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Accelerate Fund III invests in Ontopical to level the playing field for public works contracts with AI
Calgary, AB, September 14, 2023 – Accelerate Fund III today announced its investment in Ontopical, a Calgary-based technology company whose data and intelligence platform helps businesses discover and win government work. This investment is part of Ontopical’s recent $3.3 million seed extension raise and follows its previous fundraising of $2.25 million in December 2021.
Today, it is not efficient or timely for many businesses to compete for government work which requires information gathering across unstructured and multi-format public sector data including agendas, minutes and videos within cities, counties and school districts. Ontopical’s AI-driven technology makes it possible for businesses to detect early signals from public sectors about upcoming contract opportunities and policy changes.
“When a local government issues a request for proposal, only a handful of businesses may know about it and the chances of winning it are small,” explained Clayton Feick, CEO of Ontopical. “Our practical application of AI to millions of public documents such as meeting minutes, budgets, agendas, and plans helps business development leaders find emerging opportunities first, while creating a more efficient and transparent public sector market.”
Ontopical uses natural language processing and large language models to make the tracking of millions of sources of public data economical and available in real time, including transcriptions of over 125,000 video hours of government meetings. Its platform is currently used by some of North America’s largest telecom players, major architectural, engineering and construction firms, energy and utilities providers, health services, software, IoT and technology companies. More than half of its customers are in the U.S.
“We’ve followed Ontopical for a few years and are impressed with how the business has evolved and incorporated AI to level the playing field for winning public sector contracts,” said Arden Tse, Investment Manager, Accelerate Fund II & III. ”They have a great leadership team in place with both business and technical skills, the right combination to grow to the next level.”
Ontopical will be using the investment to enhance its AI-driven intelligence platform, expand its business further across North America and grow its team in Calgary. The company plans to triple their team over the next two years, hiring data engineers, data scientists, AI/ML specialists and new members to its sales and marketing teams.
About Ontopical
Ontopical is the most trusted data and intelligence platform to help businesses discover and compete for government work. Its AI-driven data platform enables business development leaders in engineering and construction, telecommunications, technology, health services and other industries to efficiently identify and win new opportunities. Users gain access to credible, organised insights on government plans, policies and activities mined from publicly available data, updated daily across millions of council and committee agendas, minutes, budgets, and plans, including over 125,000 video hours of government meetings. Ontopical is headquartered in Calgary with remote employees across North America.
About Accelerate Fund III
Accelerate Fund III is an early-stage angel co-investment fund in Alberta. We co-invest alongside angel investors in financing rounds and will typically invest up to $500,000 on the same terms and conditions as private investors. We work with formal angel groups, super-angels, family funds, and individual angel investors. Accelerate Fund III invests in private, early-stage Alberta companies in knowledge-based industries including: information and communications technology, energy technology, as well as life sciences, including agriculture and biotech. Accelerate Fund III is managed by Yaletown Partners with the support of The A100. Alberta Enterprise Corporation is Accelerate Fund III’s lead limited partner with support from other investors, including Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund.
Media Inquiries:
Accelerate Fund III
Claudia Moore
Material Insight
403.703.0029
Claudia @ materialinsight.com