It’s been three years since Conexus Credit Union launched Cultivator, and what an incredible journey it’s been! Over the last three years, Cultivator companies have:
“Cultivator is home to some of the fastest-growing tech startups in the Canadian prairies,” said Jordan McFarlen, Incubator Manager of Cultivator. “We’re seeing more distribution of high-growth companies, founders staying in our province to launch and grow their companies, and an increase in venture capital investments for Saskatchewan startups. The results and growth we are seeing from the past three years is astronomical, and we’re so proud to be supporting our founders through this journey.”
While the pandemic continued to cast a shadow over our province and the world throughout 2021, we and our companies continued to blaze ahead and hit some major milestones throughout the year. Learn about some of them here.
In 2021, we also announced our commitment to furthering the growth of agtech in Canada by teaming up with Emmertech and Economic Development Regina to launch a venture-capital backed Agtech Accelerator – a first of its kind in Canada! The Accelerator brings both agriculture and technology together to accelerate the growth of Canada’s top agtech startup, with the first cohort set to begin in March 2022.
Conexus is no stranger to innovation. As a forward-thinking credit union, it’s continually looking for new ways to support its members and communities. Looking back at Saskatchewan’s entrepreneurial landscape just a few years ago, there weren’t many resources, funding, or space to help local startups launch, grow, and scale their businesses, causing for many founders to leave the province. Conexus created Cultivator to reduce the barriers founders were facing, and create a hub to accelerate the growth of startups right here at home. Since launching, Cultivator has incubated over 80 companies through its START, GROW, SCALE, and Agtech (BETA) programming.
Our incubator offers opportunities for success, growth, and community through the programming and mentorship we provide. We couldn’t do this alone, and we’re grateful for the never-ending support of our community, founders, partners, investors and mentors – thank you!
“What started as a small space filled with IKEA desks and a few founders willing to take a chance on us, has now transformed into a state of the art, 15,000 square foot headquarters, jam-packed with founders, team members, investors and mentors which creates a thriving ecosystem”, said McFarlen. “We can build things. We can start things. We can grow things from right here in Saskatchewan. And we’re truly just getting started.”
Cultivator is the place for high growth tech companies to flourish and since launching, we’ve incubated over 80 companies through our START, GROW, SCALE, and Agtech (BETA) programming. We’re so proud to be supporting our founders through this journey and look forward to seeing all that is to come over the next several years.