Every business owner talks about growth, but not many talk about what it really takes to get there.
Yet on June 5 in Calgary, it was all anyone at the Telus Convention Centre could talk about. Capping off ScaleUP Week, the 2025 ScaleUP Awards brought together the founders, leaders, and teams who’ve taken companies from “promising” to “proven” and still haven’t hit cruise control.
Now past the early stage of startups pitching dreams, the room was full of businesses navigating that messy, awkward middle. Hiring fast, chasing margins, reworking systems, and keeping people motivated. They’re proving they can grow without breaking everything along the way.
“By making it this far, you’ve already distinguished yourselves as the top companies in the ecosystem,” said Simon Raby, founder of ScaleUP Week, during his opening remarks.
The event, now in its second year, crowned winners across eight pathway categories and honoured both a ScaleUP Company of the Year and ScaleUP Entrepreneur of the Year. But beyond the awards themselves, it celebrated what it takes to grow with purpose.
Through the acceptance speeches and stories told around the room, the message threaded throughout the evening was that growth doesn’t happen in isolation. It takes shared insight, community support, and a willingness to learn from those who’ve already been through the fire.
Let’s take a look at the winners.
ScaleUP Company of the Year
Solvet
Solvet, a Calgary-based veterinary pharmaceutical company, was awarded Scale-Up Company of the Year for its rapid international expansion and mission-driven approach to innovation.
The company develops and manufactures Canadian-made animal health products, helping veterinarians and producers reduce reliance on global suppliers while improving affordability and care.
At the heart of its success is a clear purpose.
Co-founder Dr. Merle Olson said their dream and their mission is “to provide some way of providing pain control” to every animal in pain, and described it as “such a thrill” to see their team manufacturing products that would otherwise be produced elsewhere in the world.
ScaleUP Entrepreneur of the Year
Pete McLeod, co-founder & CEO, PurposeMed
Dr. Husein Moloo, co-founder & CEO, PurposeMed
Amaan Banwait, co-founder & CCO, PurposeMed
This year’s ScaleUP Entrepreneur of the Year award was presented to the founding team behind PurposeMed: Pete McLeod, Dr. Husein Moloo, and Amaan Banwait. Together, they have scaled one of the country’s leading virtual care platforms, focused on equity and access.
The award recognizes founders who’ve demonstrated vision, resilience, and a commitment to building not just a product, but a company, culture, and legacy. In PurposeMed’s case, that legacy is grounded in tackling barriers to care, whether geographic, economic, or social.
The award recognizes more than just growth, too.
“Profits and purpose are not mutually exclusive,” said McLeod earlier in the evening.
It’s a philosophy that has shaped the company’s approach to growth. By leading with values and backing it with disciplined execution, the founders of PurposeMed are showing what it means to scale with impact.
People’s Choice
QDoc Virtual Healthcare
QDoc Virtual Healthcare was created to solve a simple but urgent problem. People in rural and remote communities often wait hours, or even days, for care.
Based in Manitoba, QDoc connects patients with licensed doctors and nurse practitioners in minutes, not weeks, using an on-demand matching platform that works like “Uber for medicine.”
Since its 2022 launch, QDoc has delivered care to over 170,000 patients and helped prevent more than 25,000 emergency room visits. Its team of more than 300 clinicians is rooted in local communities, serving areas across Manitoba, Northwestern Ontario, and Nunavut.
During the awards gala, co-founder Dr. Norman Silver urged the crowd to close their eyes and imagine themselves in a crowded ER, waiting for hours to be seen by a doctor.
“Now imagine you never have to do that again,” he said. “Open your eyes and stop imagining — because that is what we built at QDoc.”
More than 1,100 votes were cast for the People’s Choice Award, and QDoc won handily with 53% of the vote.
International
Solvet
In addition to winning the ScaleUP Company of the Year award, Solvet was named International Scale Up of the Year for its rapid expansion into global markets. The company develops Canadian-made animal health products that help reduce reliance on international suppliers and support producers with affordable, high-quality solutions.
Two years ago, Solvet had never sold outside Canada. Today, international sales make up 40% of its revenue, with products reaching the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. FDA approval for several treatments marked a major turning point, opening doors to new markets and validating its manufacturing standards.
“We are actually leading the globe in pain management and welfare products,” said board chair Mark Starratt during the awards gala. “We’re pretty proud of that.”
Social Impact
PurposeMed
Calgary-based PurposeMed took home the Social Impact ScaleUP Award for its work delivering stigma-free, virtual healthcare to underserved communities across North America. Through services like HIV prevention, gender-affirming care, and mental health support, the company is making specialized care more inclusive and accessible.
According to co-founder Pete MacLeod, the company’s HIV prevention work is now saving the healthcare system over $200 million a year. PurposeMed has served more than 50,000 patients and continues to grow rapidly in both Canada and the United States.
“This award is a testament to the relentless passion of our team and the trust of our patients,” said MacLeod. “It reminds us that profits and purpose are not mutually exclusive.”
With new innovations on the horizon, including expanded ADHD care and injectable HIV prevention, PurposeMed is doubling down on its mission to build a more human, equitable health system.
Emerging
Owl.co
Owl.co, based in Vancouver, is helping insurers make more informed and efficient decisions by turning complex, unstructured data into usable insights. Its AI-powered platform supports claims teams by surfacing relevant information quickly, reducing bias and delays in the process.
The company’s tools are already in use by major insurers across North America. A key milestone came when one insurer rolled out Owl.co’s platform across its entire claims operation, marking a shift from pilot to enterprise adoption.
Getting there wasn’t straightforward.
“Convincing insurers to trust AI was like convincing cats to swim,” wrote Sohrab Merat, co-founder of Owl.co. Owl.co addressed that hesitation by designing transparent, auditable systems with strong controls built in.
Now expanding into fraud detection, risk, and customer experience, Owl.co is looking toward a broader intelligence layer for insurers with a focus on building trust as much as technology.
Women-Led
MAGNA Engineering Services Inc.
MAGNA Engineering received the Women-Led ScaleUP Award for its commitment to innovation, sustainability, and inclusive leadership in civil engineering.
Founded by CEO Jennifer Massig and based in Calgary, the firm specializes in nature-based infrastructure solutions for municipalities, Indigenous communities, and land developers across Western Canada.
The company’s growth has been shaped not only by what it builds, but by how it builds. It places equal value on technical excellence, strong project management, and a work environment that supports individuals as much as outputs.
More than half of MAGNA’s technical team is made up of women, something Massig attributes to designing a workplace that worked for her as a single mom, and ended up working for others too.
“When you build an organization that respects the individual and provides space for them to be their most productive self… it turns out it’s a pretty attractive environment for everyone else,” she said during her acceptance speech.
Rising Star
BioAro Inc.
Calgary-based BioAro Inc. is using genomics and AI to shift healthcare from reactive to proactive. The biotechnology company equips clinicians and individuals with diagnostic tools that help enable more personalized treatment.
Its flagship platform, PanOmiQ, combines whole genome sequencing and microbiome analysis to help providers predict disease risk, personalize treatments, and track outcomes in real time.
The company also offers BioSport, a science-backed program that uses genomics, microbiome data, and wearable tech to create individualized fitness, recovery, and nutrition plans for athletes and fitness enthusiasts.
Early challenges included public skepticism about the role of genomics in everyday healthcare, but BioAro tackled this by investing in education and building partnerships that made complex science more approachable.
The company is now expanding its research and global reach, with a focus on rare diseases, women’s health, and healthy aging.
BIPOC
Onsite3D
Onsite3D, an Indigenous-owned virtual design and construction company, is changing how industrial and infrastructure projects are built and managed.
By combining 3D laser scanning, digital twins, prefabrication, and field expertise, the team helps clients (from energy operators to commercial developers) optimize safety, reduce rework, and make smarter, data-driven decisions.
A major milestone came when Onsite3D secured a multi-year contract with a leading energy company, validating both its technical capabilities and its ability to deliver at scale. Now, the company is integrating AI and real-time analytics into its reality capture tools, with the goal of enabling more accurate and efficient project planning.
“This support is just a beacon and a validation that we’re on the right path,” said CEO Wade Eno during the awards gala. “We’re leading with our core values, our integrity… and spreading awareness for other people to join in on not just the growth, but the technology in Calgary.”
Sustainable
EverLine Coatings & Services
EverLine Coatings and Services started with a simple idea. Let’s make pavement last longer and look better.
Now, the Calgary-based company has scaled that idea into a franchise network of over 120 locations across North America, helping commercial property owners and managers extend the life of their pavement through preventative maintenance like line painting, crackfilling, and sealcoating.
What makes it sustainable? By focusing on proactive care, EverLine reduces the need for costly and carbon-intensive reconstruction, all while improving safety and curb appeal.
Founder John Evans described the journey as one that began “in a rented house in northeast Calgary” and now aims for nine figures in brand revenue.
“It’s not all about how hard you can hit,” Evans said during his acceptance speech. “It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done.”
Celebrating progress, not perfection
The ScaleUP Awards recognized companies that are in the thick of it. These aren’t polished stories tied up with a bow, they’re building, adapting, and finding ways to grow with purpose.
Whether they’re tackling healthcare access, scaling infrastructure, or helping animals live pain-free, these ventures are proving that growth can be both intentional and impactful.
What stood out most wasn’t just the scale of revenue or reach. It was the shared sense that growing a company also means growing a team, a culture, and a way of doing business that others want to be part of.
As Western Canada’s scale-up ecosystem continues to take shape, these winners offer a glimpse into what it takes to move from idea to impact. They remind us that scale doesn’t just depend on vision. It depends on the systems you build, the people you trust, and how you grow when the stakes get higher.
Digital Journal is the official media partner of ScaleUP Week 2025.
This coverage is supported by the Calgary Innovation Coalition (CIC), a network of 95+ organizations working to accelerate innovation and entrepreneurship across the Calgary region.
