Monark secures UCeed investment to democratize access to leadership development

Welcome to this week's Sunday Briefing. In this issue, learn about the two leaders who are reinventing who gets to become one, plus 11 other stories you've probably missed. Have a great day. We'll see you again Wednesday.

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Monark secures UCeed investment to democratize access to leadership development

"The antidote to old school, ineffective training." That's the promise of Monark, a startup that's taking a modern approach to leadership training that its founders say "combines evidence-based content, an on-demand platform, and engaging activities and reminders to drive real, lasting behaviour change."

Started by CEO Kelsey Hahn and chief research officer Dr. Amanda Julian, the Calgary-based startup just received an injection of capital from the UCeed Social Impact Fund to supercharge its mission to democratize access to leadership development.

UCeed is a group of pre-seed/seed-stage investment funds that make investments ranging from $50,000 to $300,000 depending on the venture’s stage of development.

Monark's leadership platform has four unique elements: on-demand, personalized learning; reminders, nudges and cohort-based team learning; 360 assessment and real-time insights; and a leadership community of practice so leaders can share knowledge and lived experiences with each other.

According to UCalgary, it all adds up to a tool that can "profoundly change resource and authority flow in leadership training, impacting the skills in the future workforce."

🤝 Funding, Deals + Partnerships

• Sprout nets $2.5M investment from AEC. The Alberta investor's $14 million second fund will provide seed capital to B2B software startups. Mario Toneguzzi / Calgary Tech Journal

• Federal government announces $80M for critical drug initiative led by Applied Pharmaceutical Innovation, a not-for-profit organization, in partnership with the University of Alberta. The Canadian Press

📰 Need To Know

• Plug and Play Alberta has announced 58 startups for the spring cohort of its industry-specific health, sustainability, food and beverage, and sector-agnostic startup accelerator programs. A few of the Calgary companies selected are Carbon Upcycling Technologies, Earthware Reusables, and Quickly. Mario Toneguzzi / Calgary Tech Journal

• ICYMI: 72 hours in Calgary tech. A too-detailed dispatch from ground zero of Alberta’s innovation economy. William Johnson / Calgary Tech Journal

• Iconic Alberta grain elevators being digitally preserved in virtual reality project. Dan McGarvey / CBC News

• The third annual Alberta Technology Symposium on April 26-27 will unite a wide spectrum of emerging fields like IoT, Machine Learning and blockchain applications. Learn more

• This is cool, right? A $3.5M home for the tech lover. Shane Dingman / Globe and Mail

• Avatar Innovations and Hawk & Squirrel Innovation announced that Bradley Wamboldt, principal associate at Hawk & Squirrel has been contracted to work part-time as Avatar's vice president of technology development. Continue

• India's tech industry sees opportunity for Calgary. Calgary Economic Development

💡 POV: Ideas and Insights

• Sandi Gilbert, chief executive of Calgary-based venture capital firm InterGen, is worried the loss of SVB will mean fewer opportunities for startups at the big banks: "Trying to even understand that space has been difficult for traditional banks and now that there’s not as much risk of their clients going somewhere else, I don’t think they’re going to step up their risk levels anytime soon."

• The key to innovation in the workplace? Embracing neurodiversity. Elyse Bouvier / Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning

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