businesses on the list hail from Calgary (15) and Edmonton (2), Alberta – 34 percent of the list. Last year, 18 firms featured from Alberta.

Bridging the capital gap

Foresight’s goal is to see Canada become the first G7 country to reach net zero. According to Jeanette Jackson, CEO of Foresight Canada, Canada needs to “aggressively commercialize and scale Canadian solutions” and support access to capital. To attract capital, companies need to gain the recognition of investors with the resources to propel their ventures forward. That’s where the Foresight 50 comes in. It’s meant to bridge the gap by shining a light on Canada’s most promising cleantech ventures while directly connecting these companies with investors, customers, and partners.

“By fostering relationships with investors and key stakeholders, these Canadian innovators can gain the traction they need to impact the green transition on a global scale,” added Jackson. “Last year’s Foresight 50 companies went on to collectively raise $593 million to amplify their cleantech solutions — we can’t wait to see what’s possible for this year’s companies as they lead Canada — and the world — in the transition to net zero.”

The honourees – which were unveiled at multiple events hosted by Foresight on Wednesday – were chosen from over 150 applications. They were reviewed by a panel of independent judges representing investors and cleantech community partners who selected the ventures based on criteria including potential environmental impact, overall investability, and probability of success.

The 17 Alberta-based Foresight 50 companies:

Carbon Upcycling Technologies (Calgary) is a waste and carbon utilization firm unlocking a new frontier of circular materials. 

Copperstone Technologies Ltd. (Edmonton) helps industrial clients manage liabilities and safety costs associated with hazardous sites.

Cvictus Inc. (Calgary) decarbonizes sectors with hydrogen and chemical feedstocks.

Earthware (Calgary) is a return-for-reuse takeout container service. 

FREDsense Technologies (Calgary) is building biosensors to help environmental consultants, industrials, and communities understand what’s in their water.

Galatea Technologies Inc. (Calgary) is helping the energy industry digitalize, optimize, and automate transportation workflows. 

Hempalta Inc. (Calgary) is an agritech company focused on hemp processing and product creation.

Highwood Emissions Management (Calgary) helps operators make better emissions management decisions and accelerates decarbonization. 

Livestock Water Recycling (Calgary) provides high-tech digital manure processing that enables net-zero food production and increases food for the supply chain. 

NanosTech (Calgary) is a catalytic innovation hub, supporting the development of process technologies and other clean tech companies.

OptiSeis Solutions Ltd. (Calgary) is bringing environmental consciousness to energy exploration.

SeeO2 Energy (Calgary) is turning emissions into value and closing the carbon loop. 

SolarSteam Inc. (Calgary) is delivering renewable heat to industrial and institutional clients, helping to reduce their costs and emissions.

Summit Nanotech (Calgary) has developed a novel sorbent-based direct lithium extraction (“DLE”) technology, denaLiTM to accelerate the global energy transition.

Swift Charge (Edmonton) is developing a smart EV charging technology with proprietary power control software and power conversion hardware that closes the gap between the demand for EV charging and the limit of grid power capacity.

Swirltex Inc. (Calgary) takes the toughest wastewater and turns it into a reusable resource.

ZILA Works (Calgary) is developing a bio-epoxy resin to help product manufacturers lower their carbon footprint.

Access the full Foresight 50 list.