One Year On: Valhalla Investment Summit in Saskatchewan

Emmet McGonagle

Jun 17, 2022

Friday 18 March marked one year since the Valhalla Investment Summit in Saskatchewan.


Organized by
Startup TNT in the company’s first Sask-based summit, the five-hour event saw Valhalla Private Capital work with early-stage tech startups to improve their access to capital, creating relationships between all parties involved along the way.


The deal screening process offered Saskatewan-based startups an opportunity to receive upwards of $100,000 in seed funding, as well as insights into how best to negotiate deal terms and manage the due diligence process.


Alongside a keynote from Paul Allen - founder of
Ancestry and CEO of AI and machine-learning company Soar, who later took part in a fireside chat with Alicia Soulier, founder and CEO of Salon Scale - Startup TNT’s summit saw five of an initial 20 early-stage companies ‘pitch’ to 20-30 investors, who functioned as a holding company to create an investment estimated at $100K in funding. 


These entrepreneurs (comprising
ArticShelf, Board Checkup, memoryKPR, Omnee and Skill Shark) were not only invited to introduce their company to a large pool of investors and enablers, but also learned what it takes to scale their startups and gain confidence in both pitching and communicating their company’s values.


The Valhalla Investment Summit in Saskatchewan was won by memoryKPR -  an experience which was hailed by founder and CEO
Jessica McNaughton as “an incredible experience”.


Discussing her triumph during an installment of
Volition’s Founder Chats series in October last year, Jessica elaborated: “ “Winning the summit really helped with the conversations with the rest of the investors, not just because I had all of my stuff in order – I needed to do that for the competition – but also having your first investor takes a little bit of the edge off.”


More information about Jessica McNaughton’s conversation with Volition can be found on the
Valhalla Private Capital blog.



Bringing Something Different to the Table

Other features of the event included a panel on “The Founder’s Journey” featuring Catherine Metrycki (founder and CEO of Calia), Dustin Coupal (co-founder of 54e Dev Studios) and Mark Wolff (CEO of MyComply), followed by a fireside chat on alternative exits with Joe Gill (partner at McKercher LLP) and Valhalla Private Capital co-founder Rod Brown.

A reverse-pitch between funders and founders from Bluesky Equities, Broad Street Bulls, Golden Opportunities, OKR Financial, Rhino Ventures, Wiegers Holdings also took place during the event, which culminated in a live announcement of the summit’s winner.


Watch last year’s Valhalla Investment Summit in Saskatchewan via the YouTube link below.


Do you have a question about angel investing? Get in touch with Valhalla Private Capital via our contact page.

" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="">
By Emmet McGonagle 01 Dec, 2023
Canada’s unemployment rate has trended higher once again this month, according to the latest iteration of Statistics Canada’s November labour force survey.
By Emmet McGonagle 29 Nov, 2023
More than half of workers believe that disclosing worker compensation details on job postings will lead to better equality in pay, according to the latest iteration of LinkedIn’s Workforce Confidence Index . The index - which is based on a survey of 3,302 members in Canada between June and September 2023 - found that 52% of people asked felt that people sharing their pay information (including salary and bonus) would improve workplace equality, compared to 48% in 2022. This number varies between different generations, with younger Canadians more likely to express support for pay transparency (73%), followed by 69% of Millennials, 46% of Gen X and 44% of Baby Boomers. However, 37% of those surveyed remarked that they felt anxious about sharing their pay information - a 2% rise from the year prior. Likewise, just under half (49%) said they felt well compensated for the work they do while 74% expressed that the pay gap between CEOs and employees had become too wide. The people of LinkedIn have come out in their dozens to give their two cents on the topic, with Adrienne Tom , executive resume writer for executives, saying: “ I'm all for salary transparency, so long as the number is clear and legit. Some postings list salary ranges so wide that the actual salary number isn't entirely clear, leaving job seekers confused.” “If you have a manager who is not advocating for the pay gap, you are working for the wrong manager,” remarked career strategist Sweta Regmi , while noting that women in Ontario earn an average of $0.87 for every dollar earned by men. On the topic, she added: “Salary ranges with job postings can help close the gender pay gap while allowing companies to find qualified candidates more quickly.” Do you have a question about angel investing? Get in touch with Valhalla Private Capital via our contact page .
Share by: