Althra, Western Canada's only full-time, in-person accelerator, is opening applications for its second cohort on February 17. The Vancouver-based program is also announcing it will actively write early cheques to back founders across Canada who are past the prototype phase and ready to scale.

The four-month program runs from May through August 2026 and requires selected teams to relocate to Vancouver to build alongside nine other founding teams. Althra provides $12.5K for 1 per cent equity from day one, with the opportunity for an additional $50K investment at the cohort's conclusion.

Managing director and founder Sanket M. says Althra is looking for founders with unique insights into problems that keep them up at night. "When you're that obsessed, you don't wait for permission or a cheque to start solving it; you find a way to build, scrap, and pull the future forward by sheer will," he said. "Althra is here to be the first believer in that momentum."

The selection process focuses on ambitious impact and proven signals rather than pedigree. Althra wants startups tackling problems large enough to shift entire industries, with early market validation through paid pilots, beta deployments, unique distribution moats, or proprietary data. The program is sector-agnostic but focuses on B2B, B2C, or hardware-enabled software startups.

Boris Wertz, managing partner at Version One Ventures, says success in a startup ecosystem is built on physical hubs like Althra. "It's the essential place where founders connect, build, and accelerate their learning through direct, shared experience," he said.

Ian Mackinnon, former founder of Later and current founder of Stingray Security, adds that early support is critical for building startup culture. "One can learn a lot online about how to build a startup, but it really takes early support to ingrain a startup culture in founders," he said.

Applications open February 17 and close in mid-March at althra.ca. The program is open to founders across Canada who are beyond the proof-of-concept stage.