Alberta Innovates launches the Venture Development Grant

Alberta Innovates has launched the Venture Development Grant, a new grant that helps Alberta's high-growth potential technology ventures move their innovations toward customers, commercialization, growth and investment. 

The Venture Development Grant brings six previous startup and SME funding programs together into one grant with a single application. Innovators no longer need to work out which program fits them. They apply once, at the funding level that matches where their venture is today. 

NOTE: Those companies with existing signed agreements under the previous programs will continue under the terms of their current agreements. 

Support matched to where you are 

Every venture's path to market is different. The Venture Development Grant funds focused work that closes the most important gaps holding a venture back and generates the evidence needed to take the next step. Examples include: 

• customer discovery, market validation and pilot-user testing
• prototype development, technical validation, demonstrations and field trials 
• pricing, commercialization planning and channel testing 
• IP strategy and regulatory planning 
• investment-readiness materials and financial modelling 

Alberta Innovates may contribute up to 75% of eligible costs, and applicants contribute at least 25% in cash. 

Who should apply 

The Venture Development Grant is for Alberta-based, for-profit, technology-based ventures with high growth potential. Applicants should have fewer than 250 employees and less than $50 million in annual revenue, and should be commercializing a differentiated innovation with credible potential to grow. 

To help innovators understand where they stand, applicants self-assess their readiness in six areas: customer, technology, business, intellectual property, team and funding. The assessment uses Innovation Readiness Levels based on the KTH Innovation Readiness Level™ framework. This gives applicants a clear picture of their strengths and gaps, and of the evidence they'll need, before they apply. 

Delivering on our commitment to Alberta's innovation ecosystem 

Innovators have asked us to make our support easier to navigate. The Venture Development Grant is part of our commitment to an innovation system that is easier to navigate, puts innovators at the centre, and focuses investment where it can have the greatest impact for Alberta. 

The grant supports Alberta Innovates' 2026–29 Business Plan goals of improving access to innovation supports and accelerating commercialization. It also advances the Government of Alberta's Technology and Innovation Strategy (ATIS 2.0), including its vision of Alberta as a destination of choice to innovate, commercialize and scale, and its target of 20,000 new jobs and $5 billion in annual technology-sector revenue by 2030. 

"Alberta's innovators are building the companies that will power our province's future, and they deserve a funding path that is clear and simple. The Venture Development Grant gives high-growth technology ventures one place to start and support that matches where they are, so they can spend less time navigating and more time building." 

— Lindsay Spadavecchia, Interim VP, Commercialization & Talent – Alberta Innovates 

Learn more and apply 

The Grant Guide and application details are available on the Venture Development Grant page. The Guide includes eligibility, funding levels, readiness requirements and how applications are assessed.