CALGARY - Calgary-based Accolade Capital Inc. has launched a "Garage.com of the North," modelled after Silicon Valley's highly successful incubator.

The firm, eMedici Capital Inc., is the first of its kind in Canada to not only link technology start-ups with "angel" investors, or seed capital, but provide them with mentors and business services through a who's who of national firms.

eMedici, launched this month, has attracted six companies: PricewaterhouseCoopers; TD Bank Financial Group; Ericsson Canada Inc.; Jennings Capital Inc.; recruiting firm CNC Global; and law firm Macleod Dixon.

They will be known as charter members, providing consulting services to the start-up ventures at preferred pricing with an option to reduce their fees further for an equity interest.

Brenda Sali, regional vice-president for the prairie region with Ericsson Canada, said the Garage .com concept gives the Canadian consulting firms access to promising high-tech businesses, without the need for time-consuming due diligence of their own.

"I jumped at it," Ms. Sali said on Friday. "This one [eMedici] will obviously be watched by others in terms of what kinds of companies do come through the process. I'm presented with business cases quite regularly of a company that sees the value in partnering with Ericsson and I have to do the due diligence, or I have to send it to our head office, and that's not where our expertise lies."

Named after the Italian Renaissance family renowned for its sponsorship of the arts and sciences, eMedici is modelled after Silicon Valley's Garage.com, founded just over two years ago by Guy Kawasaki, former Apple Computer evangelist.

"We figured there was a need for a Garage.com in Western Canada and we Western-Canadianized the model to be more appropriate for companies in Alberta, specifically," said Stace Wills, co-founder of both Accolade and eMedici.

"This has never been bundled like this before in this country," added Grant Howard, also a partner in both firms. "Companies off the street can not go in to these firms and get the pricing structures that we've negotiated through eMedici. They [the national firms] are making an investment up front so they get rewards down the road when the companies grow into full clients."

eMedici has established a list of 25 mentors and an initial pool of 50 "angels," high-net worth individuals, to match with potential clients.

Scott Bolton, a partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers' technology division, said the accounting firm, a founding sponsor of Garage .com, has had success with the venture south of the border and sought to replicate it here.

"This is the way for us to initiate a contact with a potential growth company and help them succeed," he said.

eMedici joins a growing list of companies in Western Canada vying to fill a void of venture capital in Alberta's high-tech sector.

In the past, technology start-ups in Alberta have had to look outside the region for seed capital and management support. But that's changed in the past couple of years with the launch of firms such as Sigma Technologies Corp. and Launchworks Inc. both of Calgary. Divine InterVentures Inc., a large U.S. venture capital firm, recently purchased 31% of Launchworks.

"There's certainly more activity than there was even a year ago," said Mr. Wills. "But there's still a massive need, in Alberta specifically, for private seed equity. We don't have the labour-sponsored funds and the government-sponsored funds that B.C. and Ontario and Quebec have. So, in many cases we found companies going public too early because there's been no source of organized angel capital."

Mr. Wills, who cut his teeth on venture capital firm Oxbow Capital Corp. in Calgary, joined Mr. Howard in 1995.The pair founded Accolade, a venture capital firm, two years ago.

Accolade then joined forces with Hot Start Technologies Inc., which will provide technology expertise, to create eMedici.

"The idea of eMedici is to stay with the process in the long term," said Mr. Howard. "Not only do we raise money through our own network, but we put together advisory boards, we help with management issues; how to structure the company; how to structure a deal. It's all of those business dealings that complement the money because you can waste money pretty quick."

Mr. Howard, is a former television crime reporter who left journalism in 1981 to become a crisis consultant for the Calgary city police department. In 1988, he moved into business consulting, launching Howard Group Inc., which has raised about $30-million for public companies.

Technology start-ups that approach eMedici go through a vetting process online and further due-diligence. If the concept has legs, prospective clients are matched with investors.

Mr. Wills said eMedici expects to expand nationally next year, once the concept is tested in Alberta.