The year 2026 Prices ScaleUP in Calgary recognized eight companies from across Western Canada, with winners including cleantech, rural broadband, indigenous food production, property technology, climate technology and consumer products.
The finalists included British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and together generated approximately $640 million in combined annual revenue and supported more than 1,800 jobs.
“Over the past three years, we’ve seen ScaleUP evolve from an idea to a growing movement focused on celebrating and supporting the leaders who are building the future economy of Western Canada,” says Dr. Simon Raby, founder of ScaleUP Week.
“The level of interest in this year’s awards reflects the strength of emerging companies across the region and the growing recognition of the importance of scaling globally competitive businesses from Canada.”
Prizes were long shared ScaleUP Week 2026now in its third year, and focused on companies that are growing beyond the seed stage. The program celebrates leadership, innovation, international expansion, sustainability and community impact. It is now a premier gathering for founders, CEOs, investors, policy makers, researchers and ecosystem leaders to focus on the challenges and opportunities of scaling businesses past the seed stage.
Two Vancouver companies received double honors. Functional beverage company Blume won ScaleUP Women-Led of the Year and CEO Karen Danudjaja was named ScaleUP Entrepreneur of the Year. Cleantech manufacturer Oxygen8 Solutions won ScaleUP International of the Year and ScaleUP Company of the Year.
Here is the full list of winners.
ScaleUP 2026 winners
The rate of people’s choice for the year: Build Inc., Winnipeg, Manitoba
Based in Winnipeg Build Inc. is a local nonprofit social enterprise that combines a paid construction training program with a contracting business specializing in apartment turnover, affordable housing renovation and maintenance. Founded in 2006, the organization has trained more than 1,000 Manitobans, most of them Indigenous. Many participants come to the program after aging out of Child and Family Services, time in the justice system, or experience with addiction and mental health challenges.
ScaleUP Entrepreneur of the Year: Karen Danudjaja, CEO of Blume
Karen Danudjaja’s path to Entrepreneur of the Year went through an acquisition and a pandemic. Around early 2020, two years after launch Blumeshe bought out her co-founder and poured her savings into the company, just as the coffee shops that carried Blume’s products closed. The direct drive to the consumer (DTC) worked. DTC revenue it grew 300% the following yearanchoring Blume’s expansion into national retail and US growth. Her approach to scaling has stayed close to building community, customer relationships, and the small local vendors that first supplied Blume.
ScaleUP Company of the Year: Solutions Oxygen8, Vancouver, British Columbia
Oxygen8 solution was founded in 2020 by cleantech entrepreneur James Dean and HVAC engineer Matthew Doherty, formerly of Swegon. Dean previously founded dPoint Technologies, the Vancouver firm behind the membrane energy recovery technology at the core of Oxygen8’s products. The company launched in June 2020, just as indoor air quality became a board-level concern. Since then, it has grown from a handful of employees to approximately 230, with three manufacturing sites in BC and an R&D center in Toronto. In 2024, Deloitte Canada named Oxygen8 the fastest growing cleantech company in the country.with three-year revenue growth of 6,610%.
ScaleUP Star Rising of the Year: Propra Technologies, Calgary, Alberta
based in Calgary Own Technologiesfounded in 2021 by CEO Al-Karim Khimji and CTO Craig Adam, builds property management software designed around the finances of running rental portfolios. AI tools handle invoice capture, reconciliation and tax workflows specific to Canadian property managers. The platform manages more than 25,000 units across Canada and has processed more than $70 million in payments. Century 21 Canada selected Propra as its 2025 property management platforma meaningful validation for a company still under five years old.
The developing rate of yesr: Taiwan, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Based in Winnipeg Tai was co-founded in 2018 by CEO Noah Palansky, CTO Jordan Davis and CRO Avi Stoller, with several SkipTheDishes alumni on the team. Its device connects to existing cable boxes in bars and restaurants, uses AI to detect commercial breaks during live TV, and replaces national ads with venue-specific promotions, trivia or branded content from advertisers including Pepsi, Bacardi and BMW. Taiv now operates in more than 5,000 locations in 31 US markets and raised CAD$14.4 million in Series A funding last year. A broader Canadian rollout is planned for 2027.
Sustainable ScaleUP of the Year: Tree of Blood, Vancouver, British Columbia
The blood treea Vancouver-based climate technology platform that was created by the sustainable clothing brand tent in 2022, helps companies verify and track reforestation projects on the ground. CEO and co-founder Derrick Emsley, who also co-founded tentree, has built the platform around the idea that nature-based climate commitments need data to be credible. Veritree uses blockchain, AI, drones and field sensors to monitor agroforestry, mangrove restoration, kelp reforestation and post-fire restoration projects in Canada, the US and several other countries. The company has facilitated commitments to plant more than 100 million trees and raised CAD$9.1 million in Series A funding last year.
Social Impact Rate of the Year: Valley Fiber, Winkler, Manitoba
Based on Winkler Valley Fiber builds fiber optic internet infrastructure in rural and remote Manitoba communities where high-speed access has been limited for years. Founded in 2016, the company has invested over $300 million to build fiber networks in more than 175 communities in the province. or partnership with the Canada Infrastructure Bank involves laying 2,550 kilometers of fiber optic cables to reach up to 49,000 households. The company also works with indigenous communities on long-term connectivity projects.
Women-led ScaleUP of the Year: Blume, Vancouver, British Columbia
Blume is a Vancouver-based functional beverage company built on superfood latte blends and gut health elixirs, now in more than 4,000 retailers in Canada and the US, including Whole foodsTarget and Cabbage. Founder and CEO Karen Danudjaja started the company in 2017 with a line of dry latte mixes designed as caffeine alternatives. Blume has since added the SuperBelly elixir line, expanded DTC offerings and established a national retail footprint on both sides of the border.
Comprehensive ScaleUP of the year: Mitsoh, Edmonton, Alberta
based in Edmonton Mitsoh makes dried pemmica and bison foods using traditional Cree drying and smoking techniques. Founder Ian Gladue, a member of the Bigstone Cree Nation in Treaty 8 Territory, learned the methods from his mother and uses bison, prairie berries, maple syrup, smoke, salt and pepper. The traditional technique produces shelf-stable meat without chemical preservatives. of The Canadian Food Inspection Agency approved the method for global sales in 2022, and Mitsoh products are now in more than 600 retail locations across Canada.
ScaleUP International of the Year: Solutions Oxygen8, Vancouver, British Columbia
based in Vancouver Oxygen8 solution designs and manufactures high-efficiency ventilation systems that improve indoor air quality in commercial buildings, using membrane-based energy recovery and a strategic partnership with Japanese HVAC giant Daikin. About two-thirds of the company’s revenue now comes from the USwhere installations include a wing of the Pentagon, the Empire State Building, more than 100 JPMorgan Chase facilities and Apple retail stores. Around 60% of Oxygen8’s current work is refurbishment of existing buildings, with most of the demand coming from south of the border.
To see the 2025 winners and what they were building, click here.
