The Innovation Fund is a for-profit independent entity and a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Alberta. The Fund invests in startups in 4 sectors: AI, Health, Energy, and Agriculture, with the purpose of uplifting entrepreneurship and innovation in Alberta; and providing support to scale. The Fund officially launched on October 17th, 2023 at Enterprise Square.

The Fund aims to strategically empower Alberta and University of Alberta sustainable start-ups to access smart funding, programming, mentoring and scale opportunities so that through their success and returns are realised to further capitalise the Fund. We will only invest in companies that match our investment criteria and who we know we can help scale through our strategic networks globally.

The Innovation Fund is proud to announce that the first investment was made in RL Core Technologies. The investment was in partnership with Flying Fish Partners for a total of 800K. RL Core Technologies' first application is to reduce energy consumption in processing drinking water using AI. We are making our second and third investments in March 2024.

The investment process (outlined above) will take approximately a month. The Fund will continue open conversations at each stage to ensure transparency.

The investment model, which the Fund owns, is based on best practices of due diligence from Stanford to Cambridge to top VCs worldwide with whom the Fund has engaged. Our investment committee and network of advisors are subject matter experts and have experience in venture capital. The Fund's vast network allows us to have broad investment sectors as we enlist experts' help to make final investment decisions.

Equity investments will generally be made in a Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE) or equivalent instruments. A "SAFE" is an investment contract early-stage startups use to raise capital. It's a relatively new financial instrument that provides investors with the right to acquire shares in a company at a future date, typically upon a specific triggering event, such as a subsequent funding round or acquisition. The terms of a SAFE agreement can vary, but it's designed to simplify the investment process compared to traditional equity investments.

The Fund will invest pre-seed up to $250K and upwards of $250K on a case-by-case basis.

Where appropriate, the Fund will lead; however, we will seek to attract co-investors and follow on funding.

• We have set up various opportunities for education, mentoring, follow-on funding, and scaling through strategic networks.

• In-person and online education will be provided, including topics such as entrepreneurship, “Perfect your Pitch,” and financial literacy, delivered through boot camps and masterclasses.

• Deal-making and introductions to follow on funding, advisors and customers.

The University of Alberta is aiming to raise over $10 million in support of the U of A Innovation Fund and launched at $5 million.

The Fund is a philanthropic Fund capitalised through donations from alumni and industry. Based on the structure of venture philanthropy funds, all gains are recycled back into the University of Alberta Innovation Fund for further investments in a pay-it-forward model. Donor money is recycled continuously to support future start-ups and to provide follow-on funding.

Through advancement, the University is attracting donations from alumni and industry. The donors receive a tax receipt for their gift, and all gains are recycled back into the University.

After donating, donors can also directly invest in the companies we engage with based on their investor accreditation and consultation with their lawyers. Donors will not have influence or engage in decision-making about investments of the Fund.

• Active outreach programs across faculty and students from the Office Research and Innovation and Technology Transfer Services

• Alberta ecosystem partnerships, including venture capitalists (VCs)

• Applications on our our web page

• Weekly office hours, called Venture Connect Hours, run by the Innovation Fund Student Involvement team

• Events for the startup community in Alberta

• Outreach via students

• Word of mouth

• Like the venture capital due diligence process, the Fund management team analyses potential investment opportunities based on the founder's experience, funding to date, problems they solve, go-to-market potential, social impacts and overall prospects for success. Our investment committee uses a hands-on approach and our advisors are called upon as required based on each company's sector and needs.

• Investments are made when the Fund clearly identifies a proactive way to help scale the business which will result in a return on investment.

The IP strategy will be announced shortly and will be very transparent and friendly. For all investments made by the Innovation Fund, we will work on a case-by-case basis to ensure a company's IP aligns with our policy. In the case where the University owns IP, we can convert our ownership into shares.

We have officially conducted outreach for applications and have completed an initial due diligence of 100+ companies. Daily, we see new start-ups arise and researchers are being inspired to spin out and create start-ups.

• We accept donations which are used for investment into companies that match corporate sector interests

• We co-invest in a start-up together

• Together we create opportunity mapping to find white spaces of innovation where our companies can solve a problem for a corporation

• Position our portfolio companies to become service providers and potentially be acquired