As a group of trusted in-house service firms, the Platform Pillar Team provides professional guidance and mentorship to founders and startups as part of the Platform Innovation Centre. The Platform Pillar Team includes a full complement of business advisors and services who are committed to making Calgary a global tech hub by strengthening and growing our innovation ecosystem. Founders will have access to a full suite of banking, legal, marketing, accounting, and real estate support as they take the next steps towards building their successful tech startup.
Meet the Platform Pillar Team
Accounting, Assurance & Tax
KPMG in Calgary has been working for many years as a trusted advisor with startup, scaleup and mature technology companies to grow and mitigate risks. Its interdisciplinary team provides accounting, assurance, tax, SR&ED, financing, valuation services and more that assist companies with their growth journey. KPMG leverages their deep experience to share knowledge and insights with entrepreneurs to initiate new thinking and grow their ideas into successful enterprises.
Government Grants, SRED & SRED Express Tax Credits, Loans & Financing
Ayming is a leading global consulting firm which has been helping businesses grow and innovate in a non-dilutive manner for over 35 years. They do this by helping companies access all forms of government funding. Their proprietary artificial intelligence (AI)-driven database of grants provides real time access to thousands of programs, including a custom snapshot of all federal and provincial grants currently available to your specific business. Ayming and their trusted advisors could be the key to unlocking the funding your business needs.
Banking & Investment
RBCx is a full-service, market-leading platform to accelerate the entrepreneurial journey at every stage of growth – providing access to a complete suite of capital solutions, innovative products and services, and operational expertise to help technology companies scale.
As the sixth largest bank in Canada, National Bank has been supporting entrepreneurs and investors in the tech sector for more than 25 years. Founded on a desire to support local business owners, our entrepreneurial spirit is still firmly rooted in our way of doing things. Entrepreneurs choose us because of this, but also because we understand their reality. We have a strong pulse on the market and we make it our mission to support them in achieving their goals.
Real Estate & Infrastructure
Workplace is an essential part of the corporate culture. Colliers helps organizations from incubation, to scale and beyond, make intelligent real estate decisions.
Real estate is usually an organization's second-highest cost behind people – Colliers helps technology companies at every stage understand how to navigate market dynamics and availability, understand complex documentation and strategically negotiate with market savvy property owners.
Through its senior executive team, CBRE provides mentorship to tech entrepreneurs on options for sourcing space for their growing companies. CBRE also provides a wealth of locational market data for commercial real estate as well as demographic information for the retail sector, helping entrepreneurs make data-driven real estate decisions.
Legal Services
Our startup package includes access to Fasken Edge, our online digital collaboration platform, to manage all your legal documents. It also includes access to our foundational documents, such as SAFEs, employment agreements, advisor agreements and stock option plans.
Recruitment, Employee Benefits & Insurance
Brent Wisby, Employee Benefits Consultant
Aliya Daya, Technology Insurance Consultant
At Acera Insurance (formerly Rogers Insurance and Fairfield Watson), we’re in the business of protecting yours. In addition to being experts in insurance, group benefits, and risk management, we pride ourselves on our depth of expertise within the technology industry. Our experienced team understands the unique business needs of the technology sector. They utilize this knowledge to help identify risks and exposures, determine your specific insurance requirements and ensure you are getting the best insurance protection for the best value.
The technology industry comes with its own unique set of risks, and it is important to have technology-specific insurance to help protect your hard and soft business assets. Our insurance experts can help you manage your risks, exposures and design a technology insurance program that works for your needs and budget. We offer tailored technology insurance products to help Platform members protect their start-ups and existing business.
TEEMA's purpose is to bring great people together to live better. They have served the Calgary and broader Alberta market with professional recruitment and staffing solutions since 2008. Technology now accounts for approximately 70% of their business and they look forward to helping startups with:
- Workforce planning solutions
- HR Strategy
- Market intelligence
- Compensation guidance
- Job descriptions
Marketing, Design & Public Relations
Through a turbulent decade, Evans Hunt has witnessed time and again the power of local businesses to adapt, overcome and outperform. They’re a strategic marketing partner to many Calgary organizations you know well, and others you’ll be admiring soon. That makes them close accomplices in the ongoing reinvention of Calgary business, and they’re always happy to collaborate with anyone who shares a commitment to discovery, improvement and creativity.
ELEVATOR is an unconventional boutique agency with offices in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver. It was founded over 20 years ago by Melanie Rego with a purpose to continuously advance the business of PR. Leading with an unconventional approach, Melanie attracts the smartest, most forward thinking team members and the best clients ready for brand elevation, from the ground up. Today, they define their craft as message architecture, considering each and every messaging angle as they draft plans to connect clients with customers and make those moments perfect.