Top Stories From Calgary Tech in 2025
An incredible year in Calgary Tech gives us plenty of reasons for optimism and celebration heading into 2026.
An Incredible Year 🎉
Before we dive into some of the top stories of the year, we’d be remiss not to acknowledge the wonderful tech community that continues to put Calgary on the map as a tech hub. Between acquisitions, new innovations, or builders that continue to grow, 2025 evidenced Calgary’s ability to become a tech hub. Onto 2026! 🚀🚀
Major Tech Thursday Announcement 📈
We Are HIRING!
Want to come work at one of the fastest growing Tech communities in Canada? Tech Thursday is hiring an Operations Lead!
Apply here ➡️ Operations Lead
Top Stories of 2025:
Orienna Raises Series C
Orennia, a platform for accurate data, trustworthy analytics and actionable research dedicated to the energy transition, completed their Series C funding in January.
This round of funding was led by Decarbonization Partners, a joint venture between BlackRock and Temasek, in addition to investments from existing investors.
Read the announcement here
Ontopical Acquired by Sovra
Ontopical, a government intelligence platform, was acquired by Sovra, a leading GovTech firm with clients across North America, and is backed by KKR, an American private equity firm with assets totalling over $350B USD.
The Calgary-based Ontopical team is now leading Sovra’s AI operations, with the local office serving as the company’s AI Centre of Excellence.
Read the announcement here
Virtual Gurus’ Virtual Assistant Division Acquired
Calgary startup Virtual Gurus sold its Virtual Assistant division to American-based Zirtual (their fourth acquisition since February 2024), marking what is believed to be Canada’s first tech exit by an Indigenous woman founder.
Through an AI-enabled, human-curated matching model, Virtual Gurus connected thousands of assistants from underrepresented groups with work opportunities across Canada and the U.S.
Read the announcement here
Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 Features Calgary
Deloitte’s annual ‘Technology Fast 50 Canada’ released, featuring Calgary on the list itself, as well as ranked in watchlists and industry leaders.
Orennia and Zayzoon were ranked 11th and 22nd in the Fast 50 rankings respectively
Neo Financial was ranked 1st in the Enterprise - Industry Leader Rankings
Ava Industries and Arcus Power were ranked 11th and 14th in the Companies To Watch rankings respectively
Check out the rest of the winners here
Toast Takes Harvard University
Toast, a company dedicated to helping women secure tech jobs that has over 20,000 members, was invited to Harvard to speak about their ‘Champions Program’, a way to help men stop just talking about equity and actually take measurable steps towards it.
Additionally, Founder April Hicke was recognized and presented with the Alumni Changemaker Achievement Award by Royal Roads University.
StellarAlgo Continues Changing The Sports Fan Experience
Calgary-based StellarAlgo continues to shift the fan experience in pro sports, announcing in April a continued relationship with the NHL, and a new collaboration with the MLS and its 30 clubs announced in October.
The NHL and MLS join major sport properties such as the MLB, NBA, WNBA, and CEBL as collaborators with StellarAlgo, making access to fan data easier, achieving the highest-value fan engagement.
Nanotess Reaches ADBL; Opens New Office
Nanotess’ product ‘NanoSALV’, a gel that speeds up the healing of wounds was added to the Alberta Drug Benefit List this summer, meaning it’s now covered for people on AISH and seniors, as well as others receiving government supports.
Previously, the ‘NanoSALV’ gel, which benefits in the healing of patients with diabetic foot ulcers, burns, skin diseases and pressure sores, was only available to patients in healthcare facilities.
Additionally, the Nanotess team opened a new office, now changing HealthTech at two separate Calgary locations.
Neo Financial Strengthens Senior Leadership
Neo Financial announced several new members of their senior leadership in February, building off of 2024 where they were named the Canada’s Fastest Growing Company by the Globe and Mail.
Neo welcomed the following to their senior leadership team:
Amanda Broos as Chief People Officer (CPO)
Dana Saric as Chief Legal Officer (CLO)
Allemander Neto as Acting Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
James Nauss as Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Stefan Doan as Chief Information Officer (CIO)
Fuelled Continues Growth; Opens Collaboration Centre
Fuelled, the leading online marketplace for energy-industry equipment, continued its growth, reaching a new landmark in October with 500 consignment listings.
Additionally, they revitalized their workspace, adding a Japanese-inspired speakeasy for collaborative work, and a sauna!
Symend Appoints New VP of Engineering
Symend, an AI-Debt Collection platform, hired Tracy Huitika, formerly of Electronic Arts, Unbounce, and Beanworks, to be their VP of Engineering.
Under Tracy, Symend’s engineering team is poised to accelerate platform optimization, deepen customer impact, and strengthen its leadership in the market.
Read the announcement here
Tech Thursday Hosts Nearly 5,000 Calgarians
Finally, in 2025, Tech Thursday hosted events throughout the year, totalling nearly 5,000 event attendees in Calgary alone.
Additionally, Tech Thursday was honoured to be the receipient of the ‘Ecosystem Supporter of the Year’ at the Alberta Tech Awards.
Thank You!!!
What a year! Thank you to everyone who makes Tech Thursday possible. From our attendees to our speakers, our organizers and our sponsors, it truly takes a village, and the support does not go unnoticed. Here’s to 2026 🚀🚀
~ Philippe and the Tech Thursday team
Solid roundup of Calgary's tech momentum. The StellarAlgo expansion across NHL, MLS, and other major leagues demonstrates somthing key: there's real value in unifiyng fragmented fan data ecosystems. Most teams dunno how to bridge first-party ticketing data with social engagement and merchandising behavior, so having one platform solve that attribution problem is huge.