How many members of Toronto tech does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

More than 700 members of Toronto’s tech community packed the Queen Elizabeth Theatre last Thursday to take a break and laugh about the issues they had been discussing all week at the Toronto Tech Week edition of the Socially Inept: Tech Roast Show. 

The travelling comedy show features three “recovering techies”—Nikita Oster, Jesse Warren, and Austin Nasso—mercilessly mocking a willing audience of founders, tech workers, and those recently laid off. 

“Part of the concept is making fun of the culture of absurd self-promotion that is inherent in the world of tech,” Oster told BetaKit after the show, matching his colleagues in a shirt that emphasized the “AI” in “LAID OFF.” 

“It’s a way of feeling seen and laughing at ourselves,” audience member and cloud consultant Jeremy Foran told BetaKit. 

The venue’s orchestra section was packed with excited attendees hoping to be called out by the performers. Some sported branded merch from their presumptive workplaces, like Amazon, Groq, and the Toronto Internet Exchange. 

Oster, Warren, and Nasso roasted tech founders in the audience by expertly eviscerating their SEO capabilities, disingenuous LinkedIn profiles, and questionable business concepts. 

“How did the fucking Dutch East India company come up before your company?” Nasso jeered after an extensive Google search for one startup’s website. “This might be the worst SEO of all time.” 

The show also featured a satirical news segment akin to Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update, a game of charades to guess audience members’ total compensation, and a brief but embarrassing scroll through one participant’s Hinge profile filled with Toronto “tech bros.” 

Through its haze of deep burns, the Tech Roast set also revealed nuggets of truth about the state of Canadian tech, particularly the dissatisfaction some have with the current job market. When one audience participant claimed on stage that there are “thousands of jobs out there,” he was met with jeers from the crowd. 

“I think they disagree,” Warren observed as the crowd started to boo. A recent report from ComIT found that nearly 64 percent of Canadian IT workers would consider relocating to the US if a similar opportunity arose.

The routine culminated in participants proving how “human” (and not AI) they were through improvised empathy exercises, such as consoling a friend after their dog was hit by a self-driving taxi. The clear winner, as voted by the crowd’s cheers, was a stage-shy Google DeepMind employee who earned his spot on stage for a compensation package that he said eclipsed $500,000. 

When the performers asked the DeepMind employee to offer advice for job-seekers, he said, “Go to the US!” 

The show came two days after Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez decried what he called Canada’s “Valley-or-death mentality” at Homecoming and encouraged founders to resist calls to move south of the border. 

Despite the tongue-in-cheek cynicism, the Tech Roast trio said the Toronto crowd cheered louder than most cities when asked if they liked their jobs, and whether they knew how to write code. Following the show, Oster said the onstage comments were genuine. 

RELATED: Canadian tech leaders tell the next generation to learn to say “no” at Homecoming

“They’re pretty excited and rowdy here,” Nasso said. “I feel like it’s a slightly younger demographic overall … most similar to New York, energy-wise.”  

This was Tech Roast’s second-ever appearance in Toronto. Oster said the group started doing shows in Seattle and Mountain View, Calif., then targeted the biggest tech hubs in North America through “empirical analysis.” Vancouver is the only other Canadian city to make the cut so far.

“Montréal is a fantastic city for comedy, but I don’t know if it’s a fantastic city for tech,” Oster quipped. 

After two hours of lampooning Canadian tech, BetaKit felt it was time to rib the roasters. When we asked each of them to name a Canadian tech company, Oster beat out Warren with “Shopify!” by a half-second. 

“You took the only Canadian company!” Warren complained.

BetaKit is the official media partner of Toronto Tech Week. Feature image courtesy Madison McLauchlan for BetaKit.

The post Toronto tech gets in on the joke at the Tech Roast Show first appeared on BetaKit.

Startupfest 2025 is fast approaching with new people to meet, new events to attend, and new ways to get to Montréal’s Grand Quay in time for July 9 to 11. 

Just like previous iterations of the festival, this year will feature educational talks, workshops, and networking opportunities for startups, investors, and other players from across Canada’s tech ecosystem. The tech conference’s detailed schedule reveals dozens of events across the main festival and sub-festivals. 

New this year are FundFest, IPFest, and ImpactFest, while HardtechFest and OceanFest, among others, are returning. 

Speakers and mentors at Startupfest will include BDC Capital executive vice-president Geneviève Bouthillier, Eli Health CEO Marina Pavlovic Rivas, Carta head of insights Peter Walker, SRTX founder Katherine Homuth, Flashfood founder Josh Domingues, Paper founder Roberto Cipriani, BKR Capital co-founder and managing partner Lise Birikundavyi, Nord Quantique CEO Julien Camirand Lemyre, and many more. 

Rebecca Croll, director of content at Startupfest, told BetaKit earlier this year that more than half of its confirmed speakers are women and 33 percent are 2SLGBTQIA+,  non-white, or both. Croll added that the event’s diverse programming and Inclusion Initiative “makes sure the playing field is levelled.”

RELATED: Startupfest doubles down on diversity commitment, announces return of HardtechFest and OceanFest

In addition to the content tracks and speakers, Startupfest will also feature an array of pitch competitions with more than $600,000 available in cash awards. This includes the coveted $100,000 Best of the Fest Investment Prize, the $100,000 Women in Tech Investment Prize, two $100,000 Black Entrepreneur Investment Prizes, a $100,000 2SLGBTQIA+ Investment Prize, a $100,000 Student Entrepreneur Investment Prize, and even more. 

Those looking for the Startup Train this year will find something more off the rails. The Startup Bus, presented by TechTO in partnership with Gurulink, will provide founders, operators, and tech enthusiasts with a one-way ticket to Startupfest from the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in downtown Toronto on July 8. Billed as “a rolling community experience,” and networking opportunity, the ride will feature several founders speaking about their startup journeys. 

The full agenda for Startupfest 2025 is now online, and the full list of speakers and mentors is available here. Tickets for the Startup Bus, optionally bundled with tickets to the event itself, are now for sale.

Feature image courtesy Startupfest.

The post The events, speakers, and prizes you’ll find at Startupfest 2025 first appeared on BetaKit.

Calgary-based robotics startup Attabotics has closed its doors and filed a notice of intention (NOI) to make a proposal under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. 

An NOI for both its Canadian and American operations, dated July 2, was posted on the website of its trustee, business consulting firm Richter. An NOI does not necessarily mean a company has filed for bankruptcy or is in receivership, but alerts creditors to financial difficulties and grants a stay on claims and proceedings in order to craft a proposal to creditors with a trustee’s assistance. 

Attabotics had found itself in multiple legal battles in recent years.

Multiple former Attabotics employees have taken to LinkedIn announcing they are now open to work following the startup’s closure, while CEO Scott Gravelle describes himself in his profile as a “recovering visionary” who is “taking a long deserved break.” 

The Calgary Herald reported that employees were seen leaving the startup’s Calgary office while wheeling out personal items, and that the insolvency notice had been posted to its front door. The notice informed employees that, unless they had been told otherwise, their employment was terminated as of June 30, 2025, and that they would be not allowed on the premises from then onward. 

Details on Attabotics’ debts have yet to be made available, but a source told The Globe and Mail that the company was burning through several million dollars per month prior to filing the NOI. 

The startup has raised north of $200 million CAD from venture capital and government sources in its lifetime, including $34 million from the federal government’s Strategic Innovation Fund in 2020. Attabotics’ most recent funding round was held in 2022, when it raised a $95-million CAD “Series C-1” led by crown corporation Export Development Canada (EDC), with support from Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board through Teachers’ Venture Growth. 

RELATED: Attabotics, Urbx settle litigation over robotic storage patents

Founded in 2015, Attabotics had described itself as “the world’s first 3D robotics supply chain system for modern commerce.” The startup looked to reduce warehouse needs and enable retailers to place robot-powered fulfillment centres closer to urban areas. With more than 300 employees at its peak, Attabotics had fulfillment centres across North America, having been adopted by apparel, food, and home goods brands like Nordstrom, which declared bankruptcy itself in 2023.  

Attabotics had found itself in multiple legal battles in recent years. Attabotics filed a patent infringement claim against Boston-based Urbx in 2021, which was settled in 2023, and later sued business partner Canadian Tire in 2023 over a warehouse fire at a distribution centre in Brampton, Ontario. 

Attabotics alleged that the fire was a direct result of Canadian Tire’s conduct, while Canadian Tire filed a counterclaim seeking damages from Attabotics. The startup had been working with Canadian Tire as part of a project funded by Scale AI, a federally-funded artificial intelligence innovation cluster. Canadian Tire announced a settlement in February 2024. 

Feature image courtesy Attabotics.

The post Robotics startup Attabotics closes down and terminates employees first appeared on BetaKit.

Toronto-based enterprise AI startup Cohere is opening a Montréal office, it announced today, which it says will serve as a “key hub” for the large-language model (LLM) developer to draw in talent and strengthen research partnerships. 

Cohere said it wants to build up long-standing ties in Québec’s AI scene, particularly at AI research institute Mila.

Cohere currently has seven employees in Montréal and said it plans to triple that number, adding to the 400-plus headcount of the company overall. 

BetaKit asked Cohere where the office would be located within the city, but did not hear back by press time.

Founded in 2019, Cohere provides enterprise AI tools, selling its workspace platform North to clients such as the Royal Bank of Canada and Ensemble Health Partners. It also has a non-profit research division, Cohere Labs, which publishes open science papers on machine learning and AI. 

“This represents an excellent opportunity for Cohere to grow our Canadian talent base and strengthen our relationships with the Montréal, Québec, and Canadian governments, and businesses throughout the region,” CEO Aidan Gomez said in a statement.

The company recently inked a memorandum of understanding with the Canadian government to help “transform” government operations with AI and collaborate on AI research with the Canadian AI Safety Institute (CAISI). 

Cohere is also the recipient of $240 million in federal funding through the Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Strategy to help build an AI data centre to train LLMs in Canada. When the funding was announced, Cohere told BetaKit that it would be partnering with American cloud computing firm CoreWeave to build the facility. 

Yesterday, The Globe & Mail reported that CoreWeave plans to open a data centre in Cambridge, Ont., next month with Cohere as one of its customers. A source familiar with the matter told BetaKit that Cohere will be a tenant, and that the federal funding is associated with its use of the data centre.

RELATED: Cohere bringing AI into public sector through partnerships with Canadian, UK governments

Headquartered in Toronto, Cohere has offices in London, San Francisco, and New York. The Montréal expansion reinforces the company’s focus on Canada, after Gomez called for domestic companies to build in Canada and reject the “Valley-or-bust mentality” at Homecoming during Toronto Tech Week. 

Montréal and Québec more broadly are known as hubs for deep learning and machine learning research. Québec was home to a quarter of all graduates from AI-focused academic programs recognized by AI institutes in Canada in 2023, according to a report by consulting firm Deloitte. In a 2024 KPMG in Canada survey of Québec organizations, 76 per cent said they have adopted generative AI into their workflows, the highest rate in Canada. 

With the expansion, Cohere said it wants to build up long-standing ties in Québec’s AI scene, particularly at AI research institute Mila. The institute, founded by deep learning researcher and Turing Award winner Yoshua Bengio, is a non-profit organization considered to be the world’s largest academic centre for deep learning. 

In 2022, shortly after launching its research division, Cohere partnered with Mila to collaborate on natural-language processing projects and expand its access to machine learning talent. 

“We are at a pivotal moment in the evolution of AI, and a strong partnership between Mila and Cohere has never been more significant,” Valerie Pisano, president and CEO of Mila, said in a release today about Cohere’s expansion. 

Cohere added that its emphasis on support across multiple languages, including French, will help meet the needs of business and public-sector organizations in Québec. The company has built Aya Expanse, a language model capable of responding to more than 100 languages. 

Feature image courtesy Grant Van Cleemput via Unsplash.

The post Cohere looks to capitalize on Montréal’s AI talent with new office first appeared on BetaKit.

British Columbia (BC) heart device maker Kardium has secured $340 million CAD ($250 million USD) in financing to fuel the launch of its innovative atrial fibrillation (AF) treatment.

“This is a pivotal moment in the evolution of AF treatment.”

Aaron Schaechterle, 
Janus Henderson Investors

AF is a common irregular heartbeat disorder that affects more than 59 million people globally, putting them at a higher risk for serious complications such as stroke and heart failure. Kardium has been working on technology to treat AF since it was founded in 2007—and now it appears to be close to commercializing its solution, the Globe Pulsed Field System (Globe System).

Kardium’s Globe System uses a method called pulsed field ablation (PFA). It consists of a “sophisticated catheter” with 122 electrodes that works in tandem with software to permit rapid pulmonary vein isolation—the practice of delivering an electric pulse to target problematic cells and treat AF—as well as high-definition mapping and precision targeting of areas of the upper chambers of the heart, called the atria. 

AF causes rapid, chaotic beating of these upper heart chambers, which can cause dizziness, fainting, fatigue, and shortness of breath, along with more serious complications and a potentially reduced life expectancy unless it is effectively treated.

Kardium plans to use this capital to pursue regulatory approval for the Globe System, expand its manufacturing capabilities, and establish a clinical support and commercial team ahead of a commercial launch targeted for later this year. Kardium also intends to conduct clinical research into potential other applications and indications for the Globe System. BetaKit has reached out to Kardium for comment and more details about the financing. This round comes a year after Kardium secured $143 million CAD for similar purposes. 

RELATED: Kardium secures $143 million CAD to help bring irregular heartbeat treatment to market

In a statement, Kardium CEO Kevin Chaplin said this latest financing will help the firm commercialize its product. Chaplin told The Globe and Mail, which was first to report this news, that he expects Kardium to secure approval as a Class 3 medical device from the United States’ Food and Drug Administration this year, then look into approval from health authorities in Canada and Europe. Chaplin told The Globe that Kardium hopes to go public next year.  

The round was led by new backers, including Janus Henderson Investors, Qatar Investment Authority (the country’s sovereign wealth fund), MMCAP, Piper Heartland Healthcare Capital, Eventide Asset Management, and Eckuity Capital. Existing investors also participated, including funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, T. Rowe Price Investment Management, and Durable Capital Partners. This financing includes an equity investment from an undisclosed “leading strategic investor.” According to The Globe, MMCAP was the lone Canadian participant.

“The Globe System is a disruptive innovation with exemplary clinical outcomes that has the potential to improve the lives of patients,” Janus Henderson Investors portfolio manager Aaron Schaechterle said in a statement. “This is a pivotal moment in the evolution of AF treatment, as the field transitions toward pulsed field ablation, and we are proud to help support the introduction of Kardium’s groundbreaking technology to the market.”

Feature image courtesy Kardium.

The post Kardium closes $340 million CAD to secure regulatory approval, expand manufacturing for atrial fibrillation heart device first appeared on BetaKit.

Canadian-founded quantum computing firm D-Wave Quantum has completed a $400-million USD ($545-million CAD) “at-the-market” (ATM) equity offering as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)-listed company looks to raise money for acquisitions and operating expenses. 

This is the third such offering the quantum firm has completed since December 2024, bringing its total sales in common shares to $725 million USD ($986 million CAD) since then. Yesterday’s sale was at an average price per share of $15.18 USD, a 149-percent bump from its last offering in January of $6.10 USD per share. 

The quantum firm has sold $725 million USD in common shares since December 2024.

D-Wave will use the money to fund acquisitions, working capital, and capital expenditures, the company said in a release. CEO Alan Baratz added that the funds will allow D-Wave to grow its “significant lead,” claiming the company is the only one with commercial quantum computing applications in production.

The company said the proceeds from this offering brought its cash balance to approximately $815 million USD ($1.1 billion CAD). The quantum firm saw record revenue of $15 million USD in Q1 of 2025, up 509 percent year-over-year. Despite that, the firm still recorded a net loss of $5.4 million USD—but that was a significant improvement over a Q1 2024 loss of $17.3 million USD.

Founded in 1999 as a spin-out from the University of British Columbia, D-Wave has offices in Burnaby, BC, and Palo Alto, Calif. The firm develops quantum annealing computers, which rely on principles of quantum physics to solve optimization problems more efficiently than classical computers. 

The equity offering comes as D-Wave has claimed research and product milestones this year. In March, D-Wave said it had achieved “quantum supremacy,” or the ability of a quantum computer to solve a problem no classical computer could in a feasible amount of time. In May, the company unveiled its Advantage2 quantum computer, which D-Wave says has immediate commercial applications and can be accessed by customers via its quantum cloud service. 

RELATED: D-Wave remains in the red even as revenue jumps 500 percent in Q1

D-Wave is not the only publicly traded quantum company raising money by selling shares. Hoboken, NJ-based Quantum Computing completed a $200-million USD private placement last week, and Berkeley, Calif.-based Rigetti Computing completed a $350-million USD ATM equity offering. 

D-Wave, which trades under QBTS on the NYSE, saw its shares rise slightly since yesterday and is trading up 65 percent since the beginning of 2025, as of the time of publication. 

Despite the growth, D-Wave saw its share price drop in January after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang predicted that truly useful quantum computers were at least 15 years away. Baratz declared that Huang was “dead wrong” and maintained that D-Wave was “likely many years ahead” of rivals that had yet to commercialize their systems.

Feature image courtesy D-Wave.

The post D-Wave sells $400 million USD in common shares to fund acquisitions, working capital first appeared on BetaKit.

Richmond, BC-based last-mile logistics tech startup UniUni has closed a $70-million USD ($95.4-million CAD) Series D round as it continues extending its reach across North America. 

The all-equity round was co-led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Chinese venture capital firm Sinovation Ventures, with participation from Redpoint Ventures, Brightway Future Capital, DCM Ventures, LFX Venture Partners, Vision Plus Capital, Joy Capital, and MindWorks Ventures, UniUni director of communications Martin van den Hemel told BetaKit in an email statement.

UniUni hopes to expand its direct reach to cover 95 percent of Canada.

The latter three are all based in China or Hong Kong. Returning Canadian investor Celtic House Venture Partners gained a board seat, which will be filled by managing partner David Adderley, according to a company statement.

The round marks UniUni’s third raise in just over a year, all of which have had some focus on expanding its delivery footprint. The company secured $50 million USD (then $69 million CAD) in Series C financing in March 2024, and $30 million USD ($42.2 million CAD) in “Series C2” financing this past October. UniUni has previously declined to disclose to BetaKit if its Series C round contained secondary capital. 

The latest funding will aid UniUni’s expansion into new warehouses, add to its artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, and facilitate the expansion of its delivery footprint across both the United States and Canada, the company said in a statement, adding that it has raised more than $200 million USD ($272 million CAD) since its founding in 2019.

UniUni said it has accelerated the integration of AI and robotics across its network as of late, from routing algorithms that optimize delivery efficiency, to most recently striking a strategic partnership with Global Robotics Services (GRS) in April to automate parcel sorting in warehouses. 

RELATED: UniUni secures additional $42.2 million CAD to strengthen US expansion

The company’s labour practices have been under much scrutiny over the past year. The Information reported in December that three proposed class action lawsuits were filed against the company in 2024. The suits alleged that UniUni paid drivers less than minimum wage with no overtime for routes that could take more than 15 hours to complete, paid a lump sum based on packages delivered, failed to compensate workers for meal breaks or overtime, and misclassified workers as independent contractors. This past April, The Information also reported that local police found people sleeping inside a UniUni warehouse in Connecticut, with one supervisor sleeping on a bed made of cardboard boxes and duct tape. 

UniUni claims that its network of 50,000-plus registered drivers reaches more than 80 percent of the Canadian population and more than 60 percent of Americans, with hopes to expand its direct reach in both countries to 95 percent and 75 percent, respectively. 

Beginning as a small restaurant delivery startup called Uni Express, UniUni now offers a gig worker-powered e-commerce logistics platform and last-mile delivery service that uses passenger vehicles to deliver goods to consumers, acting as a delivery partner for budget e-commerce giants like AliExpress, Shein, and Temu.

Feature image courtesy UniUni.

The post Last-mile delivery startup UniUni to continue North American expansion with $95.4-million CAD Series D round first appeared on BetaKit.

We have talked a lot on this podcast about the death of social media and the rise of algorithmic platforms. But what if there was a better way?

What if we could go back and fix the mistakes of Web 2.0 with new tech?

“ The company fascinates me… because they have such interesting concepts internally. One of them being ‘treat the company as a future adversary,’ which I have never seen anywhere in my career.”

What would truly modern social media look like, and who would be responsible for making sure it doesn’t… turn out the way things did last time?

These are weighty questions that I lob this week at Aaron Rodericks, a Canadian working in Dublin as Bluesky’s head of trust and safety. In town to speak at the BetaKit Town Hall for Toronto Tech Week, Rodericks first joined The BetaKit Podcast to discuss his journey from government to social media, lessons learned from working at Twitter, and how a decentralized social media platform might one day help you find joy online.

Finding joy online is a weighty task, and Bluesky has already had its share of hiccups. On this episode, Rodericks explains that Bluesky briefly suspending and then unbanning the account of US Vice President JD Vance was “not the ideal outcome” before walking through the platform’s approach to content moderation.

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RSS

That approach includes automated tools, which Rodericks presented as a necessity to fight an internet filled with bots built to lie. The difficulty is that the “bad actors are evolving continually,” and new approaches to combat them only seem to make them stronger.

So is that what keeps Aaron Rodericks awake at night? Not really. The answer to that question is more closely tied to Bluesky’s approach to social media, which includes treating the company as a future adversary.

Bluesky is offering an alternative to the walled gardens owned by tech billionaires. Is that enough to spark some social media joy?

Let’s dig in. 

PRESENTED BY

The BetaKit Podcast is presented by Invest Northern Ireland: the gateway to international growth.

International Tech companies are discovering countless advantages in Northern Ireland. That’s why it’s the #2 international investment location for US cybersecurity firms, as well as Europe’s leading location for new Software development projects. Global Tech giants like Microsoft, Qualcomm, Nvidia, and Synopsys have already spotted the benefits we offer, such as our skilled workforce, supportive business environment, competitive costs, and expertise in sectors like cybersecurity and fintech.

Let Northern Ireland help your business grow. Visit investni.com/americas to learn more.

Feature image courtesy Matt Tibbo Photography for BetaKit.

The post What keeps Bluesky’s head of trust and safety up at night? first appeared on BetaKit.

Michelle Scarborough is out of her role at BDC Capital, the venture arm of the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), after eight years leading women-focused investment initiatives, BetaKit has learned. 

Scarborough is no longer the managing partner of BDC Capital’s Thrive Venture Fund and Women in Technology (WIT) Venture Fund, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

Following outreach from BetaKit, Scarborough confirmed the news in a LinkedIn post today, thanking her colleagues and writing that her time at BDC was “one of the great privileges” of her career. No mention was made of Thrive Lab managing director Sévrine Labelle, who joined in 2023, or BDC CEO and president Isabelle Hudon, who joined in 2021.

When reached for comment, BDC referred BetaKit to Scarborough’s LinkedIn post and said that “steps are currently underway to support a smooth transition.”

“Her leadership and mentorship will have a lasting impact on me and the community.”

Marie Chevrier Schwartz
TechTO

Scarborough’s departure is the latest in a series of leadership changes within this arm of the Crown Corporation. BDC Capital head Jérôme Nycz abruptly announced his retirement almost exactly one year prior, in June 2024, after 22 years at the organization. BDC Capital also made changes to some of its direct investment funds earlier this year, The Logic reported, by shutting down its intellectual property fund and laying off staff at its Deep Tech Venture Fund.

The broader organization’s chief marketing officer, Annie Marsolais, announced she was stepping down today after 10 years at BDC. 

BDC Capital is Canada’s largest and most active venture capital (VC) investor. It makes both direct and indirect investments into the country’s entrepreneurs, including its tech ecosystem, with federal money. In the organization’s 2024 annual report, it wrote down its VC portfolio by $220 million. 

Scarborough had worked at BDC Capital since 2017. Her role focused on initiatives to finance Canadian women entrepreneurs and investors. Women founders receive only four percent of VC dollars in the country, while women are significantly underrepresented and experience lower retention rates in VC roles.  

RELATED: BDC Capital taps Jason Baibokas to lead $100-million Black Entrepreneurs Fund

Scarborough began her tenure at BDC by leading the WIT Venture Fund, which was established in 2017 to address the funding gap for women founders in Canada. Its $200-million envelope deployed $170 million across 39 women-led startups, Scarborough said on The BetaKit Podcast in 2023. The WIT Venture Fund has seen exits including Beanworks, Kira Talent, Unsplash, and Nudge. 

In 2022, Scarborough helped establish the $500-million Thrive Platform for Women, a successor to the WIT Fund. It included the $300 million in direct investment through the Thrive Venture Fund for seed to Series B firms, $100 million for an indirect investment fund, and $100 million for Thrive Lab, which provides equity and support to women-led businesses committed to social impact as measured through the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. 

BDC Capital appointed Sévrine Labelle as managing director of Thrive Lab in 2023, who is the only team member other than Scarborough listed on the BDC Thrive Platform website. 

Scarborough is still scheduled to speak at the BDC Women in Technology Bootcamp at Startupfest in Montréal on July 9, according to the event’s agenda. She also participated in events during Toronto Tech Week, including The Founder’s Collective on Thursday, a dinner for women entrepreneurs hosted by tech community organization TechTO and BDC. 

“I’m so thankful to Michelle for all that she’s done for me and Canadian women entrepreneurs,” Marie Chevrier Schwartz, CEO of TechTO, told BetaKit. “Her leadership and mentorship will have a lasting impact on me and the community.”

Scarborough has invested in notable women-led Canadian companies, such as autonomous vehicle startup Waabi, construction tech company Bridgit, and textile manufacturer SRTX, originally founded by Katherine Homuth. Scarborough is also a class of 2026 Kauffman Fellow, according to her LinkedIn profile, which is a two-year executive education and development program for global VC leaders. 

With files from Josh Scott and Douglas Soltys. Feature image courtesy BDC. 

The post Michelle Scarborough out at BDC Capital after eight years leading women-focused funds first appeared on BetaKit.

The Canadian government has rescinded its planned Digital Services Tax (DST) to continue negotiating a trade deal with the United States (US) after President Donald Trump called off talks over the measure.

The tax, slated to take effect today and retroactive to 2022, would have recouped three percent of the digital services revenue above $20 million that both foreign and domestic large companies receive from Canadians in a given year. The move was meant to generate revenue from firms that operate in Canada but don’t pay taxes on the gains made from Canadian users, including technology giants like Amazon, Apple, Google, and Meta.

This comes after The Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA) co-authored an open letter calling on the government to “pause” the DST to avoid a costly US retaliation. The letter, titled Industry-Wide Opposition to the Digital Services Tax, was signed by five other business groups and sent to Prime Minister Mark Carney on June 12.

“Rescinding the digital services tax will allow the negotiations of a new economic and security relationship with the United States.”

François-Philippe Champagne
Finance Minister

Prime Minister Mark Carney said the reversal was key to a “resumption of negotiations” that now appear more likely to result in a deal before the July 21 deadline established at the G7 Leaders’ Summit earlier in June. 

At the same time, some government leaders are characterizing the change as good policy in its own right. In a statement, François-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s finance minister, characterized the change as important to creating the “strongest economy” in the G7 and improving the country’s overall welfare.

“Rescinding the digital services tax will allow the negotiations of a new economic and security relationship with the United States to make vital progress and reinforce our work to create jobs and build prosperity for all Canadians,” Champagne said.

Trump put a halt to negotiations on June 27. He claimed on Truth Social that the DST was a “direct and blatant attack” on the US tech sector and threatened new tariffs within a week. He maintained that Canada was just “copying” the European Union (EU) and was a “very difficult” trading partner in general, citing tariffs on dairy as an example.

RELATED: CVCA calls for Digital Services Tax pause to avoid retaliatory US tax changes

One day earlier, Republicans in the US Congress had agreed to scrap a retaliatory tax hike included in Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill, while citing a G7 agreement. The so-called “revenge tax” would be on investment income from American companies paid to foreigners from countries, including Canada, that the United States considers to have “unfair” tax policies. That bill is slated for a vote in the US Senate today after narrowly clearing a procedural hurdle this weekend—with the revenge tax added back in. The House of Representatives passed its version in May, and Trump has hoped to sign a reconciled bill into law by July 4.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt argued that Canada had “caved” to American demand. US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick thanked Canada for the about-face on X, calling the DST a “deal breaker” for an American trade agreement.

Canadian tech industry leaders were quick to approve of the change. Shopify president Harley Finkelstein claimed on X that the DST would have placed “a ceiling” on Canadian entrepreneurship, while new Build Canada CEO Lucy Hargreaves had already posted on X that she felt the DST was “net-harmful” to Canada’s economy.

Maverix Private Equity founder John Ruffolo asserted on LinkedIn that the measure was a “dumb” effort that would make everyday Canadians pay more.

Canadian Council of Innovators (CCI) President Ben Bergen said in a statement that his trade organization had “long supported” the DST, but that shelving it was a “strategic move” needed to re-establish an “essential” trade relationship with the US.

University of Ottawa professor Michael Geist, the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-Commerce Law, asserted on his blog that the Canadian government had been ignoring the risk of retaliation for years since the DST’s inception in 2020. He observed that the federal government had a history of “talk[ing] tough” about tech, only to back off when confronted, citing the recent decision against re-introducing the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act to regulate AI adoption.

Université Laval economics professor Stephen Gordon echoed the sentiment on X, claiming that the government was retreating from an “indefensible position.”

Feature image courtesy of Benoit Debaix on Unsplash.

The post Canada pulls Digital Services Tax to avoid stalling US trade negotiations first appeared on BetaKit.

American chip giant Nvidia has acquired Toronto-based machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) startup CentML for an undisclosed amount. 

The acquisition sends CentML’s co-founders to leadership roles at Nvidia, including CEO Gennady Pekhimenko, COO Akbar Nurlybayev, and CTO Sam Wang. At Nvidia, Pekhimenko is now senior director of AI software, Nurlybayev is senior manager of AI software, and Wang is manager of AI systems software. 

CentML looks to help companies figure out what hardware they can use to boost the performance and reduce the cost of their ML models. Pekhimenko has previously described CentML to BetaKit as getting “way more juice out of the available hardware for customers.” 

CentML’s federal business registration was discontinued on June 6, 2025, the same day it registered as a business in British Columbia. An email sent to CentML customers has also been shared on social media indicating the startup’s operations are officially ending on July 17, 2025. 

RELATED: Google and Nvidia-backed CentML secures $37 million CAD to help companies deploy AI amid chip shortages

The acquisition was first reported by The Logic last week, and since confirmed by Fatima Khamitova, the Vector Institute’s director of startups and scaleups, in a LinkedIn post. The deal sent at least 15 engineers and two interns to Nvidia, but not all staff are making the switch, The Logic reported. 

Pekhimenko, also a Vector Institute faculty member, did not respond to requests for comment, and an Nvidia spokesperson declined to comment.

Nvidia first got involved with CentML when it backed a $27 million USD ($37 million CAD) seed round in October 2023. The round was led by Google’s AI-focused Gradient Ventures fund, with participation from big names like Deloitte Ventures, Thomson Reuters Ventures, and Radical Ventures. The funding was committed to double CentML’s 32-person team by the end of 2024. 

RELATED: American chip giant AMD to acquire Untether AI team

The CentML acquisition follows Nvidia’s largest competitor, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), also looking to Canada for talent in efficient AI. The chipmaking giant acqui-hired the team behind Toronto-based AI chipmaker Untether AI earlier this month. Untether had been developing AI inference chips that it marketed as faster and more energy-efficient than its rivals, claiming to offer “energy-centric AI inference acceleration from the edge to the cloud.”

The exodus coincides with conversation at Toronto Tech Week’s Homecoming event last week, where leaders from Shopify, Cohere, and Wealthsimple advocated for Canadian entrepreneurs to stay in Canada and resist acquisition offers.

“All of our little bright lights that start—these ambitious Canadians who want to build a company inside of Canada—they get pulled,” Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez said at the event. “You need to start saying no.”

Feature image courtesy CentML.

The post Nvidia acquires Canadian AI efficiency startup CentML first appeared on BetaKit.

Burnaby, BC-based Clio has signed a definitive agreement for its most significant acquisition to date: Miami-based, Barcelona-founded legaltech company vLex for $1-billion USD ($1.37-billion CAD) in a cash-and-stock transaction. 

Newton told BetaKit earlier this year that Clio was in a good position to be “the acquirer of choice in legaltech.”

Clio said the acquisition will expand its global footprint and unlock “unprecedented agentic AI capabilities.” vLex claims to offer the world’s largest legal and regulatory database, combined with an AI-powered search engine and assistant, named Vincent, in one platform. Vincent helps legal professionals quickly find and extract key information from legal documents.

vLex claims it serves over 2.8 million users across 100 countries, with more than one billion searchable legal documents at their disposal. 

vLex is currently owned by Oakley Capital, a publicly traded pan-European private equity investor based in London, United Kingdom, through its Origin Fund. According to Oakley, Origin is partially reinvesting in the combined business alongside vLex’s founders “in order to benefit from expected future growth.” Clio declined to disclose further financial details, including vLex’s profitability.

Oakley also claimed that vLex serves the majority of the Am Law 100, a ranking of the largest law firms in America.

A Clio spokesperson confirmed to BetaKit that acquiring vLex will mark its largest acquisition to date, dethroning its 2021 acquisition of Lawyaw for an undisclosed sum in the mid-eight-figure range. The spokesperson added that vLex has over 350 employees across Miami, Barcelona, London, Bogotá, and remote locations, and that the companies are working on a “thoughtful integration plan.” 

“We don’t expect to have to streamline operations,” the spokesperson said over email.

The Clio spokesperson added that the acquisition will fast-track the company’s AI capabilities. Clio CEO Jack Newton called the acquisition a “watershed moment” for the company and the legal profession. 

RELATED: Clio acquires UK-based ShareDo to move into serving large law firms, fuel global expansion

“By bringing together the business and practice of law in a unified platform, we’re revolutionizing every aspect of legal work,” Newton said in a statement. “This sets the stage for a future powered by agentic AI, and marks the establishment of a new industry category—one that will empower legal professionals to serve clients with unprecedented insight and precision.”

When Clio acquired ShareDo earlier this year, Newton told BetaKit he thought the current scale of Clio’s platform put the company in a good position to be “the acquirer of choice in legaltech,” and that he saw more opportunity given the “explosion of innovation” happening across the sector. When asked if Clio hopes to continue being an active acquirer following vLex, the Clio spokesperson said the company is “always looking for strategic ways” to accelerate its product roadmap.

The vLex acquisition is expected to close later this year, subject to closing conditions and regulatory approvals.This deal comes nearly one year after Clio raised the largest software funding round in Canadian tech history. In July 2024, Clio closed a $900-million USD (then $1.24-billion CAD) Series F at a more than $4-billion CAD valuation, making it one of Canada’s highest-valued tech startups and, according to Clio, the world’s most valuable cloud-based legaltech company.

The spokesperson said Clio currently has an annual recurring revenue of $300 million USD while serving 200,000 legal professionals, but declined a pre-closing disclosure how those figures would look post-acquisition.

UPDATE (07/02/2025): This story has been updated with information shared by a Clio spokesperson.

Feature image courtesy Clio.

The post Clio to acquire Spanish-American legaltech vLex for $1 billion USD first appeared on BetaKit.

When Rob Ranson presented to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s personal protection panel in Amsterdam this May, it marked a major milestone for his startup, Win-Shield Devices.

Out of 20 companies, Win-Shield has been awarded a one-year contract by the Canadian government to develop an inclusive respirator for federal law enforcement, one that protects people with beards and religious head coverings. Since then, countries around the world have expressed interest in the Winnipeg-based company’s solutions.

“There is a disproportionate amount of success happening in Manitoba that a lot of people don’t know about.”

Rob Ranson, Win-Shield Devices

“I’m a testament that we’re walking onto the world stage, and they’re saying, ‘We need to hear more,’” Ranson said.

It’s a remarkable trajectory for a business that started with a middle-of-the-night idea and a sprint to prototype a solution in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In March 2020, Ranson’s daughter, a front-line X-ray technician, told him she had been exposed to two people with COVID-19.

The news hit close to home.

As managing director of University Medical Group in Winnipeg, Ranson was responsible for securing personal protective equipment for the hospital where he and his daughter worked. A team of surgeons had expressed concerns that same day about the effectiveness of existing face shields.

At 3:00 a.m. the next morning, Ranson woke up and designed a new face and head shield.

“That’s when I reached out to North Forge,” Ranson recalled.

He knew he needed help to turn his idea into a usable product fast. North Forge, a Winnipeg-based startup incubator and accelerator with one of North America’s largest fabrication labs, became essential to the effort.

“I needed somebody to help me do CAD drawings, somebody else to create a mould, and then someone to show me how to use a vacuum forming machine. All of which I knew I could find at North Forge. Within three days, I had a working prototype,” he said.

North Forge provides cost-free programming and resources to help science-based, tech-enabled, and advanced manufacturing startups grow from ideation to securing funding. At the heart of the organization is the FabLab, where members can access state-of-the-art tools for rapid prototyping, 3D printing, woodworking, metalworking, plastics forming, and more.

Ranson used every resource available, and not just for prototyping. He relied on the FabLab to begin fulfilling orders when demand for the face shields skyrocketed to four million units in just five weeks.

Things moved quickly after he brought the prototype—a full coverage shield that protects the face, forehead, and top of the head—to the hospital. He left 10 samples in the emergency ward for a full-day test. The infection control team and health and safety leaders reviewed them and agreed the shields exceeded expectations.

The hospital placed an initial order for 1,000 shields, then called back for 20,000. Then one million.

At the same time, Ranson was introduced to a response team within the provincial government that placed an order for four million shields.

Then, it was time to get these made.

It was a collaborative effort. Ranson brought on several people from North Forge to help with fulfillment and partnered with companies across Manitoba, Ontario, and British Columbia to manufacture the plastic components and headbands. Together, they also set up a shipping and receiving facility to package everything and move it out.

The chaos lasted about five and a half months, and the order was fulfilled by January 2021.

“I knew COVID was going to change the culture and mindset of people, so there was an opportunity to better diversify into other products,” Ranson said. “The success of that one contract allowed me to quietly hire people and say, ‘Let’s build this.’”

From that momentum, he officially launched Win-Shield Devices — a manufacturing company that now creates innovative and affordable law enforcement, military, industrial, and medical equipment.

Today, the company operates with a team of 15 and continues to develop new solutions out of its collaborative space at the North Forge FabLab.

“The biggest value of North Forge is access. We have access to over $4 million worth of equipment,” Ranson said. “Plus, the people who are walking through that facility… they’re experts in their own right, so we can pick their brains. Or, they’ll ask us something, and we’ll help them.”

“I have known Rob for over 15 years and witnessed his entrepreneurial drive across many ventures, but Win-Shield is transformative,” said North Forge President and CEO, Joelle Foster.

Foster believes Win-Shield’s latest product addresses a critical problem and has the potential to redefine global safety standards while saving lives. “The world isn’t just noticing, it’s responding, and that speaks volumes about the scale and urgency of what Rob has created,” Foster added.

Ranson sees both the challenge and the opportunity of building a company in a city where the innovation economy is still growing.

“We have to do a little more work,” he said. “We don’t have the luxury of dozens of suppliers like you would in a city like Toronto. But the encouragement you get here is hard to compare.”

Despite limited resources, Ranson has built Win-Shield from the ground up with support from North Forge and funding from federal programs. It’s a bootstrapped journey that he said reflects the grit and potential of Manitoba’s growing tech ecosystem.

“There is a disproportionate amount of success happening in Manitoba that a lot of people don’t know about.”

PRESENTED BY

North Forge is a not-for-profit tech incubator, accelerator, and state-of-the-art fabrication lab. We fuel Manitoba’s innovative science-based, technology-enabled, and advanced manufacturing startups from ideation to funding by offering unparalleled programming and resources to help startups grow. 

Join a community that drives innovation and builds connections. North Forge supports your journey from concept to commercialization. Learn more here.

All photos provided by North Forge.

The post The Winnipeg founder who answered a crisis first appeared on BetaKit.

What a week!

Team BetaKit celebrated the first full week of summer with a rare Triple Crown: official media partner of Toronto Tech Week, host of our own event, and publisher of our first-ever print issue, BetaKit Most Ambitious.

Make sure to read Alex Kinsella’s excellent recap of our BetaKit Town Hall and then the rest of our extensive Toronto Tech Week coverage below. I am subletting my normal slot in this newsletter to select Most Ambitious stories we published digitally throughout the week. Email file size limitations (that’s actually a thing!) leave me without the kilobytes to say anything else.

Except this: more than any other, this week proved that Canadian tech is filled with stories of bold ambition. Read as many of them as you can. Know there are so many more. Remember that BetaKit is on the case to tell them all.

Douglas Soltys
Editor-in-chief

You’re investing in AI. But are you protecting it?

The average Canadian organization spent more than $300,000 USD recovering from a single cyberattack last year. As attackers evolve, AI has become their most powerful weapon — and your most vulnerable asset.

Cisco’s Cybersecurity Readiness Assessment tool gives you a clear view of your organization’s overall security maturity – not just against AI threats, but across your entire defense strategy. In minutes, identify gaps, benchmark your readiness, and get actionable steps to strengthen your cybersecurity posture.

Find out today how your organization fares.

BetaKit Most Ambitious selects

Savour some of the bold flavour from BetaKit’s first-ever print issue.

Rahul Goel wants to give Canada its Apollo moment

Markham-based NordSpace is prepping for Canada’s sovereign space future.

Boris Wertz thinks science is the new moat for Canadian tech

The Version One Ventures investor explains why he bets big on AI, robotics, and Web3.

Phil De Luna thinks Canada is the perfect place to store the world’s carbon

Deep Sky’s chief scientific and commercial officer on the rising stakes for carbon-capture technology.

Building Canada requires competition

Vass Bednar offers an ode to the ventures challenging our nation’s comfort zones.

This time, Eric Migicovsky won’t let anything get in his way

A decade after the death of Pebble, the company’s founder is still chasing his dream smartwatch.

Socratica’s IRL revolution is powered by the love of making

Georgia Berg on how the student-run organization makes space for messy.

What I Learned: Larry Smith

The legendary University of Waterloo professor shares wisdom gained from a half-century of studying entrepreneurship.

Everything you need to know about Toronto Tech Week

As the official media partner of Toronto Tech Week, the BetaKit team captured conversations, announcements, and insights from across the city. We also played pickleball. Here’s what you need to know.

The conversations:

Harley Finkelstein, Mike Katchen, and Aidan Gomez reject the pull away from building in Canada

Tech leaders told the next generation to learn to say “no” to acquisition offers and leaving Canada at flagship Homecoming event.

Waabi’s Raquel Urtasun calls for Canada to “wake up” to the physical AI revolution

The autonomous trucking startup CEO said that the country needs more regulatory frameworks: “Canada, wake up.”

“I don’t want the tree rings to show”: Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke says his company is embracing AI to prevent stagnation

Lütke and Social Capital chief Chamath Palihapitiya shared their excitement—and reservations—about building with AI.

Geoffrey Hinton says AI companies resistant to “regulations with teeth” in lively debate with Cohere co-founder Nick Frosst

The Nobel laureate and his former protégé headlined a public debate on AI at the University of Toronto.

“The end of the era of human data”: AI experts discuss new frontiers at CDL Super Session

Turing Award winner Richard Sutton, CIFAR AI chair Patrick Pilarski, and Sanctuary AI co-founder Suzanne Gildert shared their visions for the future—and how we might get there.

The announcements:

“Light, tight, right” regulation: Minister Evan Solomon unpacks how Canada plans to support domestic AI and quantum computing

On the day Minister Solomon announced applications were open for the AI Compute Access Fund, he shared how the government plans to regulate and support the AI and quantum sectors.

Build Canada appoints Lucy Hargreaves to CEO as tech think tank expands mandate

Policy platform unveiled plans to open-source its projects and fund Canadian initiatives at Homecoming.

The activities:

Meeting people is easy at Toronto Tech Week

What do cold plunging and pickleball have to do with Toronto Tech Week? We sent our Chief Fun Correspondent to find out.

The insights:

Techstars founder Brad Feld says you should give more without knowing what you’ll get back

Feld shared how a personal philosophy begets richer mentorship at an intimate TechTO event.

What making music taught David Usher about running an AI startup

Four-time Juno winner and Moist frontman taps into digital immortality with his startup Reimagine AI.

9Bio Therapeutics’ Philipe Gobeil wants to “resurrect” clinically validated cancer therapies that failed due to toxicity

Québec biotech startup is developing a platform for designing drugs that target tumours and spare healthy tissues.

Bridgit’s Mallorie Brodie explains why Canadian startups need to think globally from the start

Co-founder and CEO Mallorie Brodie unpacks Bridgit’s pivot, mitigating risk in construction tech, and looking up to firms like Axonify, Knix, and Jane.

Canadian FinTech community mourns Equitable Bank CEO Andrew Moor

Members of the Canadian FinTech industry are sharing their grief following the unexpected death of Equitable Bank CEO Andrew Moor last weekend at the age of 65.

Equitable board chair Vincenza Sera said in a statement that the death was a “tragic loss,” and that Moor campaigned for “change and innovation” in Canadian banking. Wealthsimple co-founder Michael Katchen said in a LinkedIn post that he was “heartbroken” by Moor’s passing, calling the executive one of the “original champions” of Canada’s FinTech space.

FEATURED STORIES FROM OUR PARTNERS

• This week, Creative Destruction Lab put its top founders and leading industry voices in one room during Toronto Tech Week. Read about what set the stage at CDL Super Session 2025.
• FinTech startups need speed, support, and partners who get it—and many of the successful ones turn to one place. Read about why Mastercard is the go-to partner for Canadian FinTech.
• When startups need design help, they usually consider two options: hire or agency. Gev Marotz thinks they’re missing a third. Read about why smart companies are using fractional design studios.

Weekly Canadian Deals, Dollars & More

• SF – Canadian Sonder co-founder Francis Davidson departs as CEO
• VAN – Klue lays off 40 percent of staff to become “AI-first” 
• EDM – NiaHealth secures $5.75M to bolster healthcare platform
• WPG – Conquest raises $110M Series B to fuel US expansion
• QC – LeddarTech bankruptcy filing reveals $146M in debts

The BetaKit Podcast – Telling the stories of Canadian tech’s Most Ambitious

“I want to put ambition in people’s hands. You say it doesn’t exist—you’re going to hold it, you’re going to flip through it, you’re going to see it.”

BetaKit CEO Siri Agrell joins to discuss today’s launch of BetaKit’s Most Ambitious: our first-ever print issue, telling stories of bold ambition in Canadian tech.

This episode comes packed with highlights of some of our favourite stories from the inaugural issue, alongside a behind-the-scenes peek at how it was made.

Congratulations to Kate Grant from Fasken for winning The BetaKit Quiz: Live! at the BetaKit Town Hall this week. Check back next week for a new edition!

The EmpowHER Tech Launchpad, a 12-week program led by IDEA Mississauga in partnership with YSpace. Designed to support women-led product and tech businesses, particularly those led by newcomers to Canada. 

This program offers:

• Access up to $200,000 in resources for product, marketing, sales, and more 
• Sharpen your sales playbook, pitch and fundraising with expert coaching 
• Build vital skills through workshops on go-to-market strategies and financial modeling 
• Receive personalized 1:1 mentorship from experienced entrepreneurs
• Join a driven community of peer-led women founders committed to growth and success 

Ready to scale your venture? Apply until July 11 to join the new cohort of women leaders shaping tech starting in September!

Feature image courtesy Toronto Tech Week.

The post Cohere’s Aidan Gomez says acquisition is “failure” first appeared on BetaKit.

House music is blasting from the sound system as I file into a darkened room.

Despite the club-like atmosphere, it’s 8:30 a.m. on Monday and I’m deep in the belly of Othership in Yorkville, the buzzy wellness spa favoured by the city’s tech community for a cold plunge-and-sauna session to kickstart Toronto Tech Week.

My group of “journeyers” gathers around eight deep tubs. On the subway-tiled wall is a sliding scale sign with just one setting: COLDEST, which is a brisk 4 C. On the go-ahead from our guide—a woman more hyped for cold plunges than I’ve ever been for anything—I submerge myself in the water, grimacing through the biting cold for 30 seconds. The guide boogies around the room and casually hops into a tub as if it isn’t frigid enough to sting. We get a brief reprieve to dance our limbs back to life and exchange high-fives, then jump back in. 

I am BetaKit’s Chief Fun Correspondent: tasked with cold plunging, running, biohacking, and partying my way through Toronto Tech Week.

This is my main quest.

The event gets tech week attendees “inside their bodies and doing a hard thing,” Presh Dineshkumar, a co-founder of The Wellness Company and one of the event organizers, tells me. “So they’ll remember Tech Week for doing hard things.” 

The non-profit and volunteer-run Toronto Tech Week emerged for its inaugural year after Collision’s European parent company, Web Summit, announced it would decamp for Vancouver in 2025. The new homegrown event was spun up to host 10,000 people at roughly 300 events across the city, with a by-the-community, for-the-community ethos.

While the rest of the BetaKit team was running and covering the conference, I was designated the Chief Fun Correspondent, tasked with spending the week cold plunging, rallying, running, biohacking, and partying my way through a gauntlet of events—all for a chance to meet new people and understand what they hope to get out of Toronto Tech Week.

Many of the people I meet this week will tell me that their Toronto Tech Week was defined by attending flagship events like BetaKit Town Hall or Homecoming, and then one ‘side quest’ experience. Not me, though: this is my main quest.

At Othership, about 60 people alternate between the cold plunge room and the wood-panelled sauna set at a blistering temperature the devil himself would find a little warm. By our last plunge and closing dance party, I admit I’m feeling alert and refreshed, and the extreme conditions do inspire some (trauma) bonding with fellow plungers. Dineshkumar’s prediction that the experience would foster conversations and set the tone for the week is fulfilled. 

Fun and games (and ghosts)

On the sidelines of a spirited pickleball game at Rendezviews on Tuesday, Zamir Janmohamed, founder and chief experience officer of team retreats startup Wondrinn, praises the conference’s social events. 

“We’re in an overstimulated world,” he says, adding that “beautiful things happen” when people have fun, play games, and do more than focus on work. He says he plans to spend the week checking on how people in tech are doing and feeling.

“I think healthier humans equals better friends, better parents, better colleagues, better founders.”

I’m not sure if it’ll make me a better human, but pickleball is a mandatory part of this assignment (editor’s note: this is true), so I hit the court. The ref lets us know the game is on, and seconds later the other team’s serve comes sailing toward me. I reach out, and my racket makes a satisfying smack! and sends the ball flying off-court, scoring a point for our opponents. This quickly becomes my signature pickleball move. 

“Who’s winning?” my teammate asks later. The ref wordlessly points across the court. 

Despite the extreme heat, about 30 people turn out for the event, held to launch a new social group for product professionals. Co-organizer Chetan Bhatia says tech industry events primarily focus on founders and investors: “We need to have more events around product people and the struggles that they have.” 

A spooky history tour at the University of Toronto’s Massey College on Wednesday evening hosts a broader range of ages and occupations. We tromp around the downtown campus in the sweltering humidity while local historian Adam Bunch regales us with ghost stories. Did you know Robertson Davies—Massey College’s founding master and one of my favourite authors—believed Canadians needed ghost stories “like you need vitamins” to counterbalance our overly rational national character?

Organizer Sam Rook, a portfolio manager with Q Wealth Partners, exhorted the group of roughly 35 people to use the walk to make at least one new social connection, pointing to comments at the Homecoming event on Tuesday by Wealthsimple’s Michael Katchen and Cohere’s Aidan Gomez about the importance of building in Canada. Building a rich social network here is part of that, he says.

The mellow vibes and mental stimulation suit my mood, but I never see any ghosts on the walking tour. I am told they don’t come out in the summer.

Mindfulness as a Service

On Thursday afternoon, it’s time for biohacking. I’m going in highly skeptical: it seems overwhelmingly the preoccupation of men with too much time and money and some raging midlife crises (editor’s note: no comment). Turns out this session is less ‘swapping blood with your teenage son’ and more about mindfulness techniques and mushroom tea.

“Biohacking is what we do all the time. It’s so in tune with who we are. The purpose of the event was getting people back into their bodies and not making it so stressful,” says Reema Khithani, founder of the Hira Collective, a platform that connects people with holistic wellness practitioners. 

She says she’s hoping Toronto Tech Week will help more industry people find her platform, but notes when she first listed the event under a different name, it only sold a handful of tickets. When she changed the name to biohacking, it quickly sold out.

Daverine Jumu, a wellness counsellor who describes her work as an intuitive shamanic and emotional guiding, asks us to sit in silence, observing our thoughts and letting them move on rather than chasing them “down a rabbit hole,” and later takes us through a deep breathing exercise meant to bring our seven “energy centres” back into alignment when we’re feeling stressed. She says these strategies are crucial for tech leaders making important decisions and navigating tough circumstances. It does feel very peaceful, although I can’t quiet one racing thought: how does anyone have enough lung capacity for this much deep breathing?

Mandy Wong, an implementation and training specialist at legaltech firm Pagefreezer, says she’s been to four events throughout the week, to learn and to make more connections in the city after moving here from Vancouver last year. “This year I’ve just been going to a lot of these events,” she said. “I work remotely, so I’m not always around people, even though I talk to them over the computer. It’s different to meet people in person.” 

Storm the beaches

I am deep in the east end of Toronto at Woodbine Beach in the early evening. I’m at a party for tech, crypto, and real estate professionals where there are about four men to every woman. Organizer Thenuk De Silva, a real estate agent and startup founder twice over, tells me he sifted through 900 applications to approve 500 attendees, based on the vibes of their LinkedIn (I’m clearly a charity invite). He expected 250 people would turn out.

But the day’s earlier rain dampens any hope of a true beach party vibe, and a smaller contingent mostly congregates in a covered picnic area. Those I speak to range from the casual attendees, popping in for one or two events around their work schedules, to the hyper-networkers with company decks and a polished sales pitch at the ready for potential investors.

I try another attendee’s side-project app, which, with a prompt describing your current mood and your choice of three “inspirational quotes,” recommends movies to watch. Based on the prompt that I’ve been at a tech conference all day and am tired, and my selection of a quote that “to do the best work you should do what you love,” it suggests Dead Poets Society, The Pursuit of Happyness, or La La Land. Not bad!

I take a moment to prompt myself. What a week. I’ve been inducted into the cult of wellness, successfully avoided heat stroke and sunburn, and made a bunch of new LinkedIn connections. Have I learned anything? 

I observe my thoughts and move on, refusing to go down any rabbit holes. I focus on the grilled burger I am eating on a beach at my final event of Toronto Tech Week.

That burger! It is the light at the end of the tunnel, the grace note on a long day. It is so good. I’m grateful.

BetaKit is the official media partner of Toronto Tech Week. All images courtesy Kelsey Rolfe for BetaKit.

The post Meeting people is easy at Toronto Tech Week first appeared on BetaKit.

Bridgit co-founder and CEO Mallorie Brodie wants to turn the Kitchener-Waterloo-based construction tech startup into one of Canada’s women-led business success stories.

“Be deliberate about when you’re actually investing … but I would at least understand the global opportunity early on.”

Mallorie Brodie,
Bridgit

Since closing a $24-million CAD Series B in 2021, Bridgit has built out its executive team, refined its product, focused on “responsible growth,” expanded south of the border, and made moves into Australia and New Zealand. 

Today, the 70-person company sells workforce intelligence software that helps more than 300 general contractors manage their workers more efficiently—including, Brodie claims, five of the 10 biggest ones in the United States (US). But she says their work is far from done.

Brodie sat down with BetaKit at TiEQuest Summit during Toronto Tech Week to share what she has learned along the way about building a company—including why other Canadian tech startups need to think globally earlier—how to mitigate risk in the cyclical construction sector, and her ambition for Bridgit to join the ranks of top women-led firms like Axonify, Knix, and Jane.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

It has been awhile since you’ve spoken with BetaKit. What has Bridgit been up to since its Series B?

That gave us the capital to go out and scale the workforce-planning product that we had developed between 2019 and 2021 … we were able to hire a more robust executive team, increase our overall marketing and sales efforts, and, of course, continue product development. 

Throughout that time, there obviously has been a lot of ups and downs in terms of the economy … one thing we’ve done as a business since 2021, in addition to grow, is look at it at our efficiency … It hasn’t really been the growth-at-all-costs mindset. It’s about building a very sustainable—still fast [growing]—but responsible growth [company]. (Bridgit was not immune from the wave of layoffs that swept Canadian tech during the time).

It’s a challenging market for a lot of companies, but I do think it’s really core to our DNA [at Bridgit], and something that both my co-founder, Lauren [Lake] and I, feel like we thrive in. We were an under-resourced company for many years, and we pride ourselves on being very resourceful … I actually think Bridgit performs best when it’s not the hottest possible fundraising environment.

One of the things you spoke about during your TiEQuest Summit panel was why Canadian tech startups need to go global from the start. What did you mean by that and what has Bridgit learned about this?

The first seven-slash-eight years of Bridgit, we were focused on a punch list management solution highly targeted to the residential high-rise market, and we had this niche offering where we would leverage the warranty that is government-mandated to really extend the value of that product on these construction projects … That was very specific to the Canadian market, and was not really as important—or even the way it worked—in the US market … In the US market, yes, we did have some success selling in key residential markets, but it wasn’t the same differentiation that we had in the Canadian market.

We approached it very differently with the second product. We knew that in order to … be a VC-backed company with venture-type returns, we needed a bigger market to go after, and it was that much more important to validate a more global need upfront.

Essentially, all of our product research was done in the US market with the largest US players. Not that long after launching, we did product research in the UK and in Australia because a lot of the US customers also had offices in those regions. [This] allowed us to be successful in winning some of those largest general contractor customers in the US market, and it’s definitely been a key ingredient to our scale and growth … for companies that are starting, I would highly encourage them to be deliberate about when you’re actually investing … but I would at least understand the global opportunity early on.

How has the downturn impacted Bridgit and its customers in construction? Have you made any adjustments to your approach to better position the company and help clients?

Obviously construction is cyclical, and we wanted to make sure that we were building a product that was resilient in essentially every phase of the economy. [We made] a couple [of] specific decisions. One, our solution is sold at the corporate level, and so it doesn’t matter what type of construction a company is doing, it’s used across their entire portfolio, whereas our first product was focused on the residential market. We’ve really mitigated a lot of risk by being able to serve all types of construction … Different geographies allow us to also mitigate some of that risk, which global expansion also ties into.

When [general contractors have] to tighten things up, we can help them understand where they possibly have too many people. Construction companies really value their talent, so often for them, it’s not a matter of [advising them to lay off staff]. It’s getting ahead of it so they can focus their strategy on bidding [for] other types of work that they may not typically do, that in a great market, may not be as compelling … It’s giving them a heads-up so they can be strategic about how to better place that team, so they can retain [workers] until the market begins to heat up again.

Canadian ambition has been a hot topic of discussion at Toronto Tech Week, and BetaKit played its part with the release of our inaugural Most Ambitious issue. How have you been thinking about ambition lately?

During the panel, actually, we were talking about the resources that are available [for] building Canadian companies, and how much that’s changed over the last 10 years. I certainly can speak from experience that there were not as many institutional investors, there were not funds dedicated to women in technology, there were not as many accelerator programs [before] … There weren’t even as many experienced founders to learn from.

I think my call to the Canadian business leaders and startup founders is, we have all of that available to us, and it’s not hard to track down those resources at this point, so now we need to focus on winning, and how do we build very large companies in Canada? And that’s not going to be just by selling to Canadian companies. It’s by selling globally, but still being headquartered in Canada, leveraging [these] resources, and just raising the bar.

Internally at Bridgit, we have a ‘what, why, how’ document that goes through our strategy, our core values, and why we wake up every day and are excited about what we do. And one of the reasons is that we want Bridgit to be on the list of top Canadian female [business] success stories. We talk about companies like Knix; we talk about companies like Axonify that have had just incredible success. Jane is another one. We want to be on that list. It’s something that’s been really motivating and inspiring to our team.

For every company, that message is going to be different, but I think the important thing is that you do have a message around ambition, and the entire team is aligned. You’re not competing [just] with other Canadian companies. You’re competing globally. I think everyone needs to just wake up and see how fast companies outside of Canada are moving, and we need to match—if not accelerate—that pace.

BetaKit is the official media partner of Toronto Tech Week. Feature image courtesy Sean Pollock.

The post Bridgit’s Mallorie Brodie explains why Canadian startups need to think globally from the start first appeared on BetaKit.

Vancouver-based Klue has slashed just over 40 percent of its workforce as it contends with growing competition from businesses experimenting with artificial intelligence (AI) internally, BetaKit has learned.

Klue sells AI-powered business intelligence software products to help sales professionals at other tech firms gather information on competitors and win more deals. Klue co-founder and CEO Jason Smith told BetaKit that the startup proactively made these cuts to increase efficiency and hasten a path to profitability amid increasing uncertainty as to what companies are willing to pay for versus building themselves in the age of AI.

“There is ambiguity about what people will pay for.”

Jason Smith
Klue CEO

The restructuring took place June 25 and included layoffs and voluntary departures, impacting approximately 85 of the startup’s employees across teams and locations, Smith said. He noted that AI, both as an external competitor and an internal replacement for some of the work done by staff, was “the common thread” necessitating the decision, adding that Klue hopes to become “AI-first operationally” through this reorganization.

“A layoff of this magnitude acts as a kind of forcing function for us as a company—to find efficiencies, one has to look to AI apps and agents,” Smith said over email. As part of this restructuring, Klue is also consolidating its engineering operations in Canada and reducing its compute spending.

Klue informed employees of the impending layoffs on June 13, offering them the opportunity to leave voluntarily for the same severance package. Smith said Klue also held one-on-ones and other sessions for staff leading up to June 25. The Globe and Mail first reported Klue’s staff reduction plans.

The CEO said Klue is providing everyone impacted by these layoffs with “generous severance packages, extended benefits, and support for their transition,” noting that “every individual affected has contributed meaningfully to building Klue.”

The ChatGPT effect

A frequently asked question (FAQ) document Klue compiled for staff in the leadup to the layoffs viewed by BetaKit indicated that the startup had failed to reach its topline revenue growth targets while seeing increasing customer churn this year. The FAQ noted that Klue has been facing difficulty competing against OpenAI’s ChatGPT offering.

The FAQ stated specifically that Klue has been “losing more deals to ChatGPT (AI-disruption),” and is building a new product to address this and help the company “re-find product-market fit—with AI at the core.”

The document also said that Klue has burned $28 million since 2023 to grow $2.5 million, and that the startup would run out of cash in two years if it were to continue at its current rate and team size without layoffs. BetaKit has not confirmed the accuracy of the burn and revenue growth rate numbers originally included in the FAQ. Once source familiar with the company’s operations confirmed to BetaKit that the burn and revenue growth numbers were eventually removed from the document after it was shared with employees.

In an interview with BetaKit earlier this week, Smith disputed some of the information obtained by BetaKit—including information related to the company’s financial health—adding that he had not yet looked at the document.

“[Klue] was screaming product-market fit in the early days … and then AI comes along with internal experimentation, and there’s a higher bar for what quality looks like,” Smith told BetaKit. “We as a company are just looking at that realistically, and saying we need to maintain an even higher bar than what you can get out of the box by throwing your regular data into it.”

Smith acknowledged that ChatGPT is powerful, and said Klue uses OpenAI’s latest models and others in its own Compete AI product. But the CEO argued that seasoned sellers and others with specific expertise often find ChatGPT’s answers “lacking nuance and concrete outputs.”

He denied that Klue has been losing deals to OpenAI, but did say Klue has faced increased competition from companies creating their own AI solutions. Today, Smith said many businesses are evaluating their paid subscriptions to products like Klue and experimenting with developing internal AI agents to do the same work. He claimed this trend has slowed deal cycles across the software industry.

Many of these large-language models (LLMs) and agent-building products are inexpensive or even free to try. At the moment, Smith said, “There is ambiguity about what people will pay for.”

RELATED: At Homecoming, Shopify’s Tobi Lütke says his company is embracing AI to prevent stagnation

Smith expects the tech world to go through a “clunky phase” where companies spin up thousands of their own agents before deciding which ones to build versus buy. 

“We think quality will rise to the top, but we will go through two years of thrashing, which is why I’m cautious on the spend,” he said.

Smith told BetaKit that the burn and revenue growth figures contained in the FAQ are inaccurate, claiming that someone had “mixed up burn with projected future spend.” He asserted that Klue has generated more than $25 million CAD in new and expansion revenue on top of its existing recurring base since 2023.

Contrary to the FAQ, Smith also claimed that Klue hit its first-quarter targets without increasing churn. However, he said the startup is “uncertain” about what the rest of 2025 will look like as more companies experiment with AI. “We actually expected to grow significantly faster than 2024, and now we think we’ll grow at a similar pace” with low double-digit growth, Smith said.

Smith claimed that the FAQ’s assertion of a two-year runway was “patently false,” adding he had “no idea where that’s coming from.” He believed a five-year estimate would be “more appropriate.”

RELATED: Klue scores $79 million CAD from Tiger Global, Salesforce Ventures

Klue raised nearly $80-million CAD in Series B funding from Tiger Global and Salesforce Ventures in 2021, bringing its total funding to more than $100 million. Smith maintained that Klue still has “much of” that amount in the bank today.

“We are well-funded, spend judiciously and strategically, and never have to raise outside capital again,” he said.

The CEO declined to disclose Klue’s exact sales or how much the startup currently holds in cash, but he did indicate that Klue is currently generating somewhere between $25 million and $50 million CAD in annual revenue.

Smith confirmed that the staff reduction would help Klue become profitable for the first time, granting it the flexibility to wait out any further economic headwinds as it reorients for the era of AI and builds “Klue 2.0.” He noted that Klue decided to make deep cuts now instead of dragging things out over a series of smaller layoffs, and said he expects this restructuring to give Klue more options in the future, including a greater capacity to make acquisitions.

Despite this market uncertainty, Smith said Klue has “never had more conviction” in its roadmap and continues to see rising demand, leads, and opportunities for its products.

Competing in the “AI-first era”

Smith claimed that Klue differed from other tech startups in 2023 by refraining from layoffs, instead investing aggressively in AI for its product. This came despite increased churn and single-digit growth that year amid a market downturn. He said Klue has also been leveraging AI to improve its internal operations, and that these efforts have already saved employees a great deal of time completing tedious tasks.

Smith envisions a “smaller, nimbler” Klue.

Smith still noted that AI has become a “threat” on both the product and operational sides, highlighting that many younger startups today are growing with far fewer employees thanks to AI.

“It’s imperative for companies like Klue, founded before GPT-3 and agent possibilities, to rejig operational structures and approaches to compete in the AI-first era.”

Post-layoffs, the CEO envisions a “smaller, nimbler” Klue with engineering and go-to-market teams that leverage AI tools to operate more efficiently and ship products faster.

Recent data from Statistics Canada suggests increased business AI adoption has had a limited effect on corporate headcounts in Canada. However, data from Carta indicates that the rise of AI has coincided with a decline in the size of tech startup teams.

Going forward, Smith said he wants Klue staff to consider whether AI agents could complete enough of a given role’s work before hiring someone to fill it. He likened his approach to that of Shopify co-founder and CEO Tobi Lütke, whose recent memo told employees to prove AI cannot do a job before asking for additional resources or staff.

RELATED: OpenText makes AI “number-one priority” as company slashes 1,600 jobs

As BetaKit first reported, fellow Canadian tech company OpenText recently cut 1,600 jobs while making internal AI use a “baseline expectation.” South of the border, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy recently told employees that AI will reduce its headcount.

On the product front, Smith said Klue is betting its more focused AI tools will help clients win deals more reliably than either do-it-yourself solutions, baseline ChatGPT, or generalized options.

“I think narrow wins,” he said. “Anything wide, anything that’s trying to compete with just the basic LLM, will get crushed. But if you can provide additional data, additional full workflow wrappers and program impact and sophisticated prompting … You will have a better quality output, and companies will always pay for quality.”

Feature image courtesy Klue.

Updated (06/29/25): This story has been updated with additional information related to Klue’s FAQ document.

The post Klue lays off 40 percent of staff as startup faces internal and external AI pressure  first appeared on BetaKit.

Autonomous driving software company LeddarTech has filed for bankruptcy under Canada’s Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA) days after announcing its plans to wind down operations on June 16.

The filing from the Québec City-based company details $145.9 million in debts. Secured (collateral-backed) debts represent $138.9 million of the figure and include $53.2 million owed to the provincial government’s Investissement Québec (IQ) and a total of $40.3 million to investor and credit provider Desjardins.

Shareholders warned there was a “significant risk” they would receive “little to no value” from the proceedings.

Other major secured debts belong to FS Investors and Prospector Sponsor ($13 million each), Fidelity ($8.3 million), and the federal development bank BDC Capital ($4.1 million).

Technology partners like California-based Scale AI (about $347,000) and Montréal’s SE Cloud Experts ($379,000) also have unsecured debts.

When LeddarTech announced the bankruptcy filing, it warned shareholders there was a “significant risk” they would receive “little to no value” from the proceedings. It also made clear there were no expectations of resuming business, and that it would be delisted from the Nasdaq Global Market stock exchange.

LeddarTech was founded in 2007 and developed software solutions to help autonomous vehicles navigate their surroundings. The company established research facilities in Montréal and Tel Aviv, Israel. It grew along with the self-driving technology sector and in 2022 obtained $140 million USD (then $178 million CAD) in Series D funding and debt, forging a deal in 2023 for a public stock listing on the Nasdaq that December.

RELATED: Canada’s auto tech industry crashes into a triple emergency

The share price fell rapidly, however, and by August 2024 LeddarTech had received warnings it might be delisted for failing to stay above the $1 USD share price minimum. By May of this year, it was racing to raise $9.7 million USD ($13.2 million CAD) to avoid defaulting on its Desjardins credit facility due to a lack of cash on hand. It failed to negotiate a temporary solution and laid off 95 percent of staff in an unsuccessful bid to allow bankruptcy alternatives like a sale or investment.

Canada still has a significant foothold in the autonomy space despite LeddarTech’s demise. Most notably, University of Toronto professor Raquel Urtasun’s autonomous trucking startup Waabi has secured major partners like Volvo and, in 2024, raised a $275-million Series B round with hopes of launching driverless trucks this year.

Feature image from Glassdoor.

The post LeddarTech bankruptcy filing reveals $146 million in debts to Québec, BDC, and other backers first appeared on BetaKit.

This article appears in the inaugural issue of BetaKit Most Ambitious. Go here to read more stories of bold ambition in Canadian tech.

Larry Smith was hired to teach the principles of economics. Feeling his students were missing something, Smith asked if he could add a class on entrepreneurship to the curriculum for one semester. Forty years later, Smith calculates that he has taught one out of every five of the school’s engineering students. His now legendary classes have informed generations of Canadian builders, many of whom cite him as an ongoing source of inspiration and insight

Michael Litt, the co-founder and CEO of Vidyard, said the perspective he gained in Smith’s class (class of ‘11) formed the spine of his entrepreneurial career. “It keeps me patient in downturns, bold in moments of inflection, and relentlessly focused on building the next curve,” he said. “Whenever the future feels messy, I imagine Larry saying: ‘Change is just time reorganizing value.’”

Here, Smith reflects on the lessons he tried to impart, what makes Mike Lazaridis thoughtfully ambitious, and whether Canada can do audacious things.

I talk to former students on, effectively, a daily basis. I don’t want to suggest that’s a burden: it’s an extraordinary privilege.

People often ask me, How have students changed?

Fundamentally, there has not been a great change.

They don’t look any different. Literally, collegiate fashion has just stopped.

It’s my obligation when entering a classroom to be as useful to as many of the students as possible. I was looking for a universal message, which is this: maximize the talent of every person in the room.

I added history to my courses because my students told me they liked it and found it useful. They were hungry for it.

Engineering frequently forgets to teach people where the tech came from. If they knew where the tech came from, they might better understand where it is going and how it might be better used.

I watch ambition grow as people know more.

A lot of students tell me they’re not creative and they never have been. But when they were three years old, they all played pretend. They’ll actually tell me things they used to pretend to be: firefighters, astronauts, they used to play with dolls. I try to provoke them into resenting the fact the school system might have killed something that was in them. It’s buried in there, somewhere. Find it.

On Thoughtful Ambition

I’ve been studying entrepreneurship for half a century. I’ve also been watching it evolve over all this time.

The challenges, the things that don’t work, are largely the same: there’s a failure to be persistent, or a failure to understand when persistence is destroying you, and your goal is impossible.

I try to help every student be more thoughtfully ambitious.

Do the most useful thing you can do with your time and your talents. Don’t tell me you just want to be rich. Who doesn’t want to be rich?

Mike Lazaridis, the founder of Research in Motion, was the second student I saw at the University of Waterloo. He’s the epitome of a thoughtfully ambitious person. I asked him why he wished to start an enterprise. He began by saying that he wanted to be rich, but then he said he wanted to be rich so he could support research into basic science. And true to his word, he’s built the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo.

Being thoughtful about your ambition doesn’t guarantee success but it certainly is a strong contributor, in my experience.

You don’t have to do something spectacular this afternoon.

It may be a decade or longer from now when the moment arises and you see an opportunity.

Don’t bail at the first difficulty, but listen to what the world is telling you about your idea or your career strategy.

If you don’t have patience, give up being a noteworthy entrepreneur. I do not care that someone started something in their garage in California and sold the company three years later for $2 billion. Fine. It’s called roulette.

I am all too familiar with California culture. It walks into my office quite literally. We send a large number of our students to California, and they often come back reflecting that culture. Some of that is advantageous. It exposes them to other talented men and women, and a huge range of ideas. It also, if we’re going to be blunt about it, exposes them to a disproportionate scent of money made quickly.

On Canada

I have no reason to believe my students are any less adept than those at Stanford or MIT. I know they are the equal of those students because I send them to those institutions.

The talent is here. The ambition is less than it could be, based on the talent. I began to recognize that the gap between what my students are trying to do and what they can do is greater than I had supposed. And it is greater than it would be in the United States.

No country’s perfect and certainly not this one. I don’t find Canada more thoughtful, to be honest. I find it more cautious. The guy who sits in his house because he’s afraid of walking down the street could look like he’s being thoughtful.

There’s caution across the board. Our investment community is more cautious, our banks are more cautious, governments are cautious. Everyone is trying to not make a mistake. That is not a recipe for ambitious innovation.

We have lived too long in the shadow of a very successful place. And now we have a crisis.

Many Canadians, young and old, are oblivious to our history, they’re oblivious to our accomplishments. They know all the stuff America’s invented and practically nothing that Canada’s invented.

We have done audacious things. The reason Canada isn’t the United States is because of the Canadian Pacific Railroad. Full stop. Without that, the chance of having stayed independent would have been a fantasy. In 1945, Canada was the fourth most powerful military nation on Earth. A million soldiers from a tiny population and it did not bankrupt us.

We also have a relatively long history of aborting innovations we could have pioneered. The Avro Arrow comes to mind. Yet, we have done moonshots successfully.

Canada needs to find its place in the world. The need has never been more urgent. In my lifetime, it has never been more urgent.

We don’t need more new ideas. Just do the stuff we already know we should be doing.

We have to—perhaps for the first time—properly define ourselves and probe the limits of our capabilities. And I do believe we shall surprise ourselves.

Dealing with the challenges of today’s world is not going to be done with little tweaks. This is full throttle innovation. It will take clear-eyed self-confidence and thoughtfully ambitious people who aren’t easily spooked. And those are in short supply, around the world, by the way.

We’re a small country in the shadow of a big thing which is lumbering around, and we’d best get our act together.

Larry Smith spoke to BetaKit on April 16, 2025. His thoughts have been condensed and edited.

Feature image courtesy the Grand Valley Construction Association.

The post What I Learned: Larry Smith first appeared on BetaKit.

This article appears in the inaugural issue of BetaKit Most Ambitious. Go here to read more stories of bold ambition in Canadian tech.

I’m in the changing room of a hockey rink in Waterloo, Ont., stress-eating a chicken shawarma.

Andre is using a ratchet screwdriver to adjust Santiago’s Iron Man suit. Sophie is running through her script in the showers—where the acoustics are good—while Maisha fine-tunes the bass-playing robot. Rishi is pacing back and forth, finding the perfect rhythm to unveil his urban planning software for the first time. There are nine or so more of us in various stages of preparation.

We are a group of University of Waterloo students, here to participate in Symposium, an annual World’s Fair-style exhibition of passion projects.

Socratica is a community where trying something new means more than doing something perfectly.

Since starting in 2022, Symposium has scaled in scope and ambition with each edition. When I first participated last year, I stood beside my poems (glued to Bristol board) in front of a few hundred people. This time, I’m about to talk in front of a capacity crowd of 2,500, with a few thousand more watching virtually.

Included in this crowd are a few strangers I’d met on the internet who are crashing on my couch for the night: one took the train from Montréal, another took a plane from Boston, the third came in on the GO Bus.

A pyrotechnics license has been obtained for the show.

Symposium is the largest, loudest event organized by Socratica, a student-led community that runs small, high-trust group events, where any kind of creative work can thrive.

To understand Socratica’s origins, you need to understand the University of Waterloo. Along with the school’s world-class co-op program comes intense focus on becoming a great employee: grinding LeetCode, launching side projects, attending hackathons.

But the hustle isn’t matched by a strong creative culture for the university’s history of graduating artists, entrepreneurs, and engineers. The return to in-person studies after the COVID-19 pandemic saw many young people looking to build new communities.

So Socratica was started by Adi Sharma and Aman Mathur: at least once a week, students meet for Pomodoro sessions, snacks, and socialization. At the end of the session, participants demo what they’ve been working on: everything from elaborate yo-yo routines, game jams, watercolour painting, book reading, hardware construction and software development.

Everyone wants to have made something, but only a small fraction are interested in the boots-on-the-ground reality of making things, which often requires long hours, repetitive tasks, and recuperating from all the plans that failed. The internet provides a gallery of finished projects, emerging easily from nothing, without metadata to track the unglamorous, thankless work someone put in.

Socratica is thoroughly unsentimental about the pains of building. At the last session I attended, a student demoed his free, open-source 2D animation platform. He shared the progress he had made: after four hours of hard work, the splash screen was a few hundred pixels larger. “You can see that it looks totally different now,” he joked.

We all clapped and cheered him on, because frustratingly small changes are a reminder that nothing worth doing is easy.

Rolling with the chaos is a core component of Socratica, which features no explicitly defined leadership roles. As such, there are no roles to apply to or be fired from: if you want to see something done, you do it. In the past, “something” has meant everything from film festivals to bonfires.

Socratica has quickly attracted the attention of investors and sponsors, but—more importantly—its spirit has proliferated around the world.

Anyone interested in starting a Socratica node in their city can find documentation on the Socratica website that walks them through setup, covering everything from branding to lighting. There are now more than thirty nodes, which are as close to Waterloo as Guelph and as far as Singapore, and run with no external oversight.

Socratica is thoroughly unsentimental about the pains of building.

If this sounds like an experiment, that’s because it is. Socratica is a passion project shared by self-starters who come to the table with different pursuits but share the same desire: a place to socialize with fellow nerds while getting an idea off the ground.

Socratica gives its members the license to do what they truly care about. It also instills a sense of collective responsibility: the “host pledge,” which is recited at sessions with new people present, contains the promise to befriend anyone who isn’t already otherwise engaged in conversation or work. Having a community of people in your corner removes the friction that can make starting something new feel insurmountable.

For a long while after I started attending Socratica, I didn’t show what I was working on, because writing felt too personal to reveal half-finished. I loved watching other people demo what they were working on, but I was very precious about “my process.”

Creative writing is almost always done alone, behind a closed door. This has its merits, but I am so thankful that Socratica has changed my very black-and-white way of thinking. Surprise, surprise: reading aloud the opening paragraphs of a story I had just written was a lovely experience. People gave a shit about something I’d just made, even though it was still a stumbling newborn! Having people be curious about your work-in-progress rather than the final product can be incredibly creatively freeing.

Symposium was a big night in a Waterloo hockey rink, but it wasn’t the point. At any size and scale, Socratica makes space for the kind of effort underrated in most of the world: messy, passionate, and occasionally overambitious.

Socratica is a community where trying something new means more than doing something perfectly, which is a great source of freedom for people with big ideas.

It’s a force multiplier for individual creativity.

Feature image courtesy Freeman Jiang for Socratica.

The post Socratica’s IRL revolution is powered by the love of making first appeared on BetaKit.

Members of the crowd at StartWell’s office on King Street West in Toronto were leaning slightly into one another just to try to hear their conversations in the bustling room when a gong sounded.

The gong signalled to the crowd that Brad Feld, the founder of global startup accelerator Techstars, partner of Colorado venture firm Foundry, and the guy who literally wrote the book on Venture Deals, was ready to speak. Feld was at Toronto Tech Week to have a candid conversation with Golden Ventures founder Matt Golden on the power of mentorship, which happens to be the subject of his new book, Give First. Everyone in attendance could receive a free copy of the book upon entry, and many took their seats with it in their hands. 

“The magic of a mentor-mentee relationship is that it’s not hierarchical.”

Brad Feld
Techstars founder

As defined in the book’s opening pages, “Give First” means being willing to put energy into a relationship or a system without defining the transactional parameters. It’s a philosophy, not a religion, Feld told the room. That is, it’s something you should integrate into your worldview rather than set as a hard rule. However, he was quick to say it should not be conflated with altruism—”You can and should expect to get something back.” You just don’t know the way it will manifest. 

“The last 15 years and a lot of the experience that we had with Techstars [evolved] to what this philosophy is today,” Feld said. 

Feld, leaning back in his chair wearing a shirt that read “Boomer ok” alongside a depiction of Grogu (better known as “Baby Yoda”) from The Mandalorian, shared with the now-hushed room how this approach has fostered a number of valuable personal and professional relationships over the hourlong conversation. 

In one story, Feld says he advised a business owner to host a monthly mobile developer meet-up with provided pizza, as they were struggling to find and hire mobile developers at the height of BlackBerry’s popularity. According to Feld, this method solved their problem. 

“If you put yourself in a position where you’re starved for time, money, energy, food, shelter, whatever, be selfish,” Feld said. “Think of something that will help your business, and approach the startup community [and the] people that you want access to in a way [you think] could be helpful.”

Feld applied the philosophy of giving without expectation to the concept of mentorship, noting that he has benefitted from and remains connected with the thousands of founders he funded at Techstars. 

“I’ve learned way more from them than they learned from me,” Feld said. “The magic of a mentor-mentee relationship is that it’s not hierarchical … there’s a whole bunch of things that you see through your eyes that I, as a 60 year old, can learn from.” 

It was apparent while Feld shared tales that the content of the conversation was secondary to his presence. When taking questions from the audience, an older man told Feld he was just “goddamned honoured” to be in the same room as him, and promptly received a hug from Feld. Many attendees BetaKit spoke with following the conversation were also, quite simply, starstruck. 

“It’s not every day you get to be in a room with a monster in the space,” one attendee told BetaKit, who said he thought Feld’s lesson against transactional relationships was valuable. 

Unified.to CEO Roy Pereira, who was in attendance, said that Feld’s humility, humour and calm stuck out to him. 

“The ‘pay it forward’ principle comes out of his life of doing hard things with humility, and understanding that we all are successful when we help each other without wanting to be paid back,” Pereira said via text following the event. “He would be a great Canadian!”

BetaKit is the official media partner of Toronto Tech Week. Feature image courtesy Sean Pollock for TechTO.

The post Techstars founder Brad Feld says you should give more without knowing what you’ll get back first appeared on BetaKit.

David Usher may be best known as a fixture on MuchMusic in the 90s, when he fronted iconic Canadian rock band Moist, or from the thoughtful tracks he penned on his solo records. But since 2018, Usher has embarked on a new creative journey: Reimagine AI, a venture studio that builds AI platforms and interactive avatars using house-made and existing tech. 

BetaKit caught up with the Montréal-based musician and entrepreneur at Toronto Tech Week to discuss his company and the creative process—and learned that he reads the BetaKit Newsletter every week.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

How does the creative process usually work for you, in music and in tech?

A lot of my work has been around this idea of creative thinking methodology, which is the idea that creativity has a process and a flow to it.

If you take that methodology, you can extract that and divorce it from the genre or the vertical you’re working in. You can apply that same creative thinking to any vertical, and it’s the same process whether I’m making music or whether I’m running a tech startup. 

Does the stroke of inspiration always start the same way for you?

My theory about creative work is that it’s work. So it is 98 percent grind. Part of my system is that I’m always working on many things at the same time. 

Because the worst thing is that place where you don’t have something, you’re not working on anything, or you’re sort of lost in the ether.

There are lots of parts of creativity that are traumatic, just like building a company. It’s part fun and part trauma.

What is Reimagine AI building? 

I started the company in 2018, so we’ve been working in AI for a long time, before LLMs, building these massive dialogue trees, trying to make things sound smart. And now they actually are smart. 

We started out as a creative studio, and we’ve moved to be more of a venture studio, building platforms and companies and projects on this tech stack that we built or on different tech stacks that are now available.

Can you give me an example of a project?

One of our projects is Lucy AI. My friend from 30 years ago, Lucy, was, or is, this incredible dancer. And then about five years ago, she got stage four lung and brain cancer. For the last couple of years, we’ve been building the digital version of her mind. 

From that, we’ve now built Ask Lucy, which is an online version, because her oncologist came to the New York exhibit and was thinking that this would be an amazing thing online for newly diagnosed cancer patients. To talk to somebody [who] has gone through the experience [who] they can really ask anything to.

We’re working on our own digital immortality platform called Second Echo, which is [based on] the idea that anyone can build their own version of their own mind, their thoughts, and memories saved forever. 

Do you envision AI characters becoming more common in people’s social interactions?

These things are gonna be everywhere. And there’s a really big possibility that there’s gonna be a huge pushback coming soon. Human spaces are about to rise … both physically, but also online, people will only want human things. 

Some of these AI models are trained by scraping the internet. As an artist, does that give you any pause?

Do I think that artists should get paid? Absolutely. Is it going through the courts? Yes. And will I support it when it does? Absolutely.

But the reality is, just like every college student right now … these are the tools of the future, and you need to use the tools that exist. 

Does your work in tech scratch the same itch for you as music creation?

It really does for me. It’s exactly the same thing … if I’m working with a large group of musicians in a room, I don’t play the cello, I don’t play the trumpet or the drums, but I understand the overview of what we’re trying to build, and I understand when a part is really good and how to draw the parts out of the right people. 

It’s very much the same in technology, where you’re looking at a vision of what you’re trying to build. The one thing that’s different is the language. 

One more thing. What musical project are you most proud of? 

I’m going out on the road again this year, after three years off. The band is doing a bunch of outdoor festivals.  

I guess I don’t know, because we haven’t played any of these songs in many years. Playing two hours of singles is really fun. It’s a blast. 

BetaKit is the official media partner of Toronto Tech Week. Feature image by Madison McLauchlan for BetaKit. 

The post What making music taught David Usher about running an AI startup first appeared on BetaKit.

There’s never been a more critical moment for Canadian founders to turn ambition into action. That warning—and challenge—rang out from the University of Toronto’s Convocation Hall on June 23, where more than 500 tech leaders gathered at BetaKit Town Hall: Most Ambitious to hear from Canadians leading the charge.

The Toronto Tech Week event also coincided with the release of BetaKit Most Ambitious, a new annual edition telling stories of bold ambition in Canadian tech. Many of the speakers at BetaKit Town Hall were also featured in the inaugural issue. 

While the subject-matter expertise of each speaker was varied—from mushroom-based fashion to “joyful” social media to literal rocket science—the message was loud and clear: Canadians are tackling big problems at home and abroad.

Big problems, hard science

The founders on the BetaKit Town Hall: Most Ambitious stage did share some commonalities. Many were Canadian innovators transforming world-class science into homegrown solutions for a more sustainable planet.

Phil De Luna, Chief Science and Commercial Officer at Deep Sky, shared how the cleantech startup is developing technology to remove CO2 emissions from the air and safely store them underground. 

With the current US administration scaling back or eliminating its climate-change mitigation efforts, De Luna said this is an opportunity “for Canada to step up,” noting the country has the people, technology, and resources needed to address climate change.

“We want to make Canada the place where carbon capture scales,” De Luna said.

Like Deep Sky, Xatoms is tackling a global threat: contaminated drinking water, which affects more than two billion people worldwide. At the BetaKit Town Hall, founder Diana Virgovicova gave a live demonstration of her company’s ability to treat contaminated water with AI and quantum chemistry-developed photocatalysts—using BetaKit editor-in-chief Douglas Soltys as a willing test subject (he’s fine).

Making polluted water safe to drink can make an impact globally and across Canada. Moderator and BetaKit reporter Madison McLauchlan reminded the audience that there are 37 long-term drinking water advisories in effect for 35 First Nations communities in Canada. With contracts in the United States, Kenya, and South Africa, Virgovicova said that addressing clean water issues back home is part of her company’s long-term ambition.

“Our vision is a platform that tailors catalysts for any contaminant: arsenic in South Africa to PFAs in Texas, and boil-water orders in Canada,” Virgovicova said.

Putting Canadian tech in orbit to keep Canadian talent at home

While some of Canada’s most ambitious tech leaders are firmly focused on planet Earth, others are looking beyond it. 

Canada is the only G7 nation without homegrown launch capability, but Markham, Ont.-based NordSpace plans to change that with Canada’s first commercial rocket launch later this year.

Rahul Goel, the company’s founder, warned that relying on foreign launch pads drains capital and potentially compromises security, citing Ottawa-based Telesat, which will spend about $1.5 billion to send its made-in-Canada Lightspeed satellites into orbit from the United States.

“That’s Canadian taxpayer money leaving the country,” Goel said. “That was a wake-up call.”

To keep those dollars and critical know-how at home, NordSpace is building engines, vehicles, and Canada’s first spaceport in St. Lawrence, Nfld.

“I think we’re all united by this desire to turn Canada into a true spacefaring nation, one that’s competitive, one that’s respected, one that’s highly capable of retaining talent,” he said.

What entrepreneurs need to turn ambition into reality

The BetaKit Town Hall speakers also reminded the audience that ambition alone is not enough. MycoFutures founder Stephanie Lipp, whose company has developed a synthetic leather using mycelium fibres made from fungi, told the audience that for her, manufacturing in Canada isn’t just hard, it’s almost impossible. 

“We need actual venture capitalists again who are willing to take risks on the zero-to-one.”

Katherine Homuth
Oomira founder

“We need more domestic buyers willing to try new biomaterials. We need more shared lab space, guaranteed offtake contracts, and additional grant programs focused on hardware, not just SaaS,” she said. 

Lipp also acknowledged the support she received from SRTX founder Katherine Homuth, who offered MycoFutures $100,000 in prepaid purchase orders and use of the company’s manufacturing facility in Montréal. 

“For anyone who doesn’t know how incredible and impactful Katherine’s help was, I need to emphasize that,” she said. “Because there really wasn’t another way forward for us, and I was getting really nervous about what was going to happen.”

Now the CEO of Oomira, Homuth shared her thoughts on what hard tech founders need in her fireside chat with BetaKit CEO Siri Agrell. Homuth earned a hushed murmur from the crowd when she said, “Traditional VC hates that risk, but that risk is exactly what venture capital is supposed to fund.”

“We need actual venture capitalists again who are willing to take risks on the zero-to-one,” she added.

Beyond more risk-friendly capital, Homuth said entrepreneurs need to be compensated for the time they are building the company while not taking a salary.

“We need a standard employment agreement for founders. From day one, the CEO should have a benchmark salary on the books—even if the company can’t pay it yet—so the economic value of that forgone salary is visible. Otherwise, five years later, nobody remembers what you sacrificed,” she said.

Together, their calls highlight a common wishlist: more risk-taking customers, purpose-built infrastructure, and venture capital that understands hardware risks and timelines. Without those supports, the speakers said even the boldest ideas will stall on the launchpad.

At home and abroad

As part of her opening remarks, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow connected BetaKit Town Hall to the broader week’s events. 

“This week is all about telling the stories of Canada’s most ambitious tech people,” she said. “When founders from India, Hong Kong or any corner of the globe come here, they see a city that welcomes them, funds them, and helps them grow. Their success stories inspire the next generation of dreamers and doers.”

Chow’s optimism helped set the tone for the afternoon, but it also underscored one of the most significant challenges for Canadian tech: keeping Canadian talent in Canada and winning people back once they have left.

That topic came into focus during the fireside chat with Aaron Rodericks, a Canadian who is working in Ireland leading trust and safety for the decentralized social media startup Bluesky. He noted a return to Canada would require finding a role that would allow him to feel like he could make a difference globally.

He added that finding those roles becomes easier when companies tell their story and brag about being Canadian.

“I was flipping through BetaKit’s Most Ambitious issue earlier and kept thinking, ‘Wait, that company is Canadian?’” 

BetaKit is the official media partner of Toronto Tech Week. All images courtesy Matt Tibbo Photography for BetaKit.

The post BetaKit Town Hall showcases Canadian ambition at home and abroad first appeared on BetaKit.

When early-stage startups need design help, they usually consider two options: hire in-house or bring in an agency. Gev Marotz thinks they’re missing a third.

Marotz, a former Wealthsimple product design lead, now runs Gev Design, a fractional design studio that specializes in supporting fast-moving tech startups. Unlike freelancers, his team doesn’t charge by the hour, and the work comes at half the cost of a typical agency.

”We focus on product, users, and forward momentum. That’s where we can make the biggest impact.”

Gev Marotz

“Most teams bring us in during inflection points,” Marotz said. “When the goal is clarity and speed, you don’t need someone in every meeting. You need someone who can help you build the right thing, quickly.”

Marotz and his studio plug directly into the founding team. They help shape product, brand, and user experience from the inside, without the time or cost of hiring and onboarding. 

Fractional design, as he sees it, is about embedding senior talent early, which means solving high-stakes problems while startups are still nimble. His studio works on short-term contracts, often working with several companies at a time, all referred through word of mouth. 

“We usually join early, when things are still ambiguous. We help define the product, not just design the screens,” he said. “That might mean rethinking onboarding, mapping out an MVP, or rebuilding the UX around real user behaviour.”

Here are three brands that tapped Marotz’s team to rethink their user experience when it mattered most.

Scrappy no more

After a decade of rapid growth, TechTO had outgrown its old brand. What started as a scrappy local meetup had become a national platform, but its look and feel hadn’t kept pace.

“Our old brand felt like it was still using a BlackBerry,” said TechTO Co-Founder Jason Goldlist. “After 10 years, we needed a new identity that both reflected the roots of the community but also looked forward towards the future.”

Marotz stepped in to lead the redesign. Working directly with Goldlist, Marotz rebuilt the brand and website from scratch. “No pitch decks. No process theater. Just fast collaboration,” Marotz said. “It still felt like TechTO, just grown up.”

Goldlist’s brief left room to push the work. “He got the assignment: honour the TechTO legacy, nod to classic tech tropes, and layer in just enough AI weirdness to break through the noise and win over the next-gen builder crowd.”

The full refresh shipped in weeks, and the response was immediate. “We had trust from day one,” Marotz added. “We launched the full brand and site refresh in weeks and the community rallied behind it. That kind of pride doesn’t come from a handoff file. It comes from real partnership.”

Built to move fast

Syzl, often described as “Airbnb for kitchens,” makes it easy to browse, compare, and book commercial kitchen space. But as the startup gained traction, its product experience and brand needed a reset.

Gev Design was brought in to lead that reset and better serve food entrepreneurs. The team overhauled Syzl’s brand and website, rebuilt mobile and web flows, and refined the design system to be more consistent and usable. 

“We didn’t just polish the UI—we helped Syzl rethink the entire experience,” Marotz said. “That meant rebuilding core mobile and web flows, refreshing the brand and marketing site, and mentoring their in-house designer to grow confidence and capability.”

Working alongside Syzl’s team meant testing a new feature flow, getting feedback, and shipping improvements in just three days. And it brought more than a fresh look. 

“The relaunch gave Syzl a clearer voice and faster momentum across product, brand, and marketing,” Marotz added. “It aligned the team, sped up decisions, and boosted confidence—all critical when you’re gearing up to grow.”

“Gev is passionate, curious, and always seeking the best outcome,” said Azrah Manji-Savin, CEO and Co-Founder of Syzl. “He deeply cared about the team and the customers we serve, which made working together a dream.”

‘Work deep, not wide’

Blitzy, a platform that turns written specs into working software, partnered with Marotz to launch its core product fast and at enterprise scale.

“Gev came recommended for product design by the best UI designer I had ever worked with,” said Blitzy Founder and CEO Brian Elliot. “He brings high empathy UX design with considered and clean UI design, woven with the business acumen to deliver the right outcomes. Gev’s team is equally tier 1.”

Instead of handing off Figma files, Marotz’s team embedded with Blitzy engineers. They mapped user flows, wrote detailed specs, and built a design system that still powers every customer build. Their components became templates for Blitzy’s AI engine.

“We helped architect the product,” Marotz said. “That meant writing detailed specs, defining edge cases, and building a reusable design system that still powers customer-facing builds today. Our specs became internal templates for Blitzy’s AI engine, something you don’t get from surface-level design work.”

Marotz also used Blitzy to build one of his own products, giving the team real feedback and surfacing bugs before launch. That feedback loop also helped Blitzy move faster and land enterprise clients. 

“Our specs now power every Blitzy customer build,” Marotz added. “That kind of lasting impact is rare, but it’s what happens when fractional teams work deep, not wide.”

Making the model work

Marotz keeps the studio intentionally small, so it can plug in where it counts. “We’re not in every standup, and that’s kind of the point,” he said. ”We focus on product, users, and forward momentum. That’s where we can make the biggest impact.”

That same mindset led Marotz to co-found Juggle, an AI assistant aimed to support fractional professionals juggling multiple roles.

As the fractional model gains traction beyond engineering and finance, design is starting to catch up. Marotz sees his studio as proof that it can thrive when it moves at the pace of early-stage teams.

Whether you’re rethinking your onboarding, launching a product, or rebuilding your brand, Gev Design helps you get there faster. Learn more now.

All images provided by Gev Marotz.

The post Why smart companies are using fractional design studios first appeared on BetaKit.

9Bio Therapeutics co-founder, president, and chief scientific officer Philipe Gobeil envisions a future where fewer cancer patients need to choose between painful, toxic therapies that give them a chance of a cure, or spending their limited remaining time with loved ones without the stress of treatment.

Gobeil hopes to make that possible for some patients with his diverse, multidisciplinary team at 9Bio. The Québec City-based biotechnology startup’s small staff includes CEO Henrique de Carvalho, an accountant and MBA, a structural biologist, an artificial intelligence (AI) specialist, and an organic chemist. Gobeil, with his oncology and immunology background, has shepherded several drugs from discovery to clinic, while Carvalho has helped bring four therapies from development to commercial launch.

“A lot of [cancer patients] are in a lot of pain when they don’t have to be.”

Philipe Gobeil,
9Bio Therapeutics

They are applying their combined expertise and “complementary skill sets” in oncology, drug development, and commercialization to developing an AI-guided structural biology platform that 9Bio plans to use to design therapies that selectively target tumours and spare healthy tissues.

9Bio was among the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) graduate companies that presented at Super Session earlier this week. 

Gobeil sat down with BetaKit at the event to unpack 9Bio’s strategy for creating future cancer treatments he says will help the “duct tape” of the human body hold on a bit longer, how the startup plans to “save or resurrect” clinically validated therapies that failed due to toxic side effects, and why he believes his company’s approach could be less risky and faster than other biotech firms’.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

What problem is 9Bio trying to solve and how?

We’re really trying to address on-target, off-tumour binding for therapies. So when you think about somebody who’s taking a cancer therapeutic, they’re going to suffer from side effects related to that therapeutic. Those side effects are related to the treatment not only not engaging in the tumour, but engaging in healthy tissues and delivering cell killing and inflammation outside of the tumour. We’re trying to get therapies uniquely into the tumour, not elsewhere.

We have three-dimensional models of proteins [and of] protein-based therapeutics, and we take an engineering approach to modify them in such a way that they are dependent on a unique chemistry that’s present in tumours—which are hyper proliferative and metabolically extremely selfish, [and] they create this wasteland around them. That unique chemistry enables binding of our therapies in that context, but not in the normal context of a healthy tissue.

What sort of impact could this potentially have on patients?

There’s two major applications of our platform technology. The first one is to address toxicities of existing therapies. If you think about a cancer patient, they’re taking their treatment, and the tumour is disappearing. They’re responding well, but their oncologist tells them, ‘You can’t continue, this is making you too sick. Your heart tissues, your lung, your gut, whatever, are not responding well. We unfortunately have to take you off this first-line therapy that could save your life, and we’re going to give you something else that maybe doesn’t have as good a chance of saving your life.’

That’s true for about a third of patients in the frontline immunotherapy space. [Being able to] stay on the right therapy for longer is going to save lives, and it’s going to increase quality of life, because people suffer so significantly from these therapies, they’d rather roll the dice, in some cases, with their own survival than go through the side effects.

The second application is to develop therapies in spaces in the clinical space that it’s not possible to address. If you imagine a therapy that was being developed and failed [before ever reaching the market] because of toxicity—despite being efficacious, despite knowing clinically in patients that this is an efficacious treatment—wouldn’t you want to develop that? 

A lot of these pharma companies have spent tens of millions or hundreds of millions of dollars bringing a therapy forward, and had to abandon it because they’re binding to the right target, but they’re binding to the target in the wrong place. So if we can get it only to tumours not elsewhere, we can save or resurrect these therapies that would be very promising, and that means we can go after disease indications where there isn’t currently a good treatment.

Tell us about 9Bio’s progress to date.

9Bio has been around since June of 2023, so we’re just a little bit more than two years old. In that time, we’ve developed our platform that allows us to engineer this specificity. It’s a computational platform with multiple elements to it. We’ve shown proof of concept that what we can do in a computer translates to a lab, and now we’re testing in mice. 

We’ve built really great collaborations with the [National Research Council Canada] … and [Québec research and development non-profit] TransBIOTech, and we have a significant amount of non-dilutive funding to support that. Most recently, we got the support of Merck Digital Science Studios, which is a great opportunity for us to co-develop our products with a leader in the oncology space. 

How does 9Bio’s model differ from other biotech companies?

If you’re developing a therapeutic in the oncology space, you’re often starting with either a ‘me too’ play—a minor variation—or you’re developing something from scratch. And 9Bio doesn’t really do either of those things. 

We take clinically validated products, because we know they’re efficacious, and we develop them by dealing with the toxicity issues that [otherwise prevent their further] development. So in a way, we have a medium-risk approach, because we know these are efficacious—there’s no biological risk associated with their efficacy—and the risk associated with their toxicity can be solved very early in development, before we’re even in mice. 

We frontload the risk knowing the efficacy is going to be more likely in the clinic. We’re less risky and potentially much faster than others.

What does your long-term, big-picture vision for 9Bio look like?

If we can help patients, that’s ultimately the goal. [Humans are] biology. We’re held together with duct tape and hope, and I want to make sure that that duct tape holds on for a little bit longer … and we’re not suffering along the way. 

A lot of [cancer patients] are in a lot of pain when they don’t have to be. Alleviating that pain, [improving] quality of life, allowing them to make decisions that don’t require them to choose between surviving and going and spending time with their family, I think that’s a great opportunity. We want to be part of that. We want to lead the way in that.

BetaKit is the official media partner of Toronto Tech Week. Feature image courtesy Creative Destruction Lab.

The post 9Bio Therapeutics’ Philipe Gobeil wants to “resurrect” clinically validated cancer therapies that failed due to toxicity first appeared on BetaKit.

Francis Davidson, the CEO and co-founder of Canadian-founded and San Francisco-based alternative lodging company Sonder Holdings, is stepping away from the company after working on spearheading its integration with hotel giant Marriott International since August. 

Davidson had been leading the company while navigating multiple challenges in its push to become profitable, including accounting issues, lawsuits, and layoffs in the post-COVID-19 hospitality landscape. 

“I still thought of myself as an entrepreneur, but the reality was that … I was a turnaround CEO.”

Francis Davidson

The company ultimately landed on a 20-year strategic licensing agreement with Marriott and $146 million USD (then $198 million CAD) in additional liquidity from various investors to strengthen its balance sheet.

In a longform post on X, Davidson said orchestrating the deal was “the hardest thing” he’d ever done. 

“After nearly a year of replatforming our technology, we announced earlier this week that our integration with Marriott is now complete,” Davidson wrote. “This positive momentum and major milestone felt like the right moment for a leadership change.”

Through the licensing deal, Sonder’s inventory will join Marriott’s portfolio under the “Sonder by Marriott Bonvoy” banner, and Sonder will pay royalties to Marriott in exchange for making its units bookable through the hotelier’s website and loyalty program.

Sonder was founded in Montréal in 2012 by Martin Pecard, Lucas Pellan, and Davidson under the name Flatbook, but later moved its headquarters and incorporated in the United States. Davidson recalled the company’s early and rapid growth as a startup in his X post, but said that revenues collapsed, and burn shot up, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. 

RELATED: Sonder inks Marriott licensing deal, secures additional liquidity amid continued challenges

“I still thought of myself as an entrepreneur but the reality was that, for those years, I was a turnaround CEO,” Davidson said. 

Though travel demand rebounded, Sonder struggled after going public in early 2022 at a $1.9-billion USD valuation via a special purpose acquisition company. The company saw its stock price on the Nasdaq nosedive from roughly $200 USD per share to less than $2 USD. 

Davidson believed that going public seemed like a great idea at the time, but by early 2022 the market had shifted and the company raised approximately $400 million less than it had planned while still dealing with the costs of a public company.

“Low volume and an increasingly depressed stock price made it practically impossible for institutional capital to build a position in the stock,” he said in the post. 

Davidson said he learned the company could be “so much leaner and more effective” than he thought possible, but a standalone company could only do so much, leading to exploring partnerships with major hospitality companies such as Marriott. 

According to a US Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] filing, Davidson is stepping down as CEO and director, replaced in an interim capacity by board chairperson Janice Sears. Sears has been on Sonder’s board since 2022, according to the filing. 

Davidson said in his post that his next steps will be to reflect on the past decade, his learnings and explore new ideas. 

“After all, I always identified more with the “co-founder” part of my title than whatever came next,” he said.

Feature image courtesy of Sonder.

The post Sonder co-founder Francis Davidson departs after seeing through Marriott deal first appeared on BetaKit.

Edmonton-based healthtech startup NiaHealth is looking to become a fixture in Canadian households after raising a $5.75 million CAD seed round led by Golden Ventures. 

NiaHealth aims to prevent disease and other medical conditions by streamlining medical tests, which are co-signed by clinicians, through an annual subscription model.

“We’ve built the whole solution in the spirit of being a complement to the health system.”

Sameer Dhar

Packages range from $299 to $1,299 per year and can include a test for 35 biomarkers, such as heart cholesterol levels, blood platelet counts, and metabolism, and one-on-one consultations with a clinician. Co-founded by CEO Sameer Dhar, clinical director Tanya ter Keurs, COO Mike Goss, and CTO Saif Uddin Mahmud, the company emerged from stealth with $2.5 million in pre-seed funding led by Version One Ventures this past April.

“What we found is that there is a huge demand from people across the country to own their own health outcomes, and they’re increasingly looking for options outside of traditional care,” Dhar told BetaKit in an interview. “But we’ve built the whole solution in the spirit of being a complement to the health system.”

The company had to navigate the question of its place in the Canadian healthcare system early, contemplating how much Canadians should, and would be willing, to pay for healthcare, as well as getting its care accepted by the publicly funded system. Dhar said putting clinicians forward, and standing behind every test, played a big part in establishing its legitimacy with the system and its customers.

“In a consumer’s mind, they need to have the trust that there’s more than just AI [artificial intelligence] sitting behind the scenes getting insight into their health,” Dhar said.

RELATED: Long-life startup NiaHealth exits stealth with $2.5 million in pre-seed funding

NiaHealth advertises its plans as including a “Hand-Crafted Comprehensive Health Summary by Expert Clinicians – Not AI”—bolded and italicized. While NiaHealth does incorporate AI in its workflow, Dhar claimed that, in a Canadian context, there is reasonable skepticism about the “black box” of AI telling someone about their health. 

“When I look at some of the other companies in the space, their model or framework for using AI is more about [taking] the clinician out of the loop,” Dhar said. “As we’ve been building our system, it’s always been about how [we] make the clinician the most effective possible.”

Dhar said it means a lot to the company to have prominent Canadian venture capitalists backing a Canadian story.

While NiaHealth’s services were only available in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Ontario when it exited stealth, with consistent 30 percent month-over-month growth it has since expanded to all provinces, except Québec.

Getting into Québec requires a bit more work and investment, Dhar said, but NiaHealth plans to be available in the province by the end of the year. 

The healthtech startup is now focused on developing its market presence and product with the proceeds from the seed round it raised earlier this month. 

“We want to make sure that almost every Canadian [knows what] Nia is, because we can support all Canadians,” Dhar said. “I think that’s just an expensive endeavor that we have to keep investing in.”

The round, raised entirely on a simple agreement for future equity (SAFE), featured participation from an assortment of Canadian investors in addition to Golden Ventures, including The51, Fullscript CEO Kyle Braatz, Klue CEO Jason Smith, CIBC Capital Markets managing director Kathy Butler, and Good Future’s Satish Kanwar and Arati Sharma (Good Future is the majority owner of BetaKit). Returning investors Version One Ventures founder Boris Wertz and Wattpad co-founder Ivan Yuen also participated. 

Dhar said it means a lot to the company to have prominent Canadian venture capitalists backing a Canadian story, especially in healthcare. 

“Canadians [are] protective of our healthcare system, and I think [that] is an important piece of the puzzle that we’re honoring when keeping the Canadian story alive, even from a cap table perspective,” Dhar said. 

Feature image courtesy NiaHealth.

The post NiaHealth raises $5.75 million as it hopes to become a household name in preventative healthcare first appeared on BetaKit.

This article appears in the inaugural issue of BetaKit Most Ambitious. Go here to read more stories of bold ambition in Canadian tech.

Most founders are taught that startups are designed to grow fast, and growing fast requires making something for a big market.

A decade ago, Eric Migicovsky followed that path to pursue his ambition: defining the smartwatch category. He launched his company, Pebble, to incredible heights. It came crashing down just as fast.

Years later, his ambition hasn’t changed. Migicovsky has started a new company to make smartwatches again. This is the story of why Pebble died and how this time will be different.

Born in Vancouver, Migicovsky moved to Southern Ontario in the mid-2000s to study Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo. He was attracted by the university’s approach to intellectual property–policies that leave the IP generated by its students to its students, making it an outlier in Canada.

“I really wanted a Pebble. It didn’t exist. No one was building anything remotely like it. So I decided to go and make it.”

Eric Migicovsky
Core Devices

At school, Migicovsky started a company and joined the university’s nascent Velocity accelerator. Its first product, a smartwatch, had a local bent: it connected with BlackBerry smartphones, made by hometown tech hero Research In Motion. Called the inPulse, the watch displayed messages and alerts so Migicovsky could read a text while riding his bike without breaking his neck. Most of the initial batch of devices broke in shipping.

“Looking back, it was not the most beautiful product in the world,” he said. “But we shipped it.”

Migicovsky was undeterred. He was driven to build the smartwatch he’d been dreaming of: one that showed the time, basic message notifications, and not much else. Its battery would last forever, because it wasn’t trying to be a smartphone on your wrist.

“I really wanted a Pebble,” he said. “It didn’t exist. No one was building anything remotely like it. So I, without really knowing what I was doing, decided to go and make it.”

Migicovsky’s ambition took him from Waterloo to Silicon Valley, after Pebble was accepted into world-renowned startup accelerator Y Combinator in 2011. There, he was taught that startups are designed to grow fast.

Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham gave him an offhanded piece of advice that stuck: don’t fundraise, crowdfund. From then on, Pebble would raise money directly from its customers for its products, using a new platform called Kickstarter.

The result? Almost 70,000 backers collectively pledged over $10 million USD for the first Pebble smartwatch in 2012. Powered by three of the 15 most-funded Kickstarter projects of all time, the company sold more than 2 million smartwatches in a five-year period. Pebble was growing fast.

But by 2015, smartwatches were no longer a novelty, and Pebble was facing tough competition from Samsung and Apple, which had begun offering watches focused on productivity and fitness. Pebble was originally a product built for an audience of one; to compete, Migicovsky felt he now had to build Pebbles for everyone. The company started rolling out a range of watches with comparable features.

Migicovsky now thinks Pebble lost its North Star trying to chase a bigger market. “I got pulled in a direction towards something that I didn’t even really care about,” he said. “We were like, ‘Okay, this seems to be working for Fitbit. This seems to be working for Apple. Maybe we could do that, but make it a bit more affordable, make it a bit more Pebble-y.’”

The decision had disastrous results. Pebble missed sales targets by $20 million in 2015 after the productivity and fitness pitch failed to connect with its core user base, leaving the company with a warehouse full of costly unsold inventory. By the end of 2016, Pebble was effectively insolvent, and the team and IP were sold to Fitbit for less than $40 million USD. Migicovksy ended up joining Y Combinator.

“I had built the thing that I wanted, and there wasn’t like a grand master plan in my mind of where this was going,” Migicovsky said. “We should have just stuck to what we knew best and continued to build quirky, fun smartwatches for hackers.”

Migicovsky is clear-eyed about Pebble’s past failures, which is a mark of a good entrepreneur. But so is persistence. Eight years later, with some incredible luck, Migicovsky found a way to bring Pebble back.

In 2021, Fitbit was sold to Google. Last year, Migicovsky began working back channels within the company to get access to the old Pebble IP. The charm offensive worked, and earlier this year, Google open-sourced the PebbleOS—a very rare decision. Without access to his old work, Migicovsky would have lost the chance to rebuild his dream device.

It will be through a new company, Core Devices, and the smartwatches won’t be called Pebble, but they’ll use PebbleOS. Amazingly, they’ll also contain leftover parts for the original devices after Migicovsky found a supplier selling a warehouse full of them on AliExpress.

The feature set should sound familiar: the smartwatches will show the time, basic message notifications, and not much else—with batteries that last forever, because they aren’t trying to be a smartphone on your wrist.

Why launch a new company just to remake a device that’s more than a decade old? “I tried every other smartwatch,” he said. “But at the end of the day, I can’t stop using it. I love my Pebble.”

This time, Migicovsky will apply the lessons he learned with Pebble: the Core Devices team will be kept small and won’t crowdfund or fundraise or do anything else to chase scale. He’s confident there’s still a modest market of nerdy hackers who love their Pebble, too, but the goal is to break even.

Migicovsky doesn’t dream of selling millions of smartwatches anymore—he’s back to building for himself.

“I am more of an inventor, I think, than a startup founder. A company, to me, is a means to an end,” he added. “I build things that I want and I tend to not let anything get in my way.”

Feature image courtesy Core Devices.

The post This time, Eric Migicovsky won’t let anything get in his way first appeared on BetaKit.

Build Canada has appointed Lucy Hargreaves CEO as the policy platform backed by major tech and business leaders looks to scale up its scope and support.  

Hargreaves announced her new position alongside co-founder Daniel Debow on stage at Toronto Tech Week’s Homecoming event this week. Hargreaves said she will leave her job as vice-president of partnership and corporate affairs at San Francisco-based climate impact software startup Patch in favour of Build Canada. In a LinkedIn post, Hargreaves noted that Debow will become the organization’s board chair. 

The organization’s stated aim is to make Canada the “most prosperous country in the world.” Policy proposals published on its platform include aggressively promoting AI adoption in the workplace, introducing a new visa for innovators, promoting nationalism with a mandatory year of public service, increasing energy production, and slashing public spending, including by eliminating several government departments.

Debow said the organization publishes a variety of policy memos, including some that may conflict. Royal Roads University communication studies professor Jaigris Hodson told the Tyee in April that Build Canada’s proposals largely reflect an ideology of “tech libertarianism,” which favours light regulations and low taxes, and has recently grown in popularity in Silicon Valley. The same month Build Canada launched, a coalition of tech leaders published an open letter with a contrasting message, denouncing “powerful forces” in Canadian tech who seek to “reshape Canada in the image of those who see inclusion as an obstacle, not an advantage.”

“The future of this country is not written in Ottawa. It’s written by people like you.”

Lucy Hargreaves,
Build Canada

In its next iteration, Build Canada plans to open source its policy projects, which Debow said will allow anyone around the world to copy or adapt them. The team is also looking to build a community through in-person and online events, as well as fund projects across the country. When asked what kind of projects Build Canada will fund and how, Hargreaves told BetaKit in an email that Build Canada is working on its plans for the next year and will share more when it can.

“We are going to start scaling up the things that we know work, to make it possible for people like you to actually do something,” Debow said on the Homecoming stage. “We want you to share the playbooks: if something worked in Moncton, why doesn’t it work in Victoria? If something worked in Ontario, can it work in Alberta?” 

Debow claimed the response to Build Canada so far has been “overwhelming,” with people reaching out asking how to get involved and help in their town and province. Hargreaves said this inspired them to imagine Build Canada as a “nationwide builder movement.” 

RELATED: What is Build Canada trying to construct?

“What if thousands of smart, technical, creative people were volunteering and building projects, not just at the federal level, but at local levels, provincial level, and municipal levels?” she said. “[What would it look like] if they were contributing code and content to civic action?” 

“We do not want to control this movement, we want to light the fire under the movement and give you the energy to make this happen,” Debow added.

Debow said that the expansion of Build Canada will not come from just himself, Hargreaves, and a few volunteers, but that they need thousands of engineers, data scientists, designers, economists, marketers, and people “who give a shit.”

“The future of this country is not written in Ottawa, it’s written by people like you,” Hargreaves said, gesturing to the audience. “People in this room, people who are listening today, people who step up and actually build the future they want to live in.”

RELATED: Minister of Innovation and AI Evan Solomon part of Liberals’ new Build Canada cabinet committee

Build Canada was launched by a collection of Canadian tech leaders ahead of the 2025 election to share policy ideas around innovation and the economy. When Build Canada launched, Debow told BetaKit on a podcast that it wasn’t much more than a “website that publishes policy papers.” Despite having registered lobbyists on its team, he also emphasized that Build Canada is not a lobbyist group. Hargreaves told BetaKit this week there are no plans for that to change.

On stage, the duo noted the young organization’s relative success in just a few months, shipping more than 30 policy memos, AI-powered policy trackers, and a government spending tracker. They claimed that government officials and representatives from both major parties have reached out to discuss and complement their memos. The organization uses AI tools to help draft its content.

“I’m not saying it was us, but there’s now a Build Canada cabinet committee, and the Build Canada Act just got passed [in the House of Commons] last week,” Hargreaves said. “I think it’s fair to say Build Canada is part of the national agenda now.”

BetaKit is the official media partner of Toronto Tech Week. Feature image courtesy Jon Fingas for BetaKit. 

The post Build Canada appoints Lucy Hargreaves to CEO as tech think tank expands mandate first appeared on BetaKit.

Artificial intelligence (AI) godfather Geoffrey Hinton said big tech firms don’t want “regulations with teeth” before offering a pointed look to former protégé Nick Frosst—also the co-founder of leading Canadian AI company, Cohere.

“We invented this technology. Canada has every right to be a leader in it.”

Nick Frosst
Cohere

“AI big tech companies are like big oil companies” in their resistance to regulations, Hinton chided his former Google Brain employee. 

It was one highlight in a series of public disagreements between teacher and student as part of a special Toronto Tech Week edition of the Desjardins Speaker Series put on by the University of Toronto.

Hinton, who is also the chief scientific adviser at the Toronto-based Vector Institute, has been awarded both the Nobel Prize in Physics and the Turing Award for his work on foundational principles of machine learning and deep neural networks. Frosst was one of Hinton’s first hires at the Google Brain lab in Toronto from 2016 to 2020. 

Richard Sutton, a fellow Turing Award winner who has previously called AI doomers “out of line” and taken a looser stance on regulation, watched the debate from the front row.

Hinton’s lighthearted but pointed shot at big tech firms was far from the only source of contention between the Nobel laureate and Frosst, whose company is Canada’s best-funded large-language model (LLM) developer, making AI products for enterprise. 

Hinton said he believes that LLMs have subjective experiences and that neural networks, which he helped pioneer, work similarly to human brains. 

RELATED: “Light, tight, right” regulation: Minister Evan Solomon unpacks how Canada plans to support domestic AI and quantum computing

Though he said it was “difficult” to disagree with a Nobel laureate on stage, Frosst took a different tack. 

“LLMs are more conscious than a rock, but less conscious than a tree,” Frosst said, while Hinton argued that LLMs are in fact approaching human-level consciousness. 

The discussion, moderated by CBC tech journalist Nora Young, touched on the short-term and potential existential perils of AI, which Hinton has repeatedly said will replace countless jobs and could lead to human extinction if left unchecked. 

While Hinton warned that without proper guardrails, LLMs will invent new ways to scheme—something that fellow Turing Award winner Yoshua Bengio has said AI agents will do. 

“They will be able to see creative new ways of finding people’s passwords,” Hinton said, noting that LLMs score well on creativity tests. One 2023 study published in the journal Nature found that, on average, LLMs outscore humans on divergent thinking tasks, but could not beat the most creative humans.  

Frosst said LLMs hacking passwords was “unlikely,” adding that he and Hinton find themselves on “different sides of the spectrum” on the issue. 

Hinton and Frosst also diverged in their outlooks on the state of AI development in Canada and the country’s place on the global stage. 

 “It will be very hard for Canada to stay at the forefront of AI,” Hinton said, adding that dedicated government investments such as the $2-billion Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Fund are helpful levers. 

But the professor called Canadian businesses’ conservatism in adopting AI and educating their employees about it “a big problem.” 

The conversation came a day after Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez encouraged domestic companies to resist any temptation to leave Canada on the Toronto Tech Week Homecoming stage, saying Canadian companies should instead build at home.

The new federal government has made AI deployment and funding a priority, but has yet to introduce regulation for the technology. Federal AI minister Evan Solomon said AI regulations in Canada should be “light, tight” and “right” in remarks yesterday at Toronto Tech Week. 

One aspect of regulation could tackle potential legal remedies for creators whose work was appropriated without consent by AI companies for training LLMs. Solomon told BetaKit the feds are waiting on the outcomes of ongoing AI copyright lawsuits to inform their next steps and “figure out what the market signal on compensation might be.” 

One such court case is pending against Cohere, which is being sued by a group of media companies for alleged copyright and trademark infringement. 

Frosst’s company has signed a slew of large enterprise customers in recent months, including a memorandum of understanding with the federal government. The co-founder was more bullish on Canada’s AI scene than his former professor. 

“We invented this technology,” Frosst said. “Canada has every right to be a leader in it.” 

BetaKit is the official media partner of Toronto Tech Week. Feature image courtesy Kevin Fung for University of Toronto.

The post Geoffrey Hinton says AI companies resistant to “regulations with teeth” in lively debate with Cohere co-founder Nick Frosst first appeared on BetaKit.

During a private CEO lunch yesterday at Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) Super Session, Minister of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon said the Government of Canada plans to provide more targeted support to the country’s AI and quantum computing companies.

“We can’t run a sprinkler system on innovation,” Solomon argued, eliciting applause from a room full of Canadian technology leaders. “We need to be competitive on the world stage.” To do that, Solomon said Canada needs to “champion” its AI winners and help them grow.

“AI is not fashion. It is not FOMO. It is a necessity to grow.”

At Toronto Tech Week, Solomon has been sharing more insight into how the Liberals plan to regulate and support the country’s AI and quantum sectors. He unpacked that vision in greater detail at CDL and in a follow-up interview with BetaKit.

Solomon’s tour continued today. At MaRS Discovery District, he announced that applications for the $300-million CAD AI Compute Access Fund (part of the $2-billion package the previous Liberal government committed to expanding Canadian businesses’ access to AI computing power) are now open. At the Vector Institute, Solomon disclosed that the feds are investing $3.5 million to help Vector deliver a healthcare AI initiative that will provide startups and scaleups with training, mentorship, and other support.

Scaling Canada’s AI winners is just one of Solomon’s priorities. Some of the other items on his to-do list include boosting AI adoption, increasing trust, building sovereign data centres to power the tech, and figuring out how best to regulate it.

“We shouldn’t abandon risk mitigation … but we have to also not choke off our innovators and make sure that you have a framework to innovate,” Solomon told CDL CEO lunch attendees, echoing his recent remarks expressing concern about overdoing regulation.

As to what that might look like, Solomon told BetaKit that Canada’s current Liberal government is not planning to revive the previously proposed Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA), introduced as part of Bill C-27, but said the feds are considering which aspects of AIDA to carry forward as they develop an updated regulatory framework for AI.

“We are not going to just repeat what happened,” Solomon said, stressing that Canada needs “light, tight, [and] right” AI regulation going forward.

Solomon confirmed to BetaKit that this framework will include rules as to how copyright will apply to AI. He said “the principle of protecting our cultural sovereignty and our cultural creators” is “foundational” to this government.

RELATED: AI minister Evan Solomon wary of overdoing regulation but says Bill C-27 “not gone”

Speaking more generally about why Canada needs to retain its intellectual property (IP) during his remarks at CDL, Solomon described losing IP as like “giving away oil,” adding that Canada doesn’t want to be the  “farm system to other countries.”

On the AI copyright front, Solomon told BetaKit the feds are waiting to see how ongoing legal matters associated with this conclude before making any final decisions. “The big issue for us is these court cases have to play out so we can figure out what the market signal on compensation might be, and so we want to be in step with that,” he said.

In light of the United States (US) Department of Defense’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative program and the threat of losing quantum companies to the US, Solomon confirmed that Ottawa also plans to introduce new policies to help keep these firms in Canada.

“A matter of national priority for us is making sure that our robust and global-leading quantum industries remain robust and Canadian, including the IP, the headquarters, and the innovation,” he said. “We are working on a process to make sure that happens.”

Solomon expects that part of Canada’s increased defence spending will go towards supporting Canadian AI and quantum computing companies developing dual-use technologies. He argued to BetaKit that sovereign computing capacity and data, and cybersecurity, quantum, and AI capabilities are “not just an economic imperative, but a national security imperative as well.”

RELATED: “The end of the era of human data”: AI experts discuss new frontiers at CDL Super Session

“The idea that our ramp up in defence spending will include, and must include, dual-use of civilian and defence capabilities from our industry, with … Canadian innovation, Canadian companies, is essential,” he said.

Solomon told CDL attendees that Canada’s increased defence spending commitment offers the country a chance to do what the US does—use procurement and its “national security as a form of industrial policy” to drive domestic innovation.

At the CDL event, Solomon argued that Canada is “at a hinge moment in history” featuring both significant geopolitical disruption and “an extraordinary technological paradigm shift” as AI and quantum reorient the world. “This has presented us with a crisis and an opportunity,” he said.

“AI is not fashion,” Solomon added. “It is not FOMO. It is a necessity to grow.”

“It’s very difficult to make every part of that [AI] stack Canadian.”

Evan Solomon,
AI minister

Solomon noted that Canada has a trust deficit at the moment when it comes to AI, and needs to drive greater adoption, arguing that the country’s economic productivity is at stake. He reiterated that the feds plan to help with this in multiple ways, including by introducing a 20 percent tax credit to encourage small and medium-sized businesses adopting the tech.

But even with this urgent emphasis on sovereignty, Solomon told BetaKit he anticipates that Canada will need to work with foreign companies and partner with other countries to secure the capital required to build out its AI sector. “You don’t take all your toys and go home alone,” he said, indicating that Canada is taking “a pragmatic view” to building AI sovereignty, and “sovereignty does not mean solitude.”

“It’s very difficult to make every part of that [AI] stack Canadian,” Solomon added, noting that this is part of the reason why Canada has been partnering with other countries, including France, the United Kingdom, and Germany. 

Solomon emphasized that Canada is open to more international AI partnerships and investment, including from American firms—provided they come with the right protections.

“We do have to do it on terms that make sure that we guard Canadian-headquartered companies, Canadian innovation, Canadian jobs, using Canadian equipment, and [use] those partnerships to scale the capabilities of our industry and our champions,” he said.

BetaKit is the official media partner of Toronto Tech Week. Feature image courtesy Creative Destruction Lab.

The post “Light, tight, right” regulation: Minister Evan Solomon unpacks how Canada plans to support domestic AI and quantum computing first appeared on BetaKit.

People in the Canadian FinTech industry are sharing their grief following the unexpected death of Equitable Bank CEO Andrew Moor last weekend at the age of 65.

Moor had been scheduled to speak at a Toronto Tech week FinTech event planned for June 26 and run by PwC, Wealthsimple, Tech Thursday, and Xero. In recognition of the loss, the event has been cancelled.

Equitable board chair Vincenza Sera said in a statement that the death was a “tragic loss,” and that Moor campaigned for “change and innovation” in Canadian banking.

“He held the strongest belief that banking and its related products and services should be inclusive, and he didn’t stop poking and prodding the industry to do more.”

Adam Cox
Open Banking Expo

“As a result of his inspired stewardship of our company, he instilled a culture at EQB that is both forward looking and faithful to the sound principles of prudent banking that engender public trust,” Sera said.

Wealthsimple co-founder Michael Katchen said in a LinkedIn post that he was “heartbroken” by Moor’s passing, calling the executive one of the “original champions” of Canada’s FinTech space.

“He was a force of nature, full of strong, unshakable convictions and just so fun to be around,” Katchen said.

In his own LinkedIn post, Borrowell co-founder Andrew Graham described Moor’s death as a “huge loss.” He recounted how the late executive’s choice to fund Borrowell represented a “major turning point,” that quickly rallied other investors. He called Moor one of the “foremost” proponents of open banking (which would require banks to securely share financial data on request) and its potential for improving competition.

Nesto CEO Malik Yacoubi also mourned on LinkedIn, noting that Moor backed his company when it was a small 12-person startup.

Adam Cox, the co-creator of the Open Banking Expo, told LinkedIn followers that Moor was an “inspirational leader” who backed his event “from day one.” Cox also characterized Moor as a perpetual challenger to banking incumbents.

“He held the strongest belief that banking and its related products and services should be inclusive, and he didn’t stop poking and prodding the industry to do more to make this happen,” Cox wrote.

Accordingly, PwC Canadian open banking head Abraham Tachjian, long an advocate for reforming the banking system, said on LinkedIn that the news “shook” him and that Moor’s support “undoubtedly” helped his efforts advance.

The Globe and Mail first reported Moor’s passing, which Equitable Bank confirmed later. The bank didn’t disclose the cause of death. He is survived by his wife and three children.

RELATED: FCAC commissioner shares update on Canada’s open banking future, but makes no timeline commitments

Chief risk officer Marlene Lenarduzzi is serving as interim CEO effective immediately. Succession planning for Moor was in the “very advanced” stages when he died, Equitable director of PR and communications Maggie Hall said, and a permanent CEO will be announced in the “very near term.”

Moor had been CEO of Equitable Bank since 2007 and made it the one of the largest challenger banks in Canada. During his tenure, assets under management grew from $4.4 billion to $134 billion. He consistently pressed for regulatory changes that would allow open banking.

The federal government has committed to progress on open banking through its Consumer-Driven Banking Framework, but in December delayed the rollout from 2025 to 2026. Critics like former Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) member Andrew Escobar have lambasted the government for neglecting to introduce  tiered accreditation (layered data access based on needs), which he claims would have let “developers of all sizes,” including FinTech companies, benefit from open banking.

Feature image courtesy of Equitable Bank.

The post Canadian FinTech community mourns Equitable Bank CEO Andrew Moor first appeared on BetaKit.

This article appears in the inaugural issue of BetaKit Most Ambitious. Go here to read more stories of bold ambition in Canadian tech.

Canada’s economy isn’t just facing a productivity problem, it’s facing a competition problem.

Across multiple sectors, market concentration is rising and new firms are struggling to scale.

A report from Statistics Canada and the Competition Bureau of Canada found that Canadian industries have become more concentrated over the past 20 years, and the number of highly concentrated industries has actually increased.

Challengers not only offer alternatives, but they make it harder for incumbents to coast.

At a time when competition is key, fewer small competitors are challenging Canada’s largest firms, and fewer companies are entering industries overall. The data confirms what many Canadians experience intuitively: our markets aren’t dynamic, they’re dormant.

The stagnation comes with a cost. Canada’s banking sector remains highly concentrated, with the “Big Five” controlling most of the market and preventing competitive pricing. In the insurance sector, three companies dominate property coverage, driving up premiums for small businesses. In healthcare, Canadians struggle for access to their electronic medical records because of regional vendor lock-in, and are limited in their choices and access to medication at pharmacies because of the companies that control those options behind the scenes. Airlines are similarly consolidated: two carriers control about 80 percent of domestic flights. In telecom, three providers collectively hold nearly 90 percent of the wireless market. Even retail, often assumed to be more competitive, is dominated by a few powerful players like Walmart and Amazon.

If we want better outcomes for consumers, workers, and entrepreneurs, we need new entrants ready and able to shake things up. This isn’t just about market share; it’s about a lack of pressure to improve. When incumbents are pushed, they innovate or get displaced.

Canada needs more companies that break open markets as category challengers, making plays in clubby spaces dominated by legacy players.

Challengers not only offer alternatives, but they make it harder for incumbents to coast. They inject energy, urgency, and experimentation into the landscape.

They can’t do it alone. Market dynamism will require Canada to dismantle closed and anti-competitive systems, open doors, end gatekeeping, and ensure that new players have a real shot.

If we want to build from Canada, and not just in Canada, the country must reject the status quo and bring ambition to spaces that have been “spoken for” for far too long. The time is now to challenge monopolies, boost competition, and reshape calcified Canadian markets.

Vass Bednar is currently the Managing Director of the Canadian SHIELD Institute and the former Executive Director of McMaster University’s Master of Public Policy Program. She is also the co-author of The Big Fix: How Companies Capture Markets and Harm Canadians, and an advisor to the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project. 

Feature image courtesy Stocksy.

The post Building Canada requires competition first appeared on BetaKit.

This article appears in the inaugural issue of BetaKit Most Ambitious. Go here to read more stories of bold ambition in Canadian tech.

Phil De Luna had been studying carbon removal for years when he met Fred Lalonde and Joost Ouwerkerk, the co-founders of Hopper.

“We’re an oil and gas company in reverse. Our ambition is to reverse climate change.”

The pair had been looking for a way to offset the carbon impact of their travel platform, and had just founded Deep Sky, a company that planned to remove carbon from the atmosphere, quickly (Laurence Tosi, former CFO of Airbnb, is also a co-founder).

Today, De Luna is Deep Sky’s chief science and commercial officer, tasked with bringing this goal to life.

In less than two years, Deep Sky has opened its first site—Deep Sky Alpha—in Innisfail, AB, with funding from Bill Gates’ climate fund.

BetaKit spoke to De Luna about the company’s goals and his own motivation.

What is Deep Sky trying to do?

We’re an oil and gas company in reverse. Our ambition is to reverse climate change. If you believe the science, which we do, we need about 10 billion tons of CO2 removed from the atmosphere per year by 2050.

Shouldn’t we just stop emitting C02?

Direct capture is not a replacement for emission reduction. We have to wean ourselves off fossil fuels. But there’s always going to be about 10 to 15 percent of the emissions that are impossible to abate.

We’re not gonna stop flying people and goods around the world. We’re not gonna be having a plane that runs on hydrogen because we had zephyrs before and they exploded.

We are also failing horribly at reducing our emissions. And as we continue to fail, the role of removing it from the atmosphere becomes more and more important.

It’s our backstop. It’s our insurance policy. If we don’t start developing this now, we’re not gonna have it when we need it.

There are a lot of Canadian carbon capture companies. What’s going on?

We have enough storage capacity to reverse climate change here in Canada. Every ton of CO2 we’ve emitted since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, we can store here.

Canada is actually the best place in the world to do direct air capture. We have the right geologic storage, we have a lot of clean hydro power, we have an oil and gas sector with a talented workforce and skills that we could use to do the same thing, but in reverse.

And we have really good policies. Canada has the world’s first government-backed Direct Capture Protocol, the world’s first government procurement program, and the world’s first investment tax credit for direct capture.

Canada punches above its weight in terms of science and innovation generally. Some of the first patents in carbon capture technology were here in Canada. We have world-leading universities that have been developing this stuff for a long, long time.

We’re a natural resource-based economy, and oil and gas are a serious part of our economy. And I think the government recognizes that we have to find a way to preserve the economic livelihoods of Western Canadians as we go through this energy transition. Carbon capture is one way to reduce the emission content of these industries while allowing for a more equitable transition over time.

You were thinking about building your own company when you met the Deep Sky founders. What made you join them?

I’ve been working in carbon capture for over a decade. My master’s was on computational simulations for new materials to capture CO2 from flue stacks. I have over 50 papers published in this space. So I’ve been surrounded by really smart technology people, PhDs, engineers. But it’s very rare that they ever actually make it.

When you’re in academia, you think, ‘Oh, if I just make the best hammer, then I will find the right nail.’ But actually, you have to understand why people want to buy your hammer, and you have to ask them to show you the house they’re trying to build.

With the Deep Sky founders, they’ve actually built a billion-dollar business before. Their pitch was, ‘We’ve built businesses. You know the science. Let’s learn together.’

Climate isn’t a technology problem. Given enough time, enough money, you can solve it. What’s difficult is the policy and financing and project development and energy and storage space.

Sucking CO2 out of the air seems difficult. How do you do it?

There’s three steps. You have a fan that moves air through some sort of filter that captures the CO2. Then you compress that filter using energy, and you inject it underground.

We go to places that are very stable geologic formations. They’re not near any fault lines. We wouldn’t be doing this off the coast of California.

The Earth naturally has stores of gas and liquid underground, so we know that it’s stable and it can stay there. There’s never been a leakage. Western Canada is a perfect place to do it.

What do you think scaled your ability to do hard things?

I’m Filipino. I moved to Canada when I was five years old.

My dad was an engineer in the Philippines, and my mom was a nutritional scientist.

When they moved here, my dad became an auto worker and my mom worked in customer service. They gave up a lot of their lives to give me and my sister a better life. So a lot of what motivated me when I started was making that sacrifice worth it.

What’s the lesson there for other people?

I wasn’t born wealthy or with resources. I was born with an ability to communicate and a brain, and I found a niche in an area where I can make an impact.

I guess my advice would be, understand what it is you’re trying to accomplish and why you’re doing what you’re doing, because it’s a lot easier to keep motivated and be ambitious when times are tough when you have a North Star.

What’s your North Star?

The scary thing about climate change is there’s a delay between emissions and temperature rise, and that delay is 10 to 50 years. So that means that the warming that we’re experiencing today is from a decade ago, and that also means that if you stop emissions today, then we still have 10 years of warming baked in.

At what point did you decide you could reverse that process with science?

During my undergrad, I went to a conference and I saw a professor speak about materials to capture CO2 from the air. I thought it was really interesting, so I went up to the guy after and I asked if I could do research for him, and he said yes.

But we just didn’t click. He told me I wasn’t good enough to do my PhD with him.

I thought, ‘Well, no, I think I am.’

And so I applied to every school in the world. The thing that actually ended up propelling me into this field was proving this professor wrong.

Spite is a very powerful motivator.

This interview has been edited and condensed. Feature image courtesy Deep Sky.

The post Phil De Luna thinks Canada is the perfect place to store the world’s carbon first appeared on BetaKit.

Some of Canada’s artificial intelligence (AI) leaders shared their vision for the future—and how we might get there—at the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) Super Session yesterday during Toronto Tech Week.

Speakers at CDL’s annual event included reinforcement learning (RL) pioneer and recent Turing Award winner Richard Sutton, fellow Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) AI chair Patrick Pilarski, and Kindred founder, Sanctuary AI co-founder and Nirvanic founder and CEO Suzanne Gildert, among others.

Sutton kicked things off by explaining to a packed room at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management why he believes the world is nearing “the end of the era of human data.”

“We’re entering the era of experience.”

Richard Sutton

The University of Alberta computer science professor, who also works as fellow and chief scientific advisor at the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii), noted that AI is beginning to exhaust the amount of human-generated text and images available to it as training data, echoing his recent remarks elsewhere.

As companies have already scraped most of the high-quality data on the internet for AI training, Sutton argued that to advance further, the tech requires a new source of data that grows and improves as agents—or AI systems that are empowered to take actions—become more powerful. He thinks RL could hold the answer: Sutton believes that such data could be generated from an agent’s first-person interaction with the world, or its “experience.”

“We’re entering the era of experience, I think,” Sutton said. “In that era, we have a single goal—reward—but we need data, we need curiosity.”

Pilarski, who also works at Amii and the University of Alberta, but as a professor of medicine, expanded on the theme of experience with some concrete examples. He and some of his colleagues want to enable “a new class of bionic technologies” to create limb prosthetics that more deeply integrate humans and machines.

“Our mythical beast we’ve been pursuing … is to try to figure out how to really transform the science [and] the art of prosthetic restoration [and] all kinds of neuroprosthetic technologies,” Pilarski said.

RELATED: Richard Sutton warns against “centralized control” of AI regulation based on fear

Pilarski noted that the world has entered an era where a variety of technologies are “interacting with and connecting tightly” with human bodies, from cellphones to smart watches, fitness wearables, bionic body parts, pacemakers, and cochlear implants. He argued that “we’re beginning to have the capacity to truly build what we might consider as an exocortex,” or an external machine processing unit for the human body and mind that extends, amplifies, and augments human abilities to perceive the world, make decisions, and act upon it.

Pilarski showcased some videos of the work his lab has been doing in areas such as bone anchoring, revising the nerves of the body to better connect with robotics, and agent as interface.

This included a clip of a man who lost his lower leg, and had connected a robotic replacement with an implant bolted directly into his bone that he could easily use to attach and remove his prosthetic. Pilarski claimed this approach allows “direct, immediate coupling,” makes a wider range of physical activities possible, and allows for the subjects to begin to feel by way of their skeleton.

He also shared a video of a man who had lost part of his arm competing in a 2024 competition using a robotic, AI-powered replacement.

Gildert’s remarks were more speculative. She argued that the human mind has two main modes of operation—autonomous decision-making and conscious decision-making—whereas AI only makes decisions autonomously. Gildert argued that in order for AI to handle the real world, a new theoretical framework is required.

She used her remarks to walk attendees through one possible option: quantum consciousness theory—the idea that there may be quantum effects going on inside our brains, and that ”these, in some way, may contribute to our consciousness”—a notion she is exploring through her work with Nirvanic.

Gildert acknowledged that this sounds like a “really weird, new, wacky” idea, but claimed it is actually an old premise that dates back to when the theory of quantum mechanics was developed in the 1920s. 

Until recently, Gildert said quantum consciousness was merely the subject of philosophical speculation. What excites Gildert is the idea that this theory can finally be put to the test now that quantum computers exist.

“It’s early days, but this is a really exciting area of research, because if we can understand conscious decision-making—the second mode of operation that AI is completely ignoring for now—I think we’ll be able to enable, finally enable, AI in the physical world.”

BetaKit is the official media partner of Toronto Tech Week. Feature image courtesy Creative Destruction Lab via X.

The post “The end of the era of human data”: AI experts discuss new frontiers at CDL Super Session first appeared on BetaKit.

Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke and Social Capital chief Chamath Palihapitiya elaborated on their bullish stance toward artificial intelligence (AI) in a panel at Toronto Tech Week’s Homecoming event—but shared some reservations, too.

Lütke, who recently told his employees to prove AI can’t be used before asking for more resources to complete tasks, said companies falling in love with solutions, not the problems those solutions address, are depriving themselves of agency. To Lütke, AI represents a “completely new set of solutions” that will be better when those companies shift their focus to the problems at hand.

“You have to fall in love with a problem and be flexible on solutions,” Lütke said. 

“You have to fall in love with a problem and be flexible on solutions.”

Tobi Lütke
Shopify CEO

Palihapitiya went further regarding AI’s potential, declaring that it represented a “transformational moment” that would help “rebuild society.”

Lütke added that his push for AI use internally is meant to keep Shopify and its toolset up to date. “I don’t want the tree rings to show,” he explained.

Palihapitiya embraced the sentiment, arguing that many companies’ organizational structures are mapped to a “horrible piece of software” they bought, citing Salesforce’s customer relations management suite as an example.

RELATED: Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke tells employees to prove AI can’t do the job before asking for resources

Speaking on stage with BetaKit board chair and Toronto Tech Week organizer Satish Kanwar, both leaders were quick to put limits on AI’s current capabilities, however. Palihapitiya downplayed “vibe coding,” or the concept of letting AI take charge of programming. He claimed that it’s “not really a thing that’s valuable yet,” and that developers who heavily rely on it produce “crap.” Lütke saw AI coding as useful mainly for prototyping ideas and deciding if a problem is worth devoting decades (or even a career) to.

Lütke and Palihapitiya also contended that electricity supply and silicon would be critical to realizing AI’s full potential. The venture capitalist said devoting energy resources to compute would be vital in the “next 30 to 40 years,” and that whole chips will one day be devoted to AI-related tasks like inference.  

While AI might be impacting hiring globally alongside Canadian tech companies like Shopify and OpenText, Lütke called the notion that STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) degrees were losing their worth in the face of AI a “dangerous narrative.” He instead claimed their value changes based on labour market demand.

BetaKit is the official media partner of Toronto Tech Week. Feature image courtesy Jon Fingas for BetaKit.

BetaKit majority owner Good Future is the family office of two former Shopify leaders, Arati Sharma and Satish Kanwar.

The post Shopify’s Tobi Lütke says his company is embracing AI to prevent stagnation at Homecoming first appeared on BetaKit.

Waabi CEO Raquel Urtasun thinks it’s time for physical artificial intelligence (AI), including robotics and self-driving vehicles, to get its due in Canada. 

The autonomous vehicle (AV) startup CEO said a lack of attention to physical AI in the Canadian government’s AI strategy would be a “massive miss” and called for faster regulatory development. 

“I want this company to remain, as much as possible, Canadian.”

Raquel Urtasun
Waabi

“It’s great to see Canada trying to have a leadership and strategy in AI and a new AI minister, but I will argue that if you look at what’s happening over here, there’s nothing in physical AI,” Urtasun said. 

Urtasun made the remarks at Homecoming, the flagship event of Toronto Tech Week, on a panel alongside Sanja Fidler, vice-president (VP) of AI research at Nvidia, and Mike Murchison, CEO of Canadian AI company Ada. 

In an interview with BetaKit after the talk, Urtasun claimed that Canadian institutions have yet to realize that the physical AI revolution is here. 

“This is happening now,” Urtasun said. “Canada, wake up.” 

She added that the Canadian government should bring forward a regulatory framework quickly to ensure the responsible deployment of AI-powered physical technologies, such as self-driving vehicles.

Waabi has developed an AI-powered physical intelligence platform to operate autonomous trucks. The company says its tech uses synthetic data and a digital twin of the physical environment to train its trucks to anticipate scenarios. Waabi claims it can build digital twins of the world with 99.7 percent accuracy.

But the company has had to focus on United States (US)-based clients to pilot its tech, in part because Canada does not have the regulatory framework to support autonomous long-haul trucks, Urtasun said. 

RELATED: Canadian tech leaders tell the next generation to learn to say “no” at Homecoming 

“We can’t deploy in Canada—nowhere,” she said on the Homecoming panel. “We don’t even have the choice.”

In the US, there is no overarching federal regulation, but Urtasun said more than 30 states can support Waabi’s trucks.

Amid a stronger emphasis on AI within government, Prime Minister Mark Carney appointed the country’s first AI and digital innovation minister, Evan Solomon. Solomon recently said that the Canadian government would not overindex on AI regulation to the detriment of innovation. 

Urtasun envisions an environment where companies like hers could take a safety-first approach to all proposals that impact the public, such as those having to do with road infrastructure. Urtasun has previously called for greater attention to safety through more standardized realism metrics for AV companies. Her company has created a standard by which Waabi and its Silicon Valley competitors can evaluate the accuracy of their own simulators.

The Waabi CEO also appealed to Canadian investors to fill in the gaps for pre-revenue companies making “big bets” on physical AI.

“We have a nice early-stage [venture capital] community, we have the pension plans once you’re into massive revenue, but we have a hole in between,” Urtasun said on stage at Homecoming.

Urtasun’s comments come as a theme emerges about deep tech companies in Canada not getting what they believe is their fair share of funding. At the BetaKit Town Hall: Most Ambitious during Toronto Tech Week, SRTX founder Katherine Homuth called for VC investors to fund more deep tech and manufacturing companies at higher valuations, similar to their counterparts in software.

RELATED: Waabi develops realism metric to gauge reliability of autonomous vehicle simulators

As a result of this gap, pre-revenue companies that are more capital-intensive are relying heavily on US and international funding, Urtasun said. Many of Waabi’s investors from its most recent $275-million Series B were non-Canadian, including key industry players such as Volvo and Porsche. 

“I want this company to remain, as much as possible, Canadian,” Urtasun told BetaKit. 

Urtasun’s comments echoed others throughout Homecoming, such as the need to build global companies headquartered in Canada. Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez encouraged Canadian tech companies to say no to incorporating in the US and stop doing what he called giving away Canadian ingenuity for free.

Fidler, Urtasun’s co-panellist and co-founding member of the Toronto-based AI research organization Vector Institute, said part of the reason why they started it in 2016 was to combat brain drain of “amazing” Canadian research talent to the US.

For Urtasun, the thriving AI research community in Canada could be enhanced through immigration policies that ease the pathways for top AI talent to move to Canada. 

“We have an immense opportunity because we see a lot of talent in the US wanting to come to Canada,” Urtasun said. 

BetaKit is the official media partner of Toronto Tech Week.

Feature image courtesy Jon Fingas for BetaKit.

The post Waabi’s Raquel Urtasun calls for Canada to “wake up” to physical AI revolution at Homecoming first appeared on BetaKit.

Leaders from Canada’s most prominent tech companies kicked off Toronto Tech Week’s flagship Homecoming event with a simple message to founders in attendance: just say “no.”

Shopify president Harley Finkelstein, Wealthsimple founder Mike Katchen, and Cohere founder Aidan Gomez told the crowd at Toronto’s Evergreen Brickworks to say no to leaving Canada, no to selling out, no to the idea that Canada lacks ambition. 

Finkelstein started the panel conversation by addressing the “600-pound beaver in the room,” referring to a comment he made at Elevate last year about Canadian ambition that sparked conversation across the tech ecosystem. On stage at Homecoming, Shopify’s president clarified that he believes Canadian founders do have ambition, but they need more. 

“I hope all of us leave today with a little bit more of that energy, with more of that ambition,” he said. 

Gomez, who agreed that Canadians are “exceptionally ambitious,” set his sights on the talent brain drain pulling ambitious Canadians outside of the country. The CEO of Canada’s most prominent AI company said, “It’s the Valley-or-bust mentality that breaks the ecosystem and really hurts Canada.”

“I had a deep nationalism: a loyalty to this country, to building here,” he continued. “It’s not enough to build a company for Canada, you want to build a company for the world in Canada.”

Finkelstein then polled the room, asking how many had left Canada and come back. Close to half the room raised their hands, while Katchen recounted how he returned to Canada himself because he was “deeply worried” about the trajectory of the country. 

“Any sort of exit that would take us out of Canada is only if we fail, and we haven’t failed. I think acquisition is failure.”

Aidan Gomez
Cohere

“We do two things [in Canada]: we pull things out of the ground, and we finance pulling things out of the ground,” Katchen said. “We have a desperate need to build Canada and to really reshape our economy. The only way to do that is through entrepreneurship.” 

“I feel that the box of Canada’s sovereignty has been opened and it can’t be closed,” Gomez added. “If we don’t strengthen our economy, if we don’t build a diverse supply chain, if we don’t build a diverse set of companies that don’t rely on just natural resources, finance or whatever, we will not be here in half a century.” 

To do that, the tech leaders advocated for Canadian entrepreneurs to stay in Canada and build, resisting acquisition offers and investor pressure to move out of the country. Both Gomez and Finkelstein shared advice on not returning M&A calls from corporate development departments and rejecting term sheets requiring reincorporating in Delaware.

“All of our little bright lights that start—these ambitious Canadians who want to build a company inside of Canada—they get pulled,” Gomez said. “You need to start saying no.”

Both tech leaders offered this guidance from a place of personal experience, with Gomez sharing that he was “so grateful” Cohere had turned down a nine-figure acquisition offer in the company’s early days to stay in Canada.

“We’re not for sale. There’s a full belief in all three co-founders that we’re not done building,” Gomez said. “Any sort of exit that would take us out of Canada is only if we fail, and we haven’t failed. I think acquisition is failure; it’s ending this process of building.”

BetaKit is the official media partner of Toronto Tech Week. Feature image courtesy Jon Fingas for BetaKit.

BetaKit majority owner Good Future is the family office of two former Shopify leaders, Arati Sharma and Satish Kanwar.

The post Canadian tech leaders tell the next generation to learn to say “no” at Homecoming first appeared on BetaKit.

This article appears in the inaugural issue of BetaKit Most Ambitious. Go here to read more stories of bold ambition in Canadian tech.

When Boris Wertz started his marketplace company in 1999, creating a software platform was hard. It took a significant amount of time, money, and infrastructure to create even a minimum viable product, and the prospect of success—let alone profitability, IPO, or acquisition—was far from guaranteed.

“Building in atoms still has a real differentiator, if you nail it.”

Boris Wertz
Version One Ventures

Now an investor with his BC-based Version One Ventures, Wertz has watched over the years as the barriers to entry have been removed from the software landscape.

“With cloud compute, efficient marketing, and great developer frameworks, there’s almost no moat left around starting a software company,” he said. “Everybody can replicate it.”

In search of real differentiators, Wertz has focused his investments on AI, Web3, and robotics—three deep tech verticals with the potential to make big, unique impacts.

“Building in atoms still has a real differentiator, if you nail it,” he said. “It’s much harder to replicate, it takes much longer, and fewer people can do it.”

Across the country and around the world, there’s an insurgent emphasis on actually making things.

Countries are focused on rebuilding their physical infrastructure and shoring up their defences, both at the border and on the digital battlefield. Companies are looking for epoch-changing competitive advantages, enabled by the abilities of AI, the speed of quantum, and the power of compute.

All of this requires deep tech, a sector defined by its ability to tackle complex challenges in science and engineering. It is hard, time-consuming and expensive. But it holds the promise to fully eradicate old ways of doing things, in fields as diverse as finance, medicine, manufacturing, and agriculture.

At Version One, Wertz is particularly interested in robotics, healthcare, defence, and space.

Founders in these fields are “off the charts” smart, he said, and have often dedicated their lives and their careers to a singular focus of study.

“You don’t just wake up one day and say, ‘I’m going to build a protein sequencing thing,’” he added.

Deep tech requires the ability to imagine future capabilities and impacts that might not materialize for years. In this context, Canada has a track record of success. Wertz notes that Canadians shaped almost the entire field of AI, and sees a similar ability for the country to define innovation in drug discovery, vertical-specific robots, and Web3.

“There’s not a single important, deep technology that came faster than people thought. They all take time.”

“The currency for me is just the token, the economic expression of that ecosystem,” Wertz said of crypto. “Ultimately, what’s interesting is that it enables a new ownership layer on top of the internet. That’s a powerful idea.”

Investing your time and your money in deep tech is not for the faint of heart. Breakthroughs that are years in the making are met with requests to do more, sooner.

“There’s not a single important, deep technology that came faster than people thought,” he said. “They all take time.”

The difference today, he notes, is the urgency of the work, and the excitement it is generating—not just in labs, but in boardrooms, governments, and investor portfolios.

“I think, for the first time in a long time, we’re back in building mode,” Wertz said. “And Canada is very good at being at the forefront of crazy ideas.”

Feature image courtesy Xanadu.

The post Boris Wertz thinks science is the new moat for Canadian tech first appeared on BetaKit.

Canada’s FinTech market presents founders with a compelling mix of opportunities and challenges. Navigating this landscape can be demanding, but once entrenched, founders are met with an exciting wave of partnership and product opportunities across a number of sectors.

Maria Riesenberg, Vice President of Market Development at Mastercard in Canada, has a front-row seat to this. In her role, she helps FinTechs and startups navigate an ecosystem that reveals its complexity fast.

“We’re cultivating a network where FinTechs can collaborate, learn, and grow.”

Maria Riesenberg, Mastercard

“The Canadian FinTech ecosystem is a great environment for founders to see their ideas come to life, and the number of success stories are growing,” Riesenberg said. “However, it’s so important for founders to do their research to get a clear picture of the differences between Canada and other markets to understand what will work and what will need to change.”

Being a strategic partner has become a core focus for Mastercard. Through programs like Start Path, the global payments technology company has built a model that’s grounded in providing access, flexibility, and deep operational support to growing FinTech companies.

As regulatory shifts create new opportunities for FinTech innovation, Mastercard has become a trusted advisor for many of the top companies innovating within the Canadian financial services landscape.

The proof is in the FinTechs that brought them in early. Companies like Koho, Neo Financial, VoPay, and Olive have all worked with Mastercard not just as a network, but as a key advisor in the trenches.

Scaling what feels simple

The premise behind Kitchener-Waterloo-based Olive was simple: make giving, saving, and investing a passive outcome of everyday spending. Every time a registered credit card is used, a small amount can be redirected toward a cause, an account, or a future goal.

Olive powers the backend that lets banks and brands embed savings, investing, and giving into people’s daily transactions. The concept had potential, but to grow beyond its early prototypes, the startup needed access to core payments infrastructure, and an institutional partner willing to open that door.

“Olive’s team knew that to truly scale, they needed to work directly with the source of the technology they needed to power their products,” said Riesenberg. “And for them, that solution was our team at Mastercard and the expertise, products and solutions we bring to the table.” 

Start Path, Mastercard’s program for high-potential startups, became that entry point.

Olive was one of the first Canadian companies accepted into the program. The early focus was on enabling users to link their cards and interact directly with Mastercard’s systems. But the collaboration quickly expanded into new products and channels within both Olive and Mastercard that hadn’t existed before. 

“Our partnership with Mastercard was critical in creating a foundation we could grow from,” said Dave Beaton, CEO, Olive. “The Mastercard team ensured we were set up for success across the business. Being able to establish senior-level connections within Mastercard early in our growth journey helped us break new ground in product innovation we otherwise would not have been able to.”

Through Start Path, FinTech companies gain access to Mastercard’s extensive network of partners, as well as mentorship, co-innovation opportunities, and tailored support to accelerate their growth.

Olive also gained proximity to Mastercard’s technical teams and product planning frameworks that would otherwise be out of reach. 

The partnership gave Olive access to Mastercard’s global network, which helped the startup evolve its card-linked B2B engagement platform into a scalable product with national reach. Olive has since expanded into the US market by offering its model through multiple channel partners each focused on unique verticals. 

Growth needs allies

With Olive, Mastercard supported them as they shaped their infrastructure and advised on product go-to-market strategies. According to Riesenberg, this is central to Mastercard’s approach to co-creation.

“We look at each partner’s goals and customize the solutions we bring to the table,” said Riesenberg. “Whether it’s through developing tailored card programs, leveraging Mastercard Move for seamless money movement, or offering support on cybersecurity and fraud protection, our goal is to ensure each partnership is mutually beneficial.”

That approach played out again in Mastercard’s work with Vancouver-based VoPay. “Co-creation truly meant rolling up our sleeves and deeply understanding their process to see where we could provide the most value,” Riesenberg said. The two companies developed a streamlined platform for cross-border and domestic transactions that sped up global payments for their customers while building long-term value into the infrastructure.

These hands-on partnerships have become more critical as the FinTech landscape shifts, Riesenberg said. Technologies that once marked the edge of experimentation, like AI, embedded finance, and real-time payments, are becoming baseline expectations. At the same time, regulation is tightening and capital is harder to secure. 

“While the path may be more complex, these challenges also present unique opportunities for those willing to navigate them,” Riesenberg said.

By embedding with product teams and pressure-testing new ideas in-market, Mastercard wants to help Canadian startups build for scale, while evolving its own platform in the process. 

Further to equipping FinTechs with the right resources from within their walls, Riesenberg says that Mastercard also facilitates connections between FinTechs. Enabling connections within the community and providing FinTechs access to new partners has proven to be a powerful tool and has become central to how Mastercard views its role in moving Canada’s FinTech ecosystem forward. 

“We’re cultivating a network where FinTechs can collaborate, learn, and grow.”

PRESENTED BY

If your company is looking to scale operations and accelerate expansion, learn more about Mastercard’s FinTech programs and resources.

Feature image provided by Mastercard.

The post Why Mastercard is the go-to partner for Canadian FinTech first appeared on BetaKit.

Conquest Planning has secured an $80-million USD ($110-million CAD)  Series B funding round to speed growth of its financial planning platform.

Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives led the Winnipeg.-based FinTech company’s latest raise. New investors include the early-stage and FinTech-oriented venture capital firm Canapi Ventures as well as BDC Capital, Citi Ventures (the investment arm of the global bank), TIAA Ventures, and the United Services Automobile Association (USAA). Current investors BNY and Portage also participated in this round.

“In periods of macro volatility, the need for a modern, comprehensive and flexible financial planning platform becomes even more pronounced.”

Jade Mandel
Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs Alternatives managing director Jade Mandel is joining Conquest’s board as part of the round, which closed on June 17. Conquest told BetaKit in an email it wasn’t sharing further details of the round, such as the amount of secondary funding, but did note there weren’t specific hiring goals attached.

Conquest expects the additional funding to “accelerate” its United States (US) expansion while aiding development of its signature Strategic Advice Manager (SAM) system, according to a release.

Its platform uses AI to help financial advisors and customers make informed decisions that adapt to needs at different life stages. A company statement said the funding will help develop a new service, SAM Bytes, for investors who aren’t looking for a dedicated advisor, but may want help planning key financial moments like completing home purchases and managing debt.

“We’re grateful to our partners for embracing our commitment to making high-quality advice more accessible to a broader range of families,” Conquest CEO Mark Evans said in a statement.

Mandel added in a statement that Goldman Sachs Alternatives was “thrilled” to participate, particularly at a time of financial instability that includes the tariff-driven trade war with the US.

RELATED: Conquest Planning partners with CapIntel to bring AI-powered advice to more financial advisors and investors

“In periods of macro volatility, the need for a modern, comprehensive and flexible financial planning platform becomes even more pronounced,” Mandel said.

The company was founded in 2018. It raised a $3-million seed round in 2020, an additional $7.5-million investment in 2021, and a $24-million Series A in 2023. The most recent of these helped Conquest extend its solution to the US and United Kingdom (UK) markets. The company told BetaKit in an email that this has led to “several” American enterprise clients as well as support for firms in the UK like Fidelity International, JPMorganChase’s Nutmeg, and RBC’s Brewin Dolphin.

Conquest claims to have over 60 percent of Canadian financial advisors on its platform. It also says people have created nearly 1.5 million plans with the tool.

Conquest faces multiple competitors in the digital financial advisor space, including incumbents like BMO and RBC through to relative newcomers such as Neo Financial’s Neo Invest, Wealthsimple, and Nest Wealth, which was recently acquired by Objectway Group.

Feature image courtesy of Jakub Żerdzicki on Unsplash.

The post Conquest Planning raises $110-million Series B to fuel US expansion of its financial management platform first appeared on BetaKit.

This article appears in the inaugural issue of BetaKit Most Ambitious. Go here to read more stories of bold ambition in Canadian tech.

In August of this year, Rahul Goel will stand on the rocky cliffs of St. Lawrence, NL, watching a plume of fire rip across the sky.

If everything goes right, his company, NordSpace, will make history by orchestrating Canada’s first commercial rocket launch.

Canada was the fourth nation in the world to launch a satellite into space, helped pioneer aerospace engineering, and famously built the Canadarm. But for all its expertise, Canada has never launched a rocket from its own soil. Every satellite, every national security payload, every commercial launch is outsourced, mostly to the US.

“When we have our own Apollo moment—when kids in Canada see a rocket launch from their own country—we can do anything.”

Rahul Goel
NordSpace

“Our national sovereignty, our national defence, security, are all on the line,” he said. “When we have our own Apollo moment—when kids in Canada see a rocket launch from their own country—we can do anything.”

Goel grew up in Toronto’s Jane and Finch neighbourhood, building robots and dreaming of space. A first-generation immigrant, his parents came to Canada from India shortly before he was born. He remembers being viscerally disappointed as a child when he learned that his country had no real space launch program of its own.

Through NordSpace, he is working to change that.

In just two years, the NordSpace team has designed, built, and test-fired a liquid-fuelled rocket engine, something no private Canadian company has done at this scale. The company’s approach leans on precision 3D printing, aerospace-grade materials, and in-house propulsion engineering.

About 20 people work at the NordSpace headquarters in Markham. Many individuals across his companies have been friends with Goel since childhood, having met at William Lyon McKenzie Collegiate Institute, where they were all part of the MaCS Program, designed for young people with an interest in math, science, and technology.

The team receives a regular stream of fan mail from Canadian school kids who say that they want to grow up and be a part of the effort.

Finding people to finance the work has not come as easily.

Early on his space journey, Goel realized that few people were likely to bankroll his dreams.

So after graduating in 2016 with a degree in aerospace engineering and experience as a junior mechanical engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., he decided to do it himself.

Goel has bootstrapped two companies with the express intention of using their revenue to fund his sovereign space launch ambitions.

In addition to NordSpace, he runs a SaaS company, PheedLoop, and a genetic technology company called Genepika that uses DNA-based molecules for portable diagnostic tools.

Through those ventures, he has invested approximately $10 million into NordSpace, where he spends the majority of his time.

To say Goel is energized by his mission is an understatement of galactic scale. While he was standing up his other companies, he saved money by living in his car. While running NordSpace, he continues to pursue his PhD, working part-time with Professor Jonathan Kelly at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies, within the Space Terrestrial Autonomous Robotic Systems (STARS) Lab. He also spends time looking out for his two younger siblings, who are also engineers.

When it comes to getting Canada into the space race, Goel said the biggest obstacles aren’t financial or even technical.

It’s finding institutional partners similarly willing to shoot for the stars.

The NordSpace team is navigating through a regulatory maze with Transport Canada, tackling the heavy lifting required for a full-scale orbital-class mission. The Canadian government has offered encouragement but little else, according to Goel.

“It’s new to the Canadian government from a regulatory standpoint as well,” said Goel. “We’re working to get the first commercial space launch licence, even though we’re not going to orbit for this first flight, because it’s critical that we kick the tires and test the process.”

Meanwhile, other countries with smaller populations have already achieved velocity. Sweden, Portugal, and New Zealand have homegrown space industries, with the latter regularly launching payloads while Canada’s feet remain firmly planted on the ground.

NordSpace, however, has started its own countdown. Private capital moves faster than government grants, and a launchpad on Canadian soil would mean satellite operators no longer have to wait for permission.

Goel believes a successful full-scale launch from Newfoundland will be a turning point, not just for the startup, but for the country.

Earlier this year, he hosted a series of community consultations in Newfoundland, building buy-in for the project and explaining his desire to do something that creates a sense of pride for all Canadians.

“I hadn’t seen an ocean for I don’t know how long,” he said of his trip. “It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. And you’re standing there, imagining the future.”

Feature image courtesy NordSpace.

The post Rahul Goel wants to give Canada its Apollo moment first appeared on BetaKit.

By the time you’re reading this, BetaKit will have launched its first-ever print issue: BetaKit Most Ambitious. 

“I want to put ambition in people’s hands. You say it doesn’t exist—you’re going to hold it, you’re going to flip through it, you’re going to see it.”

“We’re gonna serve ambition.”

The inaugural issue of our new annual edition tells stories of bold ambition in Canadian tech. It’s a major accomplishment for our small-but-mighty, multi-time award-winning publication, and I can’t be happier for you to now be able to consume it.

Consider this episode of The BetaKit Podcast your director’s commentary companion to the issue, giving you a behind-the-scenes peek at how it was made, including why we chose ambition as our storytelling lens. Joining me to do that is BetaKit CEO Siri Agrell, before we take turns highlighting some of our favourite stories of Canadian tech ambition contained in the issue.

We also answer the most pressing question facing Canadian tech: how to get an issue.

So, what are the stories of Canadian tech’s Most Ambitious? Let’s dig in.

PRESENTED BY

The BetaKit Podcast is presented by Uber Canada.

Uber Canada is helping to reduce drunk driving and make it safer to get around, according to 87% of Canadian riders. Alcohol remains a factor in a quarter of crash fatalities on public roadways in Canada—and Uber Canada is working with MADD Canada (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) to bring that number to zero. With over 100,000 designated drivers on the road, Uber plays a vital role in this fight.

See how the impact is real.

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RSS

In the race to adopt AI, security isn’t keeping pace. According to Cisco’s Cybersecurity Readiness Index, less than half of Canadian companies say their teams understand AI-related threats—while over half face critical cybersecurity talent shortages.

Cisco Canada’s CTO, Rob Barton, says its new Cybersecurity Readiness Assessment tool helps organizations gauge their overall security maturity in the age of AI.

Want to assess your cybersecurity posture? Take Cisco’s Cybersecurity Readiness Assessment and get your personalized score.

The post Telling the stories of Canadian tech’s Most Ambitious first appeared on BetaKit.

In entrepreneurship, ambition is the price of admission.

My favourite definition of an entrepreneur comes via LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman: someone willing to jump off a cliff and build an airplane on the way down. You can’t do that without ambition.

But ambition is often an uncomfortable topic for Canadians. We spend a lot of time discussing our collective willingness to “go for gold.” The president of Canada’s largest tech company once called ambition the 600-pound beaver in the room and it caused a stir.

I’m here to tell you the beaver isn’t real. And I can prove it.

Today, we release the inaugural issue of BetaKit Most Ambitious, an annual edition telling stories of bold ambition in Canadian tech. It’s chock-full of Canadian ambition big and small, at home and abroad. 

Most Ambitious is the product of BetaKit’s ambition: telling stories of Canadian entrepreneurs and innovators is what we do.

In February, I deputized you to help identify Canadian tech’s most ambitious, and boy howdy did you deliver. BetaKit received more than 500 recommendations pointing us to ambitious Canadian organizations and individuals. For every selection included in the issue, we worked hard to explain their ambition and why it matters.

Inevitably, there are many worthy Canadians not found in this year’s Most Ambitious. It’s encouraging to think that the ambitions of Canadian tech cannot be captured or contained in any single issue. It makes me excited to work on next year’s issue—there are so many more stories to be told.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Those attending Toronto Tech Week can exclusively nab a Most Ambitious print edition (check out our guide below for more details). Everyone else can read the digital version by heading to BetaKit.com.

If you score a print edition, send us a photo of you holding it. If you see a BetaKitten at Toronto Tech Week, come say hi. We can’t wait to hear what you think.

Douglas Soltys
Editor-in-chief

Build on your terms with OVHcloud

OVHcloud provides transparent, sovereign cloud solutions that let you build and scale without vendor lock-in or hidden fees. With more than 80 services available, you have the flexibility to shape your infrastructure the way you need, supported by data centres in Canada and 44 locations around the world.

Whether you’re launching your first product or expanding an existing platform, OVHcloud gives you control over your digital journey, with reliable performance and clear, predictable pricing. 

Explore the possibilities at ovhcloud.com.

The BetaKit Guide: Toronto Tech Week

Unlike other tech happenings, this five-day unconference is community-designed, with over 300 events organized directly by builders, investors, boosters, and ecosystem heavyweights to meet the needs and priorities of the sector. That’s a lot, so we made The BetaKit Guide: Toronto Tech Week 2025 to help you navigate it all.

As the official media partner of Toronto Tech Week, BetaKit will also deliver the coverage you need to see.

Like this exclusive interview with Toronto Tempo president Teresa Resch ahead of her talk at Homecoming, Toronto Tech Week’s sold-out mainstage event. Read on to understand why the Tempo “is a startup in every way,” and learn how Resch intends to use tech to give Canada’s first WNBA team a competitive advantage.

G7 leaders conclude summit with commitments on AI and quantum

The leaders of Group of Seven (G7) nations reached consensus on a “common vision” for the future of quantum technologies and recognized the “potential” for AI to grow prosperity at the annual summit, held this year in Kananaskis, Alta. 

The G7 leaders outlined their shared priorities and commitments in joint statements, as the Prime Minister’s Office highlighted Canada’s financial backing for each of the areas. 

AI startup Cohere and quantum startup Photonic took advantage of the festivities and got some facetime with G7 leaders this week. Cohere now has partnerships with the Canadian and United Kingdom (UK) governments as it expands its offerings beyond enterprise AI into the public sector, while Photonic announced it will establish a research and development facility in the UK. 

Toronto-Waterloo, Vancouver, Ottawa drop in Startup Genome’s 2025 global ecosystem rankings as Montréal, Calgary hold steady

Startup Genome’s latest global startup ecosystem rankings have found that some of Canada’s largest technology hubs have lost ground since last year, while others have remained strong amid a tough fundraising environment.

The results indicated that Vancouver, Toronto-Waterloo, and Ottawa have some room for improvement. According to the report, one of the common denominators was weak startup funding, as all three plus Montréal scored relatively poorly by this metric. Calgary was the only exception.

Storytime Capital holds $14-million first close of Fund II to back more startups modernizing work

Toronto-based early-stage VC firm Storytime Capital held the first close of its second fund this week, securing more than $14 million CAD in commitments amid what remains a particularly challenging VC fundraising environment, especially for emerging managers. 

Storytime ultimately aims to close $25 million to $30 million for Fund II over the next year to back 20 pre-seed and seed-stage tech companies building what co-founder and managing partner Neil Grunberg described as “the future of work.”

“Our children won’t work the same way, with the same tools that we worked with, and we’re leaning into that opportunity,” Grunberg told BetaKit in an exclusive interview.

BrainBox AI CEO Sam Ramadori joins Yoshua Bengio’s LawZero as co-president and executive director

LawZero has appointed Sam Ramadori as co-president and executive director as the non-profit gears up to develop safe-by-design AI systems. Consequently, Ramadori is departing as CEO of recently acquired Montréal cleantech startup BrainBox AI.

Ramadori joins co-president, scientific director, and LawZero founder Yoshua Bengio. The organization said its co-presidency structure combines Bengio’s scientific leadership with Ramadori’s strategic and operational expertise.

In Ramadori’s absence, co-founder and CTO Jean-Simon Venne has been appointed as the head of BrainBox AI under its new parent company Trane Technologies.

Chris Greenfield is no longer the managing director of OneEleven

Chris Greenfield is no longer the managing director of Toronto-based innovation hub OneEleven, BetaKit has learned. After a 10-month search to fill his position, Greenfield lasted just over a year at tech hub’s helm.

“Sometimes things just don’t fit the way you hoped they would,” Greenfield told BetaKit. “OCI does important work funding innovation across Ontario, but in the end, our visions just weren’t aligned.”

FCAC commissioner shares update on Canada’s open banking future, but makes no timeline commitments

The commissioner of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC), Shereen Benzvy Miller, provided FinTech leaders with a progress update on the country’s open banking plan this week, indicating the federal government is moving ahead with the much-delayed policy.

In an address at the Open Banking Expo on Tuesday, Benzvy Miller revealed that FCAC is working on a consumer awareness strategy, an accreditation process, and common rules for open banking’s implementation.

“We envision a future—not too far off—where consumers can securely share their financial data with trusted providers at the tap of a button,” she said. 

StatsCan finds AI adoption has doubled in businesses, but hasn’t yet affected headcounts

The amount of Canadian businesses using AI to produce goods or deliver services doubled between May 2024 and May 2025, according to a new survey from Statistics Canada, but the technology’s effect on company headcount has yet to materialize.

The survey found that many businesses do not consider AI investment to be required for their operation, with 41.2 percent reporting it to be “not relevant.”

Given the survey’s sample time period, the ever-increasing presence of AI-first policies adopted by companies like Shopify and OpenText, this year has yet to be captured.

Canada’s digital sovereignty: why we can’t ignore stablecoins

In an op-ed for BetaKit, Coinbase Canada CEO Lucas Matheson argues that, without real action, Canada will depend on foreign stablecoin infrastructure rather than building a strong domestic ecosystem. 

“Canadians will increasingly turn to US-denominated stablecoins, eroding the Canadian dollar’s relevance in everyday transactions,” Matheson writes. 

FEATURED STORIES FROM OUR PARTNERS

• A Prince George credit union wanted to adopt AI, but not at the cost of customer trust. Zoho helped them do it.
• As financing deal terms shift, two Osler partners break down what tech founders need to know in 2025. Read about the trends shaping Canadian venture capital.
• The European market is heating up for Canadian tech founders looking to expand. Read about where Vena and Inovia Capital see the opportunity.

Weekly Canadian Deals, Dollars & More

• SF – Canadian-founded AppDirect acquires Quebec energy brokerage
• VAN – Former Graphite analyst to launch new incubator Althra
• CGY – Carbon Upcycling closes $24.5M convertible note round
• TOR – Clean water startup Xatoms raises $3M pre-seed round
• TOR – New School Foods expands to other meat alternatives
• TOR – Nick Chen promoted to partner at Golden Ventures
• TOR – June Health launches menopause platform
• OTT – Vista Equity Partners increases its stake in Assent
• MTL – David Dufresne joins AQC Capital as investment partner 

The BetaKit Podcast – InBC’s Jill Earthy knows Canadian VC “could be healthier”

“ That’s what we wanna change, right? For future companies, more Canadian investors on the cap table so that we can see those benefits come back through investment, through mentorship, through restarting.”

Jill Earthy, CEO of InBC Investment Corp—a provincial Crown corporation with $500 million of direct and indirect capital to deploy—joins to discuss the state of Canadian venture, the role of organizations like hers in BC’s growing tech ecosystem, and InBC’s future fundraising plans. Recorded live at Web Summit Vancouver.

Take The BetaKit Quiz – This week: Cohere’s new MOU, New School Foods’ new food, and BetaKit’s Most Ambitious

Think you’re on top of Canadian tech and innovation news? Time to prove it. Test your knowledge with The BetaKit Quiz for June 20, 2025.

Cover design courtesy Gev Design.

The post The price of admission for Canadian entrepreneurs first appeared on BetaKit.

Montréal-based Botpress has secured $25 million USD (over $34 million CAD) in Series B funding to scale its artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure product as the agentic AI race heats up.

AI agents are software systems that use AI to autonomously perform tasks to achieve specific goals. Their potential impact is the subject of a lot of hype, as well as some caution, right now.

Botpress pivoted post-Series A to offering “an all-in-one platform” for building and deploying AI agents powered by large language models (LLMs). Today, the startup claims to provide “the infrastructure layer that allows companies to deploy AI agents safely, reliably, and at scale.”

“There’s a lot of infrastructure to build … We’ve been building all that infrastructure.”

“We hear a lot about AI, but can we point to agents deployed in the wild that perform really well?” Botpress co-founder and CEO Sylvain Perron posed to BetaKit in an interview. “We’re still very, very early, and the reason why is [that] there’s a lot of infrastructure to build … We’ve been building all that infrastructure.”

Botpress plans to use this funding to accelerate its product development plans, expand its customer support, and grow its engineering and go-to-market teams. The company’s gameplan includes doubling the size of its 65-person team over the coming year, opening a new office and data centre in Europe, and releasing voice capabilities during the next quarter.

The startup’s all-equity, all-primary round closed in May. It was led by Toronto’s Framework Venture Partners with support from fellow new investors Toronto-based Deloitte Ventures and Boston’s HubSpot Ventures, and existing backers Inovia Capital (of Montréal) and Palo Alto, Calif.-based Decibel Partners. The financing brings Botpress’ total funding to $45 million USD.

Botpress’ Series B came at a $120-million USD post-money valuation, more than double the $50 million that the company was valued at post-money after its $15-million Series A in 2021. 

Founded in 2017 by Perron and Justin Watson with the hypothesis that computers would someday be able to speak and operate software like humans, the conversational AI startup initially sought to help developers at other firms take advantage of the first wave of chatbots. Botpress saw some success with this approach, but Perron said that the return on investment for these bots was “tricky,” noting that they required a lot of time and money to train. 

RELATED: Amid AI proof-of-concept fatigue, Cohere co-founder urges potential customers to keep the faith and focus on ROI

During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic—prior to the release of ChatGPT in late 2022—Botpress began looking into LLMs and OpenAI, and decided to execute “a full pivot.”

“We saw the future,” Perron said, adding that Botpress decided to rebuild its platform and become “LLM-native” because it realized that this was where the AI market was going. The company made some layoffs and set to work on developing its new offering.

“On one side, you have millions of businesses that need AI now … and on the other side, there’s this very raw and very fast-changing technology,” Perron said.

The CEO argued that there is a need for “a professional services layer” between LLM providers and end users to help turn the demand for generative AI into useful, concrete applications. Botpress aims to play a role here by offering a platform that helps agency partners of all sizes help companies develop, launch, and monitor agentic AI systems. 

According to Botpress, deploying reliable agents still requires safe execution environments, orchestration layers, memory management, tool integration, and consistent runtime isolation. The company’s product provides this, supporting both no-code and developer-level control.

Today, Botpress supports clients running live agents across a variety of industries and use cases, including customer support, FinTech, IT services, and consumer tech. For instance, Botpress has helped Les Producteurs de lait du Québec launch a French-language “cheese butler” called Froméo that recommends various cheeses, and San Francisco-based Ruby Labs manage an end-to-end customer support flow for consumer subscription apps.

“We provide the tools to build, the infrastructure to deploy, and … everything you need to manage them, make them better, review whatever is happening and audit them,” Perron said.

Botpress sells to both agencies and end users, charging based on agent usage. Perron described its model as “very much the same as [website hosting platform] WordPress,” and argued this approach positions Botpress to enable “the distribution of whatever technology is going to be there tomorrow, as quickly as possible, with high margins for our agencies.”

RELATED: CEO Don Murray says Safe Software’s new features will help replace enterprise SaaS with AI agents

Botpress has spent the past few years refining its product, which it began monetizing at the beginning of last year. Since then, Perron claimed Botpress has doubled its revenue every quarter, and these days, Perron claimed that more than 2,000 developers are joining its platform on a daily basis.

Perron said Botpress has approximately 3,000 paying customers and nearly one million free users. He expects its new business to surpass $10 million USD in annual revenue this year. While Botpress continues to maintain its first product for existing clients, the startup is not selling it to any new ones, and its focus is largely on expanding its new offering.

“A vast demand is emerging for the robust, production-grade development platform that Botpress offers.”

Jim Texier,
Framework

“Right now, we have more coming our way than we can handle,” Perron said, adding that the company needed a capital injection to help it scale quickly to meet demand.

Inovia initially invested in Botpress’ Series A when it was just an open-source chatbot platform, and is also a believer in the startup’s revised approach, which Inovia partner Magaly Charbonneau told BetaKit has generated “exceptional traction and exponential growth.”

“We see a multi-billion-dollar total addressable market for AI agent platforms within the rapidly growing global conversational AI software market,” Charbonneau said. “We believe the market is still early-cycle, with ample room for multiple significant winners.”

As part of this round, Framework partner and CTO Jim Texier is joining Botpress’ board as a director, alongside Deloitte Ventures managing director Jon Wolkin as an observer.

“As companies of all sizes transition from experimentation to deployment in their agentic AI journey, a vast demand is emerging for the robust, production-grade development platform that Botpress offers,” Texier told BetaKit. “The platform’s fast proliferation across use cases, geographies and verticals is a testament to the team’s talent density and execution velocity.”

Feature image courtesy Botpress.

The post Botpress closes $34-million CAD Series B to help companies build and deploy AI agents first appeared on BetaKit.

When founders solving some of the world’s toughest challenges come together for a one-day event, there’s only one way to describe it: a CDL Super Session.

Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is convening its top builders, mentors, and investors from around the world for its annual CDL Super Session, which will be held during the first-ever Toronto Tech Week.

“The whole is definitely greater than the sum of its parts for the CDL network.”

Sonia Sennik, CDL

This gathering marks the culmination of CDL’s nine-month program, celebrating the startups that made it through and their breakthroughs along the way.

Attendees can expect a packed room of investors, founders, and some of the most influential voices in the tech sector.

Founded at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto in 2012, CDL is among Canada’s most widely recognized acceleration programs. It uses a focused mentorship model designed to guide some of the world’s most commercially ready startups to the finish line.

This year, CDL ran programming in 12 different locations around the world, including Estonia, Paris, Melbourne, Seattle, Berlin, Wisconsin, and five cities in Canada. 

“We had 30 different programs this year around the world, from artificial intelligence and carbon removal, to cancer and space,” said Sonia Sennik, CEO of CDL. “All graduating companies from these programs  will be featured in our Startup Zone at CDL Super Session, so attendees can walk through and meet really inspiring and ambitious founders from all over the world.” 

In addition to featuring CDL’s latest graduating cohort, this year’s CDL Super Session will feature keynote conversations on its main stage and networking opportunities throughout the day.

The invitation-only event on June 24 will open with keynote talks and panel discussion featuring leading innovators, AI pioneer Richard Sutton, Neuralink President Dongjin “DJ” Seo, quantum physicist Suzanne Gildert, and University of Alberta professor Patrick Pilarski, exploring how our understanding of cognition is evolving across learning, experience, and control.

An afternoon fireside chat will feature Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke and Sennik in a discussion about making tough decisions and staying agile while scaling a global business.

Throughout the day, featured ventures from CDL’s graduating cohort will take the main stage to showcase their innovations. At the heart of CDL Super Session, the Startup Zone will be buzzing with graduates from every CDL innovation stream.

Among the graduates attending Super Session are 9Bio, which is creating biotech therapies that boost the immune system’s ability to target cancer; Aiba, which is using AI to detect and prevent harmful online behaviour in real time; and Juno Propulsion, which is developing rocket engines that enhance satellite agility and performance in space.

Sennik said attendees can expect to see “postcards from the future” via scientists and inventors working at the cutting edge of technology as they attempt to bring their research to life.

“It’s really about connecting with the community,” Sennik said. “It’s an opportunity to meet your peers from around the world who may be working on something similar to you. I’ve seen new relationships form, business opportunities, and investment opportunities. The whole is definitely greater than the sum of its parts for the CDL network.” 

That kind of support is something Robert Brooks, co-founder of ForceN, experienced firsthand. ForceN joined the CDL Health stream as two PhD students building touch-sensing materials for surgical training tools. Mentors quickly challenged them to think bigger, pushing them to explore use cases across industries.

By the time they reached CDL Super Session, the pair had pilot contracts lined up and were preparing to raise a pre-seed round. At the event, they met BioWare founder Ray Muzyka, who later became an investor, along with a robotics professor from the University of British Columbia, and Andra Keay, director of Silicon Valley Robotics. 

Keay’s advice to avoid aerospace and automotive manufacturing led the duo to double down on surgical robotics. ForceN went on to close an $8.35-million CAD funding round. Brooks said their meetings at CDL Super Session were real turning points in their early journey.To date, companies that have participated in CDL have generated over $51 billion CAD in equity value, and CDL is set to add new program sites in Texas and Milan, Italy. Applications for CDL’s next cohort, across all streams, are now open.

PRESENTED BY

Creative Destruction Lab is now accepting applications for all 2025/26 program streams across our global sites.

If you’re a founder developing a science- or technology-based venture with the potential for massive scale, this is your opportunity to work with world-class mentors, serial entrepreneurs, investors, scientists, and operators who’ve built and backed industry-defining companies. Apply now.

All photos provided by CDL.

The post What happens when Creative Destruction Lab puts its top founders in one room first appeared on BetaKit.

Toronto is buzzing with anticipation of the inaugural tip-off sure to bring everyone in the city together. Are we talking about Toronto Tech Week, or the debut of Canada’s first WNBA team in 2026? For Toronto Tempo president Teresa Resch, it’s both. 

Next week, Resch will be among the headliners at Homecoming, the sold-out official mainstage of Toronto Tech Week 2025. Held in the Evergreen Brick Works, Homecoming is just one of over 300 partner-run events taking place during Toronto Tech Week from June 23-27 (read our guide for the full details).

While the connection between tech startups and a basketball team may not be immediately obvious, Resch told BetaKit ahead of the event that the Toronto Tempo “is a startup in every way.”

As the official media partner of Toronto Tech Week, BetaKit sat down with Resch ahead of Homecoming to learn more about how the Tempo will use tech, her thoughts on leadership, and how many games the Tempo will win in its inaugural season. 

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

You’re speaking at Homecoming alongside these fast-growing Canadian startups, and you’re responsible for scaling Canada’s first WNBA team. Are there other parallels between tech startups and launching the Tempo? 

Absolutely! That’s why we want to be part of it. Toronto Tempo is a startup in every way. You talk about founding teams, brand identity, funding—all those things that a startup is experiencing, we’re experiencing right now. So there are a lot of parallels. 

The tech world, especially startups, is always so good at identifying solutions for problems, and that’s literally what we’re doing every day. So it’s great if they can solve some of our problems as well.

If you take it at a higher level, women have been playing sport for just as long as men, but there hasn’t been any attention, or innovation, or fan insights, at the same level. The low-hanging fruit is women’s health, first and foremost, and thinking about performance. Or how fans of women’s sports are different from fans of men’s sports. And to focus and innovate around some of those pillars, the advancement is going to be really, really compounding, because it hasn’t been looked at. It hasn’t been invested in before.

So there’s just a ton of open space there to solve. If tech can help us in those spaces—which is what technology has done in every single industry—and unlock some of that information and help us get better, everybody’s gonna benefit.

You were previously VP of basketball operations for the Toronto Raptors, a tech and analytics-forward team. How are the Tempo going to use tech? 

We’re building a foundation right now. So when you talk technology, we are a startup right now: we’re starting at ground zero. It’s literally, ‘What is our operating system?’ 

We ended up going with Microsoft Dynamics, and then on top of that you have to build your CRM, and then on top of that you have to build your ERP. The league has invested in some different technology, like [Canadian fan engagement platform] StellarAlgo, that we all have access to and will be using to understand our fans.

“It’s using player tracking data, shot tracking data, to find ways to reveal either opportunities or shortcomings where we can find a competitive advantage.”

Teresa Resch

The WNBA has invested in player tracking cameras, so those are being installed in every single arena this year. We’ll have access to all that data, and it’ll be up to us to figure out how we’re going to use and optimize all that data. 

If you look back at the NBA, the Raptors were ahead of the game. In 2011 or 2012, they invested in those cameras, and that was something that they did on their own. But in the WNBA, the cameras have been installed by the league. Now it’s basically, ‘How are you going to make sure that you’re using that data?’ So we will 100 percent have part of our resources dedicated to optimizing that data that we have access to, and understanding the different tools out there.

The other place where there’s huge opportunity is research and data collection around women’s health and performance. Women’s bodies are so different than men’s and there haven’t been large studies done to understand what participation in sport does to women physically. 

There’s a huge conversation around menstrual cycles, training, ACL tears—these are all just anecdotal. There’s not research, there’s not data to actually support any of these hypotheses. 

This needs a much bigger data set than just one team. But then that information is going to inform us on how we can keep these athletes injury-free, but also optimize their performance. 

Is it fair to say that, right now, you are as focused on building the Tempo fan base as the product on the court? 

Right now, we don’t even have any players, so it’s almost all on brand building. It’s about getting in the marketplace, telling the Tempo story, planting the flag for who we are, what we stand for, and what you can expect from the Tempo going forward. 

Ultimately, we’ll be building a team, but that won’t happen until the winter, so we still have months before that to build our brand, gain traction, grow fandom, and also find out about those fans.

Can a good tech CEO run a sports team, or vice versa?

There’s obviously overlap. You talk about intangibles, some of the things that need no technical skill, like being good people leaders, having good EQ—there’s some things that are just so universal, and it’s just a matter of understanding how to be a good leader in a space. 

It’s also just like a matter of what that team or business organization needs, right? There’s some moments where a sports team, on paper, looks great. You’ve got all the technical skills, you just need someone who can motivate them, or speak to them in the right way. Other times, the teams are a mess and you need better pieces. You need someone to evaluate the talent and get the pieces right. You probably can’t bring in someone who’s never watched a game of basketball in their life and be able to do that. 

I’m a generalist, I think that’s what’s made me valuable: having experiences and background in a lot of different spaces that can then inform you. I think there are a lot of leadership qualities that transcend any sort of technical skill. I think that those leadership qualities are revealed no matter what industry you’re in.

How many games are the Tempo going to win in their inaugural season?

Gosh, we don’t have a player! We don’t even have a coach!  We’re not going down that path. 

I’ll tell you what I can say: we won’t lose more than 44 [games] because that’s all there is in the season, and we’re not going to win 44 because there’s never been an undefeated team. 

We’re just excited that there’s so much momentum behind this team, even though we don’t have any players yet. There’s incredible support within this marketplace, not only Toronto, but all of Canada. As Canada’s team, we really look forward to representing this entire country.

A tech CEO would absolutely have said 44 wins. So, no win projections, but what is your immediate goal?

We have a lot of people who have placed $100 deposits to be season seat holders. Now that we have the technology right, we’re really excited to start having conversations with those depositors and actually turning them into season seat holders. That has probably been the most asked question that I get: ‘When are you selling tickets?’ and we are! You can place your deposit and we’re going to be converting those into season seat holders.

The other question I get most is, ‘Who’s going to be your coach?’ That’s going to wait a little while. We are not going to hire a coach until probably after this WNBA season is done. That will be further down the road, a little closer to when we actually have players. 

Super immediate, we launched our Together We Win platform, which we’re very proud of and and very excited that we have this inclusion platform that’s not just for Pride Month or National Indigenous Heritage Month. It’s something that we’re going to stand by and be part of who we are going forward. 

It’s a pledge that we encourage everyone to sign, and there’s actually a donation connected to it for this month. Going forward, it’ll be part of our game presentation before every game. I’m just looking forward to welcoming and building that community, too. 

There’s a lot of pent-up desire for a WNBA team in Toronto. I think you’re gonna find a really strong audience at Toronto Tech Week.

It’s been a really well-received and very enthusiastic response. I knew it was going to be good, but it outweighed even my expectations. Very excited. I can’t wait. I look forward to being swamped by tech people. 

BetaKit is the official media partner of Toronto Tech Week. Feature image courtesy the Toronto Tempo. 

The post Teresa Resch knows tech can give the Toronto Tempo a competitive advantage first appeared on BetaKit.

Chris Greenfield is no longer the managing director of Toronto-based innovation hub OneEleven, BetaKit has learned. 

OneEleven’s head of communications and marketing announced Greenfield’s departure in a brief message to an internal Slack channel, which has been viewed by BetaKit. 

“FYI – Chris Greenfield is no longer with OneEleven. We thank Chris for his contributions during his time with the organization,” the message reads. 

Greenfield’s departure begins another chapter of uncertain leadership.

When reached via LinkedIn, Greenfield confirmed to BetaKit that he is no longer with OneEleven, but said that he is “still supporting some of the member companies in their growth journeys.” Greenfield did not specify the nature of his departure. 

“Sometimes things just don’t fit the way you hoped they would,” Greenfield said. “OCI does important work funding innovation across Ontario, but in the end, our visions just weren’t aligned.”

The Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI), which is part of the provincial economic development ministry and owns OneEleven, initially declined to comment on “personnel matters,” but on follow-up said the organization is “currently in a transition period” and has “strong leadership in place to ensure continuity across all operations.”

“We’ll share more details about future leadership when the time is right,” the OCI spokesperson said.  

RELATED: OneEleven taps Chris Greenfield as new managing director

Greenfield said he is now working with a number of other groups, which include “investors, thought leaders and change makers,” at his recently launched advisory firm. He announced its launch in an early May LinkedIn post where, in the comments, he indicated that he was on leave from OneEleven but hoped to return soon. 

Greenfield’s departure begins another chapter of uncertain leadership at the innovation hub. Greenfield joined OneEleven in February 2024, concluding a 10-month-long search for a replacement for former managing director Matthew Lombardi. The lengthy search amassed over 1,000 applications on LinkedIn alone. Sources familiar with the process told BetaKit at the time that a handful of candidates had been offered the role prior to Greenfield. 

“I’m remaining active in the ecosystem looking to provide more value to our incredible and brave founders,” Greenfield told BetaKit. “I believe our founders deserve the strongest support we can provide across the ecosystem and I’d love to see more collaboration to make that happen.” 

Feature image courtesy OCI.

The post Chris Greenfield is no longer the managing director of OneEleven first appeared on BetaKit.

The post Cohere’s new MOU, New School Foods’ new food, and BetaKit’s Most Ambitious first appeared on BetaKit.

The world is building new rails for money, but the Canadian dollar isn’t on them.

Digital payments are getting faster, cheaper, and borderless. But the tools Canadians are starting to rely on aren’t backed by our banks or regulated by our government. They’re built abroad, pegged to foreign currencies, and quickly becoming the infrastructure of everyday transactions.

At the heart of that shift is the rise of stablecoins—digital assets designed to hold their value by being tied to traditional currencies like the Euro or U.S. dollar. They provide the decentralized benefits of cryptocurrencies without the volatility that’s been deterring mainstream adoption. And they’re already being used to send remittances, collect payments, and move money across borders instantly and inexpensively.

In February 2025, global stablecoin volumes reached $710 billion, up from $512 billion just a year earlier. Financial giants like PayPal, Visa, and Stripe are integrating stablecoins into their platforms. Shopify and Coinbase announced a partnership last week to allow millions of merchants to accept payment of stablecoins, while Amazon, Walmart and Uber are exploring issuing their own stablecoins. And in countries like Indonesia, dollar-backed stablecoins are increasingly being used for real-time, low-cost money transfers, offering a faster and more accessible alternative to traditional remittance services.

The technology is already here. What’s missing is the policy to support it.

Canadian businesses pay, on average, 2.5 percent in bank fees on international transactions. Consumers sending money to family abroad often lose 6 to 12 percent in remittance fees. Stablecoins cut those costs dramatically. And for small business owners waiting on overseas revenue, they offer faster cash flow and fewer intermediaries.

The technology is already here. What’s missing is the policy to support it. It’s an opportunity for Prime Minister Mark Carney and his new government to make financial innovation a priority by modernizing regulation, supporting homegrown fintech and putting digital assets on the national agenda.

For years, Canadian platforms have called for one clear change: treat stablecoins like what they are—payment tools, not investments. Most leading jurisdictions have moved in this direction. The European Union’s MiCA framework defines stablecoins as digital money. Japan classifies them under its Payment Services Act. Just this week, the U.S. Senate passed the GENIUS Act, which lays out a federal framework for stablecoins.

The next decade will test the entrepreneurial spirit of regulators globally as crypto innovation moves light years beyond traditional finance. Speed will be critical in accelerating how we permit safe, responsible crypto activity.

Take Stablecorp, a Canadian issuer of QCAD–a Canadian-denominated stablecoin. For years, they’ve tried to get approval to bring QCAD to market. The current regulatory regime has brought this process to a crawl, giving foreign stablecoins a substantial headstart.

It’s a question of economic sovereignty. Without real action, Canada will depend on foreign stablecoin infrastructure rather than building a strong domestic ecosystem. Canadians will increasingly turn to US-denominated stablecoins, eroding the Canadian dollar’s relevance in everyday transactions.

To modernize our financial system and keep Canada competitive, the federal government must:

• Define stablecoins as money, not securities. They should be regulated like payment instruments, not like speculative assets.
• Support a Canadian stablecoin. A made-in-Canada option like QCAD would reduce reliance on U.S.-denominated products and strengthen our domestic fintech sector.
• Enforce trust and safety standards. Stablecoin issuers should meet high standards for audits, reserves, and consumer protection—just like other financial institutions.
• Bridge stablecoins with traditional banks. Let them flow freely between wallets and bank accounts to drive broader adoption and utility.

While the risks of regulatory inaction are real, Canada also has an opportunity to lead in stablecoin innovation. We invested in Stablecorp,  so we can help a Canadian born company and technology introduce Canadians to a home-grown stablecoin. But we need the government to match that ambition with action.

The choice isn’t just about whether we will lead in the future of digital finance, it’s about avoiding being left behind. The new government can make stablecoin regulation a pillar of its economic strategy, helping Canadians and businesses alike thrive in the new financial era. Canada can’t afford to wait.

Lucas Matheson is the CEO of Coinbase Canada.

Feature image by Dennis Jarvis via Flickr.

The post Canada’s digital sovereignty: why we can’t ignore stablecoins first appeared on BetaKit.

Toronto’s Storytime Capital has launched its second venture capital (VC) fund and expanded its leadership team as it gears up to invest in more Canadian tech startups developing products that change how work is found, completed, and organized.

The early-stage VC firm held its first close of Fund II this week, securing more than $14 million CAD in commitments. This comes just two years after Storytime completed the final close of its first, $17.5-million fund, amid what remains a particularly challenging VC fundraising environment, especially for emerging managers.

Storytime ultimately aims to close $25 million to $30 million for Fund II over the next year to back 20 pre-seed and seed-stage tech companies building what co-founder and managing partner Neil Grunberg described as “the future of work.” Storytime has brought on Lauren Epstein as general partner (GP) to support those efforts.

“Our children won’t work the same way, with the same tools that we worked with, and we’re leaning into that opportunity.”

Neil Grunberg,
Storytime Capital

The VC firm’s thesis remains consistent. “Our children won’t work the same way, with the same tools that we worked with, and we’re leaning into that opportunity,” Grunberg told BetaKit in an exclusive interview.

But Storytime has made a few tweaks for Fund II, including working to ensure it has the flexibility to back more ideation-stage startups and the capital and capacity to “really double down” on its top-performing portfolio companies—two lessons from its first fund.

“We’ve got some winners in Fund I,” Grunberg said. “We’re handcuffed to how much we can double down into them, and that’s a frustration.”

Grunberg, who previously co-founded Montréal healthtech scaleup AlayaCare, teamed up with longtime Westdale Properties vice-president of real estate and angel investor Ryan Kimel to create Storytime in 2022. Today, Grunberg leads Storytime with Kimel and Epstein as GPs.

The firm has invested in 15 startups to date via Fund I, amassing a portfolio including startups like Vancouver-based Blanka, which helps people start their own makeup and skincare lines, Ottawa customer relationship management startup Bloks, Calgary-based leadership software provider Monark, Toronto AI patent search company NLPatent, Markham-based commuting platform Hop In Technologies, among others.

Storytime focuses on companies developing tech that helps people and companies do their jobs, find work and workers, and manage employees, spanning everything from business software to products that support gig and fractional work, creators, and solo-entrepreneurs.

RELATED: Canadian VCs arrive at annual industry gathering in need of a “wake-up call”

Grunberg acknowledged that getting to this point amid current market conditions was a tough lift, but said he is proud of this result. “We saw LPs that we had committed have to walk away before a call or defer,” he said. “People’s liquidity, people’s access to capital, people’s concern over their industry has impacted our ability to raise, [but] we hit a great number despite that.”

He attributed this to Storytime’s focus on tapping non-traditional VCs, as well as the community that the firm has built around the fund—something he emphasized that he hopes to maintain as Storytime continues to grow.

The makeup of the limited partner (LP) base for Storytime’s second fund looks similar to its first. Thirty-one individuals and no institutions have contributed to Fund II so far, including a mix of new and returning high-net-worth tech entrepreneurs and business leaders from outside tech with an interest in the firm’s thesis (for context, Storytime’s first fund had 78 LPs). Storytime leverages this group for deal flow, diligence, and portfolio company support.

Fund II investors include returning LPs AlayaCare co-founder and CEO Adrian Schauer, AI expert Louis-Martin Rousseau, and ex-Shoplogix president and CEO Martin Ambrose, and new backers like Creative Destruction Lab founding partner Dennis Bennie, ex-Maverix Private Equity managing partner Michael Wasserman, and Clio co-founder Rian Gauvreau.

RELATED: Monark closes $1.5 million led by Storytime Capital to modernize leadership development

“Building companies with Neil for over a decade, I was excited to back him in Fund I,” Schauer—who worked with Grunberg at AlayaCare and Vortex Connect—said. “The strong performance of Fund I’s portfolio has me even more excited to jump in on Fund II.”

For his part, Bennie said he was attracted to Storytime’s “robust network,” its ability to produce quality deal flow, and capacity to provide support to portfolio companies beyond just capital.

Grunberg credited the VC experience and network Epstein brings to Storytime.

Epstein, who had been supporting Fund I as a venture partner on a part-time basis since June 2023, joins Fund II as a GP. Epstein told BetaKit that she was initially attracted to Storytime’s focus on the future of work, as well as the firm’s culture, founder focus, and community.

Grunberg said that Epstein has helped Storytime “immensely” over the last two years, crediting the VC experience and network she brings to the firm, and he expects her to bring provide more value to Fund II in an expanded role. Epstein described the move to partner as “a natural solidification” of her relationship with the firm. 

“During that time, my excitement for Storytime has only grown,” Epstein said. “I’ve also seen how our strengths fit together: Ryan’s investment expertise, Neil’s deep operating experience, and my background in [VC] and law.”

The VC firm plans to write cheques of between $750,000 and $1.5 million through Fund II, which now gives it the capacity to invest as much as 10 percent of the fund in a single company. Storytime expects the majority of its deals to be in Canada, with additional investments in the United States and the Middle East.

Feature image courtesy Storytime Capital.

The post Storytime Capital holds $14-million first close of Fund II to back more startups modernizing work first appeared on BetaKit.

Canadian-founded, San Francisco-headquartered AppDirect announced its second acquisition of an energy brokerage this year as it seeks to profit from rising power demand. 

“Our acquisitions of DNE and BOX are happening at a crucial time when increased AI consumption has skyrocketed energy demands.”

Nicolas Desmarais
AppDirect

The software firm has bought Kirkland, Que.-based DNE Resources, an energy brokerage serving deregulated markets in the United States (US) and Canada, such as Alberta and Ontario. The acquisition follows the firm’s purchase of US-based Broker Online Exchange (BOX) in May. 

AppDirect also announced it had received a $100-million credit facility from provincial pension fund and repeated backer La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, which the company said helped finance both acquisitions. 

The acquisition will allow AppDirect to further break into North American energy markets, the company said, as it seeks to capitalize on an anticipated increase in electricity demand over the next decade. AppDirect is seeking to provide the “everything store” for B2B services, including cloud services, telecommunications, hardware, artificial intelligence (AI), and now, energy.

“Our acquisitions of DNE and BOX are happening at a crucial time when increased AI consumption has skyrocketed energy demands,” Nicolas Desmarais, AppDirect chair and CEO, said in a statement. 

AI infrastructure, including data centres, is expected to cause a 160-percent increase in power demand globally by 2030, according to a May 2024 report from Goldman Sachs. This could consume four percent of the world’s energy, up from one to two percent today, and double associated carbon emissions.

La Caisse has funded AppDirect several times over the years, including a combined $230 million towards establishing and topping up AppDirect Capital, a financing program for the tech advisors using the company’s platform. The pension fund also led a $185-million USD (then $240-million CAD) round into AppDirect in 2020. 

RELATED: AppDirect eyes rising energy demand with acquisition of Broker Online Exchange

This week, La Caisse announced a five-year climate plan that includes a planned $400 billion in climate action investments by 2030 as it continues to decarbonize its portfolio. The pension fund claims it has cut the carbon footprint of its $473-million portfolio in half since 2017.

Like BOX, DNE Resources will continue operating as its own brand and retain its customer base, AppDirect said. With the acquisition, DNE customers will gain access to AppDirect’s suite of technology services, including BOX’s My Service Cloud platform. 

AppDirect has made acquisitions a key part of its business strategy, as the DNE purchase marks its sixth known purchase since the beginning of 2023. The company told BetaKit it expects its gross revenues to cross $1 billion USD ($1.37 billion CAD) in the next two years.

Based in San Francisco, AppDirect has offices in Montréal and Calgary. It was co-founded in 2009 by Canadians Daniel Saks and Desmarais, with backing from the Desmarais family, one of Canada’s wealthiest and most influential families. Via Power Corporation, the family has backed Canadian tech companies such as Wealthsimple, Koho, and Borrowell.

Feature image courtesy Marcus Spiske via Unsplash.

The post $100-million credit facility from La Caisse helps AppDirect make second energy brokerage acquisition this year first appeared on BetaKit.

LawZero has appointed Sam Ramadori as co-president and executive director as the non-profit gears up to develop safe-by-design artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Consequently, Ramadori is departing as CEO of recently acquired Montréal cleantech startup BrainBox AI. 

Ramadori joins co-president and scientific director Yoshua Bengio as LawZero begins expanding its technical team, increases its philanthropic funding, and executes on its governance strategy, LawZero said in a statement. The organization added that its co-presidency structure combines Bengio’s scientific leadership with Ramadori’s strategic and operational expertise. 

Ramadori will continue to collaborate with BrainBox AI and Trane Technologies as an executive consultant.

LawZero, launched earlier this month by Turing Award winner Bengio, was founded in response to what the non-profit claims is “evidence that today’s frontier AI models are developing dangerous capabilities and behaviours, including deception, self-preservation, and goal misalignment.” LawZero is putting together a team of AI researchers to build “Scientist AI” that it says will be able to monitor and create guardrails for agentic AI systems.

“Having witnessed first-hand the positive transformations that AI can enable in multiple fields, the last outcome I want to see is AI being used for the wrong reasons by malicious actors,” Ramadori said in a LinkedIn post. 

Ramadori is leaving his role as the CEO of BrainBox AI to take on the new job shortly after it was acquired by Irish heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) giant Trane Technologies this past December. Founded in 2017, BrainBox launched its HVAC monitoring AI software in 2019 to help lower energy consumption in buildings such as apartment complexes, office buildings, and hotels. BrainBox’s Montréal operations and all 190 employees were retained post-acquisition. 

RELATED: Canada’s Bengio brothers offer new AI critiques, solutions

A BrainBox spokesperson told BetaKit that Ramadori’s position as CEO officially ended on June 13, adding that co-founder and CTO Jean-Simon Venne has been appointed as the head of BrainBox AI at Trane Technologies. However, Ramadori will continue to collaborate with BrainBox AI and Trane Technologies as an executive consultant. 

LawZero was incubated out of Québec AI Institute Mila, which was also founded by Bengio, and many on LawZero’s research team have connections to the institute. The organization says it is structured as a non-profit “to ensure it is insulated from market and government pressures, which risk compromising AI safety.” 

“Sam’s experience and leadership skills are exactly what LawZero needs to move forward,” Bengio said in a statement. “Just as importantly, he shares our vision that AI should be developed and used safely towards human flourishing.” 

Feature image courtesy LawZero. 

The post BrainBox AI CEO Sam Ramadori joins Yoshua Bengio’s LawZero as co-president and executive director first appeared on BetaKit.

Montréal-based venture capital (VC) investor David Dufresne is joining AQC Capital as its newest investment partner after pausing operations at his early-stage firm CMD Capital, BetaKit has learned.  

Dufresne will assist the Québec government-backed VC firm, which co-invests with members of the angel network Anges Québec, in deploying the remainder of its second fund, he told BetaKit. 

“I predict there’s going to be a lot more activity.”

David Dufresne
AQC Capital

Dufresne has more than 20 years of experience in VC, managing funds at Panache Ventures, Relay Ventures (formerly BlackBerry Partners Fund), and Desjardins Venture Capital. In between, he was CEO of music marketing platform Bandzoogle and head of growth at Bandcamp. 

Dufresne was most recently a partner at now-shuttered CMD Capital, which announced in February that it would indefinitely halt fundraising efforts due to a “tough” VC market. 

Recently, BDC Capital executive vice-president Geneviève Bouthillier said chilled exit markets and weaker returns have impacted fundraising as less liquidity flows to limited partners—something Dufresne said he learned firsthand.

RELATED: CMD Capital halts fundraising amid “tough” VC market

Dufresne told BetaKit that he plans to bring “new deal flow” to the table by leveraging his connections throughout Canadian and United States (US) venture. He joins three partners at AQC: Serge Beauchemin, Kalthoum Bouacida, and Stéphane Caron.

Formerly known as Anges Québec Capital, AQC Capital invests across sectors, mainly at the seed stage. Dufresne said it plans to invest in five to 10 more companies through Fund II before the end of the year. 

Though Dufresne acknowledged it has been a difficult few years for seed-stage investing in Québec, he’s encouraged by the capital ready to be deployed. He has previously said that the Québec ecosystem is in need of more early-stage private capital, as the ecosystem has long been reliant on government funds. 

“In the last four to six months, deal flow has been better and…it might be because there’s a lot of dry powder,” Dufresne said. “I predict there’s going to be a lot more activity.” 

RELATED: Former Anges Québec CEO Geneviève Tanguay joins Panache Ventures as partner

CMD co-founder, Matt Roberts, recently announced he is joining RBCx, the Royal Bank of Canada’s tech banking and innovation arm, as managing director of VC Coverage. 

“I’ll be working with venture capital firms and emerging managers across the country to help them scale smarter, faster, and with the right capital partners by their side,” Roberts wrote in a LinkedIn post. 

Roberts brings over two decades of experience in VC investing, including at ScaleUP Ventures and BDC Capital’s IT Venture Fund. His previous investments include Rewind, Solink, Sonder, and Unsplash.  

Chen makes partner at Golden

In other VC hiring moves, Nick Chen has been promoted to partner at Toronto-based Golden Ventures after two years at the firm. 

The firm, which is deploying out of its $100-million USD ($137-million CAD) Fund V, focuses on seed-stage investments across a wide range of sectors, including B2B software, FinTech, and deep tech. Golden’s portfolio includes ApplyBoard, BenchSci, Faire, Float, Shakepay, Waabi, and Xanadu. 

According to Chen’s LinkedIn profile, he will focus on AI infrastructure, cybersecurity, web3, and other frontier technologies. 

Chen worked as an investor and later as the emerging technologies lead at Georgian for a combined six years. He was Head of Ventures at New York-based IEX, which operates a stock exchange for US securities.

Golden founder Matt Golden wrote in a Medium post about the appointment that the firm doesn’t “take adding partners lightly.” Chen joins general partner Ameet Shah, partner Jamie Rosenblatt, talent partner Alison Kaizer, and venture partner Bert Amato. 

In his post, Golden lauded Chen’s “trust thesis,” an approach to investing in AI and cybersecurity that pays particular attention to the “hype cycle” of soaring valuations created by emerging technologies such as AI.

“Nick has a track record of being ahead of the curve,” Golden wrote. 

Feature images courtesy Golden Ventures and David Dufresne.

The post David Dufresne joins AQC Capital, Nick Chen makes partner at Golden Ventures first appeared on BetaKit.

For nearly a decade, Vena Solutions focused squarely on North America.

Founded in 2011 in Toronto, the company built software to help businesses plan, budget, and forecast, tools meant to replace bloated spreadsheets with something structured, cloud-based, and collaborative. By the end of the decade, its corporate performance management platform had become a fixture in North American finance departments. 

“Ignoring it would frankly be leaving money on the table.”

Patrick Pichette, Inovia Capital

Then came a pull from across the Atlantic.

Resellers in Europe began asking for access. Prospective customers, including banks, consultancies, multi-market corporations, wanted demos. Hunter Madeley, Vena’s new CEO at the time, recognized a market opening already aligned with Vena’s strengths.

“Most companies based in Europe operate in a number of countries and markets within the region, and that makes for a more complex operating environment than comparable Canadian or US organizations primarily serving their own shared market,” Madeley said. “Our platform easily scales for planning in complex multi-market environments, so we saw Europe as a wonderful opportunity to grow.”

Across Canada’s tech sector, it’s no longer unusual for companies to prioritize Europe. With over 450 million consumers and $20 trillion in gross domestic product, Europe’s size and sophistication have long been attractive, but recent global tensions are now accelerating Canadian interest.

“Europe offers a massive, sophisticated market opportunity beyond North America for founders to pursue their global ambitions,” said Patrick Pichette, London, UK-based Partner at Inovia Capital, and the former Chief Financial Officer of Google. “Ignoring it would frankly be leaving money on the table.”

First moves matter

Vena’s move to Europe began in earnest in 2019 with the opening of its London office and the hiring of a regional sales leader. At the time, the platform was only available in English, making the United Kingdom and Ireland natural entry points. But from the outset, the company planned to expand into new languages and markets across the continent.

According to Madeley, market selection is highly contextual. There’s no universal starting point, he said. Instead, companies need to weigh where their product creates the most value, and make deliberate investment decisions based on that.

As an investor, Pichette sees early planning as critical. Inovia, which has been active in Europe for nearly a decade, focuses on giving portfolio companies the connections to navigate regulation, local norms, and commercial relationships. “We know everyone, and everyone knows us,” Pichette said.

That includes early coordination with banks, something Pichette sees as essential for managing tax, legal, and hiring frameworks. “Don’t try to DIY this,” he added.

He said banks like CIBC, through its Innovation Banking group, support cross-border expansion by helping startups set up multi-currency accounts, manage foreign exchange, and access international growth capital. CIBC also has offices in the UK, which positions it to be a strong support to companies expanding to Europe. Services like venture debt and export financing can also support hiring and scaling across European markets.

One continent, many markets

While Canada’s proximity to the US has historically made expansion south feel straightforward, Europe introduces a different set of dynamics. For Vena, the primary challenge was fragmentation.

“Having led expansion throughout Europe more than once, I know it’s easy to get really excited by the size of the aggregate market, but each market requires focus, and you can’t spread your organization too thinly,” Madeley said.

Pichette agreed. He noted that success demands deep localization, supported by boots on the ground.

“Success in Europe depends on adapting all aspects of the business operations on a market-by-market basis,” Pichette added. “If you have a restaurant solution, it needs to work in a UK pub, a French bistro, an Italian trattoria, a Spanish tapas bar, all with their own fiscalization.”

There are also cultural nuances to navigate. Madeley said companies need to align with local expectations, whether that’s around risk appetite, communication style, or purchasing processes. Sales approaches need to feel familiar to the buyer, Madeley added, or they’ll fail to gain traction.

“Even if you aren’t a local company, you need to be selling your solution the way organizations prefer to buy them, or you won’t even land on their shortlist,” Madeley said.

Shifting the default

Historically, Canadian tech companies have looked to the US to scale. But trade tensions with the US and broader political shifts have prompted founders and investors to reconsider that default. Calls to build a domestic ecosystem that is less reliant on American markets are growing louder.

Vena’s expansion was driven by demand long before the trade war began, but today, its European division is its fastest-growing business unit. The company, which reached centaur status last year by hitting $100 million USD in annual recurring revenue, is now planning to expand across the DACH region, which comprises Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, through a mix of internal hiring and external partnerships.

“Europe is a key component of our market diversification strategy and will be an important growth lever for us for years to come,” Madeley added.

Beyond market size, Pichette pointed to Europe’s artificial intelligence and FinTech ecosystems as major draws for Canadian startups. In nations like the UK, open banking frameworks have created fertile ground for startups and scaleups—frameworks introduced under the oversight of Canada’s prime minister during his time as Governor of the Bank of England. 

Together, these factors have made Europe a compelling alternative to the US for Canadian tech founders with global ambitions.

“It’s a huge opportunity for the right team and the right product,” Pichette said.

PRESENTED BY

Whether you’re expanding internationally or scaling at home, CIBC Innovation Banking offers the financial tools and expertise to support your growth. Learn more.

Feature image courtesy Unsplash. Photo by Benjamin Davies.

The post Europe is rising on the radar of Canadian tech first appeared on BetaKit.

A little sunlight, and a little photocatalytic powder. That’s all Toronto-based cleantech startup Xatoms says it takes to make contaminated water drinkable.

The process involves quantum chemistry and artificial intelligence (AI) to identify photocatalysts, or substances that react with light to purify water. Now, Xatoms has raised $3 million in pre-seed funding to help commercialize its technology for industries and consumers.  

The round, which closed last week, consists of $2 million in equity and $1 million in non-dilutive grants. Sherbrooke, Que.-based Quantacet led the round, with participation from European fund Genesis Ventures, BDC Thrive Lab, BROMAC Capital’s Ian Fergusson, BoxOne Ventures, and the founders of publication The Quantum Insider and media company Viral Nation. Five angel investors, including SheBoot founder Jennifer Francis, also participated. 

“Just as drug companies are discovering drugs for different diseases, we want to discover different photocatalysts for contaminants in water.”

The funding is set to launch Xatoms onto the next phase of its global ambitions. CEO Diana Virgovicova, who hails from Slovakia, was inspired to find a way to purify water on a backpacking trip to Mumbai, when she learned about how women are disproportionately impacted by a lack of access to clean water. Globally, women are more often tasked with fetching water for their households and are more adversely impacted by water-related illnesses, according to the World Health Organization. 

What began as a desire to fix a problem turned into a multi-year, international quest to quickly make water safe and potable. At 17, Virgovicova was awarded the Stockholm Junior Water Prize for discovering a specific molecule that could break down organic pollutants—like bacteria, herbicides, and pesticides—when activated by sunlight. 

Armed with a Lester B. Pearson International Scholarship, Virgovicova moved to Toronto and started Xatoms, to introduce and discover new photocatalysts that could similarly purify water. She then nabbed a Cansbridge Fellowship, where she met her eventual co-founders, COO Shirley Zhong and CTO Kerem Topal Ismail Oglou.

RELATED: Alexis Ohanian and Matt Damon can help Xatoms clean water around the world

When light hits a photocatalyst, it bumps it up to a higher energy state, causing chemical reactions to occur around it. In water, some of these chemical reactions can kill or neutralize harmful materials lurking inside it.

To find these photocatalysts, Xatoms uses quantum chemistry, or the principles of quantum mechanics that guide the way atoms and molecules interact with each other at the smallest scale. Then, an AI computing technique called a neural network is used to speed up the discovery process as it can sift through large amounts of data, saving time and money on experimentation.

Once identified, Xatoms turns the photocatalysts into powder form, which can coat filters or be added directly to water to eliminate contaminants.

As crucial as that use case may be, it’s not the only thing photocatalysts can do. The materials are being deployed in green hydrogen production and self-cleaning surfaces to destroy germs on contact. 

“Just as drug companies are discovering drugs for different diseases, we want to discover different photocatalysts for contaminants in water,” Virgovicova said. 

The startup has already patented eight different materials. Now, it’s looking to sell powders to water filtration companies, and potentially, to mining companies looking to detoxify water close to extraction sites. Xatoms is running three pilot projects: one with a filtration company in Texas, one with a community lacking potable water in Kenya, and one for eliminating E. coli from a river in South Africa.

Though its tech originally only targeted biohazards, it can now neutralize heavy metals such as mercury in water, Virgovicova told BetaKit. Part of this is tackling a severe problem in Canada: ensuring Indigenous communities have consistent access to clean drinking water. According to Indigenous Services Canada, there are currently 37 boil-water advisories lasting over a year in effect in First Nations reserves across the country. The CEO said Xatoms is exploring working with First Nations in Northern Ontario to leverage its tech. 

RELATED: Xatoms and Knead take home top prizes amid strong Canadian showing at SXSW pitch competition

Xatoms’ potential to commercialize beyond water purification made the investment decision easy for Quantacet partner Chloé Archambault. 

“There’s one clear market they can go into for the next few years, then there’s this huge potential to diversify into other markets,” Archambault told BetaKit. 

Xatoms has received a significant amount of external support, including taking the top prize at Startupfest and earning Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s 776 Fellowship grant. Virgovicova has connected with top levels of international humanitarian efforts for clean water, including Water.org co-founder Matt Damon. 

But even with all that momentum, the Xatoms team said raising its first venture round was a struggle. Zhong told BetaKit that they went through more than 400 pitch meetings. 

“With deep tech, the revenue path is sometimes unclear, how quickly we can actually commercialize it,” Virgovicova said. “At the beginning, no one wanted to invest, but now we [are] oversubscribed.”

Deep tech and quantum technology are seen as scarier for investors, Archambault said, because they are often more capital-intensive up front and require more expertise to conduct due diligence. 

While fundraising, the Xatoms team also tried to steer clear of additional barriers by not publicizing their ages (both Zhong and Virgovicova are in their early 20s). The first time they officially revealed their ages, the co-founders said, was when they were profiled in Forbes 30 Under 30 this year.

The team may be young, but it’s amassing years of expertise in its niche. Xatoms just hired five PhD-trained scientists and plans to grow its team of 11, eight of whom are women. The makeup of the team ties back to Virgovicova’s original, personal goal for the company. 

“We want to keep raising awareness about water problems and how it affects mainly women,” she said. “We want to drive revenue across North America, but also give back and impact communities.”

Feature image courtesy Xatoms. 

The post With $3-million pre-seed round, Xatoms launches pilot projects to purify water with quantum chemistry first appeared on BetaKit.

This fall, Vancouver is gaining a new incubator for generalist technology startups. 

Applications to join Althra’s first, four-month, in-person cohort in downtown Vancouver, which will run from September to December 2025, have now opened. Althra plans to work with 10 selected early-stage Canadian tech founders with a working prototype and early validation, provide them with free space to focus on building full-time, and connect them with a network of more experienced mentors and potential investors. 

“A key thesis for [Althra] was building in person.”

Sanket Mittal,
Althra

Althra founder Sanket Mittal, who previously worked as an analyst in British Columbia (BC) for Toronto’s Graphite Ventures, unpacked why he decided to launch Althra and shared his vision for the scrappy, aspiring Vancouver tech hub in an interview with BetaKit. “A key thesis for it was building in person,” he said.

“I’m treating it as a startup where, if you’re not kind of embarrassed by the first product, then you shipped too late … There’s a lot that I don’t know, but I’m more than happy to figure [it out] and pivot,” Mittal added.

The free, no-equity incubator will feature limited programming, a dedicated 24/7 downtown workspace, and weekly mentorship from established Vancouver entrepreneurs in areas like FinTech, AI, and SaaS. Mittal said its first cohort will kick off with a dinner for participating founders and mentors, and conclude with a demo day featuring potential investors and partners.

Mittal said the initial idea was for Althra to raise some money and invest $10,000 CAD in each participant’s company to help mitigate the high cost of living in Vancouver, but landed on its current approach after fundraising proved difficult.

Like many Canadian startups today, Mittal said Althra is “running lean,” leveraging donated office space from Vancouver-based human resources and marketing consulting firm The Acquisition Group, mentors who have volunteered their time, and investors from his network. Mittal said he is working on Althra on a part-time basis and not expecting to see any monetary benefit from it at this time.

The Acquisition Group regional manager Adam McKilligan told BetaKit that he decided to support Althra because he has “seen firsthand how fragmented the Vancouver tech community can be.” McKilligan argued that Vancouver could use more hubs where startups, advisors, investors, and other stakeholders can collaborate.

RELATED: Toronto-Waterloo, Vancouver, Ottawa drop in Startup Genome’s 2025 global ecosystem rankings as Montréal, Calgary hold steady

“When Sanket shared his vision for Althra and what was needed to bring it to life, it was an easy decision to get involved,” McKilligan said. “I’ve always believed in acting quickly, doing the right thing, learning from the outcome, and being ready to pivot if needed. Supporting this incubator is about building a stronger, more connected ecosystem for everyone, and I had the ability to help, so I helped.”

Althra’s mentors include ZenHub co-founder Aaron Upright, Loopio co-founder and CTO Matt York, Wavy co-founder and CEO Shawn Hewat, Later co-founder Ian MacKinnon, Inverted AI co-founder and CTO Adam Ścibior, MyFO founder and CEO Simran Kang, and Vancouver Tech Journal founder William Johnson (now vice-president of strategy and operations at Overstory Media), among others.

“I’ve spent the last several years championing founders who are building ambitious companies in Vancouver,” Johnson told BetaKit. “Mentoring at Althra is a way for me to go a step further—not just celebrating the work, but actively helping founders navigate the early stages. If I can make the journey a little easier or clearer for someone, that’s more than worth it.”

York believes in the value of building in person. “I joined as a mentor because I’m continually impressed by the tech talent in Vancouver—and I believe more should be giving back to early-stage founders,” he said. “I’m also deeply bullish on the power of early-stage ideas being built in person. There’s real magic when ambitious people share space and momentum.”

RELATED: “The energy is here”: local leaders call Web Summit Vancouver’s scaled-back debut a success

Mittal, who was born and raised in Calgary but studied electrical and computer engineering at the University of British Columbia (UBC), said the genesis of Althra dates back to what he learned during his time at Graphite, and a popular LinkedIn post about founding a potential incubator he published last month, which led a variety of local tech leaders to express support for the idea and offer to lend support.

The Althra founder hopes to build a community around the incubator that connects with other parts of Vancouver’s “fragmented” tech ecosystem.

”Another group with good intent and a desire to build community is obviously helpful.”

Sean Elbe,
CDL Vancouver

Mittal said he is launching Althra to help fill what he views as a gap in the city’s tech sector: a lack of incubators for generalist early-stage startups that are not working in the university system or within specific verticals like cleantech or life sciences. The Althra founder said he noticed this during the five months or so he spent last year scouting BC for Graphite. “I saw the challenges up close when we explored expanding to BC, and then didn’t because of a lack of deal flow,” he claimed. 

For his part, Graphite managing director and general partner Lance Laking told BetaKit the firm brought on Mittal to help explore whether it should station a full-time employee in Vancouver. Laking said Graphite ultimately determined that given deal flow in the region, among other factors, it made more sense to prioritize building a physical presence in other Canadian cities.

Vancouver currently plays home to a variety of organizations that provide early-stage startup programming, including Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) Vancouver, Simon Fraser University, UBC, the BC Tech Association, and New Ventures BC, among others.

Local tech leaders BetaKit spoke with expressed skepticism about Mittal’s thesis that the city lacks incubators for early-stage generalist tech startups, but agreed that more spaces for tech entrepreneurs in the city to build together in person are always a good thing.

​​”Another group with good intent and a desire to build community is obviously helpful, because it’s part of the fabric of what makes any entrepreneurship ecosystem successful,” Sean Elbe, who helps lead partnerships at CDL Vancouver, told BetaKit.

Feature image courtesy Althra.

The post Former Graphite Ventures analyst to launch new Vancouver incubator Althra first appeared on BetaKit.

The leaders of Group of Seven (G7) nations concluded the annual summit in Kananaskis, Alta., with six joint commitments, including some that addressed tech like artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing. 

The G7 nations reached consensus on a “common vision” for the future of quantum technologies, recognized the “potential” for AI to grow prosperity, and came up with a critical minerals action plan. The Prime Minister’s Office also highlighted Canada’s financial backing for each of these areas, including $22.5 million to accelerate the development and use of quantum technologies, $80.3 million to build reliable critical minerals supply chains, and up to $185.6 million to accelerate the adoption and commercialization of AI.

The G7 is an informal grouping of seven of the world’s largest economies, consisting of leaders from France, the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Italy, and Canada. 

Quantum

In the joint statement on quantum computing, the G7 leaders committed to promoting public and private investment in quantum technologies, as well as its adoption. 

“We acknowledge that achieving quantum technologies’ full potential will require international collaboration between governments, researchers and industry to mobilize investments and optimize resources,” the statement reads. 

The leaders also agreed to recognize that a global regulatory framework for quantum “is not yet appropriate” given it’s in the early stages of innovation. Despite this, the joint statement acknowledged there are risks associated with quantum tech, and vowed to promote the timely adoption of quantum-resilient security measures. 

“Trusted, values-aligned collaboration with industry will be essential to ensure that these investments translate into scalable capabilities.”

Lisa Lambert
Quantum Industry Canada

While much of the commitments were expressions of general goals and values, the leaders did agree to collaborate through a G7 Joint Working Group on Quantum Technologies. The group will consist of industry, experts, and academia cooperating on research, development, and commercialization, according to the statement. This can include voluntary joint calls for projects between different members, policy dialogues, and assessing the potential societal impacts of the tech as it progresses towards commercial and defense applications.

In a statement, Quantum Industry Canada CEO Lisa Lambert called the working group a “particularly important step.” 

“Trusted, values-aligned collaboration with industry will be essential to ensure that these investments translate into scalable capabilities—for both economic competitiveness and national resilience,” Lambert said. 

The Prime Minister’s office backed up the statement with a $22.5-million financial commitment over three years to facilitate collaboration on quantum research, development, and commercialization. 

Artificial intelligence

In order to realize their vision of AI that helps grow prosperity, the leaders acknowledged they must better “drive innovation” and adopt “secure, responsible, and trustworthy AI that benefits people, mitigates negative externalities, and promotes” national security. This came with many commitments.

For starters, the leaders committed to work together to accelerate the adoption of AI in the public sector, as well as support small-and-medium-sized enterprise (SMEs) in doing the same. To achieve this, Canada is launching the “G7 GovAI Grand Challenge,” and will host a series of “Rapid Solution Labs” meant to help further adopt AI in the public sector. This follows Prime Minister Carney’s mandate letter that called for the government to deploy AI “at scale.”

The leaders also agreed to establish a G7 AI Network (GAIN) to support the initiative, as well as develop a roadmap to scale successful AI projects and create a catalogue of open-source and shareable AI solutions for members. To support SMEs, the G7 said it would launch an AI Adoption Roadmap to provide pathways for companies to adopt AI and scale their businesses. Through this roadmap, the leaders also committed to sustaining investments in AI adoption programs for SMEs, including supporting access to compute and digital infrastructure. 

RELATED: Alberta’s tech sector is embracing an AI data centre boom. Will it pay off?

Providing more detail on the adoption roadmap, the leaders said they intend to double down on AI adoption efforts that connect research to practical applications, but claimed they recognized the need to respect intellectual property rights while doing so. OpenAI and Cohere are among some major AI firms that have been hit with lawsuits alleging copyright infringement. 

The joint statement does acknowledge the countries have to “meet the energy challenges of AI,” doing so by supporting innovation that improves the energy and resource efficiency of AI models and optimizes data centre operations. While traditional data centres require between five and 10 megawatts (MW) of power, one AI “hyperscale” data centre typically demands more than 100 MW, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

“We task relevant Ministers to advance these commitments by delivering a workplan on AI and energy, before the end of this year, including working with international and industry partners to provide ongoing data analysis,” the statement reads.

Canada’s $185.6-million financial backing of this commitment is broken down into three projects, the largest of which is called “AI for Growth.” This project earmarks $174 million over three years to boost AI adoption rates through continued investment in Canada’s National AI Institutes and Global Innovation Clusters. The federal government is also backing a call for proposals on AI and Energy with $10 million, and supporting the IEA with $145,000 in funding for key energy-related projects. 

Feature image courtesy Mark Carney via X.

The post G7 leaders conclude summit with commitments on AI and quantum first appeared on BetaKit.

The commissioner of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC), Shereen Benzvy Miller, provided FinTech leaders with a progress update on the country’s open banking plan this week, indicating the federal government is moving ahead with the much-delayed policy.

In an address at the Open Banking Expo held in Toronto on Tuesday, Benzvy Miller said her agency has “drawn important lessons” from working with the departments of finance, industry, and other stakeholders since the Consumer-Driven Banking Act that came into force last year. She also revealed that FCAC is working on a consumer awareness strategy, an accreditation process, and common rules for open banking’s implementation.

“The same way we no longer think twice about tapping a screen to connect with loved ones, navigate a city, or take a photo, we envision a future—not too far off—where consumers can securely share their financial data with trusted providers at the tap of a button, receive personalized insights in real time, and switch between services with the same ease as switching between apps,” Benzvy Miller said, according to an FCAC transcription of her speech. 

“One lesson we have already learned is that timely communications—about how open banking works and how it will add value—are vital.”

Shereen Benzvy Miller

Benzvy Miller said that Canadians appreciate the growing array of products and services offered by FinTech companies, and that the financial industry is more inclusive and efficient than ever because of them.

However, she called FinTech companies’ current  practice of screen-scraping, an insecure method of consumer data sharing, as a “blemish” on the sector in the absence of a proper open banking framework. 

“We can all agree that there is a better way to share data, given the host of security, liability, and privacy risks posed by screen-scraping—both for consumers and for the financial system,” Benzvy Miller said, referencing FCAC research that found 86 percent of Canadians would rather not use screen-scraping, once it was explained to them. 

Open banking, which falls under the feds’ purview, would let consumers securely share financial data with third-party FinTech firms, while real-time rail (RTR)—led by Payments Canada with oversight from the Government of Canada—aims to facilitate faster, cheaper payments for Canadian companies and consumers. Both initiatives have been repeatedly delayed over the span of several years.

Benzvy Miller said FCAC is conducting public opinion research and collaborating with international jurisdictions that have implemented open banking to developing a consumer awareness strategy. 

“One lesson we have already learned is that timely communications—about how open banking works and how it will add value—are vital,” she said. “We’ll have to demystify open banking and demonstrate through real-life examples how open banking can give them more control, more choice, and more confidence in their financial lives.”

Open banking primer

Canada has been on a long and winding path toward open banking since 2018. This collection of stories will catch you up on progress to date:

• FinTech startups frustrated with glacial pace of Canada’s open banking consultations
• Open banking working group failing to address critical governance, standards issues
• Canadian FinTech companies launch open banking public action campaign as delays continue
• Wealthsimple’s Hanna Zaidi on the “lack of political will” harming FinTech innovation
• Payments Canada reveals no Real-Time Rail until at least 2026
• FinTech leaders say “devil is in the details” with #Budget2024 open banking promises
• Fall Economic Statement brings more delays for open banking in Canada
• Canadian FinTech leaders “cautiously optimistic” about open banking, payments modernization under Mark Carney

Additionally, FCAC is developing an accreditation process to ensure only trusted entities can access financial data when requested by a consumer. Accreditation will consist of a common visual identifier—a logo—that shows consumers a provider is authorized to participate in the open-banking ecosystem, Benzvy Miller explained. She added that FCAC is also developing common rules with the Department of Finance to “ensure a consistent application of safeguards and uniformity of practice by financial service providers.”

Following the 2025 election, Canadian FinTech leaders at the Payments Canada Summit expressed cautious optimism that Prime Minister Mark Carney would install a government that cares about their policy priorities, including open banking. Canada’s previous Liberal government did not fully deliver on its promises to implement open banking and an RTR payments system. 

“I said a while ago that the time for announcements was done … The time now is for implementation,” Fintechs Canada executive director Alex Vronces told BetaKit at the summit last month. 

Much of the policy work on open banking and RTR is already complete, with the Government of Canada having passed and enacted the first half of their open banking framework, but it has yet to table the second, which Benzvy Miller said FCAC can “look forward” to.

“My team at the Agency and I are committed and excited about what the future will bring,” she said. “We look forward to continuing our collaboration with all of you on developing a framework that will benefit both Canadians and Canada’s financial system.”

Feature image courtesy Open Banking Expo via LinkedIn. 

The post FCAC commissioner shares update on Canada’s open banking future, but makes no timeline commitments first appeared on BetaKit.

What does it actually take to raise capital in 2025?

For Canadian founders, understanding the volume of investment is only part of the equation. Navigating today’s market requires a deeper grasp of how deals are being structured, who’s deploying capital, and the evolving dynamics shaping investor behaviour behind the scenes.

Following the release of Osler’s 2024 Deal Points Report: Venture Capital Financings, BetaKit spoke to two partners at the firm, Gary Marshall and Laura Webb, who work directly with founders and investors across the country. 

Their front-line insight offers a candid look at the forces shaping the current market.

The edge is becoming the core

In 2024, Canada’s venture market was still led by a handful of large-scale financings, including rounds raised by Cohere and Clio. “Larger deals are really driving the Canadian ecosystem in terms of dollars invested,” added Marshall.

“You need to think about what’s going to differentiate you relative to the billion other companies that didn’t raise in the past two years.”

Gary Marshall, Osler

While those mega-deals propped up total investment figures in 2024, they didn’t tell the whole story.

Founders at earlier stages are starting to see more movement again, suggesting investor appetite is slowly returning for riskier, earlier bets.

“Another big trend we see, relative to the post-COVID boom era, is that early stage seems to be making somewhat of a comeback,” Marshall added.

According to the report, the biggest increase in these early-stage financings was at the seed stage, where the number of financings increased 18 percent from 2023 and represented 45 percent of all financings in 2024.

At the same time, activity is expanding geographically. The Prairies, for example, accounted for roughly 14 percent of deals and five percent of invested capital last year.

“Historically, [venture] was very focused in the larger cities,” Marshall added. “Now we’re seeing a lot more activity in the Prairies and the Atlantic provinces.”

Diligence is deepening

Investor hesitancy prolonged deals and led to much deeper diligence processes in 2024. Webb believes this means that founders in 2025 must be ready to demonstrate traction over time, not just in a pitch.

“The diligence process from the investor side really drives a lot of the timeline,” Webb added. Investors are more scrupulous about the commercial realities, financial metrics, and understanding whether startups can hit their metrics.

That growing investor hesitancy, Marshall noted, is also being shaped by broader market volatility, especially in a climate where conditions can shift “day to day or week to week.” 

In 2025, this uncertainty has been amplified by Canada’s ongoing trade tensions with the United States, leaving many businesses and investors navigating a persistent sense of unpredictability.

Time to get real

With longer fundraising timelines, founders can no longer count on money being available on demand. Success, according to Marshall, depends on careful planning, ongoing investor relationships, and realistic expectations around valuation.

“Anticipate the comments, the questions, the concerns that your investors are going to have, and have solutions in mind.”

Laura Webb, Osler

“You really have to kind of think hard 12 months out, because that’s how long it’s taking a lot of these rounds to come together,” Marshall said. “Who’s going to fund us? Is it going to be strategics? Is it going to be our existing investors? Is it going to be new venture funds?” 

Existing investors have become a key factor in those decisions. “In almost all the deals we’re seeing, there’s meaningful insider investment, if not insiders leading the round,” Marshall added. 

That dynamic is opening up more strategic conversations. “I think that’s something that’s important to keep in mind, is keeping your existing investors happy,” he said.

“That’s an advantage, because you can actually get to have the conversation with them and say, ‘Okay, we need to raise 12 months from now. What do I need to do in order for you to want to lead around at that time?’” he added. “Whereas, if it’s a new outside lead like you’re not going to give you that magic answer.”

Founders must stay focused

Webb believes the longer fundraising timelines also comes down to a reduced willingness from investors to deploy capital.

“There was less competitive tension,” Webb said. “There’s a lot of wait and see happening out there, and we saw that in 2024.”

Teams that navigated this environment well, she said, remained patient with those longer timelines and managed what she called “deal fatigue.”

“The other piece is keeping focused on the business,” she said, noting that she sees many founders getting pulled away from the operation of their business in the midst of a fundraise.

“If you’re detracted and you’re distracted by doing your fundraising, then that ultimately is going to feed into whether or not you’re getting investment at the end of the day.”

Get the house in order

To succeed in 2025, Webb and Marshall agreed that founders need discipline, clear plans, and patience for slower timelines.

“Have your data room ready,” Webb said. “Anticipate the comments, the questions, the concerns that your investors are going to have, and have solutions in mind. Really get your corporate house in order early on.”

Founders should also “expect delays,” Webb added. “I think we’re still seeing slow timelines to closing in the first half.” She said it’s important for founders to track their capital spend closely, and if possible, seek other sources of financing, like debt or non-dilutive funding.

Founders heading to market in 2025 are entering a crowded field, which means the pressure is on for startups to stand out.

“There’s a big backlog of companies that need to raise,” Marshall said. “And if you’re going out in that cohort, you need to think about what’s going to differentiate you relative to the billion other companies that didn’t raise in the past two years.”

PRESENTED BY

The 2024 Deal Points Report offers one of the most comprehensive views available into how Canadian financings are really getting done.

For a deeper look at the data behind these dynamics, read Osler’s full 2024 report now.

The post What founders need to know about raising in 2025 first appeared on BetaKit.

Calgary-based cleantech startup Carbon Upcycling has closed an $18-million USD ($24.5-million CAD) convertible note investment round as it continues to develop its carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technology. 

The round was led by Builders Vision, a Chicago-based impact investment platform that says it offers “versatile philanthropic, investment and advocacy tools to people and organizations building a more humane and healthy planet.” The firm will join Carbon Upcycling’s board as an observer, a spokesperson told BetaKit in an email. 

Carbon Upcycling says it has raised $95.5-million CAD to date from capital funding and grants. 

The round also saw participation from returning investors, including the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), Climate Investment (the green investment arm of an association of oil and gas producers), Amplify Capital, and strategic investors CRH Ventures, Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, and TITAN Group.

The funding is being used for the company’s project pipeline and corporate growth, the spokesperson said. 

Carbon Upcycling said that the investment builds on a period of recent momentum, as it develops its flagship CCU project at its Ash Grove cement plant in Mississauga, Ont., west of Toronto, and executes on a newly signed memorandum of agreement with investor TITAN Group. The agreement with TITAN, signed earlier this month, outlines plans for Carbon Upcycling to conduct technical feasibility studies at two TITAN cement plants.

“Expanding the scope of our partnership with Carbon Upcycling from investment to project exploration aims to scale up the production of innovative, high-performance cementitious solutions,” TITAN Chief Innovation and Sustainability Officer Leonidas Canellopoulos said in a statement regarding the partnership. 

Founded in 2014 by CEO Apoorv Sinha, Carbon Upcycling’s CCU solution combines carbon dioxide with local industrial byproducts and natural materials to create “high-performance” alternative materials for cement and concrete. The Calgary startup has previously claimed that its tech can reduce the amount of cement used in concrete production by up to 50 percent.

Carbon Upcycling isn’t the only Canadian company in this space; it competes with the likes of Halifax-based CarbonCure and Montréal-based CarbiCrete. After being named to the Global Cleantech 100 for two consecutive years, Carbon Upcycling was among four Canadian companies that didn’t make the cut this year. The Cleantech 100 is a list meant to predict which cleantech companies will make a substantial impact on the market in the near future.

Carbon Upcycling last raised $26-million USD (then $34.4-million CAD) in a July 2023 round co-led by BDC Capital (through its Climate Tech Fund) and United Kingdom-based Climate Investment, as it looked to deploy its CCU tech at cement plants in North America and Europe. Carbon Upcycling has raised $70-million USD ($95.5-million CAD) to date, including capital funding and grants, the spokesperson told BetaKit. 

Feature image courtesy Carbon Upcycling.

The post Carbon Upcycling lays foundation with $24.5-million round led by Chicago-based impact investor Builders Vision first appeared on BetaKit.

Northern British Columbia isn’t usually the backdrop for national conversations about digital transformation.

But in Prince George, one credit union is grappling with a challenge that’s becoming increasingly relevant across Canada: how to adopt AI without giving up control of sensitive data.

“Why can’t companies take a measured approach of training on open data, and committing to not selling your information?”

Chandrashekar Lalapet Srinivas Prasanna, Zoho Canada

Integris Credit Union serves about 28,000 members across a region where in-person banking can be either inconvenient or impossible. To keep up with demand for mobile-first services, the organization began exploring AI tools to streamline operations several years ago. Before any implementation, though, they needed clear guardrails.

“We can’t share data with anybody,” said Integris VP of Information Technology Jeff Anderson. “Our members trust us with their financial futures. We had to make sure that we do so in a secure way, that we’re protecting their assets for the long term.”

At a time when many businesses are rushing to plug AI into their workflows, more are asking who really owns the technology and what it means to rely on models built and hosted by someone else.

“The challenge that they have had is there’s no awareness as to how data flows for these AI outcomes,” said Chandrashekar Lalapet Srinivas Prasanna (LSP), Managing Director of Zoho Canada. “Where is it going? Who is it training? Where’s this information being retained?”

That lack of transparency has already led to public backlash. In recent months, several tech giants, including Meta and Adobe, have faced criticism for shifting their terms of service in ways that allow user content to be fed back into their AI training systems, sometimes without clear or upfront consent.

In sectors like finance, education, and healthcare, where personal information is tightly regulated, even unintentional data exposure can come with legal consequences. With new Canadian privacy legislation on the horizon, experts expect scrutiny around AI usage to intensify.

Terms like “AI sovereignty” or “data residency” can feel abstract until a company faces a breach, a compliance audit, or a loss of customer trust. In practice, sovereignty means knowing how data flows, where it lives, and who has access to it.

This is a recurring theme in LSP’s conversations with IT leaders. One peer at a major Canadian bank that LSP spoke with described one of the best-known AI-powered assistants as a “black box,” meaning it’s nearly impossible to understand what’s happening inside.“No enterprise or large organization wants to deal with a black box,” LSP said.

The legal implications are just as serious. “If the data is leaving your country, then your business is suddenly subject to another jurisdiction’s laws,” LSP added. 

It’s why Zoho, which offers a suite of software and web-based tools for businesses, has built every layer of its AI stack, from infrastructure to models, and keeps all Canadian customer data in Canadian data centres. It’s an approach that’s more expensive and more complex, LSP said, but it means that customers aren’t at the mercy of shifting terms of service.

Adobe’s recent backlash, LSP noted, is a sign of what’s at stake. When the company quietly claimed the right to use user-generated content to train its AI tools, the public response was swift. 

“The fundamental question is, why should a big brother be doing this at all?” LSP said. “Why can’t companies take a measured approach of training on open data, and committing to not selling your information?”

For Anderson, that risk calculus was never hypothetical. Integris had already seen how easy it was for employee experimentation with consumer-grade tools to introduce vulnerabilities, even unintentionally.

So when it came time to actually integrate AI into core workflows, Integris needed a system that could balance utility with control. According to Anderson, Zoho’s tools offered a way to do that.

Through Zoho’s pre-built AI integrations, Integris staff can access generative AI features like writing assistance and data analysis, while ensuring member information never leaves the country, or gets used to train someone else’s model. Sensitive data is tokenized before any prompts are sent. Third-party models can be used in the background, but only through a tightly controlled enterprise layer.

“This has certainly sped things up in a really positive way,” Anderson said.

That agility has already paid off. When new financial regulations were announced requiring financial institutions to notify customers more quickly about non-sufficient fund fees, Anderson’s team was able to roll out a compliant workflow in days, something that he said would’ve previously taken weeks of development.

Integris’ goal, Anderson said, isn’t to replace human staff with AI. It’s to help existing staff work more effectively, and the systems they rely on are more responsive.

“There’s cautious optimism around AI,” Anderson said, but noted that the trust Integris has built with its members doesn’t come from using new tools, but from showing they know how to use them responsibly.

PRESENTED BY

Zoho is powering secure, sovereign AI for Canadian startups and organizations. Learn more.

Feature image courtesy Unsplash. Photo by Harsh Singh.

The post Why a Northern BC credit union took AI sovereignty into its own hands first appeared on BetaKit.

British Columbia (BC) quantum computing startup Photonic has announced plans to establish a new research and development (R&D) facility in the United Kingdom (UK).

Photonic, which has existing investors and partners in the UK, intends to open this across-the-pond quantum R&D centre over the next three years and invest more than £25 million (approximately $46 million CAD) in the initiative. The company claims this move will create more than 30 high-paying, technical jobs in the UK and advance Canada’s quantum leadership both “at home and abroad.”

“Our expansion into the UK is a win-win.”

Stephanie Simmons,
Photonic

The startup, which noted that its headquarters, core research, and foundational tech remain rooted in Canada, said its new UK centre will introduce “complementary capabilities—including targeted R&D—that enhance and extend [its] innovation pipeline.” Photonic characterized the move as “a strategic step in the company’s global growth.” 

“Our expansion into the UK is a win-win—strengthening our ability to scale globally while reinforcing Canada’s position as a leader in secure, scalable quantum technologies,” Photonic founder and chief quantum officer Stephanie Simmons said in a statement.

Since 2016, Photonic has been working to make a fault-tolerant quantum computer a reality. The quantum computing startup is developing silicon spin qubits—the fundamental unit of quantum computing, like the bit in conventional computers—that it networks together. Photonic is headquartered in Coquitlam, part of Metro Vancouver, and also has a presence in the United States (US). 

Simmons, who is also a co-chair of Canada’s National Quantum Strategy Advisory Board and an Associate Professor at the Department of Physics at Simon Fraser University, previously earned her doctorate in quantum computing from the University of Oxford, and mentioned that she admires the UK’s “trailblazing approach” to quantum, and the ambitions in the next phase of the Government of the UK’s National Quantum Strategy.

To date, Photonic has been supported by investors and partners on both sides of the Atlantic. The 150-person startup has raised $137 million CAD from a group that includes the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, a public-sector pension investor,  Montréal’s Inovia Capital, UK-based Amadeus Capital Partners, the UK government’s National Security Strategic Investment Fund for dual-use tech, and US tech giant and strategic partner Microsoft.

RELATED: Photonic claims breakthrough in quantum computing error correction

Photonic has also benefitted from a joint funding initiative between the National Research Council Canada and Innovate UK. 

In a statement, Evan Solomon, Canada’s new minister of artificial intelligence and digital innovation, said that Photonic’s UK expansion “reflects our shared ambition to build a trusted transatlantic quantum future.” UK Science Minister Lord Vallance echoed that assertion in a statement of his own, noting that this will deepen collaboration between the UK and Canada.

Others, including UK-based Osney Capital, have viewed shifting international alliances amid the US trade war as an opportunity to expand the work companies in Canada and the UK are doing together in areas of strategic national importance, like quantum and cybersecurity.

This news adds to what has been a busy 2025 for Photonic: in February, the startup claimed a breakthrough in quantum error correction after publishing a new method it says requires fewer quantum bits than previous approaches, and in April, it was revealed to be one of three Canadian startups selected for a US military-backed quantum race program.

Feature image courtesy Photonic.

The post Photonic to open UK quantum R&D centre to aid international expansion first appeared on BetaKit.

American private equity firm Vista Equity Partners and alternative investment manager Blackstone have reportedly bought out the other investors of Ottawa-based supply chain management software company Assent for $400-million USD, valuing the company at $1.3 billion, according to The Globe and Mail. 

The Globe and Mail reported that the American firms bought Assent, citing undisclosed sources, but an Assent spokesperson told BetaKit in a statement that the company “has not been acquired.” The spokesperson did confirm that Vista had increased its investment in the business, though declined to break down Assent’s ownership structure. 

“As a privately held company, we do not disclose specifics about investment terms or participants,” the spokesperson said. 

Assent is “entering a new phase of growth and customer focus,” according to a spokesperson. 

Volition Capital, Warburg Pincus, StepStone Group, and sole Canadian backer First Ascent Ventures all sold their stake in Assent as part of the deal, which took place in two parts with the most recent close happening in March, according to the Globe and Mail. BetaKit has reached out to all named parties for comment. 

For its part, First Ascent publicly confirmed that it exited its Assent investment to Vista last year, and even won the VC Regional Impact Award for Central Canada for it at the 2025 CVCA Awards last month. First Ascent managing partner Tony van Marken confirmed to BetaKit after publication that the firm’s exit returned $50 million, multiplying its initial investment in Assent by a factor of 6.2.

The news follows Assent tapping United States (US)-based former AI startup CEO Michael Southworth as its new CEO while shifting longtime leader Andrew Waitman to an executive chairman role last month, a move that now appears related to the change in ownership structure. Southworth specifically thanked seven board members in a LinkedIn post when he announced his new job, three of whom hail from Vista and one from Blackstone. 

RELATED: Michael Southworth “specifically chosen” as Assent’s new CEO to spearhead $250-million revenue effort

Southworth was “specifically chosen” to spearhead Assent’s growth toward a $250-million revenue target, the company said in a statement at the time, praising him for his “exceptional record of strategic growth and successful [mergers and acquisitions] leadership.” Assent achieved centaur status, or $100 million in annual recurring revenue, in June 2024.

Assent’s platform collects vendor management, ethical sourcing, and product data to help complex manufacturers navigate compliance and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting.

“We have nearly 1,000 manufacturers around the world who rely on the Assent Sustainability Platform to manage their supply chain data and drive more sustainable, responsible business practices,” The Assent spokesperson told BetaKit in a statement, adding that the company is “entering a new phase of growth and customer focus.” 

While the company is seeing increased stake from American shareholders and a new United States-based CEO, the Assent spokesperson told BetaKit last month that the company’s headquarters and roots remain “firmly” in Ottawa.

Feature image courtesy Assent.

The post US private equity firm Vista ups stake in Assent at reported $1.3-billion USD valuation first appeared on BetaKit.

New School Foods has announced that it is moving beyond plant-based seafood and into making other types of simulated meat—for both itself and other food brands.

“Our bigger ambition is to create a superior production technology than how every other meat alternative is made.”

Since 2020, the Toronto food technology startup has been developing whole-cut protein alternatives made from plants with a taste, texture and appearance like their animal-based counterparts.

New School Foods’ flagship product is a salmon filet alternative, which it sells to consumers through approximately 30 Canadian restaurants and distributors.

“While we’ve certainly been working on improving salmon, our bigger ambition is to create a superior production technology than how every other meat alternative is made,” New School Foods founder and CEO Chris Bryson told BetaKit in an interview.

Last week, New School Foods opened the doors to its vertically-integrated Dufferin Street Facility in Toronto’s west end, and gave BetaKit and other visitors an inside look at and taste of “the extensibility” of its food production tech, which it plans to make available to other partners going forward to help them bring plant-based meat products to market faster.

There, the startup revealed that over the past couple of years, it has been quietly testing the capacity of its proprietary directional freezing tech and patented scaffolding process to manufacture other types of plant-based meats, like beef steaks and bone-in ribs, and served up some of the prototypes it has made to attendees.

Bryson, who sold his previous grocery e-commerce startup Unata to Instacart, asserted that New School Foods has now proven it can use the same tech to make both simulated salmon and red meat. 

“You can already see that with very little effort, we’re able to get to something that’s pretty authentic,” he said.

To reflect its broadened strategy, New School Foods has formed a new parent firm to house its three business units: tech platform (NS/TX R&D), consumer-facing New School Foods, and manufacturing operations (NS/TX Manufacturing).

“Because we are doing something much bigger, and because we want to open up this technology to other brands beyond the New School Foods brand, we’re therefore changing the name of the parent company to NS/TX Industries, to signal the [business-to-business] opportunity,” Bryson said.

Through NS/TX R&D, NS/TX plans to work with other firms to develop custom products using its tech, while NS/TX Manufacturing will be a commercial production and co-packing service that will help other food companies build their own and co-branded offerings.

The startup claims that its patented scaffolding process, which it developed in collaboration with Toronto Metropolitan University, is the first to use directional freezing at scale, which it says allows it to replicate muscle fibre and create plant-based products with the properties of connective tissue. 

New School Foods has raised over $24 million CAD to date from a group that includes Inter IKEA and the federal government through Protein Industries Canada and other agencies.

This BetaKit reporter toured New School Foods’ facility, where he ate samples of the salmon, a salmon burger, steak, and ribs. While he is admittedly not a big salmon guy, he was particularly impressed by the simulated salmon burger, which is now on the menu of upscale Toronto diner Stefano’s. He also enjoyed the ribs, but was a bit underwhelmed by the steak, which tasted more clearly like an imitation—though he respected the ambition and is curious to see what New School Foods can deliver with some more research and development.

For his part, Bryson noted that just as New School Foods has improved its core plant-based salmon product over time, New School Foods intends to refine its other meat alternatives.

During the remainder of 2025, New School Foods plans to work with restaurants and chefs to ensure its recently-unveiled, but not yet released, red meat offerings are market-ready ahead of a broader rollout.

To support its growth strategy, the CEO said New School Foods plans to begin raising a Series A round “imminently,” and hopes to use that funding to establish version two of its manufacturing facility and scale up its operations in late 2025 and early 2026.

Feature image courtesy New School Foods.

The post New School Foods to expand beyond plant-based salmon to other meat alternatives first appeared on BetaKit.

The amount of Canadian businesses using artificial intelligence (AI) to produce goods or deliver services doubled between May 2024 and May 2025, according to a new survey from Statistics Canada (StatsCan), but the technology’s effect on company headcount has yet to materialize.

According to the survey, 12.2 percent of businesses reported using AI to produce goods or deliver services over the 12 months preceding the survey, an increase from the 6.1 percent that reported the same in the previous survey in 2024. Despite the uptick, nearly 90 percent of those businesses reported no change to their employment levels after implementation, but the number of businesses that increased headcount due to AI declined from 8.8 percent to 4.3 percent. 

The survey found that many businesses do not consider AI investment to be required for their operations.

The data comes from the Canadian Survey on Business Conditions, which StatsCan conducted between early April and early May 2025, to gather information on the use of AI and its impacts on businesses, as well as their expectations moving forward. The survey sampled 21,357 people from a total of 9,103 businesses or organizations, according to StatsCan.

The survey found that many businesses do not consider AI investment to be required for their operations, with 41.2 percent reporting it to be “not relevant” and 17.3 percent plainly classifying it as “not important.” A combined 28.4 percent classified investing in AI as “very” or “somewhat important.”

Given the survey’s sample time period, the ever-increasing presence of AI-first policies has yet to be captured. In early April, Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke published an internal memo stating that employees must prove AI can’t do the job before asking for additional resources or headcount. Shopify’s approach garnered support from tech moguls, and joined a growing list of companies considering AI use before adding talent. 

RELATED: OpenText makes AI “number-one priority” as company slashes 1,600 jobs

“We want to be an AI first company, let’s make sure we put all the foundation infrastructure in place, and let’s enable our teammates to embrace it,” Fullscript CEO Kyle Braatz said at AccelerateOTT last week, adding that he wanted to build a “forcing function” around it.

 “It’s not about cost saving, I want to actually grow more,” Braatz added.  

Last month, Kitchener-Waterloo-based OpenText followed suit, cutting 1,600 jobs as it made AI use a baseline expectation for employees. 

The industries most likely to use AI remained the same as last year, according to the survey, with 30 to 35 percent of surveyed companies in the information and cultural industries; professional, scientific and technical services; and finance and insurance space reporting to have used the technology within the 12 month timeframe. AI use was lowest in the accommodation and food services; agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting; and transportation and warehousing industries, at 1.5 to 1.8 percent. 

Feature image courtesy Steve Johnson via Unsplash.

The post StatsCan finds AI adoption has doubled in businesses, but hasn’t yet affected headcounts first appeared on BetaKit.

Lori Casselman was 42, a successful professional making strides in her career, when she stopped feeling like herself. 

“When this is impacting such a huge portion of our population, why is it so difficult to get access to good care?”

Lori Casselman
June Health

Although she repeatedly discussed her symptoms, including sleeplessness and changes to body composition, with her family doctor, Casselman felt like she had to push to be taken seriously. It took her seven years to get hormone treatment for her perimenopause symptoms. 

Coming from an insurance and digital health background, she was frustrated by the winding path to care. And she knew she wasn’t the only one. 

“When this is impacting such a huge portion of our population, why is it so difficult to get access to good care?” Casselman said in an interview with BetaKit. 

This led Casselman to embark on her “third telemedicine adventure”: building femtech startup June Health, a women’s health-focused digital care platform that launched across Canada today. 

The virtual care app connects users with a care co-ordinator, who then refers them to relevant providers, such as doctors, nurse practitioners, naturopaths, and mental health professionals. Casselman said all healthcare providers on the platform have additional training in women’s health issues. 

RELATED: Coral closes $4.1-million seed round to launch menopause virtual care platform

The lead-up to menopause, called perimenopause, is different for everyone. On average, symptoms begin in the early to mid-40s and last an average of seven years. In 85 to 95 percent of women, natural hormone changes during this time trigger symptoms, which can include hot flashes, sleep problems, fatigue, mood and attention problems such as major depression and brain fog, bone density loss, and diminished libido and pain during intercourse.  

Nearly 40 percent of Canadian women reported feeling that their symptoms were undertreated, according to a 2022 survey by the Menopause Foundation of Canada. A 2023 study of women in the United Kingdom found that over 20 percent considered leaving their roles at work due to menopause symptoms. 

For Casselman, this is unacceptable and a big miss for employers. When her team was designing June Health, she said, they kept convenience and accessibility in mind, knowing that their users are often pulled in several directions at once by work obligations, care responsibilities, and sometimes debilitating symptoms. 

In contrast to other women’s midlife health care apps, such as Montréal-based Coral and United Kingdom-based Balance, June Health markets itself as a workplace benefit. Employers pay June Health to provide their employees access to the service, and individual consumers who are not on a plan can also pay for the service. 

Women between 45 and 55 are the fastest-growing demographic in the workforce in Canada, according to the Menopause Foundation of Canada. Casselman said that 75 percent of women don’t believe their employer offers any support to them through this stage of midlife, but that most of this stems from a lack of education around what employee benefit plans can actually cover. June Health attempts to bridge this gap, she said, by integrating with existing coverage plans. 

The platform offers an e-pharmacy service, where prescriptions can be filled virtually and delivered to a patient’s home. It also has a supplement marketplace, which sells products at a discount. Casselman was careful to claim that these supplements, which are sold via a partnership with a third-party marketplace, are vetted by medical professionals.

RELATED: Eli Health closes $17-million CAD Series A to fuel launch of hormone-monitoring tech

“Women’s health is a pretty hot topic at the moment, and I think that’s wonderful that there’s market momentum,” Casselman said. “But unfortunately, there’s a lot of misinformation out there as well.”

Beyond its medical services, the June Health platform also provides educational materials about common midlife health issues, and a chatbot powered by generative artificial intelligence (AI) to answer questions about symptoms and care options. 

June Health raised an undisclosed round of funding from angel investors in January, then began a consumer trial with a few hundred users in Ontario to start generating revenue. Now, it’s growing its healthcare professional team. Everyone is vetted, Casselman said, and the platform is compliant with relevant health data security laws, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.

Feature image courtesy June Health.

The post June Health launches menopause platform nationally to connect women with healthcare through employer plans first appeared on BetaKit.

Startup Genome’s latest global startup ecosystem rankings have found that some of Canada’s largest technology hubs have lost ground since last year, while others have remained strong amid a tough fundraising environment.

Startup Genome ranks the strength and quality of startup ecosystems using data from five million startups across more than 350 cities and regions globally. Its choices are based on analysis of six factors, including performance, funding, talent and experience, market reach, knowledge, and one new ly-introduced metric—the degree to which they support artificial intelligence startups.

Its 2025 report found Toronto-Waterloo and Vancouver continued their descent. Though they remained in the top 40 globally, both fell for the second consecutive year, each losing a couple spots: Toronto-Waterloo dipped from 18 to 20 as Vancouver dropped from 34 to 36 (two years ago, Toronto-Waterloo was 17 and Vancouver was 30).

Startup Genome’s report found a common denominator of relatively weak startup funding across Canadian hubs.

They were joined by Ottawa, which Startup Genome ranked in the 71–80 range on its list of the top 100 emerging ecosystems, down from when it featured 61–70 last year. Montréal, which remained the only other Canadian city to crack the top 40 globally, held on at number  39.

It was a similar story for Calgary, which stuck inside the 41–50 range for emerging ecosystems.

These results indicate Vancouver, Toronto-Waterloo, and Ottawa have some room for improvement. According to Startup Genome’s report, one of the common denominators was weak startup funding, as all three plus Montréal scored relatively poorly by this metric. Calgary was the only exception.

RELATED: Toronto, Vancouver slip in Startup Genome’s 2024 rankings as Montréal, Calgary, Ottawa rise

As usual, this year’s top three ecosystems overall consisted of Silicon Valley, New York City, and London. Like in 2024, Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto-Waterloo, Ottawa, and Montréal were the only Canadian ecosystems that made Startup Genome’s latest rankings.

Toronto-Waterloo scored below many of its peers on performance, talent and experience, and market reach, but its lowest ranking was for funding. Meanwhile, Vancouver posted the lowest possible scores in funding and knowledge, and for Ottawa, the lowest scores were in funding and market reach.

The Canadian startup funding environment has been a hot topic of discussion in Canadian venture capital (VC) lately. At Elevate’s recent CIX Summit in Toronto, Canadian VC leaders held closed-door discussions about poor investment performance, a lack of funds willing or able to lead deals, and concerns about the “prevailing narrative” of a feeble sector becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.

RELATED: Canadian VCs arrive at annual industry gathering in need of a “wake-up call”

Those private concerns became public conversation after the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association revealed Q1 2025 was another tough quarter, featuring particularly sluggish pre-seed and seed-stage activity and a five-year low in deal count. The organization also released a separate report about the outsized role American VCs play in scaling Canadian tech startups.

In some respects, Startup Genome’s findings line up with a recent StartupBlink report that found Canada no longer ranked among the top four countries for startups globally. But from a city standpoint, they differ: StartupBlink reported that Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver posted year-over-year gains in overall rankings of ecosystem health, while Montréal and Ottawa saw declines.

As that report noted, what is clear is that Canada’s startup ecosystem remains heavily reliant on the United States for funding, which presents some long-term risks, given ongoing tensions between the two nations.

Feature image courtesy Unsplash. Photo by Alex°.

The post Toronto-Waterloo, Vancouver, Ottawa drop in Startup Genome’s 2025 global ecosystem rankings as Montréal, Calgary hold steady first appeared on BetaKit.

Artificial intelligence (AI) startup Cohere has inked new partnerships with the Canadian and United Kingdom (UK) governments as it expands its offerings beyond enterprise AI into the public sector. 

Cohere said it will focus on “transforming” government operations with AI and collaborating on AI research with the Canadian AI Safety Institute.

The partnerships aim to leverage Cohere’s AI tools and expertise “to enhance government services and national sovereignty,” the company said. Cohere and the two governments announced the collaborations yesterday, as Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez met with Carney and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Ottawa.

“A Canadian success story, Cohere, is expanding its business in the United Kingdom and working with our government to ensure AI is developed safely and responsibly,” Carney wrote in a post on X.

“Together we’re creating more opportunities in AI on both sides of the pond.”

Founded in 2019, Cohere is Canada’s best-funded large-language model (LLM) developer. It focuses on enterprise AI, selling its workspace platform North to clients such as the Royal Bank of Canada and Ensemble Health Partners. Last summer, Cohere closed $500 million USD in Series D financing at a $5.5-billion valuation (then $687 million CAD at a $7.6-billion valuation), bringing its total funds raised to more than $900 million USD.

According to Cohere, its partnership with the federal government will focus on “transforming” government operations with AI and collaborating on AI research with the Canadian AI Safety Institute (CAISI). CAISI is led by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), with participation from the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), as well as the broader Canadian research community through the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR). Research efforts will focus on the practical risks of AI and enhancing security safeguards for AI models, the company said. 

The news comes after Carney published his mandate letter to cabinet ministers, which said the government must boost productivity by “deploying AI at scale” and “focusing on results over spending.” 

“Cohere will further its work to meet the Prime Minister’s call to make government more productive and efficient,” the company said in a release. 

RELATED: AI minister Evan Solomon wary of overdoing regulation, but says Bill C-27 “not gone”

Canada’s first Minister of AI and Digital Innovation, Evan Solomon, echoed Carney’s sentiment in his first public remarks last week. The four priorities for Solomon’s new ministry are scaling up Canada’s AI industry, driving AI adoption, ensuring that Canadians trust the technology, and ensuring AI sovereignty in Canada.

Solomon described the potential of AI tools to streamline government processes, such as reducing call wait times at the Canada Revenue Agency using agentic AI customer service software from Toronto-based AI startup Ada. 

Several Canadian tech leaders, such as Koho CEO Daniel Eberhard, have called for public service reform via memos published on Build Canada, a pro-business, entrepreneurship-focused policy platform that uses AI tools to help draft its posts.

The announcement was part of a slew of new partnerships between Canada and the UK on innovation, defence, and security matters. These included a joint commitment to develop secure quantum communications, a $14.8-million joint investment into biomanufacturing, and the establishment of the Joint Canada-UK Common Good Cyber Fund, through which they are providing $5.7 million over five years to “civil society actors at high risk.” 

Each government signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Cohere, outlining how the company will help with AI expertise in delivering government services, attracting talent, bolstering AI security, and conducting research. 

The Canadian MOU also says Cohere will develop its commitment to build cutting-edge data centres in Canada, building on the $240-million investment Cohere received from the Canadian government through its Canada Sovereign AI Compute Strategy. 

Cohere reportedly reached $100 million USD ($138 million CAD) in annualized revenue recently after more than doubling its sales since the start of 2025, and CEO Aidan Gomez recently told Bloomberg the company was “not far away” from profitability. But The Information has reported this is $350-million USD behind what Cohere told investors in 2023 it would be making annually at this point.

RELATED: Amid AI proof-of-concept fatigue, Cohere co-founder urges potential customers to keep the faith and focus on ROI

BetaKit reached out to Cohere and the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to find out if there was a financial commitment associated with the MOU, but did not hear back before press time. 

As for its agreement with the UK’s Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT), Cohere is tasked with adopting AI in government services, growing the UK’s AI talent pool, advancing AI security, and exploring opportunities to deploy AI in defence contexts. This might include “informing the development of policy positions,” according to DSIT.  

Gomez is registered to lobby the federal government on behalf of Cohere, including the PMO and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), on several issues, including providing AI expertise to the CAISI team and discussing Canada’s participation in the G7 Summit and global AI leadership. Cohere was part of the Canadian delegation attending VivaTech in France last week, where its president and COO Martin Kon met with Solomon along with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. 

Feature image courtesy Prime Minister of Canada via X.

The post Cohere bringing AI into public sector through partnerships with Canadian, UK governments first appeared on BetaKit.

Next week, Toronto is putting its tech sector front and centre.

From June 23 to 27, Toronto Tech Week will bring hundreds of events, parties, talks, and hangouts to rooftops, warehouses, galleries, offices, and alleyways across the city for the very first time. 

Toronto Tech Week’s schedule includes nearly 300 events. This is your map. 

The BetaKit Guide: Toronto Tech Week 2025 is a way to navigate it all.

We’ve combed through the calendar to map out what’s happening each day and spotlight the people, places, and events you’ll want to keep on your radar.

Organized by a volunteer-led nonprofit and supported by partners including BetaKit, Shopify, Google Cloud, and the City of Toronto, Toronto Tech Week is an event led by builders, for builders.

The schedule includes nearly 300 events covering everything from AI and climate to defence, health, capital, and creativity. You’ll find product demos, pitch nights, mixers, working sessions, roundtables, team lunches, and late-night meetups. With so much happening in one week, there is sure to be something for everyone.

But where to begin? If you’re looking for a clear entry point into Toronto Tech Week, this guide will help you find it.

The BetaKit Guide: Toronto Tech Week 2025 is presented by Interac.

Read The BetaKit Guide: Toronto Tech Week 2025.

The post The BetaKit Guide: Toronto Tech Week first appeared on BetaKit.

There was a brief period when I thought Wealthsimple might lose its way.

The Toronto-based FinTech firm, founded in 2014 as a robo-advisor, had grown to around 500,000 clients and just under $10 billion in assets under administration by 2020.

Two major developments happened in the following years: the Reddit-fuelled retail trading frenzy and one of the larger crypto boom cycles. Wealthsimple rode both to exceptional growth, doubling its AUA and quadrupling its customer base by 2022.

The rapid rise came with complications for the company that likes to keep it simple. The disruptor predicated on selling trust was now marketing FOMO. CEO Mike Katchen used to joke about the competitor incumbent banks luring new customers with free Apple products—Wealthsimple was now doing the same. The crypto market crashed hard in 2022, and 13 percent of the company was laid off.

What a difference a few years can make. Wealthsimple hosted its first product showcase this week, clearly demonstrating exactly what type of company it wants to be. Josh Scott has your full rundown, but believe me when I say the audience was wowed—not an easy thing to do in financial services.

Or is it? Co-founder and CPO Brett Huneycutt told Josh that Canadian financial services are not very competitive (which is true) and offered an alternate vision where Wealthsimple provides a “one-stop shop” that doesn’t squeeze fees from customers on each individual product (which is compelling).

The company’s confidence is high enough that Wealthsimple not only teased products months away, but its next event, where it will replace its original product: the robo-advisor. Implicit in this roadmap divulgence is the belief that Canada’s Big Five banks can’t use the extra time to catch up.

That message will not go unnoticed by Bay Street. On stage, Katchen was more explicit. “The way I see it, the banks are a tax on all of us,” he said. “We as Canadians need to demand more.”

Those are fighting words. Wealthsimple is walking and talking like it thinks it can win.

Douglas Soltys
Editor-in-chief

Uber Canada is working with MADD Canada (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) in the fight against impaired driving.

While it has never been easier to get a safe ride home, alcohol remains a factor in a quarter of crash fatalities on public roadways in Canada.

Ridesharing plays a vital role in the fight against impaired driving. That’s why Uber Canada is working with MADD Canada to drive real change.

87% of Canadian riders say Uber has helped reduce drunk driving and made it safer to get around. And with more than 100,000 designated drivers on the road, the impact is real. 

No matter how Canadians get home, Uber is proud to support every ride that gets them there safely. 

AI minister Evan Solomon wary of overdoing regulation, but says Bill C-27 “not gone”

Canada’s new minister of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital innovation says he plans to focus on AI’s economic benefits instead of “over-indexing” on regulation, marking a shift away from the previous government’s attempts to strike a balance between the two. 

One of the key aspects is not to put a saddle on “the bucking bronco called AI innovation,” Minister Evan Solomon said at the Canada 2020 conference, put on by the progressive think tank of the same name, in Ottawa this week. “But it is to make sure that the horse doesn’t kick people in the face.”

Kyle Braatz got Fullscript to $1 billion in revenue by treating every new business segment like a startup

When Fullscript was founded in 2012, CEO Kyle Braatz saw two options: be ultra-focused and do one thing really well, or create the ultra-broad whole-person care platform he envisioned from the start. Held to the constraints of bootstrapped capital, Braatz opted to take it slow, building each segment of his wellness tech business like they were each their own startup.

In a fireside chat at AccerlateOTT this week, Braatz described to the Ottawa tech community how Fullscript’s slow and steady approach led to it achieving $1 billion USD in revenue over the past 12 months. 

“If we have this thing we want to invest in, don’t go right to the end state immediately,” Braatz told BetaKit. “It sounds like common sense, but let’s just start and go through the process of getting there.”

Sezzle sues Shopify for alleged “unfair” privileging of its own buy-now, pay-later feature

Buy-now, pay-later (BNPL) platform Sezzle is suing Shopify for allegedly violating United States (US) antitrust laws by “manipulating” customers to use the e-commerce giant’s own BNPL software, causing competitors to lose out on sales.

The lawsuit alleges Shopify used its market power to favour its own BNPL service for merchants and intentionally made it more difficult for consumers to find alternative BNPL providers on its merchant sites, crowding out competitors such as Minneapolis, Minn.-based Sezzle.

After news of the lawsuit dropped, which Shopify did not respond for comment on, the Canadian e-commerce giant began to roll out support for the USDC stablecoin within Shopify Payments and Shop Pay through a partnership with Stripe and Coinbase. 

CVCA calls for Digital Services Tax pause to avoid retaliatory US tax changes

Canada’s venture capital industry group has co-authored a letter pushing the federal government to pause the collection of the Digital Services Tax (DST) as it anticipates a costly US policy retaliation. 

The letter urges Prime Minister Mark Carney to rethink the DST due to the “unintended consequence” of the United States proposing a tax hike for Canadian investors in retaliation for what it calls “unfair foreign taxes,” including the DST. The letter calls for Carney to hit pause on the DST ahead of June 30, the first deadline for companies to file a return. 

Montréal tech looks to scale up with opening of Ax.c innovation hub

More than 300 members of Québec’s tech community, along with government officials and startup support organizations, inaugurated the long-awaited entrepreneurship hub Ax.c this week. 

Built on the former trading floor of the Montréal Exchange and overlooking the Place Victoria tower, Ax.c is a stone’s throw from the Google and Shopify Montréal offices in the city’s business district. Its stated ethos is to offer a space where startups can connect with every part of the innovation ecosystem, from mentors to technical talent to investors.

DoorDash next on the menu as Canada’s Competition Bureau sues for allegedly deceptive pricing tactics

Canada’s Competition Bureau is suing San Francisco-based food delivery app DoorDash and its Canadian subsidiary for allegedly promoting services to customers at a lower price than what they actually have to pay—a practice known as drip pricing.

The Bureau alleges that DoorDash has been engaging in this practice for close to a decade and acquired nearly $1 billion from the mandatory fees that are added at checkout.

“We believe that this application is an overly punitive attempt to make an example of an industry leader in local commerce,” DoorDash said in a statement.

Pine unveils new real estate tools after topping $1 billion in managed mortgages

Toronto-based Pine has surpassed $1 billion CAD in mortgages under administration and launched new products to help clients with more steps in the Canadian home-buying and ownership process.

In an interview with BetaKit, Pine co-founder and CEO Justin Herlick called this “an important milestone” that puts the startup “in a very healthy spot.” When Herlick initially developed Pine’s business plan, he said $1 billion in mortgages was “the self-sustaining number” for the business. He claimed Pine has now not only achieved that, but is also on pace to add another $1 billion this year.

The BetaKit Guide: Wildfire

If you were outside this past week, you probably know that Canadian wildfires are getting worse. They’re also getting more expensive. 

But across the country, startups are developing tools and platforms to help detect, suppress, and adapt to wildfires. Companies are developing fireproof construction materials, technology to reduce the number of wildfires started by power lines, and drones for just about everything.

In partnership with North Climate Tech, we recently launched The BetaKit Guide: Wildfire to explore how Canadian tech is stepping up. As fires continue to burn across Canada, this work feels more urgent than ever.

FEATURED STORIES FROM OUR PARTNERS

• Canada is a magnet for international deep tech talent, and ventureLAB wants to give them a launchpad to success through its Canada Catalyst program. Read about the program bringing global founders to Canada.
• Nova Scotia is a natural home for up-and-coming cleantech startups. Lindsay Murray of Foresight Canada believes the region’s East Coast mentality sets it apart. Read about the cleantech companies building from Nova Scotia.
• Alan, which recently brought its virtual-first health platform from Europe to Canada, is challenging what it sees as a prehistoric approach to health insurance. Read about Alan’s secret weapon to achieving that goal.

Weekly Canadian Deals, Dollars & More

• CAN – AI Scribe Program opens #CDNtech tools up to clinicians
• WPG – Adtech Taiv secures $14.4M to expand to larger markets
• KW – ENVGO raises $2.7M to bring “flying” boat to market
• KW – Nicoya Lifesciences acquires UK-based Applied Photophysics
• HAM – MesoMat secures seed round for tire-monitoring platform
• TOR – Xanadu developing quantum algorithms for EV batteries
• MTL – Geneviève Tanguay joins Panache Ventures as partner
• MTL – Eli Health secures $17M Series A to launch the Hormometer
• MTL – Vessel raises $10.3M seed round for AI fund management platform

The BetaKit Podcast – InBC’s Jill Earthy knows Canadian VC “could be healthier”

“ That’s what we wanna change, right? For future companies, more Canadian investors on the cap table so that we can see those benefits come back through investment, through mentorship, through restarting.”

Jill Earthy, CEO of InBC Investment Corp—a provincial Crown corporation with $500 million of direct and indirect capital to deploy—joins to discuss the state of Canadian venture, the role of organizations like hers in BC’s growing tech ecosystem, and InBC’s future fundraising plans. Recorded live at Web Summit Vancouver.

Take The BetaKit Quiz – This week: Wealthsimple presents, Meta snags Scale AI, DoorDash gets served

Think you’re on top of Canadian tech and innovation news? Time to prove it. Test your knowledge of Canadian tech news with The BetaKit Quiz for June 13, 2025.

Feature image courtesy Wealthsimple.

The post Wealthsimple picks a fight it believes it can win first appeared on BetaKit.

Canada’s venture capital (VC) industry group is pushing the federal government to pause the collection of the Digital Services Tax (DST) as it anticipates a costly US policy retaliation. 

“I think it would devastate not just us, and I think it has to be resolved.”

Matt Cohen
Ripple Ventures

The Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA) has co-authored a letter, titled Industry-Wide Opposition to the Digital Services Tax, with five other business groups and sent it to Prime Minister Mark Carney on June 12.

The DST imposes a three-percent tax on large businesses, both foreign and domestic, on certain kinds of digital transactions, including online marketplace sales, online advertising, social media, and sales of user data.

The letter urges Carney to rethink the DST due to the “unintended consequence” of the United States (US) proposing a tax hike for Canadian investors in retaliation for what it calls “unfair foreign taxes,” including the DST. The letter calls for Carney to hit pause on the DST ahead of June 30, the first deadline for companies to file a return. 

UPDATE (06/20/2025): Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne told reporters ahead of a cabinet meeting on June 19 that Canada is “going ahead” with the DST, according to The Canadian Press.

Other signatories to the letter included the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association, Retail Council of Canada, Future Borders Coalition, and Canadian Bankers Association. 

The DST, became law last year, applies to digital service providers with over $20 million in revenue. The Canadian government originally introduced it as a way to tax big tech companies, which are mostly based in the US. The first DST tax return applies retroactively to 2022, so companies are expected to pay the DST on 2022-2024 income. 

RELATED: Does Canada have the leverage to regulate Big Tech?

The policy has become a point of contention between the US and Canadian governments amid an ongoing trade war. The US administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which has yet to become law, includes a section allowing the U.S. Treasury to increase the withholding tax rates on payments to residents of countries it says have issued “unfair” taxes such as the DST. This would apply to income resulting from American assets held by Canadians, or the American operations of companies headquartered in Canada.  

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly railed against digital services taxes imposed on US technology companies and threatened trade retaliation in response. If Canada is included, the change would result in a five-percent rate hike in the first year, increasing by five percent each year to a maximum of 20 percent for income tax and up to 50 percent for withholding tax, the letter said. According to the Securities and Investment Management Association, the tax change could cost Canadian investors up to $81 billion in extra taxes over seven years. 

A tax treaty between the US and Canada currently subjects Canadian corporations to a small five-percent withholding tax rate on dividends from US operations. The new legislation, if it becomes law, would override this and increase it by five percent per year until it reaches 20 percent on income tax. 

“The negative impact of this measure cannot be understated for the Canadian economy,” the letter reads, adding that funds with American holdings, such as pension funds, retirement funds, and investment funds would all be affected.

RELATED: The US economic slowdown is hurting Canadian tech companies selling globally

The potential tax hike on Canadian investors comes as the nation’s VC industry grapples with middling returns and a fundraising crunch related to economic uncertainty and a stalled exit market.

Matt Cohen, founder and managing partner of early-stage VC firm Ripple Ventures, told BetaKit that he’s “definitely worried” about the possibility of US tax changes, but it would have more severe impacts on large asset managers such as financial institutions than Canadian VC firms. 

Cohen added that the potential tax hikes create a lot of uncertainty for cross-border companies.

“I think it would devastate not just us, and I think it has to be resolved,” Cohen said. 

Benjamin Bergen, president of tech lobby group the Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI), wrote in a LinkedIn post that “a unilateral hike in U.S. withholding taxes would divert capital away from Canada, and hurt our ability to scale globally competitive firms.”

However, Bergen added that CCI thinks “large multinational tech companies must pay their fair share of taxes in the jurisdictions where they generate value.”

The DST was originally proposed by the Canadian government in an effort to claw back revenue from large foreign tech companies profiting from the engagement, data, and content contributions of Canadian users. Some tech companies retaliated: in response to the DST, tech giant Google implemented a 2.5-percent surcharge for ads displayed in Canada.

Feature image courtesy CVCA.

The post CVCA calls for Digital Services Tax pause to avoid retaliatory US tax changes first appeared on BetaKit.

Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont.’s Nicoya Lifesciences has acquired fellow biotechnology company, United Kingdom (UK)-based Applied Photophysics.

“This combined portfolio positions us to better serve the researchers in the drug development process.”

The deal, which closed in May, expands Nicoya’s drug development capabilities and global reach. Nicoya has acquired all of Applied Photophysics’ tech, intellectual property, platforms, customers, and team. The transaction brings Nicoya’s headcount to approximately 100 employees. The startup plans to turn Applied Photophysics’ UK headquarters into its European hub.

Nicoya sells advanced analytical instruments to researchers across the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. In a LinkedIn post announcing the deal, Nicoya founder and CEO Ryan Denomme described Applied Photophysics as a leader in biophysical characterization, an important tool for early drug discovery. 

Denomme told BetaKit that Applied Photophysics, which is more than 50 years old, provides tools that give clients some of the data they need “to select drug candidates that have the highest chance of success in treating a disease safely and effectively.”

“Combined with Applied Photophysics, we can now enable researchers with the ability to assess function, structure, and stability—all of which are crucial elements to developing and advancing a biologic therapeutic,” Denomme said. “This combined portfolio positions us to better serve the researchers in the drug development process. Additionally, through Applied Photophysics’ footprint and customer base, the combined portfolio/companies will enable us to grow into markets beyond North America, namely the UK, Europe, and Asia.”

RELATED: Biotech Intrepid Labs exits stealth with funding from Radical Ventures and Avant Bio

Nicoya expects this transaction to double the startup’s annual revenue, triple the size of its customer base, and “provide a foundation for substantial profitability.” The company said it expects to see continued organic growth of 25 percent. Denome declined to disclose the purchase price or Nicoya’s current revenue, but did share that the acquisition triples Nicoya’s customer base to nearly 3,000. 

The transaction was financed using a roughly equal combination of equity and debt from Nicoya’s existing investors, led by Graphite Ventures and debt provider SWK Holdings Corporation. Garage Capital, MaRS IAF, Laurier Startup Fund, ArchAngel, and GTAN also participated, and Agilent Technologies, WhiteCap Venture Partners, BDC Capital’s Growth & Transition Capital Team, and Export Development Canada supported, among others.

The deal comes amid an environment where biotech funding has plummeted, as United States President Donald Trump has introduced policies aimed at gutting agencies responsible for conducting, funding, and regulating drug research.

This marks Nicoya’s second acquisition to date, following its purchase of Kitchener-Waterloo’s “lab-in-a-box” platform company LSK Technologies in 2022, months after announcing a $20-million CAD extension to its $10-million January 2020 Series A round.

RELATED: Aramis Biotechnologies secures $80 million CAD for vaccine development do-over

Spun out of the University of Waterloo in 2012, Nicoya uses nanotechnology, microfluidics (the science of manipulating and controlling fluids), and artificial intelligence to develop products that help scientists better understand and develop treatments for diseases such as cancer, hepatitis, and Alzheimer’s.

Nicoya currently offers a suite of tools designed to analyze biomolecular interactions. The startup sells its products to researchers in academic institutions looking to understand structural biology, pharmaceutical companies that want to determine whether to advance candidates during the drug discovery and screening phase, and biotech firms seeking help with biologics characterization. The startup’s offerings include Alto, a digital proteomics solution designed to help accelerate drug discovery efforts.

Denomme said Nicoya primarily serves oncology, vaccine development, immunology, gene editing, and biologics engineering applications.

“For decades, Applied Photophysics has provided the scientific community with trusted technologies for deep biophysical insights,” Applied Photophysics CEO Tim Flanagan said in a statement. “Integrating these proven capabilities with Nicoya’s [surface plasmon resonance] platforms and their focus on user-friendly workflow automation will provide researchers with more powerful and efficient solutions to meet today’s complex drug development demands.”

Feature image courtesy Nicoya Lifesciences.

The post Nicoya acquires UK’s Applied Photophysics to expand its drug development capabilities and global reach first appeared on BetaKit.

The post Wealthsimple presents, Meta snags Scale AI, DoorDash gets served first appeared on BetaKit.

Through a partnership with Stripe and Coinbase, Canadian e-commerce giant Shopify is rolling out support for the USDC stablecoin, a cryptocurrency backed by the United States (US) dollar, within Shopify Payments and Shop Pay.

The payments update, which is currently in early access but set to roll out to Shopify merchants throughout the year, allows stores to accept USDC through Coinbase’s Base network as payment and convert to their local currency, if they desire, with no extra setup. 

Shopify is incentivizing the payment method with merchants in select countries receiving an up to half-percent rebate on USDC orders, and customers in the United States (US) using USDC are set to receive a rebate of their own later this year. In a blog post, Shopify said that, by embracing stablecoins, merchants are “tapping into global markets” and “opening the door to global customers.” 

Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke announced the integration alongside Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong at the Coinbase State of Crypto summit in New York City. 

“We think that stablecoins are a natural way to transact on the Internet and worked with coinbase to develop the commerce payment protocol smart contract that powers this work,” Lütke said in an X post, adding in another that “Stripe helped us make this totally seamless.”

Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies with prices that are designed to be less volatile because they are pegged to a “stable” asset, in this case the US dollar. However, they do run the risk of “depegging” and deviating from the value of their stabilizing asset, which has happened to USDC twice before. USDC is issued by Coinbase subsidiary Circle. Lütke has been on Coinbase’s board of directors since 2022.

Crypto has come back into focus as US President Donald Trump’s administration has done the industry a massive favour by overhauling cryptocurrency regulations and pledging to start a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve” (of questionable utility), all of which has led to major gains for cryptocurrency companies in recent months. 

Former BlackBerry co-CEO Jim Balsillie called on the federal government to prioritize stablecoins in a conversation with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in Calgary last month. 

RELATED: The Canadian engineer trying to fix the internet’s original sin

“If we don’t get stablecoins and open banking in Canada, Trump is just going to bypass Canada’s fiat currency,” he said. “There’s no defence anymore, there’s just good offence.”

Last month, Coinbase invested in Toronto-based Stablecorp to help it “significantly enhance the feature set and structure” of QCAD, its stablecoin pegged to the Canadian dollar. The investment was revealed the same day Coinbase announced it was affected by a cyberattack that could cost the company up to $400 million USD ($554 million CAD) to recover from.

Shopify recently won its two-year legal fight against Canada’s tax authority when a federal court dismissed a request compelling Shopify to turn over information about Canadian merchants who use its software.

Disclosure: BetaKit majority owner Good Future is the family office of two former Shopify leaders, Arati Sharma and Satish Kanwar.

Feature image courtesy Burst.

The post Shopify collaborates with Coinbase and Stripe to support USDC stablecoin payments first appeared on BetaKit.

Buy-now, pay-later (BNPL) platform Sezzle is suing Shopify for allegedly violating United States (US) antitrust laws by “manipulating” customers to use the e-commerce giant’s own BNPL software, causing competitors to lose out on sales.

The lawsuit claims Shopify “copied” Sezzle’s BNPL product and business model by rolling out Shop Pay Installments.

The lawsuit, which was filed June 9 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, claims that Shopify is engaging in “monopolistic and anticompetitive business practices in order to stifle competition” for BPNL services on its e-commerce platform. It alleges the company used its market power to favour its own BNPL service for merchants, crowding out competitors such as Minneapolis, Minn.-based Sezzle. 

BetaKit reached out to Shopify for comment on the lawsuit but did not hear back by press time. 

Shop Pay Installments, powered by US BNPL company Affirm, gives consumers who use Shopify’s Shop Pay and Shop App access to a variable payment installment plan when purchasing products from merchants who have the option enabled. 

Shopify and Affirm first struck a partnership in 2020, and later launched Shop Pay Installments for eligible US-based Shopify merchants in 2021. The partnership was last renewed in 2022, and expanded to include Canadian merchants earlier this year.

Sezzle, which launched in 2017, alleges that it once had a “symbiotic relationship” with Shopify, wherein merchants would benefit from offering Sezzle’s BNPL options and Sezzle would take a cut of the proceeds. The lawsuit claims Shopify “copied” Sezzle’s BNPL product and business model by rolling out Shop Pay Installments. 

RELATED: Shopify expands Affirm partnership to bring BNPL offering to Canadian merchants

The lawsuit also alleges Shopify used its power to “force” merchants into contracts that penalized them by charging a small fee for using third-party, non-Shopify BNPL providers. 

In its lawsuit, Sezzle claims Shopify intentionally made it more difficult for consumers to find alternative BNPL providers on its merchant sites. It alleges that even if consumers selected Sezzle as a BNPL option when buying a product, Shopify redirected them to a form not associated with Sezzle, allowing it to “intercept” consumers and have them pay through Shop Pay Installments instead.

The lawsuit claims this resulted in Shopify processing sales that would have otherwise gone to Sezzle. Sezzle also claims that Shopify limited the features available for consumers purchasing products with Sezzle as a BNPL option, such as real-time inventory locking and an order ID reconciliation function.

The lawsuit said that by 2024, three years after rolling out the feature, Shop Pay Installments processed more than 75 percent of all BNPL transactions for Shopify merchants. 

In the filing, Sezzle claimed Shopify’s actions had no legitimate business purpose. Sezzle is seeking an injunction to block Shopify from continuing this “anticompetitive” conduct, according to the lawsuit, as well as asking for financial damages and legal fees. 

BNPL products have exploded in popularity in recent years, particularly amid heightened economic anxiety among consumers who are looking for short-term financing options. The BNPL market is anticipated to hit nearly $350 billion USD in 2025, up from $230 billion last year, according to a Research and Markets report. 

Shopify has recently faced other legal difficulties related to its merchants. This month, a Canadian court sided with the company and blocked the Canada Revenue Agency from compelling Shopify to turn over up to six years of merchant data for tax purposes. 

Disclosure: BetaKit majority owner Good Future is the family office of two former Shopify leaders, Arati Sharma and Satish Kanwar.

Feature image courtesy Shopify.

The post Sezzle sues Shopify for alleged “unfair” privileging of its own buy-now, pay-later feature first appeared on BetaKit.

When Fullscript was founded in 2012, CEO Kyle Braatz saw two options: be ultra-focused and do one thing really well, or create the ultra-broad whole-person care platform he envisioned from the start. 

Held to the constraints of bootstrapped capital, Braatz opted to take it slow, building each segment of his wellness tech business like they were each their own startup. Bolstered by the acquisition of Rupa Health in October, Fullscript is now putting the finishing touches on its latest in-house startup—which offers lab tests—and developing the company’s next phase. 

Fullscript says its platform has helped over 100,000 providers prescribe treatment plans to more than 10 million patients to date.

Braatz’s slow and steady method has paid off, even if it happened much later than he planned. After years of steady growth, Fullscript told BetaKit that it has achieved $1 billion USD in revenue over the past 12 months.

Braatz spoke on his company’s growth in a fireside chat with The Globe and Mail’s Sean Silcoff at AccerlateOTT, an annual summit held during Ottawa Innovation Week, on Thursday.

“You don’t have much time for those ‘pinch-me’ moments,” Braatz told BetaKit ahead of the event when asked about his company’s rapid revenue growth. 

The anchor milestone follows a secondary deal earlier this year, which saw existing Fullscript investors HGGC and Snapdragon Capital Partners, backed by United States (US)-based Leonard Green & Partners, reportedly snap up $300 million USD ($408 million CAD) in shares at a $2.5-billion USD ($3.4-billion CAD) valuation, according to The Globe and Mail. 

BetaKit sat down with Braatz following the acquisition of Rupa Health in November, back when the company confidently reported $900 million USD in annual recurring revenue (ARR) and looked forward to hitting the $1-billion milestone this year. Braatz described his novel approach to building Fullscript, and expressed how he’s just excited to build the company’s next “moonshot” from scratch again. 

“If we have this thing we want to invest in, don’t go right to the end state immediately,” Braatz told BetaKit. “It sounds like common sense, but let’s just start and go through the process of getting there.”

Fullscript plays in the wellness space, which mostly includes complementary and alternative medicine, although conventional medical providers do use its platform. According to the Global Wellness Institute, wellness is the active pursuit of activities, choices, and lifestyles that lead to a state of holistic health. Wellness is a massive, continuously growing industry that was worth $6.3 trillion globally in 2023 after increasing in value by 25 percent over four years, according to Bloomberg.

Fullscript fits in by helping wellness practitioners provide end-to-end “whole person care.” Its e-commerce solution includes a platform for selling wellness supplements, while also providing access to lab testing and tools that connect clients to their wellness practitioners. Fullscript says its platform has helped over 100,000 providers prescribe treatment plans to more than 10 million patients to date. 

Braatz has deep ties to the Ottawa community, which he credits as critical to his company’s success. Originally hailing from Newfoundland, he came to the city from for school and never left, growing up knowing key figures at fellow Ottawa-based e-commerce giant Shopify, like current president Harley Finkelstein and CEO Tobi Lütke, who “always had a lot of time” for him when he was starting out. 

“Every single individual that’s building in Ottawa, we’re building because we want to make an impact; building because we’re passionate about building,” Braatz said at AccelerateOTT. “I think what that builds is actually a community of people that want to help each other.”

Braatz is also a minority owner of the Ottawa Senators, and was centre-stage alongside his wife Rachel when they donated $2 million to the Senators Community Foundation, which works with the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), as part of the hockey team’s annual gala earlier this year. 

“Entrepreneurs get so focused on their one thing in their life, entrepreneurship,” Braatz said on stage while speaking about the Ottawa tech community. “Guess what? You need time to refresh. You need time to get away from what you’re doing every single day, and there’s such an opportunity to just get joy out of helping other people.”

Figuring it out

In the company’s early days, Braatz told BetaKit that he wrote a “super secret plan.” While it’s five years behind schedule, it outlined each of the “adjacencies” Braatz was intent on delivering through Fullscript, with step one set to help practitioners with carrying inventory and managing their prescription workflow, and encouraging patient adherence. The company started to expand its focus beyond dispensing supplements and more into practitioner workflow, first through electronic health record integrations and then into clinical decision support. Its platform can now help practitioners streamline a patient’s supplement prescriptions to more manageable pill counts. 

“Maybe [a practitioner] has just written a protocol with 12 bottles, or 12 pills, but we have the same ingredient profile in three products with six pills,” Braatz explained. 

Fullscript didn’t need much external financial support along the way. The company hit profitability when it achieved $40 million ARR in 2018, bootstrapping nearly the entire way except for $2 million in angel funding, before it secured a $25-million Series B round in 2019 that went straight to its balance sheet. Fullscript’s early approach parallels other Canadian healthtech companies that have scaled through revenue without much equity financing, such as Vancouver-based practice management software developer Jane.  

At the time, Fullscript focused on the software and customer support while relying on a partner to deliver the physical products, but started to realize the importance of owning the end-to-end experience when it experienced troubles with an early distribution partner, Emerson Ecologics. This led to Fullscript acquiring Natural Partners, Emerson’s biggest competitor, in 2018. 

“From a physical perspective, you start relying on a partner to ship products, and they’re screwing things up, and the unboxing isn’t good enough, like it just didn’t represent the Fullscript brand,” Braatz told BetaKit. “From a margin profile perspective, [as] a capital efficient business, we needed to improve our [profit and loss] statement.”

The merger doubled Fullscript to an $80-million revenue business, a number that reliably grew each year until it hit $300 million in 2021. That’s when HGGC and Snapdragon Capital Partners bought in through a $300-million CAD ($240 million USD) investment in Fullscript. While the round was largely secondary, Braatz said it also supported Fullscript’s acquisition of its originally troublesome distribution partner, Emerson Ecologics, which once again doubled the company’s revenue to $600 million. 

While Fullscript’s first acquisition was about owning the customer experience, the company’s second was about establishing its market leadership.

The acquisition thesis “was more along the lines of continuing our focus on market leadership and then leverage that scale in the market, and earn the right to now enter those adjacencies, like labs, or innovate more on the supplement side,” Braatz said. 

Fullscript then launched an in-house startup to build out its labs offering, complete with a founding team that had its own CEO, head of engineering, and others responsible for specific segments. They operated on their own incentives based on a budget, as Braatz believes that “efficiencies and constraints drive the outcomes” they want.  

“I think a lot of companies rush to invest before they’ve built out the learning, because they forget that every [new] feature and functionality is still a startup,” Braatz said. “No startup just goes out and spends $100 million on something; they raise $2 million and spend $30,000 a month figuring it out.” 

Once the labs segment was validated and began to be absorbed into the broader business, Fullscript nabbed Rupa Labs for an undisclosed sum so it could bring the whole suite of services together at once. The completed labs segment allows providers using Fullscript to offer patients end-to-end diagnostic labs and specialty testing, with a single place to recommend, manage, and review lab results.

Braatz said the Rupa acquisition was “fairly immaterial”  considering the overall size of the business, but “very material” in terms of its value to providers and patients.

Having achieved a major revenue milestone, Fullscript will be investing most of its capital on core optimizations and its innovation bucket, such as clinical decision support tools and lab optimizations. Of course, there’s a little set aside for its next aspirational moonshot, which Braatz called “preventive journeys,” though that’s going to be gated by success it sees, just like any other startup.

“It feels like a startup again,” Braatz said. “You go through these different M&A deals, and I love doing it … but it’s really nice to be back to this mindset of building and creating, and doing so at a rapid pace.” 

RELATED: Clio’s record-breaking funding round explains 2024’s public market exodus

Despite being startup-minded, Braatz sees an initial public offering (IPO) as the way forward. Much like many of its Canadian tech peers over the past year, Fullscript has avoided the IPO market in favour of keeping liquid cash flowing through secondary rounds. Braatz said there’s lots of factors the company wants to “prove out” before doing so, and doesn’t have any specific timeline or milestone that would trigger the process. 

“We have the potential to be a household name when it comes to the company we build,” Braatz told BetaKit. “We have profitability, we have a strong team, we have all of the attributes that a good public company has, it’s just a matter of when.”

On stage, Silcoff asked Braatz to speak more about his company’s potential future as a public company, and whether Braatz thought he was the right person to lead it at that stage. While Braatz said he would love Fullscript to stay private as long as possible, at a certain point investors expect liquidity. 

“We likely will get to a point where maybe we’re too big to stay private,” Braatz said. “We’re just learning what this company should look like in order to set it up for success, and if I’ll be there [post-IPO]? We’ll see.” 

Feature image courtesy Invest Ottawa/Lindsey Gibeau Photography.

The post Kyle Braatz got Fullscript to $1 billion in revenue by treating every new business segment like a startup first appeared on BetaKit.

“The future is coming, whether the banks are ready for it or not,” Wealthsimple co-founder and chief product officer Brett Huneycutt proclaimed yesterday before a hometown crowd at Evergreen Brick Works during the company’s inaugural product showcase.

At the first Wealthsimple Presents, the Toronto FinTech firm revealed new banking products with fewer fees and without the branch visits required by its incumbent competitors. These included the company’s first credit card, an instant line of credit, an expanded chequing account, and home bank draft, cheque, and cash deliveries.

On stage, Huneycutt spun a vision of a future when Wealthsimple “negotiates rates for you, builds and adjusts your portfolios as your life situation changes, minimizes your taxes, makes payments, [and] transfers money,” and hinted that the next edition of Wealthsimple Presents, slated for this fall, will focus more on investing.

Wealthsimple aims to become “the one-stop shop for financial services for Canadians.” 

In an interview with BetaKit afterwards, Huneycutt outlined the company’s vision for the future of banking and investing in more detail, teased that it has been thinking about insurance, and shared where yesterday’s announcements put Wealthsimple on the path to being “the one-stop shop for financial services for Canadians.”

“I think we’ve taken a big step forward today with ‘The End of Banking,’” he said, referring to the branding of the event. “But there’s a lot of stuff that we don’t yet offer that we’d like to, so there will be a lot more to come,” he said.

Since its launch as a robo-advisor in 2014, Wealthsimple has broadened its investment capabilities and moved into other areas of money management. Wealthsimple now offers investing, crypto, tax filing, spending, and saving products. The company, which is majority owned by Power Corp. affiliates, relies on partnerships with banks to offer banking services and hold and guarantee its deposits. It has become profitable, amassed more than three million clients, and was most recently valued at $5 billion CAD.

When Wealthsimple initially launched both its robo-advisor and brokerage, Huneycutt said “The perception in the market was that we were for beginners or for early investors and only young people.” The company has worked to change that in recent years, and Huneycutt believes its efforts to woo other groups, including wealthier clients, have proven successful. 

“The numbers that we’ve announced speak for themselves in terms of the amount of deposits that we’ve been able to accumulate,” he said.

Wealthsimple held $73 billion in assets under administration (AUA) as of March 31, after more than doubling since the end of 2023, when its AUA was $31 billion, per Power Corp. reports.

RELATED: Wealthsimple reveals first credit card, expanded chequing account at inaugural product showcase

At the event, Wealthsimple introduced a combination of brand-new products and some expanded capabilities for existing offerings, including mobile cheque deposits.

Huneycutt noted that unlike the banks the company is competing against, Wealthsimple does not have expensive branches to operate. 

“The way that we are able to offer better prices to our customers is that we operate at a much lower cost structure,” he said.

Wealthsimple intends to bring some of the services that banks only offer in person directly to customers’ doors. As Huneycutt said on stage, “We think that everything that you do in a branch you should be able to do wherever you want.”

Earlier this week, Wealthsimple senior product director Sam Newman-Bremang told BetaKit that the company is also betting that chequing account and credit card users are more likely to invest through its platform and leverage its other products.

RELATED: Can Wealthsimple build Canada’s largest financial institution?

When asked if Wealthsimple views its chequing account and credit cards as potential loss leaders for the business, Huneycutt emphasized that Wealthsimple tries to think of its client relationships holistically when it comes to unit economics.

“Not every individual product needs to be hugely profitable,” Huneycutt said—though he does believe credit cards could prove very profitable for Wealthsimple over the long run.

At the next Wealthsimple Presents, the company intends to replace its robo-advisor with more sophisticated and personalized trading capabilities, offer access to new private markets, and share some crypto-related product news, among other things.

“Not every individual product needs to be hugely profitable.”

Brett Huneycutt

“There will be more to say about how we’re killing our robo-advisor and reinventing it into something much better,” Huneycutt said, indicating that Wealthsimple is also working to ensure that its brokerage offering is both more “compelling and complete.”

Wealthsimple could face more competition on this front soon from one of its larger American peers: US trading platform Robinhood Markets recently struck a deal to buy Toronto crypto company WonderFi and shared plans to develop its offering in Canada.

Huneycutt said he is not worried about the threat of Robinhood coming to Canada. He said he is confident in the suite of products Wealthsimple has developed, and embraced the idea of more competition. 

“I’m excited for the energy it will bring to the market and our team to make something better for our clients,” he said.

“In general, our view is [that] the financial services market in Canada is not very competitive,” Huneycutt added. “It will benefit from more competition, and so I think it’s exciting for the market and for us, that another international player is interested [in Canada].”

As to what Wealthsimple’s product roadmap might look like beyond refining its approach to investing, Huneycutt told BetaKit that he believes the company could do more when it comes to mortgages—where it has been partnering with Toronto-based digital mortgage provider Pine—and indicated that insurance is another big vertical that the firm has been thinking about.

Feature image courtesy Wealthsimple.

The post Wealthsimple’s Brett Huneycutt explains how its new products advance the company’s financial services vision first appeared on BetaKit.

Canadian businesses are quietly bleeding billions, and it’s because their employees aren’t well.

Poor mental health costs Canada’s economy about $51 billion a year in healthcare expenses and lost productivity.  Businesses alone lose $6 billion annually due to absenteeism, presenteeism and high turnover. 

“It’s about making health something that you enjoy doing and not like the chore you have to do.”

Antoine Moulet, Alan

Businesses that invest in mental health support and physical activity, on the other hand, see real returns through healthier, more engaged teams.

The payoff shows up in higher output, better profits, and an improved quality of life all around.

Physically active employees lose 10 fewer work days per year than their sedentary colleagues.

After growing to 700,000 members across Europe, Alan recently brought its virtual-first health platform to Canada to challenge what it sees as a prehistoric approach to insurance.

The company lets employers buy group health insurance entirely online in a few minutes, at fees that are half the cost of average incumbent insurers.

Alan’s larger goal is to reposition employee wellbeing as an investment in productivity and public health, not just a cost centre.

Its secret weapon is Alan Play, a preventive health platform that rewards users for healthy choices like breathwork, walking more, and practicing stress management. It works by tapping into the dopamine-driven survival instincts that kept our ancestors alive.

That immediate reward is why it works. 

“Our brains are still like caveman brains—it’s just the way we are programmed,” said Antoine Moulet, a quantum physicist-turned-senior product manager who leads Alan’s gamification team.

Alan Play flips the script. Rather than fight our programming, it delivers small, instant rewards, like digital badges, step challenges, and AI-assisted journaling, that encourage modern wellness goals.

From prototype to phenomenon

Alan Play began in 2024, after Moulet’s team realized that personalized health advice wasn’t enough to change behaviour.

“It was just another thing telling you what’s good for you, maybe in a better, digital way, like a better governmental prevention ad,” Moulet recalls. “People might read it and think ‘Oh, that’s interesting,’ and then forget about it.”

So the company asked itself a different question: Why do some digital experiences feel like a chore while others are addictive?

In response, the team tested a step-counting prototype on 20 employees. It linked to users’ phones, rewarded movement with points they could donate to charity, and showed weekly leaderboards. It spread quickly.

“The next day, there were 100 Alaners on the leaderboard,” Moulet said. “It wasn’t even open in their app. They had to scan a QR code to access it. Suddenly, people wanted to come in and do something for themselves.”

Today, the feature is fully integrated into the Alan app. Users earn “berries” for completing health challenges and can donate them to monthly charity initiatives like vaccinating children in India or supporting Doctors Without Borders. The platform also includes team competitions, personal avatars, achievement badges and social leaderboards that create what Moulet calls “conversations at the coffee machine.”

“It’s about making health something that you enjoy doing and not like the chore you have to do because you’ve been told 10,000 times you need to do 10,000 steps,” Moulet added.

The business case for better health

Early results from Alan’s European operations suggest it may be onto something: engaged Alan Play users walk 20,000 more steps per month, while 80 percent of HR departments report better team comradery. The platform achieves 40 percent employee adoption rates at launch, jumping to 70 to 80 percent when HR teams actively promote the program.

Up to a third of users return to the platform weekly, according to Moulet. “This has become part of their health routine. They use it to check their step numbers, do a health challenge, meditation, breathing, and journaling.”

The connection between employee health and business performance isn’t just theoretical.

That’s exactly the thinking behind Alan Play.

“We can prove that you’re 50 percent more likely to engage in another preventative health action once you start engaging with your health through a small health behaviour, like walking and meditation or breath work,” said Mark Goad, general manager of Alan Canada. This cascading effect means companies see returns beyond just reduced insurance claims.

Addressing Canada’s healthcare crisis

For Data Loft CEO Jansen Sullivan, Alan’s system is doing what old-school benefits never could.

Data Loft builds dashboards that turn messy data into actionable insight. But when it came to benefits, Sullivan found himself frustrated with his previous provider. It took ten minutes to log in, there was no clear reporting, and he dealt with a steady stream of employee questions about how to file claims. “The reporting maze was the final straw,” Sullivan said.

That changed in December 2024, when he was introduced to Alan. The biggest difference, according to Sullivan, was silence. “The app is clear, so no one needs me to walk them through it,” he said. “Claims go in, money comes back, and we don’t think about it. I get that time back, and the team stays focused.”

Alan, which has also begun working with Canadian companies like Upside Robotics and Vantage Developments, has a broader goal in the long term: to help Canada move away from reactive care.

“We spend about $372 billion a year on healthcare, but only a fraction of that is on preventative initiatives,” said Goad. “We are just continuing to dig and dig and dig this hole entirely around a reactive care system.”

Alan’s answer is to encourage healthier behaviours so people don’t get so sick in the first place. 

“We’re convinced that the next frontier in health is around prevention,” said Moulet. “Chronic diseases are treated with meds, but ultimately they’re a fix for bad lifestyles. We should be fostering better preventive behaviours.”

That’s a big shift from traditional insurance, which only reacts to illness after the fact.

“A private insurer only knows you are sick when you’ve submitted that bill for a prescription drug – after you got sick, then you went to the doctor, then you got a diagnosis, then you got a prescription,” Goad said. “That’s the only point in which they know what’s happening in your life.”

In a country where 6.5 million people don’t have a family doctor and wait times for care can stretch for weeks, Alan’s gamified approach to prevention might just be the evolutionary leap the country has been waiting for.

“I think that’s what Canadians deserve,” Goad said, calling the current state of healthcare “maybe the least automated, least technologically inclined industry that we interact with.” 

PRESENTED BY

Alan enables our 700,000 members to take action for their physical and mental health by combining the best of prevention and insurance. Learn more.

All photos provided by Alan.

The post Alan is challenging the idea that health insurance is just a cost first appeared on BetaKit.

Canada’s new minister of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital innovation says he plans to focus on AI’s economic benefits instead of “over-indexing” on regulation, marking a shift away from the previous government’s attempts to strike a balance between the two. 

One of the key aspects of regulating AI is not to put a saddle on “the bucking bronco called AI innovation,” Minister Evan Solomon said at the Canada 2020 conference, put on by the progressive think tank of the same name, in Ottawa this week. “But it is to make sure that the horse doesn’t kick people in the face.”

“My fear is that there are other states that will leapfrog ahead of us on a competitive advantage.”

Evan Solomon

Solomon’s remarks come as Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new government takes a pro-adoption stance on AI, in both the public and private sectors. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s mandate letter stated that cabinet members should be “deploying AI at scale” to boost productivity. During his election campaign, Carney promised another $2.5 billion for broadband and data centres.

The new government’s tack departs from former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s approach. Before leaving office, Trudeau emphasized the need for AI guardrails and transparency, signed the first legally binding international AI treaty, and signed a joint statement on inclusive and sustainable AI. His government also proposed Canada’s first-ever AI legislation, Bill C-27, which was never signed into law. 

Solomon said the legislation is “not gone,” but that the government will “have to re-examine it” to determine the best course of action. This doesn’t mean there will be no regulation, he said, but it must be taken in steps, starting with privacy and data concerns. 

“What we won’t do is go into a little black box, do a consultation with 5,000 people, study best practices around the world, come up with the Canadian regulatory solution, and go it alone,” Solomon said, calling it a “waste of time.” 

The federal government regularly invites input from the public and specific stakeholders during the legislative process. In the case of issues that affect Indigenous treaty and land rights, this consultation is a legal obligation. According to an analysis of public records by Andrew Clement, a professor emeritus of computer science at the University of Toronto, the Trudeau government conducted consultations on the since-stalled Bill C-27 with 216 businesses and industry groups (including giants like Cohere and OpenAI), 28 academia organizations, and nine civil society groups. This led to widespread critique that the consultations were skewed toward business interests. 

To Solomon, technical ingenuity (AI innovation) and social ingenuity (laws and regulations) must go hand in hand, but “the balance is incredibly tricky,” he said. He added that if laws and regulations constrain innovation, then Canada could face a “terrible productivity loss.”

Solomon claimed that AI adoption across the Canadian economy could boost the country’s gross domestic product by up to eight percent. A recent Microsoft Canada and Accenture study noted a similar boost that generative AI could have on labour productivity by 2030. However, a study of 7,000 workplaces by the National Bureau of Economic Research found limited productivity gains from AI chatbot use. 

The four priorities for Solomon’s new ministry are as follows: scaling up Canada’s AI industry, driving AI adoption, ensuring that Canadians trust the technology, and ensuring AI sovereignty in Canada.

Beyond getting large businesses to adopt AI, Solomon said Canada should encourage small and medium-sized businesses to adopt the technology as well, through policy levers such as tax credits and flow-through shares. 

At the international tech conference VivaTech in Paris today, Solomon said in conversation with Julien Billot, the CEO of Scale AI, Canada’s federally funded AI supercluster, that he believes Canada and Europe need to work together on AI to avoid getting left behind. 

“My fear is that there are other states that will leapfrog ahead of us on a competitive advantage,” Solomon said. “My biggest fear is that everyone tries to do something alone.”

However, Solomon added that he fears “unconstrained development without any ethics and values.”

Benjamin Bergen, president of tech lobby organization the Council of Canadian Innovators, welcomed Solomon’s approach but cautioned that promoting AI adoption is not enough. 

“While there are productivity improvements to adopting artificial intelligence, there’s even more economic benefits in making sure that Canadian companies are leading vendors of AI tools and systems,” Bergen told BetaKit. “We need to ensure that Canadians own this technology.”

RELATED: Amid AI proof-of-concept fatigue, Cohere co-founder urges potential customers to keep the faith and focus on ROI

Solomon said at Canada 2020 that the government plans to execute on his ministry’s priorities through “billions of dollars in investment.” Some of this is already in motion through the $2-billion Canada Sovereign AI Compute Strategy put forward by the previous administration, which has committed up to $240 million toward an AI data centre for Toronto-based AI startup Cohere.

Solomon also discussed the possibility of boosting AI adoption within government. One example was cutting down on hold wait times for Canadians calling government agencies such as the Canada Revenue Agency. He cited Canadian AI startup Ada’s agentic AI customer service software as an example of how the government could cut down on labour and wait times. 

“This shift from regulation to adoption is exactly what Canada’s AI ecosystem needed,” Adithya Rao, investment director at SCALE AI, wrote in a LinkedIn post in response to Solomon’s comments. “Solomon’s focus on government procurement as a validation mechanism is particularly smart.”

Ada CEO Mike Murchison wrote in a memo for pro-business, entrepreneurship-focused online policy platform Build Canada that risk aversion by both government and business is causing Canada to lag behind. Murchison argued for what he called increased AI literacy and widespread adoption. Build Canada memos are drafted and published with assistance from AI tools. 

Murchison added that Canada should reintroduce Bill C-27, with provisions to treat AI as a public good and promote AI access alongside risk regulation. The memo recommends an advisory committee on AI adoption and more stringent transparency requirements for government AI systems. 

Defence spending, Solomon said at Canada 2020, is another way the government plans to put its money towards supporting Canadian tech. 

“In the US, their military is their form of industrial policy,” Solomon said. “Under the auspices of national security, they essentially support tech companies everywhere.”

He cited Carney’s recent commitment to meet NATO’s target of two-percent of GDP spent on defence procurement this year, and said that building up industrial defence policy in Canada will involve “working closely” with Canadian companies and the Department of National Defence.

Feature image courtesy VivaTech via YouTube. 

The post AI minister Evan Solomon wary of overdoing regulation, but says Bill C-27 “not gone” first appeared on BetaKit.

Toronto-based Wealthsimple has announced a slew of new offerings, including its first credit card, an instant line of credit coming soon, and an expanded chequing account. The FinTech company also teased cheque and cash deliveries to customers’ doors.

Wealthsimple says these moves reflect its plan to build “a full-service financial solution” that moves beyond just investing to provide a broader range of money-management products and services, without excessive fees or the branch visits required by its incumbent competitors.

“It’s really our take on banking.”

Sam Newman-Bremang, Wealthsimple

“The whole company is excited that we really get to confidently say it out loud that we now have all the services you need to not just have your investing relationship with us, but also have your banking relationship with us,” Wealthsimple senior director of product Sam Newman-Bremang said in an interview with BetaKit ahead of the event.

Wealthsimple shared the product news today from Evergreen Brick Works in Toronto during the first event in its new Wealthsimple Presents series, which it called “The End of Banking?” 

“We say ‘The end of banking,’ but it’s really our take on banking,” Newman-Bremang said.

The kickoff event, for which over 110,000 people registered to view virtually and hundreds attended in person, resembled a more focused version of Shopify Editions. Newman-Bremang said the company plans to host Wealthsimple Presents twice a year going forward to showcase some of its biggest new features and releases, with a second edition planned for this fall that will include some investment product news. 

He said Wealthsimple Presents comes in response to increased demand from clients interested in learning more about what the company is building and how. “We see it as a great opportunity to connect with our product leaders, execs and advisor teams,” he added.

Since getting its start back in 2014 as a robo-adviser, Wealthsimple has broadened its investment capabilities and moved into other areas of money management. Wealthsimple now offers a suite of products across investing, cryptocurrency, tax filing, spending, and saving. 

The expansion bet has been paying off: the nearly 11-year-old company is profitable, caters to more than three million clients, holds $70 billion CAD in assets under administration, and was most recently valued at $5 billion.

At the event, Wealthsimple co-founder and CEO Mike Katchen claimed that the company is the biggest Canadian financial institution to emerge in the last 25 years.

“The way I see it, the banks are a tax on all of us,” Katchen said on stage. “We as Canadians need to demand more.”

“Our goal is not to build another bank,” he continued. “Canada doesn’t need another bank.”

According to Wealthsimple, its new credit card—which Newman-Bremang said has been the company’s most requested product to date—will offer two-percent cash back on all spending while foregoing caps, additional foreign exchange (FX) fees on top of the exchange rate, annual fees, and tap limits. 

“The way I see it, the banks are a tax on all of us. We as Canadians need to demand more.”

Mike Katchen
Wealthsimple CEO

Wealthsimple claims its chequing account (formerly Wealthsimple Cash) generates the highest interest rate for a chequing account in Canada at up to 2.75 percent, comes with no monthly account fees, FX fees, or ATM fees, allows direct deposit users to access their pay up to a day early, and provides up to $1 million in CDIC coverage. Today, one quarter of Wealthsimple customers now have a chequing account with the company.

Both products are available now. They will be joined by an instant line of credit that Wealthsimple plans to make available by the end of 2025 with rates as low as 4.45 percent. It will let clients leverage eligible Wealthsimple account balances as collateral.

Avara vice-president of product Jeremy Black told BetaKit that by treating client assets as collateral, Wealthsimple can allow customers to borrow against them instantly and bring interest rates down. He noted that an interest rate of 4.45 percent is less than the interest on a home equity line of credit. “Think how successful that product innovation has been over the last 30 years,” he added.

“It’s business model innovation, and that’s the best type of innovation, because you can build a lasting moat around it,” Black argued. “The banks don’t do this because it harms them, and they’re unwilling to cannibalize existing businesses and existing workflows.”

The company also plans to launch two other financial services later this year: cheque and cash deliveries in both Canadian and US dollars.

Audience members were particularly excited about Wealthsimple’s credit card terms, the company’s upcoming instant line of credit, and its plans to deliver bank drafts, cheques, and cash. Multiple attendees who spoke to BetaKit after the presentation said today’s announcements would make them a bit nervous if they worked at big banks.

RELATED: Wealthsimple’s Brett Huneycutt explains how its new products advance the company’s financial services vision

Newman-Bremang said Wealthsimple’s ultimate goal is “to be the one financial relationship” that Canadians need. To get there, the company decided to integrate all of its products into a single platform that it launched in 2022 and recently redesigned.

He said this has allowed Wealthsimple to take a holistic view of its clients and unit economics. 

Today, Newman-Bremang claims the FinTech firm can offer lower fees and more attractive terms than many competitors in the banking space for two reasons: its decreased overhead due to its lack of physical branches, and because it is betting that chequing account and credit card holders are more likely to invest through its platform and leverage its other products.

Newman-Bremang said Wealthsimple’s longer-term product roadmap involves continuing to experiment around mortgages, where it has been partnering with Toronto-based digital mortgage provider Pine, and exploring how to do more around family wealth management following its recent acquisition of San Francisco-based Plenty.

Speaking on stage at the event, Wealthsimple co-founder and chief product officer Brett Huneycutt said that the next Wealthsimple Presents will focus on investing, hinting that the company plans to replace its robo-advisor with more sophisticated and personalized trading capabilities, offer access to new private markets, and share some crypto-related product news.

“You could probably call the next one ‘The end of investing,’ at least as it’s done today,” he said.

Feature image courtesy Wealthsimple. Photo by Jack Peros.

The post Wealthsimple reveals first credit card, expanded chequing account at inaugural product showcase first appeared on BetaKit.

Every winter, 15,000 fishing boats in Atlantic Canada sit docked and unused. 

Recognizing a growing interest from locals in switching to electric boats, Nova Scotia’s BlueGrid Energy built a platform that helps owners make money while their boats sit idle. Using vessel-to-grid (V2G) technology, the company transforms electric fishing boats into floating batteries, storing clean energy and feeding it back to the electricity network during the off-season.

The goal is to make it easier and more affordable for fishing boats around the world to switch to electric power

“We need to stop being so humble and start bragging a little, because there are incredible companies being built right here.”

Lindsay Murray, Foresight Canada

“BlueGrid was inspired by the need to cost-effectively decarbonize a sector where global fishing fleets alone emit as much as 45 million cars annually,” said Trevor Hennigar, BlueGrid’s Chief Operating Officer. 

The company wants to become a global leader in helping the marine industry switch to electric power, and has already successfully demonstrated the launch of the world’s first V2G-enabled lobster boats in Halifax.

Nova Scotia is a natural launchpad for cleantech startups thanks to its ties to the blue economy. But what truly sets the region apart, according to Lindsay Murray, Atlantic Representative at Foresight Canada, is its distinct East Coast mentality.

“It’s a network like no other,” she said. “We understand the importance of innovation and economic development, so people here do business a little differently. You can make the right connections much faster than in other ecosystems.”

This culture has helped BlueGrid move quickly on major projects, like joining the newly launched Canadian Electric Propulsion Acceleration Coalition, a $7-million project led by Photon Marine Canada and supported by Canada’s Ocean Supercluster.

Thanks to its growing infrastructure and collaborative ecosystem, Nova Scotia is quickly becoming a hub for ocean tech, carbon capture, battery innovation, and bioinnovation.

The province recently announced the new Neptune BioInnovation Centre, a world-class biofermentation facility that will accelerate biotech innovations in industries like life sciences, pharmaceuticals, forestry, and agriculture.

And just last year, the federal government invested over $10 million in Dalhousie University’s Canadian Battery Innovation Centre, set to open in Fall 2025. The project will be the country’s first university-based facility for battery prototyping and testing, and helped the university to land a Supporter of the Year Award at Foresight Canada’s 2025 Atlantic Canada Cleantech Awards.

Foresight Canada, which is headquartered in British Columbia, officially has a presence in Nova Scotia as of last summer, following years of growing interest in its programs across the region.

Since 2013, the non-profit has supported more than 1,580 ventures and over 150 industry partners through a range of programs designed for both startups and scaleups. These include its popular Launch and Deliver program, which helps CEOs and CTOs bring innovations to life, as well as a late-stage growth program, roundtables, bootcamps, and innovation challenges.

“The list is long,” Murray explained. “We run cohorts three times a year, but we really hone in on where the startup is and what the founder needs.” 

For BlueGrid Energy, Foresight programs provided access to a network of investors. 

“Foresight’s Access to Capital program provided funding and strategic guidance, enabling BlueGrid to enhance BlueGrid Insights’ capabilities, scale operations, and expand market reach,” said Hennigar.

Foresight has also supported pHathom Technologies and Planetary, two Nova Scotia companies fighting climate change by removing carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere and protecting the ocean. 

At pHathom, CO₂ is stored safely in the ocean after being mixed with seawater and ground limestone.

Planetary uses a different approach: adding purified minerals to ocean water to help the ocean absorb more CO₂ and store it in a safe, long-lasting form. Both companies work near coastlines where forests, seawater, and energy systems already exist, so it’s faster and easier to set up without the need for new infrastructure.

Foresight’s carbonNEXT program connected pHathom’s team of scientists, engineers, and forestry experts with peers facing similar challenges. The program helped the team refine its pitch, sharpen its go-to-market strategy, and clearly articulate the value of its solution.

In 2021 and 2022, Foresight recognized Planetary as a Foresight 50 honouree, helping raise its visibility with investors and Canada’s cleantech ecosystem and beyond.

In 10 years, Foresight has helped ventures raise a collective $2.31 billion in capital, generate $570 million in revenue, and create over 9,400 high-quality jobs.

Now, they’re aiming to extend that impact by doubling down on Atlantic Canada.

“I really want to emphasize how special the ecosystem is here in Nova Scotia and across Atlantic Canada,” said Murray. “There’s a strong sense of collaboration, and a lot of resources available to founders. We need to stop being so humble and start bragging a little, because there are incredible companies being built right here.”

PRESENTED BY

Through Innovation Challenges, investor matchmaking opportunities, and direct venture support, Foresight connects innovators and industry leaders to scale clean technologies that enhance efficiency, resilience, and long-term growth.

Whether you’re building or adopting solutions, explore how Foresight can support your goals.

Feature image courtesy of Unsplash. Photo by Mitch McKee.

The post Building Canada’s cleantech future from the shores of Nova Scotia first appeared on BetaKit.

After years of planning and the loss of a community hub, Montréal finally has a new space to serve its tech ecosystem. 

On June 9, more than 300 members of Québec’s tech community, along with government officials and startup support organizations, inaugurated the long-awaited entrepreneurship hub Ax.c. 

“The magic is already happening,” Geneviève Leclerc, director of Ax.c, said in an interview with BetaKit. “We have been able to get all of these promising startups with strategic actors around to help them.”

“You bring anybody here and there’s a wow effect.”

Richard Chénier
Québec Tech

Built on the former trading floor of the Montréal Exchange, the 100,000-sq. ft. space takes up two floors overlooking the Place Victoria tower, a stone’s throw from the Google and Shopify Montréal offices in the city’s business district. Ax.c’s stated ethos is to offer a space where startups can connect with every part of the innovation ecosystem, from mentors to technical talent to investors. 

The innovation campus has been in the works for roughly seven years, since the city commissioned a study in 2018 to look into the creation of a central space to showcase local innovation. Through a project by École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) incubator Centech, the idea for Ax.c was born. 

In 2023, federal, provincial, and municipal governments pledged $48 million toward its construction. The Québec government contributed the lion’s share of $38.5 million through its 2022-2027 strategy to support research and innovation. Last fall, the project received $5.25 million in private funding from Bell, Google Canada, Desjardins, and Fonds de solidarité FTQ to sustain its operations until at least 2029. 

RELATED: Government-backed Montréal innovation hub Ax-C gets boost from private sector 

The hub rents out space to startups, investment firms, corporate partners, and community organizations. Startup space is in highest demand: 40 companies have been initially selected as tenants after more than 100 applied. Leclerc said that those not chosen can still make use of open coworking spaces. 

Richard Chénier, CEO of government-backed nonprofit Québec Tech, has been involved with the project since its early days. Chénier said that the ideal startup tenants are those with five to 12 employees and some market traction. The goal is to cycle through tenants as startups scale and move on to needing more office space. 

“We want to see growth in the companies [that] have an office here,” Chénier said. “If you are a zombie [company], we don’t want to see that.” 

According to Carlos Leitão, the newly appointed secretary to the minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED), Mélanie Joly, the priorities of the federal government in providing funding align with those of the Québec government: supporting promising startups in scaling internationally. 

Success for Ax.c, Leitão told BetaKit, would be to see one firm grow into a major player at a global scale. 

“It’s not impossible,” Leitao said. “There’s a lot of enthusiasm. What we lacked was an opportunity to collaborate.”

A nod to Notman 

Ax.c’s opening marked the first opening of an innovation hub in Montréal since the closure of Notman House, which provided a grassroots community space for the tech ecosystem.

“People are back to building in Montreal.”

Nectarios Economakis
Amiral Ventures

Though some social media posts pointed out that the Ax.c launch event’s formal vibe, the focus of the evening remained on supporting startups, even with government and corporate players. Multiple attendees told BetaKit that the space reminded them of Notman, but scaled up and with improved amenities—like air conditioning. 

“It’s nice to have a brand-new space with all the luxuries,” Gabriel Sundaram, co-founder of Attain, a FinTech platform focused on homeownership, told BetaKit. “I used to say this about Notman [too], but the community space is about the community, not about the physical space.”

“It’s of a scale of a city that really believes in technology,” said John Stokes, managing partner at Real Ventures and board chair of the OSMO Foundation, which ran Notman House.

Notman House was forced into a sale by creditors Investissement Québec and the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) in 2023 after claiming unpaid mortgage fees from the OSMO Foundation. Members of the startup community put together a bid to buy it back, but were ultimately unsuccessful. The Trottier Foundation purchased the heritage building and intends to turn it into a philanthropy hub. 

RELATED: Québec grants Centech $4.5 million to boost deep tech, medtech commercialization

For Nectarios Economakis, partner at Amiral Ventures, it’s not a bad thing that Ax.c won’t be exactly the same as Notman House. 

“Ax.c is complementing a groundswell of community-led efforts like 555, North Star, AI Salon, and many others,” Economakis told BetaKit. “People are back to building in Montreal.”

The slick look of Ax.c will allow startups to network and pitch to investors in a space that will immediately be seen as professional, Chénier said, enhancing the chances of them securing deals. 

“You bring anybody here and there’s a wow effect,” he added.

Venture capital (VC) investors also have a dedicated lounge at Ax.c. Firms that have already booked spaces include Boreal Ventures, McRock Capital, and White Star Capital.

Corporations and mature tech companies also have a footprint at Ax.c, a key connection for startups that Sundaram said has been lacking in the Québec ecosystem. Marc Boyer, national director of acquisitions and regional sales at Google Cloud, said Google will give tenant startups access to tech resources such as artificial intelligence (AI) and compute credits, data analytics platforms, and infrastructure. 

“We also plan to organize events where Ax.c members can connect with Google leaders, product teams, and a broader community of innovators,” Boyer told BetaKit. 

Maria Julia Guimaraes, CEO of Totum Tech, a hardware startup and new Ax.c tenant, said she’s thrilled to get to be under the same roof as dozens of other startups and use amenities such as the fabrication laboratory. 

“It’s built for enhancing collaboration, exchanging minds, extending spirits,” Guimaraes said.  “Not only as founders, but as future leaders in tech.” 

With files from Aaron Anandji. Feature image courtesy Caroline Clouâtre.

The post Montréal tech looks to scale up with opening of Ax.c innovation hub first appeared on BetaKit.

Canada Health Infoway, a non-profit organization funded by the federal government, has opened enrollment for its artificial intelligence (AI) Scribe Program to eligible primary care clinicians across Canada.

The AI Scribe Program aims to use AI to help clinicians reduce administrative burden and improve documentation workflows. To do this, the initiative is providing up to 10,000 fully funded, one-year licences for AI-powered documentation tools, such as scribes to take automated notes, procured from Canadian tech companies.

These companies include Vancouver-based Autochart.ai (by Aya Health Technologies) and Empathia AI, Montréal-based MEDFAR, Calgary’s Mikata Health, and Toronto-based Pippen AI, ScribeBerry, and Tali AI. 

Vancouver-based digital healthcare company Well Health Technologies is also well represented. On top of being one of the procured companies itself, so is Mutuo Health Solutions, a Toronto-based company recently acquired by Healwell AI. Earlier this year, Well exercised call options to gain a majority controlling interest in Healwell. 

RELATED: Well Health says its healthy Q1 revenue is a symptom of Canadian growth

Infoway said the vendors were selected through a “rigorous process” based on their ability to meet national standards and regional needs, support secure data sharing, meet clinical practice requirements, and align with its Shared Pan-Canadian Interoperability Roadmap, which aims to link all care sectors, organizations, and providers through health technology and standardized data.

Eligible primary care clinicians can now register for AI healthtech from these companies on the AI Scribe Program website by selecting their province or territory to determine which of the tools are available in their area. At the moment, the AI Scribe Program isn’t open to the Northwest Territories or Nunavut. 

“AI scribes are just the beginning, and getting this right is key to building a stronger, smarter, and more sustainable health system for the future,” Infoway’s executive vice-president of connected care, Abhi Kalra, said in a statement. 

Concerns remain about the propensity of large-language models to generate unwanted or incorrect outputs (called hallucinations) in a medical context. A 2024 unreviewed study conducted by researchers from University of Massachusetts Amherst and the startup Mendel AI found that medical AI products powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4o and Meta’s Llama-3 both hallucinated in “almost all” medical record summaries.

Future phases of the program aim to explore scalability, incorporate discrete data elements, and AI-assisted decision support, Infoway said. 

Feature mage courtesy National Cancer Institute via Unsplash.

The post Canada Health Infoway’s AI Scribe Program hooks up primary care clinicians with Canadian healthtech first appeared on BetaKit.

The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) will partner with Toronto-based quantum computing company Xanadu and the University of Toronto to develop quantum algorithms for simulating improved lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles (EVs).

The agreement comes with about $760,000 in NRC funding.

“This project aims to develop breakthrough algorithms based on quantum dynamics, which are better suited for quantum computers and more challenging for classical methods.”

Juan Miguel Arrazola
Head of Algorithms, Xanadu

The new allies believe quantum computing will help by directly simulating the “underlying quantum dynamics,” according to a statement. Researchers believe this could lead to better designs for cathodes (the negatively-charged electrodes in batteries) and electrolytes (the conductors for electricity) in lithium-ion cells. Conventional computers might struggle with these developments, according to Xanadu Head of Algorithms Juan Miguel Arrazola.

“This project aims to develop breakthrough algorithms based on quantum dynamics, which are better suited for quantum computers and more challenging for classical methods,” Arrazola said.

The technology could address a “surging” demand for EV batteries, the partners said in their statement. This includes higher energy densities, faster charging speeds, increased lifespans, and lower prices. The collaborators also foresee potential bonus discoveries as a result of the work, such as determining material properties and new models for interactions between light and matter.

Arrazola will lead a team concentrating on a practical battery simulation with help from an NRC Battery Materials Innovation team run by Yaser Abu-Lebdeh. University of Toronto professors Artur Izmaylov and Nathan Wiebe will focus on theoretical elements for quantum algorithms. Xanadu CEO Christian Weedbrook told BetaKit in an email that his company expected to see results in the “coming months,” and that the work could improve lithium-ion batteries in general, not just for EVs.

RELATED: Xanadu touts another advancement toward scalable quantum computing

Xanadu was founded in 2016 and has focused on photonic (light-based) quantum computing systems that network together to scale their capabilities. It has unveiled multiple claimed breakthroughs in 2025, including a networking technique in January and error-resistant, single-chip quantum bits (qubits) earlier in June. It has also landed partnerships with the United States Air Force, the manufacturing company Applied Materials, and glass giant Corning.

In April, Xanadu joined Sherbrooke, Que.-based Nord Quantique and Vancouver’s Photonic in the United States’ (US) Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) research program aimed at building a usable quantum computer by 2033.

EV sales have slowed in recent months due to a combination of factors, including reduced government subsidies and the backlash against Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s involvement in the administration of US President Donald Trump. However, there have also been long-running concerns about limited range, long charging times, and high pre-subsidy prices.

Efforts are underway to improve EV battery capacities and charging speeds, including solid-state cells (where a solid separator replaces the liquid electrolyte) from automakers like Honda and Toyota. The collaboration between Xanadu, the University of Toronto, and the NRC could potentially improve performance with liquid electrolytes.

Feature image courtesy of Oxana Melis on Unsplash.

Update 6/11/2025: BetaKit has updated the story after receiving details regarding funding, the expected timeframe for results, and potential uses beyond EVs.

The post Xanadu, NRC, and U of T partner on using quantum to improve electric vehicle batteries first appeared on BetaKit.

Canada’s Competition Bureau is suing San Francisco-based food delivery app DoorDash and its Canadian subsidiary for allegedly promoting services to customers at a lower price than what they actually have to pay—a practice known as drip pricing.

The Bureau alleges that, through an investigation, it found consumers were unable to purchase food and other items at the price advertised on DoorDash’s websites and mobile applications due to the addition of mandatory fees at checkout. DoorDash has been engaging in this practice for close to a decade and acquired nearly $1 billion from the mandatory fees, the Bureau claims. 

In a blog post on its website, DoorDash said “Canada’s Competition Bureau got this wrong,” and that it will defend itself “vigorously against these claims.” DoorDash claims its fees are always disclosed to customers throughout the ordering process, including a final review before payment is submitted.  

“We believe that this application is an overly punitive attempt to make an example of an industry leader in local commerce,” the company said in a statement.

DoorDash does charge fees on delivery orders made through its platform. These include service fees, delivery fees, expanded range fees, small order fees, and regulatory response fees, according to the Bureau, which claimed that these fees result in consumers paying higher prices or receiving lower discounts than advertised. 

The Bureau is also taking issue with the way the fees are represented on the platform, which it said can give the impression that they are taxes rather than fees charged by DoorDash. Customers outside of Québec are presented with a single line item labelled “Fees & Estimated Tax.”  

The Bureau’s lawsuit filed to the Competition Tribunal asks that DoorDash cease its “deceptive” price and discount advertising, stop portraying fees as taxes, pay an undetermined penalty, and issue restitution to affected customers who used DoorDash’s platform. 

Amendments to the Competition Act in June 2022 explicitly recognized drip pricing as a harmful business practice, which the Bureau put into practice in a case against theatre chain Cineplex for its $1.50 online booking fee. The Bureau won the case this past September, penalizing Cineplex with a nearly $39-million fine. Cineplex has appealed the decision. 

“Parliament has made it clear that businesses must not engage in drip pricing by advertising unattainable prices and then adding mandatory fees,” Commissioner of Competition Matthew Boswell said in a statement, urging businesses to review their pricing practices. 

RELATED: Canada’s Competition Bureau targets Google for anti-competitive practices

“Our litigation against DoorDash is another example of our efforts to ensure consumers are not misled and can trust the prices they see online,” he added. 

While Google Canada’s former head of partnerships, Rory Capern, questioned Canada’s leverage to regulate Big Tech on the BetaKit Podcast last year, the country and its Competition Bureau have sharpened their knives as of late. The Bureau went after Google in November for what it called anti-competitive conduct in Canada’s online advertising technology services, seeking an order that would require Google to sell two of its adtech tools and pay penalties. Canada also ordered social media giant TikTok to wind up its operations in the country after a national security review under the Investment Canada Act, but stopped short of an outright ban. 

In both the above cases, Canada was following the precedent of similar cases in the United States, but that doesn’t appear to be the case this time. DoorDash’s most recent legal trouble south of the border resulted in a nearly $17-million settlement over unpaid tips in New York state.

Feature image courtesy DoorDash. 

The post DoorDash next on the menu as Canada’s Competition Bureau sues for allegedly deceptive pricing tactics first appeared on BetaKit.

Seasoned investor and former Anges Québec CEO Geneviève Tanguay is the newest addition to the Montréal-based Panache Ventures team. 

Tanguay announced that she would be joining the early-stage venture capital (VC) firm as a partner in a LinkedIn post Monday evening.

“I am so proud and privileged to have Geneviève Tanguay join us in our quest to enable the best tech founders in Canada to create greatness,” Panache founder and chair Mike Cegelski wrote in a comment. 

“I am so proud and privileged to have Geneviève Tanguay join us in our quest to enable the best tech founders in Canada to create greatness.”

Mike Cegelski
Panache Ventures

Tanguay told BetaKit she will focus on Eastern Canada while supporting the team nationally. Tanguay joins Panache partners Patrick Lor in Calgary and Prashant Matta in Toronto. Lor previously said that he leads Panache’s efforts in BC and Western Canada, while Matta focuses on Central Canada. 

The news follows some executive turnover at the firm over the past year. Scott Loong, formerly a Montréal-based partner, transitioned to a venture partner role in March, while Domenic del Vecchio was promoted to principal with a focus on Eastern Canada. Former partner Chris Neumann also left at the end of 2024, and associate Sarah Willson was promoted to principal. 

Tanguay led angel network Anges Québec as CEO for four years, up until her departure in October 2024, which the organization said aligned with a year-long succession plan. 

In spring 2024, Anges Québec wrote in a news release about the transition that Tanguay “successfully led the vision and action plan” for the organization that it had adopted in 2021. It went on to say Tanguay helped transform the angel network into “version 3.0.” 

RELATED: Panache Ventures partner Chris Neumann to depart VC firm, Sarah Willson promoted to principal

Previously, Tanguay was head of corporate development at Biron Groupe Santé. Tanguay spent the majority of her career at Fonds de solidarité FTQ, a development capital fund for Québec citizens, where she was the director of the fund’s private equity and venture capital (VC) investment portfolio for 12 years.

Tanguay has extensive experience as a board and committee member. She served on several committees and the board of Via Rail, Mouvement des accélérateurs d’innovation du Québec (MAIN), incubator Centech Montréal, the Institute of Corporate Directors, and the government-supported organization Scale AI. She was also a mentor at Creative Destruction Lab. 

Panache is a sector-agnostic firm investing at the pre-seed and seed stage. Originally launched in 2018 by a team that came out of 500 Startups Canada, the VC firm has become one of Canada’s most active early-stage investors. 

The firm’s portfolio includes companies like Certn, CoLab Software, and Relay, while its exits include Flinks, Lane Technologies, and Valence Discovery. Panache is currently investing out of its $100-million CAD second fund, which it closed in 2022. Last October, partner Patrick Lor told BetaKit that Panache had deployed just over 30 percent of this capital to date across 37 companies, noting that the firm plans to make another 43 core investments out of Fund II.

Update (06/12/25): This article has been updated with additional commentary from Geneviève Tanguay.

Feature image courtesy Anges Québec.

The post Former Anges Québec CEO Geneviève Tanguay joins Panache Ventures as partner first appeared on BetaKit.

Montréal-based Eli Health has secured $17 million CAD ($12 million USD) in Series A funding to support the launch of its flagship hormone-monitoring technology product. The equity round was led by a new backer in BDC Capital’s women-focused Thrive Venture Fund.

Founded in 2019 by CEO Marina Pavlovic Rivas and CTO Thomas Cortina, Eli Health aims to help women track their hormonal health over time with its patent-pending, United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-registered Hormometer, which recently won the Best of Innovation in Digital Health award at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

After investing nearly six years in research and development (R&D) and closing a major financing for a Canadian tech startup focused on women’s health, Eli Health claims it has reached commercial readiness for its initial two hormones and is ready to bring its offering to market. 

“They’ve built the science, technological platform, and manufacturing infrastructure to lead the category.”

Mona Minhas,
BDC Capital

The healthtech startup has made its platform available in beta for cortisol—often referred to as the stress hormone—and opened up a waitlist for progesterone, which plays an important role in reproduction. These mark the first of many hormones Eli Health eventually hopes to help customers track through its platform.

“We raised this funding to accelerate access to our technology and get it into the hands of people at scale,” Rivas told BetaKit.

“It will also enable us to expand manufacturing, advance the development of additional biomarkers, and deepen our role in the future of personalized health,” Rivas added.

Rivas noted that hormones play a role in governing stress response, sleep, cognitive and physical performance, metabolism, immune function, and more. But she argued that data on hormone levels has generally been tough to obtain because it is “too expensive, sporadic, and slow to offer the insight people need.”

Eli Health’s at-home, saliva-based hormone-testing solution combines a thermometer-like single-use cartridge for obtaining spit samples with a mobile app designed to measure users’ hormone levels within minutes and offer improvement recommendations. Its subscription plans start at $8 per test for a 12-month commitment, with flexible options available. 

The startup’s Cortisol Hormometer falls under general wellness guidelines, while its Progesterone Hormometer is FDA-registered. Eli Health hopes to achieve Health Canada approval later this year.

“Hormonal health is rapidly emerging as one of the most important frontiers in personal wellness,” BDC Capital Thrive Venture Fund partner Mona Minhas, who has joined Eli Health’s board, said in a statement. “Eli Health recognized this shift early. Through years of focused execution, they’ve built the science, technological platform, and manufacturing infrastructure to lead the category. We’ve been following Eli Health’s journey since the start, and it has been inspiring to see their bold vision become reality.”

RELATED: Home hardware: Canadian founders at CES talk challenges and opportunities

This round was supported by new investors Montréal-based Accelia Capital and Vancouver’s Telus Global Ventures (after a prior investment via Telus’ Pollinator Fund for Good), plus US-based Rocana Ventures and Swizzle Ventures, Japan’s Nextblue, and Brazil’s IKJ Capital.

Existing investors also took part, including US-based Muse Capital and Foreground Capital, Montréal-based Real Ventures, Toronto-based Leva Capital, and Kitchener-Waterloo’s Garage Capital. Rivas declined to disclose when the round closed, whether there was any secondary capital involved, or what valuation this gives Eli Health.

This brings Eli Health’s total funding to approximately $28 million CAD ($20 million USD). That figure includes a $1.9 million CAD initial seed round from 2021 and another $5 million CAD in seed financing from 2023.

Eli Health is one of a number of startups developing new, at-home hormone-testing solutions. These kits have been marketed as a means of giving users more clarity on their health and fertility, though some experts have argued that they could just lead to more confusion.

Women’s healthtech has been historically underfunded. Rivas claimed that this is the largest round ever raised by a women’s health-focused tech startup in Canadian history.

RELATED: Coral closes $4.1-million seed round to launch menopause virtual care platform

“This round signals that it’s possible—and necessary—to build transformative health technology from the ground up in Canada,” Rivas said. “We didn’t follow a playbook or replicate what others were doing elsewhere. We developed proprietary biochemistry, hardware, and AI-enabled software from scratch. We built in-house manufacturing.”

Some other Canadian femtech financings in recent years include Coral’s $4.1-million seed round, Afynia Laboratories’ $5-million seed round, Future Fertility’s $7.6-million Series A, Twig Fertility’s $8-million Series A, and Pollin Fertility’s $20-million Series A. Meanwhile, a Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association database search did not yield a larger result.

Rivas claimed that Eli Health has been built for “long-term resilience,” adding that, “early investments in our own R&D, [intellectual property], and in-house manufacturing mean we’re less exposed to supply chain volatility and tariffs.”

“Our vision is a world where everyone has a live feed of their biology—where checking your hormones with saliva is as routine as brushing your teeth,” Rivas said.

As Eli Health continues to execute on that plan, the 20-person startup plans to use its Series A capital to support its early commercialization efforts, ramp up production, and widen its hormone-tracking capabilities.

Feature image courtesy Eli Health.

The post Eli Health closes $17-million CAD Series A to fuel launch of hormone-monitoring tech first appeared on BetaKit.

Waterloo, Ont.-based ENVGO has raised $2 million USD ($2.7 million CAD) in seed funding to bring its (somewhat) flying electric boat, NV1, to market. 

The all-equity round was led by Toronto-based Two Small Fish Ventures, with participation from Waterloo, Ont.-based Garage Capital, which led ENVGO’s undisclosed pre-seed round, as well as other undisclosed angel investors. Two Small Fish Ventures, an early-stage investment fund created by Eva Lau and her husband, Wattpad co-founder Allen Lau, is gaining a board seat as a result of the round.

“What ENVGO has achieved with the NV1 prototype in such a short time is remarkable,” Garage Capital co-founder and general partner Mike McCauley said in a statement. “We’re doubling down because we believe this team has the vision, execution, and technology to redefine what’s possible in marine mobility.”

ENVGO was founded in August 2021 by CEO Mike Peasgood and the team behind Aeryon Labs, a Waterloo startup that developed drones before being acquired by FLIR Systems for $265 million CAD in 2019. ENVGO looks to bring its team’s aerospace expertise to a summer afternoon on the lake through NV1, its electric cruiser that appears to “fly” above water through hydrofoiling technology. 

Hydrofoils are wing-like components on boats and even special surfboards that create lift as they move through water. ENVGO describes NV1 as “smooth” and “silent,” as the craft rises above (rather than crashing into) waves and makes no engine noise. The startup claims the boat can maintain a speed of 80 km/h, with a 130-kilometre range on a single charge.  

“Electric boats have always faced a tough trade-off between performance and range,” Peasgood said in a statement. “By combining hydrofoiling with smart systems design, we’ve created a vessel that cuts emissions to zero, extends range, boosts efficiency, and delivers a completely new boating experience.”

While you can currently reserve an NV1 for a fully refundable $1,000 CAD, ENVGO says the new funding will help it debut the boat on the market and launch an industry partnership program. ENVGO co-founder and COO Paul Masojc told BetaKit in an e-mail that NV1 is slated to release in 2026, and will be manufactured in Ontario. He declined to disclose the number of NV1 reservations. With the partnership program, ENVGO said it plans to offer a scalable, licence-ready system to help traditional boat manufacturers transition to electric propulsion.

Feature image courtesy ENVGO. 

The post ENVGO raises $2.7-million seed round to bring its electric “flying” boat to market first appeared on BetaKit.

Toronto-based Pine has surpassed $1 billion CAD in mortgages under administration and launched new products to help clients with more steps in the Canadian home-buying and ownership process.

To date, Pine says it has approved $3 billion in mortgages for more than 55,000 families. Today, the licensed digital mortgage startup claims to manage more than 2,500 active mortgages worth over $1 billion collectively, serving upwards of 100,000 customers across Canada on the back of 600-percent growth over the past year.

“We’ve been able to succeed in a market that has been very challenging.”

Justin Herlick, Pine

In an interview with BetaKit, Pine co-founder and CEO Justin Herlick called this “an important milestone” that puts the startup “in a very healthy spot.” When Herlick initially developed Pine’s business plan, $1 billion in mortgages was “the self-sustaining number” for the business. He said Pine has now not only achieved that, but is also on pace to add another $1 billion this year.

But Herlick noted Pine has “big ambitions” that involve providing more than just mortgages. The startup hopes to build on its recent growth by offering real estate search, advisory, and other homeownership tools through a single platform, including via the refreshed Pine Homes, which leverages the tech Pine acquired from former Toronto proptech peer Properly in 2023. 

Pine Homes connects buyers with listings, personalized financing options, and property guidance. It joins a suite of products that also includes artificial intelligence (AI)-powered pre-approvals and a variety of direct lending programs, from mortgage renewals to refinancings. 

“We think there’s an opportunity to really provide a seamless experience [from] end to end,” Herlick said.

Pine was founded in 2021 by Herlick and CTO Jonathan Shih to help Canadians buy homes faster and save money on their mortgages. “A mortgage from Pine looks like a mortgage from your bank, which is exactly how it’s meant to be,” except faster and cheaper, Herlick claimed.  

The startup raised a $6-million seed round that year and emerged from stealth in 2022 after closing a $21-million Series A with a vision of building the “Wealthsimple for home buying.” 

RELATED: Wealthsimple enters mortgage space through Pine partnership

Since then, Pine has acquired local proptech peer Properly (including its Canadian real estate brokerages and search portal), partnered with major Toronto-based FinTech company Wealthsimple to fuel the latter’s entry into the mortgage space in a deal that Herlick said has fared well thus far, and raised $28 million in additional capital to execute on its plans.

That figure includes $5 million in venture debt from Silicon Valley Bank in early 2023, and $23 million in equity and simple agreement for future equity (SAFE) financing led by existing investors, including Montréal-based Inovia Capital, Toronto’s Intact Ventures, and United States-based Greylock, with participation from new US backers Wischoff Ventures, Position Ventures, and MetaProp. 

The $23 million includes $6.8 million in equity from 2022 at the same terms of its Series A, and another $13.7 million in SAFEs from fall 2024, which Pine secured to help it meet some milestones—including this $1-billion one—ahead of a larger, planned Series B in the future.

“By creating a true one-stop shop for homeownership that pairs real estate tools with deeply integrated financial services, Pine is redefining how Canadians own homes,” Inovia partner Karamdeep Nijjar said in a statement. 

RELATED: Pine acquires Properly to capture more of the Canadian home-buying process

The CEO said Pine has multiple years of runway remaining and is not currently fundraising. Herlick believes Pine will become a multi-product company, pursuing a similar path to some of Canada’s most successful FinTech firms, including its partner Wealthsimple, which started with investing but has since expanded to provide many other financial services.

Herlick said Pine’s immediate gameplan involves continuing to invest in AI and tech development, and expanding its network of brokers from Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto to include experts in Edmonton and Ottawa.

While home equity lines of credit and home insurance are also on Pine’s roadmap, the home sale purchase guarantees that Properly was once known for are not.

Herlick noted that over the past year, some other players in Canada’s digital mortgage space, such as Questrade and Rocket Mortgage, have retreated amid tough conditions for home sales, leaving Pine and Nesto as some of the country’s remaining digital mortgage players. 

“We’ve been able to succeed in a market that has been very challenging,” he claimed.

Feature image courtesy Pine.

The post Pine unveils new real estate tools after topping $1 billion in managed mortgages first appeared on BetaKit.

Venture capital (VC) mogul Marc Andreessen recently said on an a16z podcast that VC investing is the only job artificial intelligence (AI) won’t automate. The notion sparked conversation on social media, but mainly ridicule. 

“Canadian GPs need to equip themselves to be able to fundraise globally. There’s really a muscle that we need to develop.”

Thomas Terrats
Vessel

Thomas Terrats, CEO and co-founder of Montréal-based Vessel, thinks there’s a nugget of wisdom inside that sentiment that could unlock success for VCs: focusing on what humans excel at—relationships—while automating the grunt work.  

Vessel has raised $7.5 million USD ($10.3 million CAD) in seed financing for an AI-powered fund and investor management platform that it says allows general partners (GPs) and limited partners (LPs) to focus on relationship building.  

The all-equity, all-primary round closed in the last week of May. It was co-led by Inovia Capital, co-founder and CEO Thomas Terrats’s alma mater, and San Francisco-based Afore Capital, with participation from BY Venture Partners, FJ Labs, Golden Ventures, Telegraph Hill Capital, and Four Cities Capital. Terrats declined to share Vessel’s valuation. 

Vessel’s platform offers tools for GPs at every stage of fund management, from scouting LPs to onboarding to reporting returns. There’s also a portal for LPs that lets them manage co-investment opportunities and monitor fund performance. 

As an LP at Teralys Capital alongside his co-founder Thierry Ajaltouni, and then a GP at Inovia Capital, Terrats has been on both sides of many deals. He said that a lack of access to data and manual workflows were two impediments to VC success that Vessel is trying to solve. 

RELATED: Canadian VCs arrive at annual industry gathering in need of a “wake-up call”

Automation through artificial intelligence (AI) represents a key piece of Vessel’s offering, Terrats told BetaKit. Generative AI tools automate reporting processes, preparation work for investor calls, and compliance procedures. Vessel operates on a subscription model, with different pricing tiers depending on the required products. 

Vessel sells globally and has investors from the US, Europe, and the Middle East. However, Terrats sees the platform as a key lever for Canadian investors. Reports have shown domestic VCs notching weak returns and dwindling investment activity, amid a difficult fundraising environment marked by a chilly exit market and limited liquidity. 

Terrats said that Canadian VCs with less capital available are at a disadvantage as they can’t invest as many resources into investor relations. 

“That’s why Vessel is coming to help the Canadian GPs, because it’s coming to automate,” Terrats said.

Fundraising has been particularly tough on emerging managers, leading some to shutter operations because they could not raise a first fund. Terrats said he envisions both established and emerging managers benefitting from Vessel. The executive claims veterans get easier data access for LPs, while newer GPs appear more “polished” and professional.

Terrats hopes Canadian VCs will use the platform, which includes an investor outreach tool, to find LPs internationally.

“Canadian GPs need to equip themselves to be able to fundraise globally,” he said. “There’s really a muscle that we need to develop.”

RELATED: Brightspark spinout Brio nabs $3 million to help other VCs manage their LPs

Terrats says Vessel has more than 30 client firms, including the CEO’s own investors. In a press release, Inovia Capital managing partner Chris Arsenault said the platform sets “a new bar,” while Afore Capital co-founder Gaurav Jain said Vessel “10x’d our productivity.”

But it’s not the only venture playing in the VC software space. Montréal-based Brio, a spinout of Brightspark Ventures, recently raised a seed round to grow its LP management platform. Companies such as Allvue and The Coterie also offer similar services to a global customer base. 

Terrats said tools such as Allvue represent legacy software “not built for the AI era.” “These tools will disappear,” he said. He expects Vessel to dramatically alter the proportion of manual work to in-person relationship building. 

Vessel currently has 13 employees, with plans to only hire one or two more in sales and marketing, Terrats said. The startup plans to use the capital to invest in more automation tools for its GP platform. Currently, it uses AI models from OpenAI and other open sources.

Feature image courtesy Vessel.

The post Vessel raises $10.3 million to retool VC for the age of AI first appeared on BetaKit.

Last fall, a shipment of smart emergency lighting components arrived quietly at a warehouse outside Toronto. For ConNexTube CEO and Founder Xin Wu, it marked the first step in turning a long-held idea into a presence on the ground.

Wu’s startup designs modular lighting systems to turn passive backups into life-saving infrastructure. The system senses risk, reroutes evacuees, and stays live through blackouts.

“If you have a stronger community, every individual member of that community will benefit from that strength.”

Sep Assadian, ventureLAB

For Wu, a deep tech founder from Shanghai, China, getting to Canada meant confronting different rules, new gatekeepers, and the need to prove himself all over again.

“Without a track record in the local market, we also faced the typical trust gap that many deep tech startups encounter when entering a new country: building credibility with distributors, partners, and customers, especially for life-safety systems,” Wu said.

“We knew we had a strong value proposition, but we had to prove it in a way that fit the local mindset and ecosystem.”

Just six months later, ConNexTube is actively engaging with distributors, system integrators, and early adopters for pilot testing, and is building its local team and sales network in Markham, Ont.

ConNexTube’s shift from pitch deck to pilot-ready was made possible by ventureLAB’s Canada Catalyst program. Designed for HardTech and deep tech startups, the program pairs international founders and teams with resources, talent networks, and infrastructure inside one of the country’s most concentrated hardware hubs.

Participants in the program receive customized advisory support from seasoned mentors and experts who understand the nuances of Canada’s regulatory landscape, customer expectations, and procurement practices, all critical for HardTech and deep tech commercialization.

It’s part soft landing, part springboard. And in the current climate, it’s beginning to resonate more deeply with international founders.

A lift for global builders

Canada Catalyst didn’t start as a response to global uncertainty, but the timing now feels prescient. 

Launched in 2021, the program was designed to bring high-impact international startups into Canada’s HardTech and deep tech ecosystem and give founders working in advanced hardware, semiconductors, and connected devices a foothold in the market through mentorship, infrastructure, and targeted support.

“We launched this to attract more founders, more technologies, and more talent to Canada, and to bring the country on the global HardTech map,” said Sep Assadian, Vice President of Founder Success at ventureLAB.

Canada Catalyst operates through two distinct programs. The first focuses on providing a soft landing for established companies that are expanding internationally and looking to put Canada on their map. This program, powered by York Region in partnership with ventureLAB, provides strategic support to help founders navigate the Canadian market, build local partnerships, and scale operations. 

The second program supports entrepreneurs who are ready to fully relocate and use Canada as a launchpad for global growth through the federal Start-up Visa Program. This pathway offers a framework for founders to establish and grow their ventures within Canada’s thriving innovation ecosystem.

In both cases, the value of Canada Catalyst extends far beyond immigration. For startups navigating capital constraints, long sales cycles, or credibility challenges in their home markets, the program offers a critical springboard. Through tailored mentorship, access to state-of-the-art lab facilities, and meaningful local partnerships, Canada Catalyst aims to help founders gain early traction and accelerate their path to global success.

Startups get access to ventureLAB’s Innovation Space, a state-of-the-art facility designed for product development and acceleration. This includes a fully equipped Hardware Prototyping Lab, AI Compute infrastructure, and a dedicated MedTech Lab, offering startups the tools and space to build, test, and refine their technologies on-site.

Where hardware gets harder

Not far from ConNexTube’s new base, another startup is laying the groundwork for a different kind of expansion. This time, it’s in semiconductors.

VBtech, headquartered in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, designs chips for optical transport networks (OTN), the backbone of high-speed internet infrastructure. Its chips power the systems that move data across cities and continents. 

In markets like Israel, the Netherlands, and China, its designs have already been validated. The decision to expand to Canada was, according to VBtech CEO Duc Do, about becoming part of Canada’s long-standing telecommunications sector.

“Canada has a deep-rooted legacy in optical communications and telecom,” Do said. “We aim to be part of the next wave of Canadian-led networking innovation.”

That legacy includes Nortel’s long shadow, and the deep bench of telecom engineers it left behind. VBtech saw an opportunity in that bench. With hubs in Ottawa, Toronto, and Montréal, the startup now has access to a distinct mix of optical systems talent and R&D infrastructure.

Do joined ventureLAB’s Canada Catalyst program in November 2024, and what stood out was the hardware lab. With over $12 million in prototyping infrastructure, ventureLAB offered the rare ability to iterate quickly on a product that’s notoriously expensive to test. For a fabless chip company, that kind of access both accelerates and de-risks development.

The move also opened doors on the business side. VBtech needed to navigate a B2B sales process that typically runs long and slow, especially in telecom, and even more so for hardtech startups. 

With guidance from ventureLAB, the team plans to run pilots with smaller telcos to prove performance and build the kind of case studies that open doors with clients like Cisco and Ciena. The startup is setting up its Canadian entity in the third quarter of this year.

Participants of the program also gain entry into ventureLAB’s broader ecosystem of hardware startups, corporate partners, and R&D collaborators, fostering partnerships that accelerate prototyping, pilot deployment, and commercialization.

“As an OTN chip startup founded outside of Canada and aiming to scale up in Canada, we need more than just office space, and those expectations are supported by this program,” Do added.

The new northern pull

ConNexTube and VBtech arrived with strong ideas and early traction. What they needed was a way to plug in.

Assadian said Canada is a premier destination for global deep tech founders. “With world-class infrastructure, a concentration of hardware innovation hubs, and access to highly skilled technical talent, Canada offers the ideal environment for startups to scale and succeed,” Assadian added.

Right now, some of the most skilled founders in the world are looking for their next base. Many are already in the United States, building ambitious companies while sitting in immigration limbo, thanks to policy shifts and heightened enforcement under US President Donald Trump. At ventureLAB, interest from international founders based in the US, which was once rare, has started coming in organically.

“In the past, we barely had any interest from US-based firms, but in the last couple months, that has shifted,” Assadian explained. “We’re seeing more interest from founders in coming to Canada, instead of the US.”

The urgency cuts both ways. As Assadian puts it, attracting global deep tech talent is one way Canada can future-proof its tech ecosystem.

“This is top talent—people who moved to the US, graduated from top universities, and now they’re concerned about their future,” Assadian added.

Canada Catalyst didn’t set out to capitalize on this, but it has become a clear point of entry.

The program’s structure, which links immigration pathways to technical infrastructure and commercialization support, also makes it uniquely suited to HardTech. For chip designers and hardware builders, there’s no remote workaround. Facilities, talent density, and a physical presence matter.

The program connects founders to top-tier technical talent and hiring pathways through local post-secondary institutions and partner networks, helping international startups rapidly build and scale high-performance teams in Canada.

Assadian believes talent attraction and retention should be national priorities. And for Canada to stay competitive, he argued, the system needs to move at startup speed. Founders that bring ideas, experience, and investor attention all fuel a stronger tech economy in Canada, he said. 

“If you have a stronger community, every individual member of that community will benefit from that strength.”

PRESENTED BY

Canada Catalyst serves as a launchpad for international companies aiming to enter the Canadian market and scale beyond borders. Learn more about the program today.

Photos provided by ventureLAB.

The post The program giving global founders a reason to build in Canada first appeared on BetaKit.

When Hamilton, Ont.-based MesoMat spun out of McMaster University in 2018, founders Paul Fowler and Kari Dalnoki-Veress were seeking product-market fit. 

They looked into construction and heavy industry, but when your intellectual property is based on a proprietary method to integrate sensors into rubber materials, there’s probably one thing that comes to mind. 

“If you think about rubber all day long, eventually your mind is going to drift towards tires,” Fowler told BetaKit in an exclusive interview. He described how, when speaking with large tire manufacturers, they discovered a “significant gap” in the industry that led them to focus all their resources on optimizing their product for tires. 

“For the most part, the tire is still a fairly unsophisticated, dumb piece of rubber.” 

Paul Fowler
MesoMat

MesoMat claims that, of the hundreds of millions of commercial tires on the road worldwide, almost all are conventional, non-digitized, rubber.

Commercial fleet operators go through tires like tissues (they’re the second-biggest expense, after fuel, according to Fowler), yet they are largely being managed by simple pen and paper, with no insight into how tires fare in different conditions. 

“For the most part, the tire is still a fairly unsophisticated, dumb piece of rubber, for lack of a better terminology,” Fowler added.  

MesoMat’s hardware-as-a-service platform aims to help operators get more than a pressure warning out of their tires. Its sensors monitor the tires and provide insights on safety status, potential leaks, fuel cost, mileage, and temperature. The company claims the tech lets fleet operators know how their tire performs in different climates, or on different routes, helping them understand what kind of tires to buy and how many, Fowler explained. 

“It’s one thing to know the pressure of the tire, but a more interesting question to ask is: how is the pressure of my tires directly impacting fuel efficiency, and what can I do to improve that?” Fowler said.

MesoMat tallied more than five million miles of driving on its hardware last year across its customers, which Fowler said include “some of the largest” North American vehicle fleets and global tire manufacturers. He said he could not disclose details due to non-disclosure agreements. 

Most of those sales have been founder-led to date, Fowler said, but now it’s looking to use the proceeds of a recent seed round to build out a sales team, and maybe a few more engineers. 

“We’re really at the point now where we have a quite exciting customer base, and [we’re] really focused on scaling with those customers and adding new customers,” Fowler said. “That’s the bulk of what we’re going to do with the fundraising, is build out the sales and commercial operations side of the business.”

MesoMat declined to disclose how much it raised with the seed round, which converted an undisclosed amount of previously raised convertible instruments, but said it brought MesoMat’s total funding to date up to $3.8 million USD ($5.2 million CAD). Fowler said the startup previously raised a total of $2 million USD through convertible instruments across multiple rounds since 2019. 

RELATED: Raven Connected intends to grow workforce by 25 percent with Series A funding led by Telus Global Ventures

The all-equity round was led by Memphis, Tenn.-based venture capital firm Ridgeline,  which Fowler described as quite experienced in the trucking and logistics space, having made other investments in the area with strategic ties to a number of MesoMat’s target customers with large vehicle fleets. 

“We believe Paul and his team have the expertise to redefine how fleets manage tire-related costs in a sector that’s overdue for modernization,” Ridgeline managing partner Ryan Clinton said in a statement. 

The round also included participation from RISC Capital, RPV Global, Extra Innings Ventures, and angel investors from Waterloo, Ont.-based Golden Triangle Angel Network, and the Archangel Network’s Adrenaline and Starforge Funds. 

As connected vehicle startups nab funding and support for integrating their tech in all parts of the vehicle, Fowler claimed he can “pretty much guarantee” the tire will become a digitized device within the next 10 years. 

“Every single good that is transported in the world relies on a tire to get to the customer,” Fowler said. “It’s a mundane and boring thing, but if you think about the ubiquity of tires and how important they are in our everyday life, it’s actually quite staggering.”

Feature image courtesy MesoMat. 

The post MesoMat expects smart rubber to hit the road around the world as it builds out commercial tire-monitoring platform first appeared on BetaKit.

Two weeklong tech and innovation gatherings are happening in Canada concurrently: one in the nation’s capital and the other in the heart of the Prairies. 

If you’re wondering where to block off time in your calendar, BetaKit has you covered with the can’t-miss events for both Ottawa Innovation Week and Saskatoon Startup Week. 

Saskatoon Startup Week

Saskatoon Startup Week runs from June 9–13 and is organized jointly by Saskatoon Regional Economic Development Authority (SREDA), Startup TNT, Opus, FEAD Canada, Saskatchewan Food Centre, Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies (SIIT), and Ethical Digital. Law firm McKercher LLP is the official sponsor. 

On June 10 at 11:30 am CST, marketing professional and entrepreneur Chris Kotelmach of Colors + Cubes is hosting “The Persuasion Playbook: Timeless Marketing Strategies,” an interactive marketing exercise to help tech startups boost their branding. 

At 5 pm CST that evening, deep tech incubator Opus (run out of the University of Saskatchewan) is running a networking event and panel discussion at Collider Hub, focused on sustainability and aligning business goals with environmental priorities. 

On June 11 at 9 am CST, Saskatchewan Polytechnic will host a joint presentation, guided tour, and networking event focusing on bringing lab innovations through to commercialization. 

There are plenty of networking and social events during the week. Saskatchewan Young Professionals & Entrepreneurs is running a speed networking event on June 11 to connect entrepreneurs, tech workers, creatives, and community members. On June 12, Startup TNT is hosting an afternoon social with co-founder Zack Storms at Hudsons Saskatoon. 

Perhaps the most hotly anticipated event will be Fail Fest, a wrap-up panel discussion and networking session that aims to spotlight failure stories from seasoned entrepreneurs. It’ll be hosted at Cohen’s Beer Republic at 4 pm CST on June 13. 

The full event schedule for Saskatoon Startup Week and registration links can be found here. 

Ottawa Innovation Week 

Ottawa Innovation Week also runs from June 9–13 and is hosted by Ottawa Unlimited, a joint partnership between Invest Ottawa, the Ottawa Board of Trade, and Ottawa Tourism.

On June 10, the Wesley Clover Foundation is hosting a special edition of its monthly CEOTuesday panel discussion series at 5 pm ET to discuss how artificial intelligence (AI) is shaping research and investment. That evening, Invest Ottawa and Capital BioVentures are running a healthtech mixer event to unite innovators in the life sciences at Beyond the Pale Brewing Company. 

On June 11, The Canadian Club of Ottawa is hosting an exclusive luncheon with Peter Heokstra, the United States Ambassador to Canada, with a discussion moderated by Global News Ottawa bureau chief Mercedes Stephenson. 

At 1:30 pm ET that afternoon, RBCx and Labarge Weinstein LLP will put on a discussion to demystify the fundraising journey for founders. Featured speakers include Dr. Lindy Ledohowski, vice president of banking at RBCx, and Mistral Ventures partner Pablo Srugo. 

On June 12, one-day summit AccelerateOTT is running at Landsdowne Park. The agenda includes panels and sessions from Fullscript founder and CEO Kyle Braatz, BDC Capital Thrive Venture Fund managing partner Michelle Scarborough, and RHEI founder and CEO Shahrzad Rafati. The summit will wrap up with a networking event at Jack Astor’s. 

Four local universities, including Carleton University and UOttawa, are hosting an Ottawa Grad Career Fair for prospective tech workers on June 13 at the Nepean Sports Complex.

The full event schedule for Ottawa Innovation Week and AccelerateOTT can be found here.

Feature image courtesy Saskatoon Chamber via X.

The post The can’t-miss events at Saskatoon Startup Week and Ottawa Innovation Week first appeared on BetaKit.

I have finally made it home after a two-week road trip touring Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver.

This week’s episode was actually recorded live at Web Summit Vancouver with InBC Investment Corp. CEO Jill Earthy, and we talk a bit up front about the value of the tech conference for the BC tech ecosystem, as well as what the province can do to keep momentum going as it plays host to tech from around the world for at least another two years.

“ That’s what we wanna change, right? For future companies, more Canadian investors on the cap table so that we can see those benefits come back through investment, through mentorship.” 

But Earthy is the CEO of a recently spun-up provincial Crown investment corporation with $500 million in capital to deploy and a focus on early-stage direct and indirect investments. 

If you have been reading BetaKit lately, you know that the state of Canadian venture is not exactly healthy, with more money going into fewer deals, poor returns, a strinking early-stage pipeline, and a continued reliance on foreign investment. The numbers are so… not healthy that BDC Capital said it was a collective “wake-up call” for more and better domestic investment.

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RSS

Earthy is the perfect person to talk to about this subject, not only from her perspective running InBC, but also as a former leader at organizations like FrontFundr and Female Funders. She understands the grassroots of Canadian capital investments.

On this episode, we talk about that recent wake-up call, BC’s growing tech ecosystem, the role of Crown corporation capital providers, and Earthy’s own fundraising plans for a forthcoming InBC re-up (including potentially adding private capital).

So, how can Canadian venture get healthier?

Let’s dig in.

PRESENTED BY

The BetaKit Podcast is presented by Motion: the control centre for creative strategists.

Motion helps brands scale paid social campaigns faster by turning complex ad data into clear, actionable insights, offering tools like visual ad analysis, competitor tracking, and automated reporting.

Backed by a recent $30M Series B raise, Motion just launched AI Creative Strategists: virtual teammates that analyze creatives, run research, and use real ad data to generate more winning content.

If you’re ready to take on real marketing challenges and make an impact, Motion is for you. Visit motionapp.com/careers to explore open roles at one of Canada’s fastest-growing tech companies.

The BetaKit Podcast is edited by Darian MacDonald. Feature image courtesy Web Summit via Flickr.

The post InBC’s Jill Earthy knows Canadian VC “could be healthier” first appeared on BetaKit.

The federal government’s DIGITAL Global Innovation Cluster, Toronto Metropolitan University’s The Dais think tank, and two non-profit organizations (Creative Destruction Lab and the Human Feedback Foundation) have launched a nationwide initiative to foster the ethical use of artificial intelligence (AI) by non-profits.

The Responsible AI Adoption for Social Impact (RAISE) program will develop a framework for AI governance with the Human Feedback Foundation’s help. It will focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as well as ethics and “measurable outcomes,” according to a statement.

“Equipping non-profit workers with the knowledge and skills to responsibly use AI is essential for ensuring these powerful technologies amplify the sector’s collective impact for Canada.”

André Côté
The Dais

The Dais will provide AI training for 500 non-profit staffers in areas like data management, policy, and service delivery. A one-year “AI Adoption Accelerator” from Creative Destruction Lab will help five major non-profits (the CAMH Foundation, Canadian Cancer Society, CanadaHelps, Achēv, and Furniture Bank) integrate AI in line with their goals.

“We at the Dais believe that equipping non-profit workers with the knowledge and skills to responsibly use AI is essential for ensuring these powerful technologies amplify the sector’s collective impact for Canada, while staying true to the principles of equity, transparency, and social good that guide our work,” The Dais interim executive director André Côté said in a statement.

The Dais aims to shape public policy and leadership at the “intersection of technology, education, and democracy,” according to the organization. Creative Destruction Lab aims to support seed-stage science and technology startups it sees as “massively scaleable.” Human Feedback Foundation hopes to spur AI development that helps Canadians through “human agency, input, and values.”

The news comes a day after DIGITAL announced $15 million in funding to support 16 AI-based training and career technology projects in Canada, including RAISE. The cluster said it would co-invest a total of $650,000 in RAISE, including $270,000 for Creative Destruction Lab, $250,000 for Toronto Metropolitan University, and $130,000 for the Human Feedback Foundation. Those partners are also investing a combined $650,000 of their own money in the initiative.

RELATED: Academics, non-profits caught in middle of data consent fight as AI companies push for access to copyrighted works

DIGITAL claimed there was a “significant” gap in AI adoption from the non-profit sector. It cited a 2024 Canadian Centre for Nonprofit Digital Resilience (CCNDR) report indicating that just 4.8 percent of Canadian non-profits were using AI, and that less than one percent of their workers were involved in technology-related roles. This limits their ability to use AI to “meet community needs,” the RAISE members claimed in a release.

This also follows the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) and Canadian AI Safety Institute providing grants to 10 AI safety research projects as part of an AI Safety Catalyst Grant program. The projects address issues like misinformation, trust in large language models (LLMs), and real-world dangers. Among the recipients are Université de Montréal AI expert Yoshua Bengio and multiple researchers affiliated with the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii).

There have been efforts to back technology adoption at Canadian non-profits before, such as software as a service (SaaS) startup Hopeful’s effort to help non-profits use their internal data more effectively. However, some non-profit organizations, such as independent media outlets, have also found themselves involved in copyright battles as their intellectual property has been scrounged to train their AI systems.

Feature image courtesy of LinkedIn Sales Solutions via Unsplash.

The post Government-backed program aims to help Canadian non-profits adopt responsible AI first appeared on BetaKit.

Winnipeg-based advertising technology startup Taiv wants to turn business televisions across North America into revenue generation tools.

The company has announced $10.5 million USD ($14.4 million CAD) in Series A funding to accelerate its expansion into more large markets in the United States (US) and bring its adtech solution to Canada, with an initial rollout in its hometown this July ahead of a broader expansion next year.

“You can bring capital into the Prairies, you can bring capital into Canada.”

Noah Palansky, Taiv

Taiv has developed a product to help bars, restaurants, and retailers deliver more targeted ads and content to customers through their existing TVs, from commercials to sports highlights, venue-specific events and specials, and trivia. The company offers its solution for free, and makes money by selling ads, sharing a portion of those sales with venues.

Since launching in 2021 in the southern United States (US) due to COVID-19 restrictions, Taiv co-founder and CEO Noah Palansky claimed that the startup has found product-market fit. The company now serves more than 1,000 restaurants and bars and over 1,000 retail locations, including convenience stores and gas stations, in 14 US cities. It also works with major brands like Pepsi, Coca-Cola, BMW, Starbucks, ESPN, Fanduel, and Budweiser.

“Our biggest blocker right now to growing the company is just not being in enough cities and not being enough locations,” Palansky told BetaKit in an exclusive interview. “We know exactly how to sign them up. We have a great playbook with [a] good product, it’s just about going and spreading out.”

Taiv’s Series A round—which marks a sizeable financing for a Manitoba tech startup—consists of $7.75 million USD in primary, equity funding that the company closed last December, and $2.75 million in venture debt Taiv secured last month. 

The equity portion was led by Denmark’s IDC Ventures with support from fellow new investors Emerging Ventures, which specializes in restaurant tech, and LGBTQ-focused Gaingels out of the US. Existing backers also participated, including Kitchener-Waterloo’s Garage Capital, US-based Y Combinator, FJ Labs, Pioneer Fund, adtech-focused Aperiam, and Mu Ventures. Undisclosed angels from advertising, tech, and sports were likewise involved, while Toronto’s RBCx provided the debt.

There was also a “small” amount of secondary in addition to the equity funding Taiv announced that went to the company’s founders, but Palansky declined to disclose exactly how much. He claimed the Series A was an up round but declined to share Taiv’s latest valuation.

This round brings Taiv’s total funding to $16.5 million USD ($22.6 million CAD), a figure that includes $6 million USD in previously unannounced seed funding raised across three tranches between late 2021 and early 2024.

RELATED: New early-stage VC fund Trillick Ventures aims to bring funding to “underrepresented” Manitoba

Taiv was founded in 2018 by Palansky, CTO Jordan Davis, and chief business officer Avi Stoller as the result of barroom banter while watching a hockey game. The startup offers a small box that connects to clients’ existing cable boxes and TVs and automatically switches between cable, streaming channels, digital signage, and trivia.

The startup’s proprietary AI model analyzes the live video feed and switches sources during commercial breaks, show changes, or based on the time of day. Palansky claimed that it offers especially fast offline video classification, running on low-powered hardware with less than 50 millisecond latency.

The CEO declined to share the startup’s exact revenue, but claimed Taiv is currently growing 10 percent month-over-month. Taiv has hit the ground running this year, expanding from 30 to more than 50 employees and completing its first acquisition, acquihiring a nascent, Kingston, Ontario-based startup developing a similar solution named Local Reach. It has simultaneously continued to invest heavily in product development. But Palansky indicated that city, location, and advertiser expansion are the startup’s biggest priorities at this point.

RELATED: Taiv acquihires fellow Canadian adtech startup Local Reach to aid expansion plans

“We’re in an industry where scale matters, and having scaled rollouts in major cities makes it a lot more appealing to advertisers, and having those large brands advertising with us makes it more appealing to restaurants,” Palansky said. “Those network effects are strong and a big part of why we raised this capital.”

Palansky views Taiv’s latest round as good news for both Winnipeg and Manitoba at large, as the province has historically garnered a disproportionately small share of Canada’s VC dollars.

“We have a great playbook with [a] good product, it’s just about going and spreading out.”

Despite Manitoba being home to 3.6 percent of Canada’s population, last year, less than one percent of VC investment in Canada went to the province’s startups, according to the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA). The CVCA’s 2024 report found a mere $2 million CAD was invested in Manitoba—a 96-percent year-over-year drop—across four deals.

This is something that Trillick Ventures—a new Winnipeg-based fund that counts Palansky as a limited partner—is hoping to address.

“I think that people need, in this ecosystem, to see the types of funding that [are] possible, to see what you can do and how you can attract international investors,” Palansky said, highlighting that nearly all of Taiv’s Series A participants are from outside the country. 

Palansky argued it demonstrates that, “You can bring capital into the Prairies, you can bring capital into Canada.” He sees Winnipeg as “a great city” in which to build a tech startup, and noted 80 percent of Taiv’s team is based there. “That’s how we intend to keep it.”

Feature image courtesy Taiv.

The post Taiv lands $14.4-million CAD Series A to put targeted ads on bar and restaurant TVs across North America first appeared on BetaKit.

The Bengio brothers had a busy week.

Samy Bengio co-published a paper with his Apple colleagues that throws cold water on the capabilities of large-reasoning models like OpenAI’s o3 and Anthropic’s Claude 3.5. 

The findings? Reasoning models were outperformed by traditional large-language models (LLMs) on simple tasks, start thinking less as problems get more difficult, and can’t be relied upon to execute algorithms or reason consistently. Oof.

New York University professor emeritus Gary Marcus, who recently spoke about the limitations of LLMs at Web Summit, said the algorithm issue effectively kills the chances of them being a direct route to artificial general intelligence, or AGI.

There’s no formal definition of AGI, but it’s the thing most of the foundational AI companies are hoping to achieve: a tool that equals or surpasses human intelligence for almost all tasks.

Samy’s brother, Turing Award winner and Mila founder Yoshua Bengio, has been highly motivated by the race for AGI, but perhaps not in the way you might expect from one of Canada’s AI godfathers.

While AGI has yet to arrive, and the current crop of AI agents might fail to reason, Yoshua argues they’re already quite good at blackmail, cheating, and self-preservation. Like Marcus with LLMs, Yoshua has warned for some time about the risks of agentic AI.

He’s also doing something about it, launching a new AI safety research organization called LawZero. The goal is to create a non-agentic “Scientist AI” designed to understand and predict instead of act. Something that could support humans in the completion of important tasks rather than replace them.

In this endeavour, Yoshua might run into the same reasoning issues his brother Samy is currently exploring. But I’m glad that the elder sibling is following his own advice and making active choices to help determine a brighter AI future. The alternative is unreasonable.

Douglas Soltys
Editor-in-chief

Land your pitch at Startupfest and take home hundreds of thousands of dollars in investment prizes.

Over the past 15 years, Startupfest has become known for the game-changing opportunities that are available to startups. With high-impact networking, expert mentorship, world-class content, and an ever-growing list of prizes, it’s no wonder they’re a must-attend event for founders.

Diana Virgovicova and Shirley Zhong, founders of Xatoms, triumphed at Startupfest 2024, winning 3 investment prizes and taking home $250,000. Looking ahead to this year’s edition, Diana urged other founders to try for the same: “The Startupfest investment literally changed our lives last year–I highly encourage you to participate.”

This year, for their 2025 edition, Ambition+ Startupfest is rolling out more opportunities than ever before. Expect to see new prizes, expanded mentorship, exciting content, and all the magic of Startupfest this July 9-11th in Montréal.

Learn more & register for Startupfest here.

Alberta’s tech sector is embracing an AI data centre boom. Will it pay off?

Alberta’s technology and innovation minister, Nate Glubish, has been vocal about his desire to make Alberta the premier destination for AI data centres. He says this will make Alberta more attractive for AI companies looking to set up shop and make access to AI compute more affordable and reliable. 

“Alberta aims … to be the host jurisdiction of that ripple effect of technological advancement in every industry,” Glubish told BetaKit in an interview.

While local tech leaders say AI data centres would provide a boon to the Alberta tech ecosystem, the proposed multi-year projects could potentially strain the province’s electrical grid and significantly drive up carbon emissions.

American chip giant AMD to acquire Untether AI team

Toronto-based AI chipmaker Untether AI has ceased supplying and supporting its products and entered into “a strategic agreement” with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).

Untether AI announced the AMD deal and its shutdown yesterday in a brief blog post that indicated its team would be joining the American semiconductor giant and Nvidia rival. The exact details and financial terms were not disclosed.

Industry watcher says recent Shopify ruling could embolden companies to challenge CRA data requests

Last week, the Federal Court of Canada sided with the e-commerce giant against the Canada Revenue Agency by dismissing a request compelling Shopify to turn over information about Canadian merchants who use its software.

According to one tax industry expert, Shopify’s win in its two-year fight against Canada’s tax authority could encourage other companies to challenge similar requests to provide client data.

As aging entrepreneurs retire, BDC and FNBC announce $100 million to help Indigenous groups buy their businesses

The First Nations Bank of Canada, an Indigenous-owned national bank, and the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) have announced a $100-million CAD joint initiative to help Indigenous communities and economic development agencies finance the purchase of established businesses.

In an interview with BetaKit, BDC president and CEO Isabelle Hudon described this initiative as a step towards economic reconciliation, which the Government of Canada-owned Crown corporation hopes to do more to facilitate.

American gig giants Instacart and Uber add Canadian executives to top leadership positions

American gig economy giants Uber and Instacart have recently elevated the Canadian executives in their ranks to higher leadership positions.

Instacart tapped Chris Rogers, a Wilfried Laurier University alumnus and former Apple Canada leader, to replace outgoing CEO Fidji Simo. Meanwhile, Uber promoted its Toronto-based senior vice-president of mobility and business operations, Andrew “Mac” Macdonald, to president and COO.

The promotions coincided with an active week of C-suite switch-ups in Canadian tech, including CarbonCure and VerticalScope, which both shifted their founding CEOs to board roles.

Investissement Québec records annual loss on VC and fund investments

Provincial investment agency Investissement Québec (IQ) reported a 4.9-percent loss on its direct venture capital and indirect fund investments last fiscal year, reflecting market volatility and struggling fund performance. 

According to its annual report for the year ended March 31, IQ recorded 0.3 percent returns, or roughly $13 million, coming in well below Finance Minister Éric Girard’s forecast of $194 million. 

Former Raptors star Jerome Williams newest teammate of community connector Swiirl

Toronto and San Francisco-based startup Swiirl is teaming up with NBA legend and former Raptor Jerome Williams (also known as the Junk Yard Dog or “JYD”) on a new campaign called Shooting for Peace. The non-profit educational program is designed to bring financial literacy and mental health and wellness education to students across Canada and the United States.

Xanadu touts another advancement toward scalable quantum computing

Toronto-based Xanadu says it has edged closer to solving two of the hurdles plaguing the quantum industry: eliminating errors and scaling. 

The quantum startup announced that its researchers have created a quantum chip with error-resistant photonic quantum bits (qubits), or the basic units of quantum computing, for the very first time. The development forges a viable path toward a useful and scalable quantum computer, the company said.

Women-led startups sweep first Pitch competition on stage at Web Summit Vancouver  

Web Summit Vancouver wrapped up on May 30 with its first Pitch competition, and all three early-stage startups on stage were founded or co-founded by women based in Vancouver.

Web Summit’s organizers claimed the competition reflected a “remarkable rise” in women’s involvement since its women in tech program launched in 2015, stating that 44 percent of participating startups this year had one or more female founders.

FEATURED STORIES FROM OUR PARTNERS

Finance leaders have become quiet forces behind startups’ growth strategy, pushing for clarity and spotlighting hard choices and tradeoffs. That was the message from leaders at Clio, Float, and Hiive brought together for Scaling Realities: An Honest Conversation on Growth in the Post-Boom Era, hosted by Float and BetaKit on the opening night of Web Summit Vancouver.

Scaling today means closely considering financial implications of each decision, and having a strong financial team is more essential to that process than ever. Read about how these leaders are turning complex markets into growth opportunities. 

Weekly Canadian Deals, Dollars & More

• SF – Canada-founded AppDirect acquires Broker Online Exchange
• MIA – Canada-founded Rails raises $19.1M for crypto platform
• CAN – DIGITAL invests $15M across 16 AI-focused work projects
• CAN – Google allocates $13M to strengthen Canada’s AI workforce
• VAN – Fispan closes $41M in secondary-heavy round
• VAN – Urbanlogiq expands AI government data platform
• CGY – Eavor secures at least $89M from Canada Growth Fund
• SK – Balatro wins at 2025 Apple Design Awards
• KW – ApplyBoard lays off employees as immigration policies shift
• TOR – Portless raises $24.7M to help retailers weather trade war

The BetaKit Podcast – Amii CEO Cam Linke says Canada’s AI strategy requires customers

“Be a customer of Canadian startups. This is the thing that every company needs. Nobody died from having too many customers.”

The CEO of the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute, Cam Linke, joins to discuss the next phase of the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy and how Amii stands apart from other national AI institutes, Vector and Mila. Recorded live from the Upper Bound AI conference.

Take The BetaKit Quiz – This week: Trump vs. Musk, Shopify vs. the CRA, plus a Raptor’s assist

Think you’re on top of Canadian tech and innovation news? Time to prove it. Test your knowledge of Canadian tech news with The BetaKit Quiz for June 6, 2025.

Take a peek inside the new Communitech Hub

Communitech is opening its doors to unveil its new space. A newly reimagined space built to spark innovation, connection and growth in the heart of Waterloo Region’s tech ecosystem.

On June 18, founders, partners, and community members are invited to explore the refreshed space. Expect local eats, great conversations and a chance to connect with the people building the future of tech in Waterloo Region.

This is more than a tour. It’s the start of what’s next.

Feature image courtesy LawZero via LinkedIn.

The post Canada’s Bengio brothers offer new AI critiques, solutions first appeared on BetaKit.

Toronto-based artificial intelligence (AI) chipmaker Untether AI has ceased supplying and supporting its products and entered into “a strategic agreement” with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).

Untether AI announced the AMD deal and its shutdown yesterday in a brief blog post that indicated its team would be joining the American semiconductor giant and Nvidia rival. The exact details and financial terms were not disclosed.

“We look forward to the contributions our world-class team will make with AMD.”

Untether AI

“While today marks the end of Untether AI’s journey, we are proud of the pioneering research that underpinned our work in advancing state-of-the-art AI chip technology,” reads the post. “We are grateful for the dedication of our team and the support of our customers, partners, and investors. We look forward to the contributions our world-class team will make with AMD.”

According to CRN, which was first to report the news, the transaction will see the California-based multinational acquire Untether AI’s software and AI hardware engineering employees. It is not clear at time of publication what will become of Untether AI’s assets.

Untether AI declined to answer questions from BetaKit, instead pointing back to the statement contained in the company’s blog post.

BetaKit has reached out to AMD for further details on the deal.

Untether AI was founded in 2018 by Martin Snelgrove, Darrick Wiebe, and Raymond Chik with the goal of developing chips designed to help AI workloads “run faster and cooler.” 

The company had been developing AI inference chips that it marketed as faster and more energy-efficient than its rivals, claiming to offer “energy-centric AI inference acceleration from the edge to the cloud.”

Untether AI had raised $152 million USD (approximately $208 million CAD in funding from a group that includes Intel, Tracker Capital, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and Radical Ventures. Its last publicly announced round was a $125-million USD financing from 2021. 

RELATED: Untether AI’s new CEO is here for global scale

In early 2024, the company changed CEOs, bringing on Intel veteran Chris Walker to replace Arun Iyengar, who had led Untether AI for most of its existence. At the time, Walker told BetaKit that the company was currently fundraising. According to his LinkedIn profile, Walker left Untether AI last month. BetaKit has reached out to Walker for comment on his departure.

As of today, 145 people list themselves on LinkedIn as members associated with Untether AI.

AMD already has operations in Toronto and Canada, dating back to its purchase of Markham-based graphics chipmaker ATI Technologies in 2006.

This Untether AI deal appears to mark AMD’s second acquisition this week, as it also bought AI software optimization startup Brium.

Feature image courtesy Untether AI.

The post American chip giant AMD to acquire Untether AI team first appeared on BetaKit.

Provincial investment agency Investissement Québec (IQ) reported a 4.9-percent loss on its direct venture capital (VC) and indirect fund investments last fiscal year, reflecting market volatility and struggling fund performance. 

IQ’s losses in the venture asset class mirrored stagnant returns across the agency overall. According to its annual report for the year ended March 31, IQ recorded 0.3 percent returns, or roughly $13 million, coming in well below Finance Minister Éric Girard’s forecast of $194 million. 

Indirect investments through IQ’s fund investment activity, where the agency acts as a limited partner (LP), eked out a small return of $4 million.

“Investissement Québec’s performance was marked by an uncertain economic environment and unstable global conditions,” the report reads in French. “The fourth quarter was affected by a significant market downturn, accentuated by the repercussions of reciprocal tariff impositions.”

A slowdown in private investment amid investor caution, credit losses as economic outlooks worsened, and a stock market dip last quarter all contributed to the middling performance, the report said. 

The Québec-specific report comes as VCs across Canada grapple with performance anxiety, weak returns, and a difficult fundraising environment. A recent report from the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) Capital found that the one-year and three-year initial rate of return (IRR) for Canadian-headquartered VC funds was negative. The 10-year IRR was at 10 percent, down from 11.7 percent last year. 

In addition to its role as an economic development agency, IQ has a mandate to notch long-term average returns equal to or above that of the government’s borrowing costs. The 0.3 percent result did not reach last year’s borrowing rate, which fluctuated between 3 and 4.3 percent. 

RELATED: Canadian VCs arrive at annual industry gathering in need of a “wake-up call”

Over the long term, IQ’s five-year average returns are at 6.2 percent, the report said, which is above the government’s 2.2-percent average borrowing rate. This five-year average includes the mammoth 25-percent yields from 2021, however, when the exit market rebounded and company valuations soared. 

With its mandate of economic development, IQ has a significant foothold in the Québec VC landscape. VC and fund investments comprise 17 percent of the agency’s portfolio and are worth $1.2 billion. Along with administrative fees, IQ lost $72 million on the year for VC and fund investments. 

Direct VC investments suffered a loss of $65 million, the report said. IQ delivers its direct investments through programs such as Impulsion PME, the early-stage investment-matching program that was shuttered last fall and recently revived. 

Some of IQ’s direct investment portfolio companies were hit hard by the tariff-related market downturn, including e-commerce company Lightspeed, in which IQ has invested more than $100 million. By March 31, Lightspeed’s stock price on the Nasdaq was trading at $8.75 USD, down more than half since the beginning of the year. The company scaled back its revenue outlook in March amid tough macroeconomic conditions, but later revealed it had reached $1 billion in revenue. 

Indirect investments through IQ’s fund investment activity, where the agency acts as a limited partner (LP), eked out a small return of $4 million, improving upon a loss of $34 million the year before. IQ attributed its low fund returns to losses from certain funds outweighing the positive impacts of healthy returns from other, better-performing funds.

IQ acts as an LP in 40 investment funds, to the tune of $1.2 billion, including some from Inovia Capital, Panache Ventures, and Novacap. Over the past year, it invested $130 million across five new funds and three follow-on investments.

Feature image courtesy Investissement Québec.

The post Investissement Québec records annual loss on VC and fund investments first appeared on BetaKit.

Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont.-based EdTech startup ApplyBoard has laid off employees as the global immigration landscape shifts under its feet, BetaKit has learned. 

“As we prepare for the decade ahead, we’ve taken a hard look at where we must focus our resources to ensure we remain a leader in this space.”

ApplyBoard

The cuts affected more than 150 employees, according to Indian publication People Matters and multiple public LinkedIn posts.

In a statement to BetaKit, an ApplyBoard spokesperson confirmed that the company had “part ways” with a number of team members this week, but declined to specify how many, only saying it “is close to the reported number” across its global team. Some LinkedIn posts viewed by BetaKit came from affected employees in Canada and India. 

“This decision was not taken lightly and comes in response to shifting market dynamics, driven largely by recent policy changes across major study destinations,” the spokesperson said in an email. “This introduced uncertainty and temporarily impacted international student demand.”

Inspired by their experience emigrating from Iran to study in Canada, ApplyBoard was founded in 2015 by CEO Meti Basiri, along with his brothers Martin and Massi, to help international students navigate the search, application, and acceptance process of studying abroad.

While the company achieved unicorn $1-billion USD valuation status in May 2020, immigration policy in North America has dramatically changed over the past year. In September 2024, it secured a $100-million CAD credit facility  as it looked to place less emphasis on English-speaking countries. ApplyBoard reportedly laid off four percent of its global workforce just two days after announcing the financing. 

ApplyBoard’s focus abroad followed the Canadian government placing a cap on student visas in early 2024, citing increased pressure on housing, healthcare and other services. In September, the federal government lowered the cap even further and reduced and restricted international students and post-graduation work permits.

RELATED: Exclusive: ApplyBoard secures $100-million CAD credit facility to fuel global expansion

According to an ApplyBoard report last year, the number of new study permit applications processed by the federal government dropped 54 percent in Q2 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. The report projected that the number of applications would drop 47 percent from 436,600 approved in 2023 to just over 231,000 in 2024.

The scrutiny over immigration then continued into 2025, with the new Liberal government’s proposed “Strong Borders Act” granting sweeping power to pause, suspend, or cancel immigration documents in Canada. This is without even mentioning travel and immigration bans in the United States (US) presenting open hostility to international students, and widespread revokings of student visas, leaving many reportedly scared to leave or return to the US. 

Despite these “short-term headwinds,” the spokesperson said that ApplyBoard’s “belief in the future of global education remains absolute.” 

“Historically, student mobility has doubled every decade and we’re confident that it will regain momentum,” the spokesperson added. “As we prepare for the decade ahead, we’ve taken a hard look at where we must focus our resources to ensure we remain a leader in this space.”

Feature image courtesy ApplyBoard.

The post ApplyBoard lays off employees due to “policy changes across major study destinations” first appeared on BetaKit.

The post Trump vs. Musk, Shopify vs. the CRA, plus a Raptor’s assist first appeared on BetaKit.

Toronto-based shipping logistics startup Portless has raised $18 million USD ($24.7 million CAD) to help retailers avoid rising costs as they contend with a volatile trade war. 

The startup raised its latest round of financing on the assumption that the “de minimis” exemption would be eliminated.

San Francisco, Calif.-based Commerce Ventures led the all-equity, all-primary Series A round, with participation from fellow United States (US) investors FJ Labs, eGateway Capital, Red Swan Ventures, and Ground Up Ventures. The deal closed in February, when US President Donald Trump signed his first of a slew of executive orders to impose blanket tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, kicking off a tumultuous period for North American retailers. 

Portless is a supply chain logistics company that offers a direct shipping solution to its direct-to-consumer (D2C) retail clients, who are mostly in the US and Europe, that circumvents up-front import duties.

Instead of the traditional retail model, where duties are paid up-front when large shipments by sea reach the US from China, Portless is offering a model popularized by e-commerce giants Shein and Temu: direct air transport for small shipments that have already been sold to customers.  

Portless operates a fulfillment warehouse in Shenzhen, China, which it says is a maximum of two days from all Chinese manufacturing plants. It charges customers to fly their products overseas and covers import costs that will be paid back later.

“We lay out money for duties when the order passes the border and brands pay us back,” Portless CEO Izzy Rosenzweig told BetaKit. “They only need to pay duties when the goods are already sold and cross into the US, giving them a massive tax deferment advantage.”

RELATED: How does an online car retailer survive a trade war?

This isn’t Rosenzweig’s first foray into shipping logistics. The CEO previously founded Browze in 2012, which began as an importer, then pivoted to an online marketplace that offered retailers curated lifestyle products from factory suppliers through a digital platform. By 2021, the startup had raised a total of $13.5 million USD (then $16.5 million CAD) from mainly US investors.

Rosenzweig said Browze transitioned to Portless in May 2023 following a privacy update from Apple in 2022 that “majorly affected” how the company ran Facebook ads. The pivot from a marketplace to a logistics company leveraged all of Browze’s existing infrastructure, Rosenzweig said, and some employees came along for the transition. 

Logistics solutions are in demand for small and medium-sized retailers after the US administration eliminated trade policies they relied on. Retailers and consumer-packaged goods companies, including those in tech, had already been confronting widespread uncertainty related to US tariff threats, leading to higher costs and wasted time. Portless says it mostly serves medium-sized brands with annual revenue between $5 million USD and $150 million USD. 

On May 2, the US officially closed a loophole which had long allowed discount marketplaces and small businesses to bring products from China into the US duty-free. Known as the “de minimis” exemption, it allowed shipments of up to $800 of goods to enter the US duty-free per day from China. Though the exemption is still in place for other countries, the US administration has indicated that this could change once it implements systems for tariff revenue processing. 

The startup raised its latest round of financing on the assumption that “de minimis” would be eliminated, Rosenzweig said. Portless uses “type 11 informal entry,” for imports worth less than $2,500, to bring products manufactured in China into the US. 

Rosenzweig said the company currently serves hundreds of brands and is experiencing 300-percent growth year over year. Portless plans to use the new funding to open new fulfillment centres in Vietnam and India, optimize supply chain operations, and offer quality control services. 

Feature image courtesy Portless.

The post Portless raises $24.7 million to be retailers’ port in a trade storm first appeared on BetaKit.

Canadian-founded, Miami-headquartered Rails has raised $14 million USD (about $19.1 million CAD) through the sale of token warrants and launched its hybrid cryptocurrency trading platform in the United States (US).

“You have to find a good middle ground between good regulation and fostering innovation. And I think we’ve lost that balance.”

Satraj Bambra, Rails

In an interview with BetaKit, Rails co-founder and CEO Satraj Bambra said the startup wants to bridge the gap between centralized crypto exchanges and decentralized platforms and give traders “the best of both worlds.”

Rails aims to allow users to trade and retain control and custody of their digital assets while also providing performance typically reserved for centralized exchanges.

The startup’s latest financing closed in April. It was led by Slow Ventures with support from fellow existing backers CMCC Global, Quantstamp, and Toronto’s Round13 Capital (including the Round13 Digital Asset Fund). Major crypto exchange Kraken also participated. This brings Rails’ total funding to approximately $20 million USD, which includes $6.2 million from early 2024.

Rails was launched in 2023 by a team with experience building and investing in tech and crypto companies. The startup’s founders include Canadian husband-and-wife duo Satraj Bambra and CTO Megha Bambra, president and COO Rick Marini (who worked with Megha Bambra at Grindr), and general counsel and CFO Brent Vegliacich.

Satraj Bambra and Megha Bambra previously built and sold multiple Toronto tech companies together, including crypto wallet BlockEQ, which was acquired by Coinsquare in 2018, and mobile development agency B House, which was purchased by TWG in 2016.

The Rails CEO continues to serve as managing partner and chief investment officer at Round13 Digital Asset Fund, an investor in Rails. Satraj Bambra oversees the firm’s digital asset investments but said he has recused himself from any decisions related to Rails to avoid any conflicts of interest.

RELATED: Crypto exchange Kraken gains restricted dealer licence and new leader of Canadian operations

Satraj Bambra said Rails plans to use its latest capital to deepen its platform liquidity, scale up its team, and launch more products later this year.

Rails has a strong presence in Toronto, where many of its software engineers work, and today, approximately three-quarters of its 14-person team is Canadian. However, the company’s leadership ultimately decided to base the business in the US.

Satraj Bambra said this decision was thanks in part to Miami’s emergence as a crypto hub and the “crypto-friendly regulation” being set up in the US under President Donald Trump. 

According to Rails, crypto exchanges have struggled to balance performance and security, with centralized platforms offering fast, high-frequency, large-scale trading, but at the expense of security by forcing users to relinquish control over their assets. At the same time, Rails asserted that decentralized exchanges prioritize security but often provide lower execution speeds.

Rails aims to “deliver the performance of a centralized platform without sacrificing the principles of crypto—self-custody, transparency, and security.”

RELATED: Robinhood to buy WonderFi for $250 million as US trading platform targets Canadian expansion

“As someone who’s watched this industry wrestle with performance versus self-custody for years, Rails is the first exchange I’ve seen where neither security nor speed is compromised,” Slow Ventures general partner Sam Lessin said in a statement.

Going forward, Rails plans to grow on both sides of the border, tapping into Toronto’s tech talent pool to expand its software engineering team while also taking advantage of shifting attitudes in the US towards crypto by catering to the country and becoming regulated there.

Satraj Bambra argued that some of the best crypto has come from Canada, including Ethereum and Cosmos. He still contended that the country has not been as welcoming to new industries as other nations. He claimed that he and his businesses, like others in the sector, have been de-banked many times simply for working in crypto. This has sent a negative signal to many entrepreneurs in the sector, he said.

While Rails has not abandoned Canada altogether, Satraj Bambra indicated that the country’s approach to crypto and regulating the space played a role in the company’s decision to establish its headquarters in Miami. “You go where you’re welcome,” he added.

“Regulations are a choke point for innovation, and you have to find a good middle ground between good regulation and fostering innovation,” the CEO said. “And I think we’ve lost that balance.”

Feature image courtesy Unsplash. Photo by Art Rachen.

The post Rails launches hybrid crypto exchange after raising $14 million USD in token warrant sale first appeared on BetaKit.

The founding CEOs of Halifax-based CarbonCure and Toronto-based VerticalScope are bringing new faces into leadership roles as more Canadian tech companies shake up their C-suites. 

CarbonCure, which develops tech to store captured carbon emissions in concrete, has tapped CFO Kristal Kaye to replace founding CEO Robert Niven in an interim capacity. Niven is stepping away from the role after 13 years. 

“Stepping back from day-to-day leadership of a company I love—one that has shaped so much of my life and career—was not an easy decision.”

Robert Niven

Under Niven’s leadership, CarbonCure was among the winners of the Breakthrough Energy Solutions Canada initiative, took the top prize in the global Carbon XPRIZE competition, and raised $80 million USD (then about $106 million CAD) in 2023 from global brands like Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund and Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund.

CarbonCure claims it has permanently mineralized and reduced nearly 600,000 metric tons of CO2 and supplied 8.8 million “truckloads” of concrete.

“Stepping back from day-to-day leadership of a company I love—one that has shaped so much of my life and career—was not an easy decision,” Niven said in a statement. “But I’m very glad to continue serving on CarbonCure’s Board and supporting its ongoing success with full confidence in Kristal’s leadership.”

Meanwhile, VerticalScope, a publicly traded company that operates a software platform for more than 1,200 online enthusiast communities, is undergoing a “strategic leadership transition.” President and COO Chris Goodridge is taking over the CEO role from founder Rob Laidlaw, who will continue on as chair of the company’s board. 

In a corresponding move, Ezra Menaged will take over as COO. Menaged was previously CEO of Hometalk, which VerticalScope acquired in 2021. VerticalScope said Menaged has played a key role in diversifying its audience sources, advancing its adtech platform, and building an AI-driven content strategy. In a statement, the company said Menaged will work closely with Goodridge to bring those efforts across the broader business. 

For his part, Laidlaw, as chair, said he will focus on long-term vision, strategy, and scaling AI innovation across the business. 

RELATED: Clio and Intel add new general managers in Canada as #CDNtech exec shakeups carry into 2025

“The internet is changing rapidly, and VerticalScope remains well-positioned with its rich trove of user-generated content” Laidlaw said. “Chris is the right leader to continue moving the business forward with speed and focus.” 

Sébastien Leduc, co-founder of Montréal-based Workleap, also retired this week, according to a LinkedIn post from his fellow co-founder Simon De Baene, which noted Leduc would remain on the company’s board of directors. Founded in 2006 as GSoft, Workleap rebranded in June 2023, and provides platforms for talent management as well as Microsoft 365 governance and migration.

“No tech drama,” De Baene wrote. “Just a peaceful, steady, well-earned transition.” 

Executive level changes also came to Vancouver-based quantum security and machine learning company Scope Technologies (no relation to VerticalScope) and Toronto-based workflow automation software Adlib this week. 

Scope Technologies appointed Ted Carefoot as CEO to replace James Young, who “will continue supporting the company in an advisory capacity,” the company said in a statement. Carefoot has a background in video game development, previously managing, producing, or directing projects at small and big studios alike, including Electronic Arts and Disney. Carefoot has been Scope’s vice-president of product since January of this year. 

Meanwhile, Adlib has appointed Chris Huff as CEO following the departure of Helen Rosen, who describes herself as a “turnaround” CEO in a LinkedIn post. Rosen claimed in her post that she leaves Adlib as a now-profitable, high-growth business after three years at the helm. Huff is joining Adlib following a stint as CEO of New York-based document intelligence platform Base64.ai.

Feature image courtesy CarbonCure via LinkedIn.

The post CarbonCure and VerticalScope replace founding CEOs as #CDNtech companies see turnover at the top first appeared on BetaKit.

Vancouver-based FinTech company Fispan has secured $30 million USD ($41 million CAD) in Series B financing, including a significant secondary component, as the startup eyes scaleup status.

The round was led by new investor Canapi Ventures, a Washington, DC-based growth equity firm, with participation from existing investors, including Rhino Ventures. More than $17 million USD ($23 million CAD) of the deal was issued as secondary capital, mostly to early-stage backers, Fispan confirmed to BetaKit. As part of the deal, Canapi general partner Tom Davis is joining Fispan’s board of directors.

Fispan’s raise is the latest in a string of secondary-heavy deals in Canadian tech, including Jane Software, Wealthsimple, and Plusgrade.

“This Series B funding is a pivotal moment for Fispan, empowering us to significantly scale our innovation and market reach,” Fispan CEO and founder Lisa Shields said in a statement.

Fispan provides a plugin that embeds banking services into enterprise resource planning (ERP) and accounting systems for small and medium-sized businesses. This makes it simpler for client businesses to integrate banking information into their accounting software, according to the company. 

Shields founded Fispan in 2016. Her previous startup, a payout platform called Hyperwallet, sold to PayPal in 2018. Fispan’s clients include big banks such as Bank of Montreal, TD Bank, Wells Fargo, and JP Morgan, and it serves more than 4,500 of those businesses’ enterprise clients.

Fispan is working to land “every major bank in Canada” as a partner and help them understand the value ERP banking offers to their clients, senior vice president of revenue, Zack Manning, told BetaKit. 

The FinTech company last raised $16 million USD ($21.9 million CAD) in 2021, bringing its total financing to $35 million USD ($47.9 million CAD). It planned to double its staff, but reduced its team by 30 percent in 2022, Shields said. Today, she claims Fispan is generating $25 million USD ($34 million CAD) in annual revenue after becoming cash-flow positive last year, with an average growth rate of 80 percent over the last three years.

RELATED: Koho continues expansion beyond core banking with launch of international money transfers

Fispan’s raise is the latest in a string of secondary-heavy deals in Canadian tech, including Jane Software, Wealthsimple, and Plusgrade, as startups seek to generate liquidity while avoiding an unattractive exit market. A recent report from the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) shows a persistent IPO drought and a median exit value of $30 million in 2024, its lowest point since 2020. 

Fispan said the funding will go towards developing its existing product through artificial intelligence (AI) integrations, scaling its go-to-market efforts, and expanding its team. The company currently has 150 employees and said it plans to hire across North America and the United Kingdom.  

Fispan told BetaKit that AI features will help automate certain parts of its product—such as reconciliation between a business’s books and its bank statements—which it says will help boost efficiency for finance teams.  

Feature image courtesy UX Indonesia via Unsplash.

The post Fispan continues industry trend of secondary-heavy deals with Series B round first appeared on BetaKit.

Canada’s federally funded Global Innovation Cluster for digital technologies (DIGITAL) is investing $15 million across 16 artificial intelligence (AI)-focused workforce development and skilling programs across the country.

The investment is split between AI Skills and Adoption programs and projects in CareerTech, which DIGITAL defines as solutions that “bridge the gap in preparing workers to enter and thrive in high-growth careers while helping companies fill and hire critical positions.” Each project will receive anywhere from $160,000 to $2.1 million from DIGITAL. 

Federally funded innovation clusters like DIGITAL co-invest alongside industry partners into projects that are developing digital innovations through collaborative research and development. In total, the 16 projects are backed by $30 million in commitments. 

“By focusing on increasing AI skills and advancing workforce technology solutions, these projects are bridging the gap between industry requirements and workforce capabilities, ultimately helping Canadian workers and job seekers to succeed in high-growth careers,” Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said in a statement.

Most of the projects supported under the CareerTech category are AI-powered platforms that help connect prospective employees to employers, or provide skill and knowledge training. 

The “FibreHide: Threads of Knowledge” project led by Calgary-based Indigenous business group Steel River received the largest commitment from DIGITAL. The project is getting $2.1 million from DIGITAL, which is being matched by private partners, for a total budget of 4.2 million. The Indigenous-led initiative aims to provide cultural competency training through a digital learning platform to Canadian workplaces, job seekers, and organizations. 

Protexxa, the Toronto-based cybersecurity startup led by The Firehood co-founder Claudette McGowan, is receiving $1.2 million from DIGITAL to develop an AI-powered platform that connects job seekers with cybersecurity roles, as well as provide upskilling training.

The companies leading the other DIGITAL-funded CareerTech projects are Advancerite, Ampere, Judy Intelligence, Knockri, Lumeto, Monark, and Thrive Career Wellness. 

RELATED: Prime Minister Mark Carney’s mandate letter calls for government to deploy AI “at scale”

According to DIGITAL, programs in the AI Skills and Adoption stream will train 3,000 Canadians. 

A project from Unity Health Toronto received the most support of the programs, with $1.4 million from DIGITAL. Unity’s Health AI Academy program will look to train 200 healthcare professionals with the knowledge and skills required to make informed decisions about, and implement, new AI technologies.

Each of the remaining projects look to bring AI knowledge to a certain demographic or industry sector. For example, the Human Feedback Foundation received $650,000 to deliver the Responsible AI Adoption for Social Impact (RAISE) program to help Canadian non-profit organizations adopt AI, while The Forum received $1.2 million to do the same with its AI Skills Lab for women and non-binary founders. 

Trax, Excel Career College, Bold New Edge, and Québec AI Institute Mila also received DIGITAL funding for their programs. 

There have been significant public and private investments dedicated to boosting AI adoption and skilling programs in Canada in recent months. Scale AI, DIGITAL’s sister global innovation cluster dedicated to AI, launched a $30-million fund to boost AI adoption among Canadian companies this past April. Google also recently provided the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute with a $5-million grant to help post-secondary educators develop “easy-to-use AI curriculum materials.”

Feature image courtesy Steel River Group.

The post DIGITAL Innovation Cluster providing $15 million across 16 Canadian AI-based training and CareerTech projects first appeared on BetaKit.

The First Nations Bank of Canada (FNBC), an Indigenous-owned national bank, and the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) have announced a $100-million CAD joint initiative to help Indigenous communities and economic development agencies finance the purchase of established businesses.

“A development bank is there to play where others are not—until they follow.”

Isabelle Hudon, BDC

In a news release, Montréal-headquartered BDC and Saskatoon’s FNBC said they aim to increase and hasten business acquisitions by Indigenous organizations “in the spirit of economic reconciliation.” They plan to do this across Canada by providing loans to support these purchases—just as a wave of older Canadian entrepreneurs are gearing up to retire and sell their companies. 

In an interview with BetaKit, BDC president and CEO Isabelle Hudon described this initiative as a step towards economic reconciliation, which the Government of Canada-owned Crown corporation hopes to do more to facilitate.

This $100-million commitment from BDC will be used to guarantee these loans and cover up to 85 percent of the risk in the event of a default. FNBC will underwrite and issue the loans using its own capital. BDC and FNBC expect the average deal size to be $5 million. While acquirers will typically be expected to bring additional capital to the table, loans may cover up to 100 percent of the price to purchase a business. Interest on these loans will depend on the risk rating, but most will be around seven to eight percent, and likely not above 10 percent.

This launch comes amid what the Canadian Federation for Independent Business (CFIB) hailed as a “succession tsunami” in a 2023 report. At the time, the CFIB found that 76 percent of small business owners planned to exit over the next decade, with three-quarters citing retirement as the reason. But the CFIB’s report also determined only one in 10 had a formal succession plan, and the majority of respondents said finding a suitable buyer or successor was the biggest obstacle to developing one.

BDC and FNBC believe they can help solve this problem, and benefit both buyers and sellers, by financing more acquisitions by Indigenous organizations.

“The unique demographic challenge we face over the next few years is a major opportunity for Indigenous communities and their economic development agencies,” FNBC president and CEO Bill Lomax said in a statement. “It will allow them to acquire companies with strong track records. And with Indigenous ownership, the companies will be more competitive for many reasons including procurement policies that favour Indigenous-owned businesses.”

RELATED: BDC hopes to reverse trend of declining entrepreneurship through Community Banking initiative

Hudon said Indigenous individuals and organizations often struggle to access the capital required to finance acquisitions. She added that “the trust factor” is often missing between Indigenous entrepreneurs and BDC and other financial institutions.  

Given this, Hudon said BDC decided to partner with FNBC, which has more trust among Indigenous communities and a better understanding of their needs.

Hudon anticipates many of these loans will fund purchases of service companies, but indicated BDC and FNBC are open to financing a wider variety of different business acquisitions.

This joint financing vehicle is part of BDC’s Community Banking initiative, which it announced last year to provide financing and support to underserved entrepreneurs across the country and help reverse a decades-long decline in entrepreneurship.

At the time, BDC said it planned to partner with more than 80 community-based lending organizations, providing selected groups with co-lending, indirect lending, loan guarantees, and advisory services. 

RELATED: BDC earmarks $250 million CAD to support underserved entrepreneurs

FNBC joins Futurpreneur, the Federation of African Canadian Economics, and Evol as community lending partners through BDC’s Community Banking initiative. BDC’s other financial institution partners currently include Desjardins, Meridian Credit Union, the Newfoundland and Labrador Credit Union, the TD Bank, and Vancity. In total, Hudon said BDC is now working with approximately a dozen partners through its Community Banking initiative.

Hudon said increasing funding for Indigenous entrepreneurs and other historically underserved groups has been “a huge focus” for BDC under her leadership.

When BDC reset its strategy and Hudon joined as president and CEO four years ago, she said it was determined the bank needed to expand its reach to serve not just a greater number of entrepreneurs, but also entrepreneurs “not getting the support from conventional financial institutions.”

“A development bank is there to play where others are not—until they follow,” Hudon said.

Hudon said BDC identified a need for it to do more to support Indigenous, Black, and women-identified entrepreneurs, and she alluded to the variety of funds and initiatives BDC has launched since 2021 to do that. 

“Over the last four years, we’ve delivered on this,” she claimed.

In addition to announcing $100 million for a new Indigenous investment fund of its own last year, one that a BDC spokesperson told BetaKit “will be operational in the coming months,” the Crown corporation is also the lead investor in the $153-million Indigenous Growth Fund.

UPDATE (06/06/25): This story has been updated to include some additional information regarding the nature of these loans, BDC’s guarantees, and the status of BDC’s own Indigenous investment fund.

Feature image courtesy BDC.

The post As aging entrepreneurs retire, BDC and FNBC announce $100 million to help Indigenous groups buy their businesses first appeared on BetaKit.

American gig economy giants Uber and Instacart have recently elevated the Canadian executives in their ranks to higher leadership positions. 

Grocery delivery app Instacart announced last week that chief business officer Chris Rogers has been chosen to replace outgoing CEO Fidji Simo, who is leaving the company to join OpenAI. Rogers has been with Instacart for six years, most recently as its Chief Business Officer. 

Rogers graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont., and started his career at consumer packaged goods brand Procter and Gamble, where he led relationships with Canada’s largest national grocery retailers, according to Instacart.

Rogers joined Instacart following an 11-year stint at Apple, where he started by leading the tech giant’s Canadian carrier channel and consumer retail business before being chosen as the managing director for Apple Canada. 

“There isn’t a single thing we’ve done in the last few years that Chris hasn’t had his fingerprints on,” outgoing CEO Simo said in a LinkedIn post. “From our retail enablement strategy and omnichannel expansion to the massive growth and evolution of our advertising platform, Chris has been a driving force behind all of these initiatives.”

RELATED: Meet the Canadians shaping Uber’s global vision

In a blog post, Rogers said that Instacart’s vision and strategy aren’t changing under his watch, and that the company remains focused on “building the technologies to power every grocery transaction, online and in-store.” Rogers will take on the new role, and also join Instacart’s board of directors, on August 15. 

Ridesharing and takeout delivery app Uber promoted its Toronto-based senior vice president of mobility and business operations, Andrew Macdonald, to president and COO. Macdonald, known as “Mac,” is Uber’s first COO since 2019 and will report to CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. 

Macdonald will relocate from Toronto to New York in September to accommodate his new role, according to Bloomberg. 

According to a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission this week, Macdonald will now be responsible for Uber’s global Mobility, Delivery, and Autonomous businesses, as well as cross-platform functions like membership, customer support, and safety. The appointment coincides with the departure of Uber’s senior vice president of delivery, Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty. 

“There is no one better suited to seize this opportunity than Mac,” Khosrowshahi said in the filing. “From launching our Toronto operations 13 years ago, to scaling our Mobility business, to spearheading our Autonomous strategy, Mac has proven himself as a highly effective leader at Uber.”

Feature image courtesy Instacart. 

The post American gig giants Instacart and Uber add Canadian executives to top leadership positions first appeared on BetaKit.

Toronto-based Xanadu says it has edged closer to solving two of the hurdles plaguing the quantum industry: eliminating errors and scaling up. 

This development is a step on Xanadu’s “hardware roadmap” towards its ultimate goal: building a quantum computing data centre in Canada by 2029.

The quantum startup announced that its researchers have created a quantum chip with error-resistant photonic quantum bits (qubits), or the basic units of quantum computing, for the very first time. The development forges a viable path toward a useful and scalable quantum computer, the company said.

A scientific paper describing the breakthrough was published in the science journal Nature on Wednesday, the fourth time the publication has featured Xanadu’s work.

Quantum computing companies are in a race to build machines that can solve useful problems. Xanadu has taken the photonic route, using light particles to power computations. In this experiment, researchers used a special type of qubits known as Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill (GKP) states, which allow many photons to encode error-free information and perform operations at room temperature. 

Unlike the binary bits in classical computing, qubits can exist in two states at once—zero and one—allowing for alternative, and in some cases accelerated, approaches to problem solving. 

For Xanadu, this development is a step on its “hardware roadmap” towards its ultimate goal: building a quantum computing data centre in Canada by 2029.  

“That’s where we’re headed,” Xanadu founder and CEO Christian Weedbrook told BetaKit. “Everything’s been driving to this moment.”

Weedbrook explained that a quantum data centre would, like a traditional data centre, house thousands of server racks containing the new chips Xanadu demonstrated today. The company unveiled its photonic quantum computer Aurora in January, which Weedbrook said “solved scalability” by networking server racks together. Aurora consists of four interconnected server racks containing 12 qubits, but Weedbrook said Xanadu’s metric for useful quantum computing is around 1 million physical qubits. 

RELATED: Nord Quantique says error-correction discovery could make quantum computing data centres practical

“This demonstration is an important empirical milestone showing our recent successes in loss reduction and performance improvement across chip fabrication, component design, and detector efficiency,” Zachary Vernon, CTO of hardware at Xanadu, said in a statement. 

The next step, Xanadu said, is to reduce optical loss in its quantum systems, where signal quality degrades as transmission distances increase with the optical fibres connecting quantum hardware. 

“When you encode information in a laser, not all info makes it from start to finish,” Weedbrook said. “That’s what we’re fighting against.”

Xanadu previously unveiled the GKP state approach in a research article in the journal Physical Review Letters in March, which the company claimed could reduce the number of physical qubits needed for fault-tolerant quantum computing. The company said GKP qubits also reduce overhead costs because they allow for entanglement, when the states of two qubits are related across physical space. 

Several startups are trying to reduce qubit error creation, including Canadian companies Vancouver-based Photonic and Sherbrooke, Que.-based Nord Quantique. The latter, which takes a “multimode” encoding approach, unveiled a new error-correction method last week that it says draws much less energy to solve encryption problems than photonic systems. 

All three companies were recently selected to take part in a quantum race program backed by the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Xanadu inked a four-year research and development (R&D) agreement in May with the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).

The near-term feasibility of practical quantum computers is still the subject of intense debate among industry and researchers. Big tech companies such as Microsoft have had their breakthrough claims roundly scrutinized, and public companies in the game have seen markets react strongly to predictions about long timelines. Industry jargon terms such as “quantum supremacy” (outperforming classical computers in a given task) versus “quantum utility” (usefulness in real-world applications) contribute to the debate, as companies small and large compete to notch breakthroughs. 

Founded in 2016, Xanadu became a tech unicorn in 2022 and has raised $275 million USD in funding to date. Last year, Weedbrook told The BetaKit Podcast that Xanadu was planning to raise $100 million to $200 million USD in late 2024 or early 2025, which Weedbrook said is still an ongoing process but “going well.” 

Feature image courtesy Xanadu.

The post Xanadu touts another advancement toward scalable quantum computing first appeared on BetaKit.

LocalThunk, the Canadian one-man studio behind the hit digital card game Balatro, has won in the “Delight and Fun” category at the 2025 Apple Design Awards ahead of Apple’s Worldwide Developers conference (WWDC) beginning June 9.

The developer shared a category award with the language learning tool CapWords from China-based HappyPlan Tech. The two beat four other finalists, including larger companies like Ubisoft (for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown) and indie publisher Panic (for Thank Goodness You’re Here).

“All you acting like Balatro is the only thing to come from Regina … it’s not even the biggest GAME.”

LocalThunk,
Balatro developer

Balatro is a hybrid card game that merges elements from deck-building, poker, and solitaire with “roguelike” role-playing games like Hades, where the challenge is to repeat and extend runs through procedurally-generated challenges. LocalThunk released the title on Windows in February 2024 before expanding to the Mac in March that year. It came to mobile platforms (including Android and iPhone) in September, when it also joined the Apple Arcade game subscription service.

The game proved a quick success and had sold over 5 million units by January 2025. It won Game of the Year at the Game Developers Conference’s (GDC) Game Developers Choice Awards, and received nominations for similar prizes at The Game Awards in December 2024 as well as the British Academy of Film and Television Arts’ (BAFTA) gaming ceremony this April.

BetaKit has asked LocalThunk about the impact of the award. Originally based in Regina, Sask., the developer has chosen to remain pseudonymous to provide more “freedom” in his work style, according to a spokesperson from publisher and marketing firm Playstack. That company collects awards on LocalThunk’s behalf.

RELATED: Is Canada a secret video game powerhouse?

The creator indirectly downplayed the award in an X post, noting that the 1930s-inspired animated game Cuphead came from the Regina-born Moldenhauer brothers, who founded Studio MDHR. 

“All you acting like Balatro is the only thing to come from Regina … it’s not even the biggest GAME,” he said.

Since 1997, Apple has used its design awards to showcase apps that make strong use of its platforms. The announcement is often timed around WWDC to inspire developers learning about major software updates at the conference. Winners have ranged from productivity apps like Adobe Illustrator through to major games like Warcraft III. The categories have evolved over time, with the current structure largely in place since 2021.

As the BetaKit Podcast noted in February, Canada is a major hub for video game development. In addition to indie breakthrough creators like LocalThunk and Studio MDHR, the country home to larger developers like Bioware (best known for Mass Effect) and key divisions of global heavyweight publishers like EA and Ubisoft.

Feature image courtesy of Balatro

The post Canada shows its hand: Balatro wins Apple Design Award ahead of developer conference first appeared on BetaKit.

Calgary-based cleantech startup Eavor has secured at least $89 million CAD in a second hefty investment from Canada Growth Fund (CGF), the federal government’s clean energy investment fund.

CGF made the investment to help Eavor accelerate the development and commercial deployment of its geothermal technology, and will provide an additional $48 million upon the completion of undisclosed milestones, for a total investment of approximately $138 million. The scaling capital will ensure that the majority of Eavor’s leadership and employee base remain in Canada, according to a statement from CGF. 

CGF says it has committed approximately $2.7 billion to Canadian projects and companies to date.

BetaKit has reached out to Eavor for more details on the milestones, but did not hear back by press time. 

“Eavor has achieved significant development and technical milestones in scaling clean, reliable, dispatchable heat and power using its proprietary closed loop geothermal system, and we look forward to building on this progress in the months ahead,” Eavor co-founder and CEO John Redfern said in a statement. 

Founded in 2017 by Redfern, Paul Cairns, and Jeanine Vany, Eavor’s tech is designed to produce energy using heat generated within the earth, or geothermal energy. The startup says it has the potential to provide a consistent and resilient source of clean energy, while also offering a significantly smaller environmental footprint compared to traditional geothermal systems.

RELATED: Canada Growth Fund injection tops Eavor’s Series B at $182 million

CGF first invested $90 million in Eavor through a direct commitment in the company’s Series B preferred equity fundraise in October 2023, which brought the round total up to $182 million. The initial investment was also the first-ever out of CGF since its establishment in June 2023. 

Eavor planned to use the capital to accelerate the deployment of its flagship product, Eavor-Loop, which it now has pilot versions of, while its first commercial deployment is currently being constructed in Geretsried, Germany. 

Eavor-Loop circulates a benign working fluid that is completely isolated from the environment in a closed loop, through a massive radiator underneath the surface of the ground. The radiator collects heat from the natural geothermal gradient of the Earth via conduction.

Eavor’s home province of Alberta is trying to become an data centre powerhouse, but the power-hungry projects could potentially strain the province’s electrical grid and significantly drive up carbon emissions. Redfern noted to the CBC that tech companies have been signing contracts for clean power to power artificial intelligence (AI) data centres, and that he expects that to spur more demand for geothermal energy.

The CGF is a $15-billion fund first introduced in the federal government’s 2022 budget to bridge the liquidity gap in the Canadian cleantech market and offer support to companies at the commercialization and scale-up stages. CGF says it has announced 13 investments since its launch, committing approximately $2.7 billion to Canadian projects and companies.

Feature image courtesy Eavor. 

The post Canada Growth Fund commits at least $89 million to Eavor in second big investment to geothermal tech company first appeared on BetaKit.

Google has created a new fund to expand artificial intelligence (AI) skills development and training programs across Canada as it invests heavily in the technology.

The American internet search giant’s philanthropic arm, Google.org, is using its AI Opportunity Fund to provide approximately $13 million CAD in funding to four Canadian organizations. This includes the $5-million grant announced for the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) plus more than $2.7 million apiece to Vancouver’s First Nations Technology Council (FNTC), Toronto’s Skills for Change (SFC), and the Toronto Public Library (TPL). 

Google Canada vice president and managing director Sabrina Geremia said in an interview with BetaKit that the company aims to help recipients scale their workforce development initiatives and provide AI skills training to as many as two million Canadians.

“I’d love to see us be as great on the adoption.”

Sabrina Geremia,
Google Canada

“We know that AI is a really transformative technology,” Geremia said. “It is going to reshape so many different areas of life [and] our work, and we want to make sure that Canada is capturing the opportunity. We also want to make sure that Canadians are really getting the skills that they need.”

Google, which has offered upskilling programming for years, provides free, in-house AI and other digital skills training through Grow with Google.

Geremia said Google.org selected these organizations because of their track records and community reach, and noted that each recipient has a slightly different focus.

Edmonton-based AI research institute Amii plans to use its Google.org funding to help post-secondary educators integrate AI into their courses. Amii intends to establish a national consortium of 25 post-secondary institutions that will develop “easy-to-use AI curriculum materials” and help faculty layer AI into their teaching. It expects the initiative to equip 125,000 students across the country with foundational AI skills. CEO Cam Linke recently joined the BetaKit Podcast to discuss some of the work Amii is doing in more detail.

The FNTC will train over 335 Indigenous students in AI, and provide AI resources to 7,000 other members of the community, as part of efforts to increase Indigenous representation in tech. The Indigenous-led non-profit serves all 204 First Nations in British Columbia, offering digital skills training on everything from Instagram to websites and drones.

In an interview with BetaKit, FNTC director of digital skills and career development Kim Henderson said Google.org’s support will help the organization develop AI programming for Indigenous students and an AI toolkit for other members of the community, guided by the research FNTC is doing into how the tech can benefit Indigenous communities.

“We know that less than one percent of the Indigenous population is involved in the technology sector,” Henderson said. “So we can do way better than that. There’s just so much potential. We need a seat at the table.”

RELATED: Google grants Amii $5 million to help post-secondary schools develop AI curriculums

SFC aims to provide AI skills to 20,000 individuals from communities facing high unemployment through hands-on programming that equips them with industry-relevant AI literacy.

SFC CEO Surranna Sandy told BetaKit in an interview that the non-profit aims to help newcomers and other underserved groups develop the AI skills they need to advance in their careers, land quality jobs, build new products, and launch their own companies. Sandy said SFC intends to embed this training across all of the programs it delivers.

“We don’t want anyone to be left behind,” Sandy added. “We want everyone to have the skills and knowledge in order to contribute to Canada’s economic productivity.”

“We want to present a complete picture so that people can make the best informed use of AI.”

Ab Velasco, TPL

For its part, TPL plans to launch a Toronto-wide AI upskilling initiative to provide users with access to free AI tools, skills training, and programming. TPL aims to serve over 11,000 community members from equity-deserving groups and more than two million Torontonians, including through virtual and in-person learning circles (which resemble study groups), generative AI products, and workshops.

TPL manager of innovation (AI services) Ab Velasco acknowledged that AI comes with benefits and risks. In an interview with BetaKit, he said TPL has tried to develop a “balanced, thoughtful approach” to training people on the tech, and sought to be transparent about the privacy and safety risks along with the environmental impact. “We want to present a complete picture so that people can make the best informed use of AI,” Velasco added.

Geremia noted that AI has the potential to augment existing jobs, create new ones, help employees save time completing repetitive tasks, and boost productivity. 

She said she sees a lot of opportunity for Canada when it comes to AI, given the country’s strength on the research side of the equation. But she noted that the country lags its peers, citing a recent Deloitte report that found only 26 percent of Canadian organizations have adopted AI compared to 34 percent globally.

RELATED: Amid AI proof-of-concept fatigue, Cohere co-founder urges potential customers to keep the faith and focus on ROI

“We have been incredible in the research phase of developing the AI tools, and really, the groundbreaking research that started this entire technological revolution,” Geremia said. “And I’d love to see us be as great on the adoption.”

According to a 2024 Future Skills Centre report, the top barrier to AI adoption noted by Canadian businesses is difficulty finding employees with the necessary AI skills and expertise to integrate the tech into their operations.

Amid continued hype from across the industry about AI’s potential to solve all of the world’s problems, data indicates many companies who have raced to adopt AI have yet to see a payoff.

A recent National Bureau of Economic Research working paper surveyed 7,000 workplaces to determine if AI chatbots impacted their bottom line and found “no significant impact on earnings or recorded hours in any occupation.” Another study from Boston Consulting Group found only a quarter of the 1,800 executives surveyed had seen significant value from AI.

Last week at Web Summit Vancouver, BetaKit captured New York University professor emeritus Gary Marcus’ pointed criticisms of generative AI and unpacked the proof-of-concept fatigue that has taken hold and what the path forward might look like for enterprise adoption with Cohere co-founder Ivan Zhang.

Feature image courtesy Google.

The post Google allocates $13 million in funding to strengthen Canada’s AI workforce first appeared on BetaKit.

Finance leaders have become quiet forces behind startups’ growth strategy, forcing clarity, and surfacing choices and compromises.

That was the tone set by three panelists brought together for Scaling Realities: An Honest Conversation on Growth in the Post-Boom Era, hosted by Float and BetaKit on the opening night of Web Summit Vancouver. 

Scaling today means closely considering financial implications of each decision, over the short- and long-term. And having a strong financial team is more essential to that process than ever.

“Once you’re past pre-seed, none of those things—vision, story, personality—matter if your numbers don’t hold up.”

Rob Khazzam, Float

Jonathan Martin, VP of Finance at Hiive, said “finance teams were the ‘no’ department” before capital was cheap and growth was king, but that dynamic shifted during the pandemic. 

“We started saying yes to a lot of different things, and we overexpanded,” Martin said. “We should be better business partners. But we need to find that line—rather than just saying no or yes, how do we surface uncomfortable tradeoffs?”

At Float, those questions aren’t isolated to finance. Founder and CEO Rob Khazzam said that he expects everyone on his team to manage with a profit-and-loss lens. 

“You’re business leaders first,” he said.

Instead of working toward static budget numbers, Float operates on ratios. Leaders track burn, churn, customer acquisition cost payback, and other thresholds that act as early signals for whether plans need to shift.

At Clio, which closed its landmark Series F funding round last year, VP of Finance Nav Gill is helping the company prepare for public-company expectations, which requires finance to be integrated into decision-making from the start.

“You have to be a thought partner,” she said. “If your CEO is coming to you, saying ‘Hey, can you sign off on this,’ or, ‘Do we have money in the bank to afford this,’ you’ve kind of lost that business partnership already.”

Gill said Clio has worked to create a culture where finance helps shape leadership decisions early. Early involvement becomes critical in a fundraising environment, she added, where an exacting level of diligence on the numbers is required.

Khazzam said that fundraising forces companies to demonstrate precision. And this requires internal precision. 

“You can actually synthesize what must be true on a page,” he said. “If certain things aren’t true, we don’t raise.”

The message across the panel was consistent: past the earliest stages, investors don’t fund potential, they fund performance. 

That shift puts finance at the centre of the process. 

“Once you’re past pre-seed, none of those things—vision, story, personality—matter if your numbers don’t hold up,” Khazzam added.

Gill encouraged finance teams to work in advance to prepare themselves for the new fundraising environment. 

“When it happens, it happens quickly, and you need to be prepared,” she said. “If you are able to set up your company in advance to have the data ready in a certain way, a real understanding of the story, a real understanding of the dynamics that are in play, you’ll be in a much better place.”

Martin described fundraising as a pattern-recognition process for finance leaders. Investors rarely jump in on the first meeting, which means money may come only after multiple pitches and follow-ups.

In the meantime, finance teams have to plan for different scenarios and timeframes.

“As a finance leader, the question becomes: how do you mitigate the risk of that situation?” he said. “Can you look at lines of credit? Can you look at loans? Can you look at how to extend that runway?”

Advice, the panellists noted, is everywhere and finance teams must learn to assess its credibility.

 “People love giving advice. It’s free, and it’s often not right,” Martin said.

Khazzam, who was part of the early Uber team in Canada before starting Float, said he balances the advice of his investors and board against the insights of his internal team, who are deeply embedded in the needs of their customers, as well as the on-the-ground realities of building.

“We’re really lucky to have them, and they provide high-value advice when we need it,” Khazzam said of Float’s investors, “but they can’t tell you what your vision is, they can’t tell you how to build a product, they can’t tell you which staff to hire and which to let go, and they don’t have to deal with the consequences.”

The panel also discussed the benefits of AI for today’s finance teams.

“All of the hype is real, and everyone is underestimating it,” Khazzam said. “It will be the most disruptive thing that’s happened to the labour force in our lifetime, and it will be way more disruptive and way faster than people think.”

Float is already building around that assumption. “I expect people to review their teams and explain why things can’t be done with automation,” Khazzam said. “We reward people who say, ‘This process is dumb. Let’s fix it.’”

Clio has taken a gradual approach to incorporating AI in its finance teams. 

“It’ll give you all the data. It’ll tell you some insights,” said Gill. “But when you try to connect dots, I haven’t found that it’s fully there yet.”

All three agreed that it is incumbent on finance leaders to explore the technology and work to understand its benefits, applications, and challenges.

“There’s no excuse anymore,” said Khazzam. “You want to learn financial modelling? Done. Want to learn how to do an M&A transaction? Done. The only thing stopping you is your initiative.”

Photos by Nicole Richard from Wax Pencil Imagery.

PRESENTED BY

Float is Canada’s complete business finance platform, combining modern financial services and software to help businesses spend, save and grow. Learn more about how your business can earn up to 4% interest and save 7% of your total spend.

The post Tradeoffs are the new muscle behind startup growth first appeared on BetaKit.

Canadian-founded, San Francisco-headquartered AppDirect is looking to capitalize on a surge in global energy demand by picking up energy brokerage Broker Online Exchange (BOX).

AppDirect purchased the entirety of BOX, including the staff, platform, and intellectual property, the company said. Andy Ellerhorst, vice president of corporate development and chief of staff at AppDirect, wrote in an email to BetaKit that BOX was “purchased at an enterprise valuation” of $85 million USD ($116 million CAD). The transaction closed on May 8. 

“Business is entering a new era where technology alone isn’t enough; it also needs the infrastructure that powers it.”

Nicolas Desmarais
AppDirect

AppDirect, which offers a suite of cloud-based services and management solutions for enterprises, expects demand for electricity to grow sharply over the next decade, the company said, and BOX’s platform will allow the company to enter that market. 

“Business is entering a new era where technology alone isn’t enough; it also needs the infrastructure that powers it,” AppDirect chair and CEO Nicolas Desmarais said in a statement. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, by way of data centres, is expected to cause a 160-percent increase in power demand globally by 2030, according to a May 2024 report from Goldman Sachs. This could potentially consume four percent of the world’s energy, up from one to two percent today, and double associated carbon emissions.

Founded in 2013, BOX is a management platform for energy brokers, who assist clients in procuring gas and electricity from suppliers. BOX says it offers access to energy suppliers, live pricing, and customer-management solutions to more than 2,000 energy brokers. BOX is active in Alberta and throughout the US. 

RELATED: Alberta’s tech sector is embracing an AI data centre boom. Will it pay off?

Ellerhorst told BetaKit that the BOX brand and business will continue to operate as a distinct business unit. BOX brokers will gain access to AppDirect’s tech solutions when selling to their clients.

When asked if BOX’s team was retained through the acquisition, Ellerhorst said there were “no current plans for major restructuring.” 

Ellerhorst said that BOX hit 50-percent annual recurring revenue growth year-over-year, which AppDirect expects will only increase. He added that AppDirect itself expects its gross revenues to cross $1 billion USD ($1.37 billion CAD) in the next 24 months. 

Based in San Francisco, AppDirect has offices in Montréal and Calgary and strong ties to Canada. It was co-founded in 2009 by Canadians Daniel Saks and Desmarais, with backing from the Desmarais family, one of Canada’s wealthiest and most influential families across a number of sectors, including tech. The family has backed notable Canadian tech companies such as Wealthsimple, Koho, and Borrowell via Power Corporation.

AppDirect serves more than 6 million end customers worldwide through its various partners and advisors, Ellerhorst said, from the small business level to large enterprises. 

AppDirect has made acquisitions a key part of its business strategy as it seeks to offer clients a broad array of services and become the “everything store for businesses,” the company said. The BOX purchase marks its fifth known acquisition since the beginning of 2023.

Last fall, AppDirect announced plans to purchase IT lifecycle management software vCom Solutions for an undisclosed amount. Recent acquisitions include marketplace-building platform Builtfirst, and two businesses owned by US-based services provider ADCom Solutions. In early 2023, the company acquired Telecom Brokerage Inc. to merge its engineering and educational resources with AppDirect’s advisors.

Feature image courtesy AppDirect.

The post AppDirect eyes rising energy demand with acquisition of Broker Online Exchange first appeared on BetaKit.

According to one tax industry expert, Shopify’s win in its two-year fight against Canada’s tax authority could encourage other companies to challenge similar requests to provide client data. 

“I think this may empower a lot of these companies in Canada to be more encouraged to challenge the CRA on their requests rather than comply.” 

Mohammed Al-Khooly
CoPilotTax

Last week, the Federal Court of Canada sided with the e-commerce giant against the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) by dismissing a request compelling Shopify to turn over information about Canadian merchants who use its software.

“I think this may empower a lot of these companies in Canada to be more encouraged to challenge the CRA on their requests rather than comply,” Mohammed Al-Khooly, a chartered professional accountant and co-founder and partner at CoPilotTax, a digitally focused accounting firm that caters to businesses, told BetaKit. “They could be more emboldened.”

The CRA used an “unnamed persons requirement” (UPR) to request personal information, banking details, and business data of Shopify merchants. The agency uses this mechanism to check for tax non-compliance by individuals or businesses whose identities it doesn’t have. 

“CRA demanded 6 years of Canadian merchant data from us,” Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke wrote on X following the decision. “This felt like blatant overreach.” 

The CRA has previously succeeded in obtaining UPRs to collect user data from other tech companies, including eBay in 2008 and PayPal in 2017. In the court’s eyes, the Minister of National Revenue overseeing the CRA failed to show these “Shopify merchants” were an “ascertainable,” or defined, group. 

Al-Khooly said he was surprised by the federal court decision. He told BetaKit that he expected the court to consider Shopify sellers an “ascertainable” group, as it had with eBay sellers in a past ruling. He thought the CRA’s request was reasonable and within the scope of the law. 

Tax lawyer David Rotfleisch told the Toronto Star in 2023 that Shopify would likely lose this case, adding it was “not worth them to throw more time and money at it.”

However, Al-Khooly added that the CRA targeted “PowerSellers” in the eBay case, a defined group that “might have been more specific” than the group of Shopify merchants. 

RELATED: Shopify posts solid Q1 2025 earnings amid trade war but anticipates slight profit dip

In 2023, the Minister of National Revenue filed an application to the federal court requesting six years of earnings data from Shopify’s Canadian merchants. The backlash was swift: Lütke said Shopify would fight the request, and Sen. Colin Deacon, a Halifax senator who is a tech founder and former CEO, called it a “fishing expedition.” 

Obtaining third-party data via UPRs is part of a CRA strategy to crack down on tax non-compliance, outlined in the agency’s 2022 “Underground Economy Strategy.” The CRA defines the underground economy as “economic transactions in goods or services which are unreported, resulting in failure to comply with tax laws administered by the Canada Revenue Agency.” An affidavit written by CRA senior technical analyst Paul Kalil for this case says the agency had “concerns that Shopify’s ‘Merchants’ may be participating in the underground economy” and were not following tax law. 

The CRA can demand the tax data for unidentified businesses as long as it receives judicial authorization. Two conditions must be met for approval: the person or group whose data is being sought must be “ascertainable,” and the request must be to check that the group is complying with Canadian tax law. 

According to the ruling, Shopify claimed the CRA’s target group of Shopify merchants was “overly broad and inconsistently defined,” and that the CRA had not established a “good faith audit purpose” for its request. The CRA used terms such as “merchants” and “owners” interchangeably, which Shopify argued made the request unworkable.

The federal court ruled in Shopify’s favour and dismissed the CRA’s request. In the ruling, Justice Guy Régimbald wrote that the federal court could authorize a UPR when a third party is “able to understand who exactly is targeted by the UPR request” and what information they must provide. He added the court would not authorize a request that was “unintelligible, incoherent, or otherwise beyond its understanding.” 

The CRA had filed a separate application in 2023 requesting Shopify merchant data on behalf of the Australian Tax Authority. The court also rejected this UPR because this type of request is meant to verify compliance with Canadian tax law only, according to the ruling. The court ordered the Minister of National Revenue to pay a total of $90,000 in legal costs to Shopify.

Disclosure: BetaKit majority owner Good Future is the family office of two former Shopify leaders, Arati Sharma and Satish Kanwar.

Feature image courtesy Shopify. 

The post Industry watcher says recent Shopify ruling could embolden companies to challenge CRA data requests first appeared on BetaKit.

Kay Boamah is already having a good day when he joins our video call.

Boamah, the co-founder and CRO of Toronto and San Francisco-based Swiirl, has just gotten off a call with NBA legend and former Toronto Raptor Jerome Williams.

“Whenever I have this conversation, it reminds me to be humble, because I couldn’t have dreamed of my life turning out this way,” Boamah said. “I used to cheer in the stands for Jerome Williams as a kid. Now, when I answer the phone, he’s like, ‘Hey, brother, how are you doing?’”

The call with the man known as Junk Yard Dog (or JYD) focuses on a new partnership.

“All the universities are kind of putting their arms around us because they believe in the model.”

Kay Boamah
Swiirl co-founder

Williams and Swiirl are launching a new campaign for Shooting for Peace, a non-profit educational program designed to bring financial literacy and mental health and wellness education to students across Canada and the United States (US). 

The partnership with Shooting for Peace is another sign of validation for Boamah and his co-founders, Daniel Mohanrao and Mike Hong. In addition to the Shooting for Peace partnership, Swiirl is being used in marketing campaigns by organizations across North America, including the Peel District School Board and the low-cost American phone carrier Cricket Wireless.

Founded in 2023, Swiirl offers a two-sided marketplace where communities can be creative agencies and brands can invest in campaigns that drive marketing goals and social impact. Brands use Swiirl to engage local communities by commissioning students and youth to create content, from artwork to social media videos, in what founder Kay Boamah calls “purpose-driven creative campaigns.”

On the other side of the marketplace, schools and community organizations use Swiirl as both a fundraising tool and an educational opportunity. Students gain real-world experience by responding to brand briefs, building their portfolios, and, in many cases, getting paid for their work.

RELATED: Former Toronto Raptor Pascal Siakam teams up with DMZ to launch EdTech accelerator

Swiirl uses AI on each side of the platform. Brands are guided through the campaign brief creation process, including peeks at similar campaigns and community groups that may be matches for the project. For students and other young artists, the platform guides them through the brief and helps them come up with ideas, from Instagram Reels to artwork. Swiirl’s AI also flags branding mismatches like brand colours during the submission process.

“The major problem that we’re solving for brands is community engagement,” Boamah said. “There is a huge shift happening where influencer marketing is in a downturn because it is not authentic. There’s a corporate social responsibility angle here too, but the catalyst for brands is authentic engagement with communities.”

Boamah is quick to point out that brands are not just buying placements in these communities. 

“Brands don’t just walk into a community and say, ‘Here’s 500 bucks, let’s do this.’ There has to be a real connection. Because it’s hyper-localized, even at the enterprise brand level, what we’re seeing in these connections is authentic alignment. If a community chooses to work with a brand on our platform, it’s because they have shared values,” Boamah said.

Grab the bull by the horns

Last September, AT&T-owned mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Cricket Wireless and its marketing agency used Swiirl to create a campaign to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. 

“They came to us and said they wanted to authentically connect with Hispanic communities in Miami-Dade, New York, and Los Angeles,” Boamah said. “The challenge was they needed to launch in three weeks.”

Boamah reached out to the dean of the New World School of the Arts in Miami, Fla., who helped connect Swiirl with other arts schools across the US, including New Heights Academy in New York City, the University of Southern California, and Skyline High School in Oakland, Calif. 

Swiirl then worked with Cricket Wireless and its cultural marketing agency on its ‘Con Ganas De Más’ campaign. It called on students to create self-portraits that show what they hope to achieve in the future.

“It really unlocked Cricket’s thoughts around connecting creative talent in the markets they are targeting,” Boamah said. “By the time the campaign launches in the community, the community is excited about it because their creators are part of it.”

Swiirl also aims to bring brands and schools together by connecting students with educational opportunities.

Boamah met Andrew Witchell, co-founder of Woodstock, ON-based Provenance Farms, at the Collision Conference in Toronto in 2024. Provenance Farms is a regenerative farm that produces and sells sustainable chicken, eggs, and microgreens. Education is a core part of the farm and is provided through school field trips and summer camps, but Witchell said Provenance wanted to expand that into a formal education program.

“Wouldn’t it be great if we could actually get these kids on site and connect them to where their food comes from, and could be a potential solution to climate change,” Witchell said. “The thing we care about the most is giving kids a sense of agency. You’re in control. You have a choice. You can bring solutions.”

In Peel, just over an hour away, the District School Board was looking for ways to provide experiential learning experiences for its students. Its Multi-Year Strategic Plan includes the goal of connecting classroom learning to real-world environmental action. 

Boamah said the partnership with Provenance Farms met that goal by showing students how regenerative farming can help improve sustainability and reduce food insecurity.

“After we paired them, we had a briefing with students and they came up with the tagline, ‘We’re all in this together’,” he said. “Provenance Farms hosted a field trip day where students and staff came onto the farm to learn how they’re raising their chicken, taught them about soil health, and walked them through the entire farm.”

The students created a series of videos that have been shared across their community to share what they’ve learned about regenerative farming. 

“We just asked them, what does this mean to you to know that you can solve some big problems in the world?” Witchell said. “They came back with a ton of great responses, so many good questions, and lots of energy. I’ve got zero doubt in the ability of these kids to just grab the bull by the horns and make stuff happen.”

An assist from the Junk Yard Dog

One of Boamah’s favourite projects is the previously mentioned Shooting for Peace campaign with Jerome Williams.

“His mission is going into schools to teach about financial literacy, because that was one of the big gaps he saw across communities,” Boamah said. “He built the program using EverFi and gifts it to every school that he visits through his foundation, the JYD Project.”

Williams approached Swiirl with an idea to add a community-powered element to the campaign.

“He has a videographer following him around shooting as he visits school, but said it would be even better if students who were engaging with the program created the face of the campaign. I asked why just one school when we could do an entire district, and that’s where the Toronto and Peel District School Boards come in,” Boamah said.

In addition to students creating campaign content, Boamah and Williams gamified the campaign with the three top schools earning an in-person appearance by JYD himself. 

“Swiirl has truly catapulted Shooting For Peace’s vision of expanding across North America,” Williams said. “We are so excited to partner on a platform that engages students, schools, and communities directly in creating content and expanding their education with things not typically offered in school.”

Academic catalyst

While Swiirl’s roots are in community-driven campaigns, its growth has been fuelled in part by connections with post-secondary institutions, especially the University of Toronto.

“U of T has just been a catalyst,” Boamah said. “The doors they’ve opened have been incredible.”

That discovery started at Collision 2022, when Boamah connected with the Black Entrepreneurship Alliance (BEA) at York University.

“I’m a serial entrepreneur, so when I heard about the BEA, I was like, ‘How have I never heard of this?’” Boamah said. “I applied, got in, and from there, everything started to build.”

At the next Collision conference, BEA introduced Boamah to the Black Innovation Zone, a hub for Black-led tech organizations that includes U of T’s Black Founders Network (BFN) and iCube at U of T Mississauga.

“Efosa KC Obano from BFN and I really hit it off,” Boamah said. “He told me, ‘Once you scale a bit more, we want you in our accelerate stream.’” 

Swiirl was one of 11 companies selected out of over 200 applicants accepted into the BFN Accelerate program. That support isn’t just mentorship and programming. U of T is also a Swiirl client. 

“We’re doing a massive campaign with them right now,” Boamah said. “Five founders from each BFN cohort are being paired with students. Those students are learning about entrepreneurship while also using their technical skills to film a campaign featuring founders and getting those stories out into the community.”

The momentum has expanded beyond U of T. Swiirl is part of York University’s YSpace tech accelerator and works with Toronto Metropolitan University’s Ted Rogers School of Management on capstone projects for creative students. 

“All the universities are kind of putting their arms around us because they believe in the model,” Boamah said.

The model is attracting attention beyond Canadian universities.

“We’re having conversations with George Washington University, the University of Southern California, and others,” Boamah said. “They’ve seen the impact and are now saying, ‘Can we introduce you to admissions? Can we use this for recruitment?’ That 360 partnership is rare because we have a rare model where some of our ecosystem can be both customer and beneficiary, which is incredible.”

With 20 brands already using the platform and more than $500,000 in annual recurring revenue, Boamah said Swiirl is proving that purpose-led creativity can deliver both community impact and sustainable growth.

“We are turning communities into creative agencies for brands,” Boamah said.

All images courtesy Swiirl.

The post Former Raptors star Jerome Williams newest teammate of community connector Swiirl first appeared on BetaKit.

Web Summit Vancouver wrapped up on May 30 with its first Pitch competition, and all three early-stage startups on stage were founded or co-founded by women based in Vancouver.

The winner, sustainable colourants developer Lite-1, launched in 2021 with co-founders Roya Aghighi and Sarah Graham at the helm. GlüxKind, a hard tech firm responsible for an AI-enabled smart stroller, was created in 2020 after co-founders Anne Hunger and Kevin Huang became parents. VodaSafe is developing aquatic rescue tech for first responders and was founded by Carlyn Loncaric in 2014.

“That’s my mission, to be able to scale [Lite-1] to a level that can make a big impact and capture a good market portion.”

Roya Aghighi
CEO,
Lite-1

Web Summit’s organizers claimed the competition reflected a “remarkable rise” in women’s involvement since its women in tech program launched in 2015. It stated 44 percent of participating startups this year had one or more female founders. To qualify for the competition, startups had to have received less than $5 million CAD in funding with no “discernible change” in business model in the last three years. The 15 judges included RBCx associate vice-president Audrey Marie-Nely, FPV Ventures co-founder Wesley Chan, and Race Capital general partner Edith Yeung.

Lite-1 is developing microorganism-based colourants meant to replace sometimes toxic synthetic dyes. Aghighi claimed in a statement that her company’s approach is useful for “any industry” that uses materials that require colouring, and that large-scale adoption was her goal.

“That’s my mission, to be able to scale [Lite-1] to a level that can make a big impact and capture a good market portion,” she said in the statement.

Pitch aims to boost recognition and attract interest from investors rather than secure funding in itself. Aghighi noted in her statement that it was rare to pitch to “this many people all at once,” and that there had been some “meaningful” investor conversations after each pitch during the competition. She had hoped for more public exposure, however.

RELATED: “The energy is here”: local leaders call Web Summit Vancouver’s scaled-back debut a success

“We still need a little bit more [of an] educational aspect around it with the public,” Aghighi said.

The win comes as last year’s Pitch winner, Victoria’s VoxCell BioInnovation, won the BC’s Startup All-Stars competition at Web Summit. It bested 11 other companies, taking home $10,000 for its work on human-like cancer tissue models that the company claims can help improve and accelerate pharmaceutical research on drug candidates.

Web Summit said its inaugural conference in Vancouver had a relatively low turnout compared to its predecessor, the Toronto-based Collision conference, with 15,727 attendees versus 37,832. Diana Gibson, BC’s new Minister of Jobs, Economic Development, and Innovation, nonetheless said the event was worth “every penny” of the $14.8 million in government funding (from all levels of government) involved in relocating it to Vancouver. It fostered partnerships and “energy,” she said.

Feature image courtesy of Web Summit Vancouver on Flickr.

The post Women-led startups sweep first Pitch competition on stage at Web Summit Vancouver first appeared on BetaKit.

Vancouver-based UrbanLogiq has launched an expanded version of its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered government data platform, which it says will help policymakers better understand the regions they govern.  

The Vancouver-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup announced its new platform alongside a program to glean private-sector data at Web Summit Vancouver last week.

“Prime Minister Carney’s focus on AI is a practical necessity.”

Mark Masongsong
UrbanLogiq

The company says it’s looking to solve the “universal fragmentation of data” through an all-in-one platform that governments can use for urban management. Founded in 2016, UrbanLogiq got its start in the Startup in Residence program with the City of San Francisco. CEO and co-founder Mark Masongsong told Vancouver Tech Journal he wanted to bring Silicon Valley data analysis and insights into the public sector. 

UrbanLogiq’s platform allows all levels of government to upload urban data to map out their regions, including zoning, density, utilities, traffic, and transit activity. The company says its platform cleans and refines data, analyzes it to provide insights, and uses machine learning to generate action items. 

Masongsong told BetaKit that the newly released Global Foundation Model offers a “digital twin,” or digital replica of the physical world, connected to a neural network that tracks how communities interact with their environment. 

“This is building on UrbanLogiq’s current capabilities by giving us access to private sector data not previously accessible by governments, and extending our platform’s reach worldwide,” Masongsong told BetaKit. 

The new features are partly informed by data from engineering giant WSP and public transport IT firm Cubic Transportation Systems, who are the first participants in UrbanLogiq’s new Strategic Alliance Partners program. In exchange for the data, the companies get access to UrbanLogiq’s predictive AI models, the company said. 

RELATED: Prime Minister Mark Carney’s mandate letter calls for government to deploy AI “at scale”

In addition to machine learning and predictive insights, UrbanLogiq has made a foray into generative AI. Last March, it launched a custom AI chatbot for governments called Ethica. The company said it could access private government data but with robust security controls, allowing public-sector employees to interact through natural language requests about permits, developments, and urban planning. UrbanLogiq says the model was trained on open data sources, such as laws, regulations, bylaws, and budgets, using government-controlled third-party data. 

The software company has a number of Canadian and US municipal governments as clients, including Ottawa, Burnaby, BC, and Kelowna, BC. 

In April, UrbanLogiq expanded its tech team by bringing in former Nvidia engineer Paul Lalonde as a strategic advisor. 

“I’m really excited by how the mission and the technology come together, to break down all the data silos that have been plaguing governments ever since data started,” Lalonde said in a promotional video.

This comes as Canada sees an increasing push from the tech industry and the federal government to integrate digital tools into the public sector to boost productivity. Though the data on AI’s productivity gains has been mixed, there have been calls from volunteer industry groups such as Build Canada and Prime Minister Mark Carney to increase AI use in governance.

“There is a very real danger that both governments worldwide and Canada as a nation could be left behind without strong and decisive leadership,” Masongsong said. “Prime Minister Carney’s focus on AI is a practical necessity.” 

Feature image courtesy Denys Nevozhai via Unsplash.

The post UrbanLogiq wants governments to rely on its AI-powered insights first appeared on BetaKit.

I have been all over Canada for the last few weeks attending the nation’s tech events.

One of those events was the Upper Bound AI conference, hosted in sunny Edmonton to a record-breaking 6,000 people. The Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) organized the event, and this week on the podcast, we have Amii CEO Cam Linke. 

Recorded live from Amii’s wonderful office space, we discuss the growth of Upper Bound, Amii’s role in the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy, and how it works with and stands out from the two other National AI Institutes, Vector and Mila. Hogwarts comparisons may have been made.

“Be a customer of Canadian startups. This is the thing that every company needs. Nobody died from having too many customers.” 

Amii announced a major partnership with Google on AI literacy at Upper Bound, so we also discuss that alongside the proliferation of AI in academia, as well as AI as the next step of human evolution (that’s according to Amii chief scientific advisor and recent Turing Award winner, Richard Sutton, whose keynote closed the event).

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RSS

I couldn’t let Linke leave without also sharing his thoughts on what phase three of the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy should look like (especially since phase two was drafted before the Gen AI boom), the role of regulation (and where Bill C-27 and its AIDA provision failed), and the impact of a new federal AI minister with a national mandate to push adoption.

In Canada’s AI houses, is Amii a Hufflepuff or a Ravenclaw?

Let’s dig in.

PRESENTED BY

The BetaKit Podcast is presented by Motion: the mission control centre for creative strategists.

Motion makes it easy to analyze what’s working across your campaigns, find winning ideas, and scale creative that converts.

Motion is hiring engineers, customer success managers, and platform experts. Engineers work on a modern tech stack, ship in one-week cycles, and own their features end to end.

If you want to work on hard problems with real impact, explore open roles at motionapp.com/careers.

The BetaKit Podcast is edited by Darian MacDonald. Feature image courtesy Amii via X.

The post Amii CEO Cam Linke says Canada’s AI strategy requires customers first appeared on BetaKit.

In Alberta, a new long-term vision is afoot: to shape the province not only into a destination for AI development, but the backbone of the nation’s AI infrastructure. 

As the provincial government moves forward on an ambitious $100-billion plan to build AI data centres, local tech leaders are enthusiastic. They say the projects will lead to company creation, reinforce control over Canadian data, and build on the tech sector’s momentum. But these proposed projects, which are multi-year efforts, could potentially strain the province’s electrical grid and significantly drive up carbon emissions. 

“Alberta aims…to be the host jurisdiction of that ripple effect of technological advancement in every industry.”

Nate Glubish
Alberta Minister of Technology and Innovation

Alberta is looking to attract $100 billion of investment through its AI data centre strategy. Released in December, the approach hinges on pushing Alberta as a cheap source of abundant natural gas, a reduced-regulation environment for infrastructure projects, a cold climate for easy cooling, and a comparatively low tax burden for companies. The plan includes a comprehensive review of all regulatory timelines to cut “red tape,” a data centre “concierge” program to streamline projects, new programs and funding opportunities for AI development, and collaborations with municipalities as well as Indigenous groups.

Alberta’s technology and innovation minister, Nate Glubish, has been vocal about his desire to make Alberta the premier destination for AI data centres. He says this will make Alberta more attractive for AI companies looking to set up shop and make access to AI compute more affordable and reliable. 

“Alberta aims…to be the host jurisdiction of that ripple effect of technological advancement in every industry,” Glubish told BetaKit in an interview.

Traditional data centres provide computing power to store data and run applications. Canada is home to roughly 240 data centres, according to the Canada Energy Regulator, which is part of the federal natural resources ministry. AI data centres, which can power training and inference of large-language models (LLMs), are significantly more energy-intensive. While traditional data centres require between five and 10 megawatts (MW) of power, one AI “hyperscale” data centre typically demands more than 100 MW, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). 

RELATED: Calgary says it has the makings of an innovation capital. What’s the next step?

Alberta’s plan aligns with a federal push to build out Canadian compute capacity. The federal government committed $2 billion toward AI infrastructure through its Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Strategy in December. The initiative aims to increase access to computing power for Canadian companies and researchers, the government said, and includes a $300-million fund for small companies. 

The newly appointed Minister of AI and Digital Innovation, Evan Solomon, wants to make Canada a world leader in AI, he said via video remarks at the Upper Bound AI conference in Edmonton earlier this month. In addition to appointing Solomon, Prime Minister Mark Carney is dictating that his cabinet “deploy AI at scale” to “boost productivity” (the impact of AI on productivity is a mixed picture). 

Local tech leaders say AI data centres would provide a boon to the Alberta tech ecosystem. Josh Rainbow, CEO of Future Summit, which organizes a variety of tech events, said access to more AI compute would have the downstream effect of building more companies in the region. He said it will create a more robust ecosystem uniting software, infrastructure, and energy sectors.

“I think we have a generational opportunity,” Rainbow told BetaKit.

Cory Janssen, CEO of Edmonton-based venture studio and AI lab AltaML, agreed that expanded access to local compute will result in more AI companies getting their start, and even lead to “the next Cohere.” 

“AI is underhyped,” Janssen told BetaKit, adding that AI data centre demand is only going to grow. 

Part of the advantage of building AI data centres in Alberta, Janssen said, is data sovereignty for Canadian companies. Hosting data servers in Canada has become a hot topic as the country seeks to build out a domestic stack for AI compute amid trade tensions with the United States (US). 

Telecommunications giants Bell and Telus recently announced Canadian AI data centre projects. Both use exclusive partnerships with American hardware providers Groq and Nvidia. Bell’s AI data centre project lead Dan Rink said at Web Summit Vancouver that Groq does not store data processed through its hardware, allowing for a Canadian-controlled data stack. 

“Sovereign compute matters,” Janssen said. “It doesn’t matter if the data centre [is] in Canada. If it’s through a foreign-owned firm, like through an American firm, the administration can get access to that data.”

The US CLOUD Act permits US law enforcement to request data hosted by US providers in the US or elsewhere only if it obtains a warrant related to criminal proceedings.

Aside from the geopolitical considerations, some political leaders argue that the economic benefits of building AI data centres have been overblown. Naheed Nenshi, former mayor of Calgary and leader of the Alberta NDP, is not convinced it’s the best economic development strategy.

RELATED: Bell to build six AI data centres in Canada as telcos compete on infrastructure

“Data centres are not actually very job-creating,” Nenshi told BetaKit. “It may take 1,000 people to build, but maybe 100 people to run it. So the benefits, particularly in rural areas, have been largely oversold.”

He added that the province requires a more fulsome economic development strategy beyond contracts for large infrastructure projects. 

Glubish claimed that AI data centres create roughly 3,500 jobs for each gigawatt of infrastructure. Once the centres are built, he claims each one would create 400 to 1,000 long-term jobs to operate and oversee the infrastructure.  

Vast compute, vaster demand 

Since the provincial plan’s rollout in December, proposals for AI data centre projects are already outpacing electricity availability.

According to a March 2025 report from the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO), a provincial arms-length agency that helps oversee electricity, the demand for proposed large load projects (data centres) reached 11,879 MW in Q1 2025, up 60-fold from 200 MW the year before. 

Carson Kearl, a senior energy transition analyst at Enverus, told BetaKit that this “queue” of proposed projects is requesting roughly 100 percent of Alberta’s current peak electricity demand—meaning, if they were all approved, the province’s electricity use would more than double. 

However, not all these projects will be approved. Kearl says there is not enough natural gas infrastructure to support that level of energy consumption right now. 

“The risk is you go too fast and you start to strain the system,” Kearl said. “But there’s a bunch of guardrails in place to prevent that from happening.” 

“There’s going to be a bunch of winners and losers in that spend. But the end result of that is we’ll have the infrastructure.”

Cory Janssen
AltaML

According to the AESO, electricity requests from projects under assessment far surpass the amount of power generation these projects would add to the grid. It estimates that the electricity load of facilities requesting to come online will reach 10,000 MW by 2029, with only 2,500 MW of generation put back into the system, such as by capturing the heat these centres would generate and putting it to use in a way that would otherwise use electricity. The AESO told BetaKit it would reveal more information on its strategy for dealing with requests on June 4 during a webinar for industry players. 

One of the biggest projects in the works comes from Beacon AI Centers, which recently announced it would invest up to $10 billion CAD to build six data centres near Edmonton and Calgary that it claims will go live in 2027 at the earliest. The centres will collectively demand 4,500 MW of power, the company said.

“If you can get billion-dollar investments, that’s great,” Nenshi said. “But you have to make sure that they’re not doing harm.”

The power needed to run data centres is expected to grow 160 percent globally by 2030 due to increased AI use, according to a May 2024 report from Goldman Sachs. Beyond potentially straining the grid, data centres could potentially produce double the emissions they do today, and consume up to four percent of the world’s energy, as compared to the one to two percent they are using today. Data centres are already having adverse impacts on human respiratory health in nearby communities, due to their demand for energy supplied by fossil fuels, researchers say. 

These AI data centres would be powered by Alberta’s abundant natural gas, according to the province’s data centre strategy. Glubish claimed that natural gas is the only way to reliably power AI data centres in Alberta in the short term, as the province doesn’t have access to hydroelectric power, and nuclear plants would take too long to build. The province of Alberta has officially opposed the federal government’s drafted clean electricity regulations, which call for an end to fossil fuel use by 2035.

Using non-hydro renewables for AI data centres would be a “technology mismatch,” Kearl said, as these always-on facilities require a baseline electricity supply that would make solar or wind power impractical.

Canadian telecommunications giants building AI infrastructure have so far avoided Alberta as a destination. Bell’s planned AI data centres, for example, will run on hydroelectricity in BC, with plans to expand to Manitoba and Québec. The project’s lead, Dan Rink, told Bloomberg at Web Summit Vancouver that he didn’t think it made sense to opt for emissions-heavy natural gas when hydroelectricity is abundant in Canada.

Tech leaders BetaKit spoke with touted carbon capture technology as the solution to increased emissions. Canadian tech companies such as Deep Sky are building a pilot project in Alberta to suck carbon out of the air and store it. 

RELATED: COO Alex Petre replaces Damien Steel as CEO of carbon removal startup Deep Sky

Once online, Deep Sky claims the project will capture 3,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year—a fraction of the output of even one data centre. According to the environmental tech non-profit WattTime, a 100-MW natural-gas powered data centre in the US state of Virginia is responsible for 463,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually, while a California data centre with access to more renewable power sources emits 309,000 (for scale, annual greenhouse gas emissions per capita in Canada is about three tonnes). 

Building the centres themselves, plus building associated energy infrastructure, will take years, Kearl said. Given how much money this infrastructure costs, he said, patience will pay off for companies that don’t build it all at once, but scale up gradually with demand.

There’s a question as to whether that demand will grow as projected, or if infrastructure will outpace it, creating an AI “bubble” similar to when companies overbought early internet infrastructure before the dot-com crash in 2000. Some hyperscalers, such as Microsoft and Amazon Web Services, have already cancelled proposed data centre contracts after spending tens of billions of dollars on compute. 

“There’s going to be a bunch of winners and losers in that spend,” Janssen said. “But the end result of that is we’ll have the infrastructure.” 

With files from Josh Scott. Feature image courtesy Kevin Ache via Unsplash.

The post Alberta’s tech sector is embracing an AI data centre boom. Will it pay off? first appeared on BetaKit.

After two weeks of living out of a suitcase, I’m back in Toronto. But I still have the West Coast on my mind.

Josh Scott and Aaron Anandji saw Madison McLauchlan’s output from Alberta the week prior and said, “Challenge accepted.” For those who didn’t attend Web Summit Vancouver, BetaKit has you covered, from opening night critiques of AI and social media to end-of-week interviews with BC’s new JEDI (yes, that’s an official government role on the Best Coast), who said the event was worth “every penny.” We even sent Josh on an electric bus tour of BC’s cleantech sector.

My role in Vancouver was mostly to attend the evening events (the burden of leadership, I guess), of which there were many. But I think the best one might have been our event, hosted in partnership with La base entrepreneuriale and the Cansbridge Fellowship at McCarthy Tétrault’s stunning Vancouver office. There’s nothing more fun than getting in a room with the next generation of Canadian tech to share stories.

The first Web Summit Vancouver was much smaller than its predecessor, but that might have contributed to the good vibes. Local leaders already have a bunch of ideas on how to help the event double in size next year.

My favourite memory of the week? Hopping on a boat to tour the English Bay at sunset, right after BetaKit was awarded two SABEW Canada journalism awards for the second year in a row. BetaKit’s Vancouver contingent reconvened later that evening to celebrate with a pizza party and lots of laughter.

Being recognized for your hard work is always an honour. But no one does a job they love for the recognition. Our award-winning team is back at it on Monday.

Douglas Soltys
Editor-in-chief

Land your pitch at Startupfest and take home hundreds of thousands of dollars in investment prizes.

Over the past 15 years, Startupfest has become known for the game-changing opportunities that are available to startups. With high-impact networking, expert mentorship, world-class content, and an ever-growing list of prizes, it’s no wonder they’re a must-attend event for founders.

Diana Virgovicova and Shirley Zhong, founders of Xatoms, triumphed at Startupfest 2024, winning 3 investment prizes and taking home $250,000. Looking ahead to this year’s edition, Diana urged other founders to try for the same:  “The Startupfest investment literally changed our lives last year–I highly encourage you to participate.”

This year, for their 2025 edition, Ambition+ Startupfest is rolling out more opportunities than ever before. Expect to see new prizes, expanded mentorship, exciting content, and all the magic of Startupfest this July 9- 11th in Montréal.

Learn more & register for Startupfest here.

BetaKit repeats as General Excellence winner at SABEW Canada Awards

For the second year in a row, BetaKit was recognized for General Excellence, Small Publication at the annual SABEW Canada Best in Business Awards for a package of editorial work that documented a weird year in Canadian tech. 

Following up on his 2023 Jeff Sanford Best Young Journalist Award, BetaKit reporter Josh Scott received the 2024 award for General Excellence, Reporter at a Small Publication.

“This award is an honour that would not have been possible without the small but mighty BetaKit team,” Scott said.

Not to be outdone, Ottawa-based staff writer Alex Riehl, who represented BetaKit at the awards ceremony in Toronto on Wednesday night, took home second place in pub trivia at the event. 

Amid AI proof-of-concept fatigue, Cohere co-founder urges potential customers to keep the faith and focus on ROI

During a panel discussion at Web Summit Vancouver this week, Cohere co-founder Ivan Zhang addressed the proof-of-concept fatigue that has taken hold among enterprises racing to adopt artificial intelligence.

In a follow-up interview with BetaKit, Zhang acknowledged that many firms have not seen the return on investment (ROI) necessary to justify their AI spending, and said he anticipates that AI startups will now be tasked with winning back companies “burned” by projects that didn’t pan out. 

“The next phase of go-to-market for this technology is, ‘where is the ROI?’”

The Toronto-based enterprise AI giant also filed a motion in a United States court last week to dismiss a lawsuit in which media companies, including the Toronto Star, allege that the startup conducted large-scale copyright infringement. 

Venture Capital Conversations

The annual Invest Canada conference in Calgary this week followed the release of multiple reports showing a five-year low for venture deals, a shrinking early-stage pipeline, and a bleak fundraising market for VCs. The new data has reinforced the industry’s private concerns, leading some to publicly question whether the dim outlook reflects a “systemic” problem.

Despite the doom and gloom, the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA) recognized the deals, dealmakers, and community service behind Canada’s VC and PE firms with the 2025 CVCA Awards. Pender and Novacap got top marks for cashing in on some of the larger go-private deals last year. 

Canadian Women in VC (CWVC) also analyzed the careers of more than 600 women in Canadian VC for the first time, and found that nearly one in four members have left the industry since 2019. CWVC hopes to gauge the significance of the data by producing analysis on an annual basis.

Bell to build six AI data centres in Canada as telcos compete on infrastructure

Telecommunications giant Bell is tossing its hat into the AI infrastructure ring as its competitors invest in AI data centres in anticipation of a growing demand for AI compute.

The Bell AI Fabric project aims to build six AI data centres in British Columbia, which the company says make up the first “supercluster” of a planned national network. Bell told BetaKit it’s looking to expand beyond the first six data centres to develop facilities in Manitoba and Québec.

Jim Balsillie calls on Ottawa to prioritize stablecoins at Inventures fireside with Premier Smith

Former BlackBerry co-CEO Jim Balsillie thinks Canada should expedite the introduction of stablecoins and open banking as part of a strategic offence in ongoing negotiations with the US.

In a conversation with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith at Inventures 2025 in Calgary, the Chair of the Council of Canadian Innovators said that US President Trump’s embrace of cryptocurrencies and advancing stablecoin legislation south of the border signal an impending risk for Canada.

FEATURED STORIES FROM OUR PARTNERS

• AI integration at work is becoming a default expectation, but using it effectively remains a developing skill. We spoke with four professionals about how the Chang School’s Curv Microcertificate in AI for Productivity sharpened their understanding of AI’s role in iteration, problem-solving, and productivity. Read more about what they learned.
  
• Osler’s 2024 Deal Points Report captured the pulse of Canadian venture. To go beyond the numbers, we asked four Osler partners what’s happening behind closed doors, including what’s changed, what still works, and what founders need to know to raise in 2025. Read more from the people behind the deals.

Weekly Canadian Deals, Dollars & More

• CAN – Farm Credit Canada commits to investing $2B in AgTech
• BC – PacifiCan invests $1.8M in Integrated Marketplace initiative
• VAN – Jane Software to be valued at $1.8B in upcoming secondary
• SK – Innovation Saskatchewan boosts tech sector with new strategy
• TOR – ProteinQure nabs $11M for AI drug discovery platform
• TOR – Vanguard strikes AI partnership with University of Toronto
• TOR – Koho launches international money transfers
• TOR – Zown expands homebuying app into the US after early success
• OTT – Assent adds Michael Southworth as CEO
• MTL – AssistIQ nabs $11.5M to help hospitals track equipment
• MTL – WareMatch raises $2M to expand its AirBnb for warehouses
• SHB – Nord Quantique shows off breakthrough in error correction

The BetaKit Podcast – The Canadian engineer trying to fix the internet’s original sin

“ Companies have spent a lot of time and money creating really great user experience for humans. And now there’s kind of this race to create a really good experience for AI agents.”

Erik Reppel, head of engineering for the Coinbase Developer Platform, joins to explain why the x402 open payment standard he helped create might plug one of the oldest holes in the internet, and how the protocol could revolutionize commerce—with the help of cryptocurrency and AI.

Take The BetaKit Quiz – This week: Calgary Capital, the King comes to Canada, and nothing but Bluesky in rain city

Think you’re on top of Canadian tech and innovation news? Time to prove it. Test your knowledge of Canadian tech news with The BetaKit Quiz for May 30, 2025.

Get your ticket today! Attend the Step-Up Program Pitch & Showcase on Thursday, June 19th to connect, collaborate and celebrate the achievements of the Step-Up Program participants. Hear founder pitches and network with industry professionals, including city officials. 

Join us as we celebrate scaling companies in the IDEA Step-Up Program.

Step-Up Program Pitch & Showcase
June 19th from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
C Banquets, Mississauga Civic Centre.

Register now

Feature image courtesy Ramsey Cardy/Web Summit via Flickr.

The post Web Summit Vancouver was worth “every penny” first appeared on BetaKit.

As Web Summit Vancouver wrapped up the first of three tech conferences planned for the city between now and 2027, three things were clear: the weather was perfect, traffic was nowhere close to as bad as Toronto’s, and the vibes were positive.

A scaled-down version of its predecessor Collision, Web Summit Vancouver featured nearly 16,000 attendees in its inaugural year—less than half of the 38,000 attendee tally that descended on Toronto last year. The reduced scope also meant fewer speakers, investors, and media in attendance, but conference organizers noted the 1,100 exhibiting startups were a record for any first-year Web Summit event.

But the reduced size and scope did not seem to deter the local tech entrepreneurs, investors, and leaders BetaKit spoke to about the event, who expressed excitement about welcoming their peers from across Canada and around the world to Vancouver.

“We are definitely not going to let you down.”

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim

The week’s proceedings kicked off with remarks from Web Summit CEO Paddy Cosgrave, who specifically thanked British Columbia (BC) Minister of Finance Brenda Bailey and Vancouver mayor Ken Sim for their early support in bringing the event to Vancouver.

Speaking alongside Cosgrave, Sim said the city was thrilled to welcome the tech world to the West Coast, and keen to ensure Vancouver takes full advantage of its role as Web Summit host. “Thank you for giving us this opportunity,” he said to Cosgrave. “We are definitely not going to let you down.”

Claiming that “Vancouver is more than just the views,” Sim emphasized the city’s strength in specific tech verticals like augmented reality, artificial intelligence (AI), cleantech, crypto, digital media, and life sciences. The message mirrored some of the programming surrounding the event designed to highlight BC’s capabilities in these areas.

“That’s insane.”

The promise and challenges associated with AI dominated conversations and panels the week. New York University professor emeritus Gary Marcus sounded off on the limitations of large language models on opening night, and Cohere co-founder Ivan Zhang discussed the proof-of-concept fatigue amongst enterprises racing to adopt generative AI the following day.

This year’s content was less celebrity-focused and perhaps more political than usual. Erratic tariff and border policies from the United States (US)—which have upended conferences across Canada and fuelled global macroeconomic uncertainty—hung over this week’s proceedings. 

When asked about how all US instability had impacted WSV in a joint press conference with Sim, Cosgrave said, “To put it very bluntly, I think we’re quite fortunate that the event is in Vancouver,” and not the US.

Last year, Destination Vancouver projected that WSV would generate close to $57 million in direct spending and more than $93 million in overall economic impact for BC in its first year.

Asked what success looks like to him during his press conference with Cosgrave, Sim proclaimed that WSV is “already a winner,” asserting, “we’ve already hit our targets.”

Sim floated during that press conference that he hopes to see WSV grow to 40,000 attendees by 2027. He did not respond to an interview request from BetaKit.

When asked about the mayor’s attendee target, Web Summit executive vice-president of Asia-Pacific Casey Lau replied, “That’s insane.” But Lau did say he expects attendance to come closer to 30,000 next year.

Hitting that number will require Web Summit organizers and their supporters to make a few easy fixes. The slightly diminished VC attendance numbers (700, about 8 percent less than last year) could partially be attributed to the event taking place at the same time as the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association’s annual Invest Canada event, luring lots of investors who might have otherwise been at WSV.

Lau hoped next year would see greater engagement from Western Canada and a more involved federal presence (InBC CEO Jill Earthy noted to BetaKit that the lack of a ‘Canada Booth’ at a conference with over 50 trade delegations was a miss). Lau added that local organizations “kind of dropped the ball” on doing more to showcase the surrounding area to international attendees, through charter tours to Kelowna, Victoria, or even Stanley Park.

“ I think there may be some doubters even in our partners here, but I think now we’ve proven that it’s gonna be quite big and they’ll be more prepared next year,” he said.

Lau also mentioned an opportunity for Web Summit Vancouver to connect with the region’s gaming industry, which was music to the ears of Shane Nilsson, co-founder of local game company Coal Car Studio. Close to launching its new virtual reality game Fruit Golf in early access this year, Coal Car was selected as one of 12 studios to represent BC’s creative technology sector at WSV as part of the BC Pavilion showcase.

Speaking with BetaKit, Nilsson said the showcase was a “valuable experience,” but noted Web Summit could do much more to attract and spotlight the province’s creative tech ecosystem.

Worth “every penny”

Vancouver began exploring the idea of luring Collision to the city in 2023 before inking an agreement to establish Web Summit Vancouver last year. That deal includes up to $14.8 million CAD in combined funding from the federal, provincial, and municipal governments over three years, including $1.6 million from the City of Vancouver, $6.6 million from the Government of Canada, and $6.6 million from the Government of BC.

That works out to less per year than the $6.5 million that Collision was receiving annually in Toronto and a far cry from the north of $40 million over three years the conference had once sought to stay in Toronto.

When asked by BetaKit whether she felt the investment was worthwhile, BC minister of jobs, economic development, and innovation Diana Gibson said, “Every penny. The relationships I’ve seen built already, the feedback we’ve heard is that the partnerships are here, the energy’s here.”

“I think it was a big risk for everybody. And actually, it worked.”

Casey Lau

“It’s so important that we’re here in Vancouver showcasing the innovation, the over 12,000 companies here [in BC] that are able to be on the world stage and what our government is doing to be at the table … is a real indicator of that priority,” Gibson said.

“Coming to Vancouver, I thought, was going to be a big challenge,” Lau said. “How are we going to get here? Are we going to be able to hit the numbers? New name .. and new city? I think it was a big risk for everybody. And actually, it worked.”

Certn co-founder and CEO Andrew McLeod agreed. “WSV was an awesome event for the community—really well organized and a fantastic excuse to see everyone,” he told BetaKit. “As a tech community in BC, we need more than ever to find reasons to come together, collaborate, and do business. Events like this are exactly what we need to keep building momentum.”

With files from Aaron Anandji.

Feature image courtesy Sam Barnes/Web Summit via Flickr.

The post “The energy is here”: local leaders call Web Summit Vancouver’s scaled-back debut a success first appeared on BetaKit.

On the last day of Web Summit Vancouver, Innovate BC president Peter Cowan announced a renewed $30 million commitment to the provincial Crown agency’s Integrated Marketplace program, designed to help de-risk the adoption of technology services from across BC. The initiative is being funded in collaboration with PacifiCan after a successful three-year pilot.

Local entrepreneurs Jessica Yip and Scott Beatty joined Cowan at the announcement, alongside Diana Gibson, BC’s new minister of Jobs, Economic Development, and Innovation (JEDI).

Gibson was named to the role in November 2024, taking over from Brenda Bailey. Now six months into her tenure, BetaKit caught up with Minister Gibson after the press conference to talk about upcoming policies, dismantling trade barriers, BC’s slipping venture numbers, and her thoughts on the first-ever Web Summit Vancouver. 

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What feedback have you received from the tech ecosystem so far, and how is that shaping your mandate?

The data shows our tech sector has been thriving. Its growth has outpaced inflation for the last ten years, and we have over 180,000 people working in that sector now. 

We’ve heard that the talent pool is rich here and that it is attracting investment and business. We’ve invested to deepen that talent pool and continue to work with our research universities and our tech sector to ensure that ecosystem support is there. 

We’ve also heard that the richness of the ecosystem, moving from early R&D through to big anchor companies, is starting to [take root]. The diversity of size and scale really puts you on a jumping-off point to grow to the next level.

Is there a specific piece of innovation policy you are excited about?

Today, the thing I’m most excited about is the Integrated Marketplace program. 

The program is showing incredible results. First, it delivers for the startup that’s given a reference customer and the opportunity to jump onto the national and world stage. Second, it helps the industry partner that’s looking to solve a problem—whether that’s a port, or an airport, or the health sector delivering in rural and remote communities. And it helps them be at the forefront of innovation, too. They can pick up early tech and innovation and be competitive.  

And it helps the government problem-solve. The 30 startups we’ve been supporting are showing incredible results.

Your predecessor was thanked by CEO Paddy Cosgrave for her help in bringing Web Summit to Vancouver. What policies from her time as JEDI minister are you looking to continue?

Minister Bailey leaves really big shoes to fill, and had such ambition. It’s a testament to her legacy that the tech sector is in such a strong and resilient place at this moment, where we are all facing such headwinds. 

We share a real passion for continuing to see our tech sector on the world stage, growing and thriving. She worked hard to bring Web Summit here, and it is really the moment for Web Summit to be here in Vancouver while we profile the incredible innovation in BC. 

We are looking to continue to ensure the framework is there with the investments we’ve had in talent and the new talent spaces we’ve invested in. [With the] Innovate BC and InBC Crown corporations that are working to support the ecosystem, whether that’s through investment, or whether that’s through IP mentorship. 

So, continuing to build out the supports around our tech sector so that it can thrive to continue to grow the legacy Minister Bailey left.

Last year, the federal, provincial, and municipal governments offered a combined $14.8 million CAD to bring Web Summit to Vancouver. Has the event been worth the investment so far?

Every penny. The relationships I’ve seen built already, the feedback we’ve heard is that the partnerships are here. The energy is here. 

It’s so important that we’re here in Vancouver showcasing the innovation. The over 12,000 companies here [across BC] that are able to be on the world stage and what our government is doing to be at the table is a real indicator of that priority.

A recent CVCA report showed that BC fell behind Alberta in Q1 capital deployment. Is that alarming, and what can BC do to regain ground?

We were ahead of the game on VC, and there may be others playing some catch-up there, but I’m not worried. BC continues to invest, to engage, and to partner. Our ecosystem is rich, and thriving, and resilient. We will continue to grow together.

Programs like Integrated Marketplace, our Manufacturing Jobs Fund, and our new digital sector tax credit show that our government is at the table to work with our partners across the tech ecosystem to see them supported to thrive and grow.

We’ve also seen a dearth of early-stage venture funding across the country. What policy steps are you taking to help venture funds and early-stage startups in BC?

I think that’s part of what we are doing with our Integrated Marketplace and with InBC. We are working with InBC to work with our venture capital funds and angel investors to support that gap. 

We are doing a review of our innovate programs right now so we can identify specific gaps where we can better support the tech ecosystem. We will also be coming out with additional actions later.

The new prime minister has committed to eliminating interprovincial trade barriers. Which areas of BC tech will benefit most, and which barriers are you fighting to eliminate?

We know it can be challenging, particularly when we are facing headwinds, and our government is looking to ensure it is as easy as possible to do business here in BC. That is why I have an ease of doing business review in my ministry mandate and why we are looking to unlock interprovincial trade barriers and internal trade barriers to doing business. 

What we see is a multiplicity of layering. For example, layered regulation and duplication, and that is what I am looking to tackle.

In the midst of US trade tensions, is BC procuring more Canadian tech, and will that continue?

That is really what Integrated Marketplace does. It allows us to buy BC while we profile the success of our BC innovation through proof cases, real problem solving, and real-world examples, while they can show their results with the reference customer and jump to the world stage.

It gives us the opportunity to unlock that BC opportunity.

Feature image courtesy Innovate BC.

The post BC’s new JEDI says Web Summit Vancouver has been worth “every penny” first appeared on BetaKit.

Many of the conversations at Web Summit Vancouver this week have been about the technology: artificial intelligence (AI), decentralized social media, and more AI. But Thursday night’s Cansbridge Fellowship event focused on the people behind the tech, the decisions that have shaped their lives and careers, and what others can learn from them.

“If you lean into risk when you’re young … great things can happen in your life.”

Isaac Souweine, Pender

Hosted in partnership with BetaKit and La base entrepreneuriale at McCarthy Tétrault’s Vancouver office, the event brought together a mix of nearly 100 student entrepreneurs and established leaders from across Canada’s tech sector to network and share stories about personal inflection points: when and why they decided to dream bigger and take greater risks.

“These stories consistently highlight that opportunity kind of comes out of nowhere. If you’re just open to it, and you’re bumping into the right people, you never know what can happen,” Cansbridge Fellowship executive director Gabrielle Foss told attendees.

A trio of 2022 Cansbridge Fellows took the stage last night, including Avo co-founder and CEO Anjali Dhaliwal, Slate co-founder Callum Woznow, and Vunatec founder Jesse Pound. They were joined by BetaKit CEO Siri Agrell, Blossom Social co-founder and CEO Maxwell Nicholson, and Pender Ventures partner Isaac Souweine.

The speakers predominantly told tales about why they decided to pivot or get into tech. The decisions were sometimes small, but often very big. Dhaliwal described how finding the strength to ask questions in school was the first in a long line of decisions that led to her shed an introverted nature and speak in front of large crowds. “You just learn to try things, and over time, it works out,” she said.

Pound explained how she decided to move to Kenya to support a startup helping farmers reduce post-harvest food waste, while Woznow recalled the moment he realized the true extent of his personal agency after choosing to intern at a German car company despite COVID-19 restrictions on travel. 

“I haven’t looked at the world the same way ever since then,” he said.

RELATED: Vantage points: Scott Langille says the next generation of BC tech needs help

For many of the speakers still early in their careers, these inflection points were recent experiences. For others, they were decisions that helped set a career trajectory they’re still on to this day.

Souweine’s inflection point was a risk he took as a Columbia University student studying Eastern religion and philosophy, when he met a guy building Studentonline.com, a startup that provided web services to small colleges during the end of the dot-com bubble. Souweine joined with a friend to help with sales and marketing, but returned to school after an “absolutely disastrous” summer. But when they found out the firm was raising $4 million from a rich angel, they dropped out and rejoined, telling their parents that “anything could happen.” From there, Studentonline.com lasted nine months. “You can calculate the burn rate,” Souweine joked. 

After returning to Columbia to finish his degree, Souweine decided to get a job by selling himself as “a tech guy,” which helped him land a gig as a product manager at Scholastic. That kickstarted a career in Canadian tech that has spanned leadership roles at Frank & Oak, Sonder, Real Ventures, and Pender, which just closed its second fund last fall.

“What is the moral?” Souweine said. “If you lean into risk when you’re young, and you just look up a little bit and get a sense of the way the wind is blowing, and catch that wind and put it in your sails, great things can happen in your life.”

RELATED: Canadian tech’s lost generation

Nicholson’s inflection point required the courage to sail in a different direction. He told the story of Blossom Social’s pivot from trying to build a social brokerage to creating a social network for investors. The startup’s initial vision was to make a Canadian equivalent of the American investing app Public, and develop an alternative to the likes of Wealthsimple and Questrade in Canada. 

The Blossom CEO, who grew up in a small town in British Columbia, told attendees that Blossom was particularly wary of facing off against all of the US startups that had raised more money to build social investing communities. 

“I wouldn’t admit it at the time, but we were scared to compete.” Nicholson said, “We were thinking small.” 

In 2023, Blossom ultimately chose to abandon its brokerage vision, broaden its market, and move into the US. It was not an easy decision. 

“Pivoting fucking sucks,” Nicholson said—but it has already paid dividends. He claimed Blossom now has over 300,000 users—adding 1,000 daily—generated $1.1 million in revenue last year, and is on pace to hit $2.5 million this year. The FinTech company also just recently closed a $3-million financing via crowdfunding from its users and strategic angels. 

Nicholson advised attendees to follow in his footsteps and go global. “Don’t be afraid to compete, and don’t be afraid to think big,” he added.

Agrell closed the evening by charting her winding career journey from journalism, to politics, to tech, and back to journalism. She has worked as a Globe and Mail reporter, overseen communications for the Government of Ontario, spearheaded strategic initiatives for the City of Toronto, and led innovation hub OneEleven before becoming CEO of BetaKit last year.

“Looking back now, every turn, every unexpected path, I think, is actually just leading you exactly where you need to go,” Agrell said.

Feature image courtesy Cansbridge Fellowship, by Justin Kung and Matthew Liew.

The post Student entrepreneurs and Canadian tech leaders talk inflection points at Cansbridge Story Night event first appeared on BetaKit.

Montréal-based third-party logistics (3PL) marketplace and industrial leasing platform WareMatch has raised $2 million CAD as it looks towards expanding its young company internationally. 

The round was raised in the form of a simple agreement for future equity (SAFE), led by American private equity firm Fit Ventures, with participation from Dubai-based investment firm Esanjo Capital, United Kingdom-based fulfillment company Farfill, A&S Holdings, and TankOne Medical. 

“Instead of bootstrapping and constantly playing catch-up on features, we’re investing ahead of the curve.”

Ryan Kalisky
CEO,
WareMatch

While WareMatch is focused on building in North America, strategic investor Farfill hopes to support WareMatch’s expansion across Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Australia, and Asia Pacific regions, Farfill CEO Aamir Kassim stated. 

“Instead of bootstrapping and constantly playing catch-up on features, we’re investing ahead of the curve,” CEO Ryan Kalisky said. “Our partners share our belief that there’s a global need for a platform like WareMatch, and with the right investment in technology, we have a real shot at transforming the warehousing industry worldwide.” 

RELATED: With new name, FleetOps secures $30.8-million CAD Series A round

Founded by Kalisky, COO Ben Toulch, and CTO Rahul Bains, WareMatch launched this past January with similarities to platforms like AirBnb or Zillow, but for warehouses. Kalisky told BetaKit that, while working in distribution, he realized how “fragmented and outdated” the warehouse booking process, coming with no visibility into warehouse availability or pricing unlike the freight side of logistics. Kalisky teamed up with Toulch, who has experience operating AirBnbs, to “bring warehousing into the modern age.”

The WareMatch online marketplace allows customers to browse, compare, and book warehouse space directly on the platform. Customers can also fill out a brief questionnaire to be matched with a tailored list of warehouses for their needs, while 3PL providers can use the platform to market their space, services, and certifications. 

Feature image courtesy WareMatch.

The post WareMatch lands $2-million funding round to expand its Airbnb-like warehouse marketplace  first appeared on BetaKit.

Zown, a Toronto-based proptech startup that aims to streamline and lower costs for home buyers, is expanding to the United States (US) with a launch in California.

The company will initially serve San Francisco and had a soft launch in the region two months ago, but said in a statement that it plans to serve other California markets like Los Angeles, San Diego, and Sacramento.

“If we can shorten the path to homeownership in California, we can do it anywhere.”

Rishard Rameez
Zown CEO

In an interview with BetaKit, CEO and co-founder Rishard Rameez said his firm “already planned” to expand to other states, possibly including competitive housing markets like Texas and Florida, and was piloting expansions to other countries.

Rameez founded Zown in 2022, after Rameez wrote a viral Reddit post complaining about the agent commission fees attached to selling his home in 2021.

The company partly based its strategy on reducing commission costs to allow homebuyers to afford a larger down payment. Zown also touts an “all-in-one” approach that helps customers find homes through an app and handles much of the closing process, such as negotiating interest rates. Zown makes money by collecting commissions from sellers.

Zown has had one, currently undisclosed, funding round to date and became a brokerage in 2023. It claims to have handled over $200 million CAD in transactions through roughly 250 homebuyers, having initially launched in the greater Toronto area. Rameez launched two startups before this: the college carpooling app HiRide, which was acquired in 2020, and the tokenized real estate firm RealMe Property.

Rameez characterized the US expansion as a logical way to continue reaching Zown’s market of “tech-savvy” renters who can’t necessarily afford down payments. California has housing affordability problems like Canada’s, the executive argued.

RELATED: Promise Robotics opens second factory to help increase Canadian housing supply

However, the CEO added that Zown saw ten times the growth potential in the US. The company leader also said Zown had to overcome “too good to be true” skepticism from Canadians worried there might be hidden catches to the deals.

“In California no one questions that,” Rameez said.

Rameez said Zown was still committed to Canadian growth, with plans to expand to Alberta and British Columbia. He added that nearly the entire team was Canadian, and that this wasn’t expected to change despite the backdrop of the Canada-US trade war. The co-founder pointed out that some domestic market realities work in Zown’s favor: it’s not as easy to “buy down” the interest rate on a home purchase in Canada as it is in the US, and fee reductions are one way to lower the cost of a house.

Rameez sees the California rollout as a litmus test for the company’s formula. The soft launch in the state has so far proven successful, he claimed, and showed that a “lot of people” wanted solutions like Zown’s.

“If we can shorten the path to homeownership in California, we can do it anywhere,” he said.

Feature image courtesy of Zown.

The post Zown expands homebuying app into the US after early Canadian success first appeared on BetaKit.

Federal Crown corporation Farm Credit Canada (FCC) has committed to investing $2 billion in AgTech for Canada’s agriculture and food industry by 2030.

The commitment, announced at the Invest Canada ‘25 conference in Calgary this week, will come from the FCC Capital investment arm.

“We are confident that our investment commitment to the industry will ‘crowd in’ capital to amplify the economic impact.”

Darren Baccus
FCC executive vice president

FCC said the capital “will direct more investment into innovative devices, instrumentation, research, and methodologies designed to improve efficiency, productivity, and sustainability” in agriculture. 

A spokesperson for FCC told BetaKit that, with this commitment, direct equity investments will focus on companies at the growth stage, while fund investments will “cover a broad spectrum of the market,” including early-stage. The representative added that deal flow has already begun and companies can approach FCC at any time.

“At FCC, we’re uniquely positioned to provide catalytic capital and work with stakeholders to source compelling investment opportunities,” the executive vice-president in charge of FCC Capital, Darren Baccus, said in a statement. “We are confident that our investment commitment to the industry will ‘crowd in’ capital to amplify the economic impact.”

FCC is not getting any additional funding from the government for the new commitment, the spokesperson said, and will draw from its existing resources. 

Launched last year, FCC Capital aims to deploy $4 billion over five years to support the “high-impact areas” in Canada’s agriculture and food system, supporting investment funds and direct equity capital for pre-seed stage to growth-driven late-stage companies.

FCC said that, in its inaugural year, Capital closed nine direct investment deals totaling $170 million, invested in three new funds, and added a business accelerator to its portfolio. FCC Capital’s first investment was in Vancouver-based biological pesticide developer Catalera BioSolutions. 

RELATED: Canadian foodtech has a scale-up problem

“[Investment] dollars have been scarce and have not scaled to meet the increasingly sophisticated needs of the [AgTech] sector,” FCC president and CEO Justine Hendricks said in a statement. “Through this [$2 billion] investment, FCC is delivering on its commitment to be a catalyst and support innovation and productivity in one of Canada’s most important and investable sectors.”

Recent reports and sentiment from venture industry leaders have painted a grim picture of Canada’s capital landscape. Calgary-based The51 held the final close for its $51-million CAD Food and AgTech Fund in January, backed by FCC, after actively raising for nearly four years.

Another federally-backed innovation vehicle, the foodtech focused Protein Industries Canada also announced an additional monetary commitment this week. The global innovation cluster is receiving an additional $15 million from the Government of Canada to build a new genomics funding stream while fortifying the existing artificial intelligence (AI) stream. 

Protein Industries Canada will invest $7 million into the commercialization of new and improved broad-acre crop varieties under the new five-year genomics stream. The additional $8 million into the AI stream will support projects developing tools that accelerate seed genetic work, supply chain optimization, on-farm information gathering, quality assurance, food safety protocols, and ingredient and food formulation.

Feature image courtesy Randy Fath via Unsplash.

The post Farm Credit Canada commits to investing $2 billion in AgTech by 2030 first appeared on BetaKit.

The post Calgary Capital, the King comes to Canada, and nothing but Bluesky in rain city first appeared on BetaKit.

At Web Summit Vancouver, Cohere co-founder Ivan Zhang addressed the proof-of-concept fatigue that has taken hold among enterprises racing to adopt the technology without a resulting payoff.

During a panel discussion yesterday with Tailscale co-founder and CEO Avery Pennarun, Zhang acknowledged the frustration. “Everyone is tired of [proofs of concept],” he said.

He noted many of the clients of his Toronto-based enterprise large language model (LLM) company have built initial applications, but have not moved them into production. The issues range from cost and governance to data security and privacy requirements, which Cohere hopes to help address with its new workspace platform product, North.

“The next phase of go-to-market for this technology is, ‘where is the ROI?’”

Ivan Zhang, Cohere

In a follow-up interview with BetaKit, Zhang acknowledged that many firms have not seen the return on investment (ROI) necessary to justify their AI spending.

“Sometimes the systems they end up building, the cost of the model itself is more expensive than the humans that are actually running it,” he said.

Zhang added that Cohere has seen cases where customers have sought to augment existing workforces with AI but did not ultimately see the productivity of those teams increase. “In those cases, the human just did less work with the same amount of output.” 

Zhang anticipates that AI startups will now be tasked with winning back companies “burned” by projects that didn’t pan out. “The next phase of go-to-market for this technology is, ‘where is the ROI?’”

A recent National Bureau of Economic Research working paper surveyed 7,000 workplaces to determine if AI chatbots impacted their bottom line and found “no significant impact on earnings or recorded hours in any occupation.” Another study from Boston Consulting Group found only a quarter of the 1,800 executives surveyed have seen significant value from AI so far, and determined companies have typically extracted greater value by focusing their AI investments than diluting efforts across multiple pilots.

RELATED: Web Summit Vancouver’s opening night offers thoughtful critiques and alternatives to current tech

Zhang agrees with the data. On stage, he advised firms considering leveraging LLMs to focus first on business problems rather than spending large amounts of time and money building flashy solutions without clear use cases. 

“Don’t get lost in building something and searching for a problem,” he said.

Zhang argued that AI and AI agent adoption may just be one part of the solution for companies seeking ROI. “Like any other … era of software, it is just a tool in the toolbox to ultimately solve a business problem [and] create value for your customers.”

Zhang’s remarks—and New York University professor emeritus Gary Marcus’ pointed criticisms of generative AI during Web Summit Vancouver’s opening night—represent a counterpoint to some of the continued hype from across the industry about the tech’s potential to solve all of the world’s problems.

RELATED: “The reality check is happening now”: AI leaders on the state of the market at Collision

On stage, Marcus pointed to the “little progress” made in reducing the propensity of LLMs to generate false or fabricated information, describing them as “auto-complete on steroids.” He went on to add that the assumption that generative AI’s hallucination problem can be solved by having models ingest more training data has been proven false.  

LLM hallucination rates have remained stubbornly high: the latest models from companies like OpenAI, Google, and DeepSeek are generating more errors, not fewer.

Despite some progress on this front, Cohere still appears to rank behind other players in the space. According to Hugging Face’s LLM hallucination leaderboard, Cohere’s latest Command A offering generates incorrect and made-up answers at a lower rate than its previous models, but ranks 66 overall globally in this respect, behind products from a range of competitors.

Zhang acknowledged to BetaKit that hallucination remains a problem in generative AI. He said the company has tried to help address this through transparency, including showing users “the raw thinking” of its LLMs, what tools its systems use and how, and citations to derived answers.

RELATED: Outcome of copyright case against Cohere uncertain but likely “precedent-setting”: expert

Cohere’s most recent funding round, a $500-million USD Series D at a $5.5-billion valuation ($687 million CAD at $7.6-billion at the time), brings its total funding to approximately $1 billion. But as the startup faces off against better-funded competitors with even deeper pockets, Zhang and Cohere—like Hugging Face’s Sasha Luccioni—believe that bigger is not always better when it comes to building more cost-effective and relatively less energy-intensive AI models.

Zhang argued that a model is “only as good as the data and systems it can access.” He added that Cohere’s products are built to be run completely in their customers’ environment. “That forces us to build even more efficient models.”

Zhang touted Cohere’s “intense growth” and said the “relatively nascent” nature of the space leaves plenty of room for the company to expand.

“It is just a tool in the toolbox to ultimately solve a business problem [and] create value for your customers.”

Ivan Zhang, Cohere

The state of Cohere’s growth has been a recent topic of focus for tech media. Cohere reached $100 million USD ($138 million CAD) in annualized revenue this month after more than doubling its sales since the start of 2025, and CEO Aidan Gomez recently told Bloomberg the company was “not far away” from profitability. But The Information has reported this is still $350-million USD behind what Cohere told investors in 2023 it expected to be making annually by now.

Revenue targets and stiff competition are not the only challenges Cohere must contend with: the AI startup also has what one expert called a potentially “precedent-setting” copyright-infringement lawsuit from major media companies on its plate. A group of media organizations including the Toronto Star, Condé Nast, and Vox have alleged Cohere scraped media content without consent and used it to train AI models, accessed content in real time without permission, and generated infringing outputs. Cohere is just one of many AI startups facing similar lawsuits.

Cohere has denied these claims, arguing that the suing publishers had gone out of their way to “manufacture” a case and disputed the notion that any practical copyright infringement had occurred. 

Zhang declined to offer much comment on the matter, pointing BetaKit to a blog post detailing Cohere’s thinking. “We’re confident in that,” he said.

Feature image by Vaughn Ridley/Web Summit via Flickr.

The post Amid AI proof-of-concept fatigue, Cohere co-founder urges potential customers to keep the faith and focus on ROI first appeared on BetaKit.

The publication of record for Canadian tech and innovation can now boast back-to-back wins at the annual SABEW Canada Best in Business Awards.

For the second year in a row, BetaKit received the award for General Excellence, Small Publication. Josh Scott received the 2024 award for General Excellence, Reporter at a Small Publication.

“I would like to thank SABEW on Josh’s behalf for continued recognition of his ability to get to the heart of issues affecting Canadian business,” said Ottawa-based staff writer Alex Riehl, who represented BetaKit at the awards ceremony in Toronto on Wednesday night.

The annual SABEW Canada awards recognize outstanding Canadian business reporting produced and published the year prior.

Scott is currently in BC reporting on Web Summit Vancouver, along with Editor-in-Chief Douglas Soltys and other members of the BetaKit team. 

“This award is an honour that would not have been possible without the small but mighty BetaKit team,” Scott said when reached while on assignment. “I’m also grateful for the folks across the Canadian tech ecosystem who have shared their stories and perspectives with me. Their trust makes what we do possible.”

In the hope of repeating next year, Scott committed to filing stories on time and eventually catching up with his emails. His editors could not be reached for comment.

The annual SABEW Canada awards recognize outstanding Canadian business reporting produced and published the year prior, in categories ranging from breaking news to multimedia and features.

Scott’s award for General Excellence was based on a package of work that included coverage of Clio’s record-breaking fundraising, a scoop on the closure of CDPQ’s $250-million Equity 25³ Fund, and a thought-provoking year-end feature on Canada’s struggles to find its place in the global AI race.

BetaKit was recognized for General Excellence, Small Publication for a package of editorial work documenting a weird year for Canadian tech that laid the groundwork for where we find ourselves today: a nation contemplating its future in a strange new economic landscape filled with political uncertainty.

Throughout the year, BetaKit worked hard to capture the complex dynamics at work and their impact on the tech sector. Included in that work was BetaKit’s breaking news coverage of Budget 2024, with real-time reaction to the surprise capital gains tax change, and an explanatory feature by Scott explaining its impact on investors, entrepreneurs, their companies, and employees.

Also recognized was a scoop by Scott revealing that financing delays caused by the SDTC scandal had forced Canadian cleantech companies to make layoffs and cancel contracts. Scott also broke news that major tech conference Collision would end its fraught relationship with the city of Toronto and relocate to Vancouver under a new name, continuing the investigative work that earned him the 2023 Jeff Sanford Best Young Journalist Award.

Riehl, who took second place in the award ceremony’s pub trivia competition, shared his relief with attendees that his newsroom colleague’s work could still be recognized now that Scott is no longer a young journalist.

In an ever-shrinking news cycle, BetaKit also examined past stories to track their long-term impact. Contributing freelancer Kelsey Rolfe returned to the fall of Silicon Valley Bank one year later to explore how Canadian banks had worked to fill the country’s lending gap.

“BetaKit is dedicated to covering Canadian tech because we understand the relationship between this sector and the opportunities and challenges that face our nation,” said Soltys. “I’m sad I couldn’t be there last night to buy another round of shots for our colleagues, who are all telling amazing business stories that matter to Canada.”

The SABEW Canada Best in Business Awards winners were named in more than 15 categories last night. The full list can be viewed here.

The post BetaKit repeats as General Excellence winner at SABEW Canada Awards first appeared on BetaKit.

Investment management giant Vanguard has struck a partnership with the University of Toronto’s department of computer science (CS) that aims to advance artificial intelligence (AI) research and innovation for investors and the financial services industry.

“[We] are happy to grow our presence and team in Toronto, a city that is rapidly becoming a global hub for AI innovation and top technology talent.”

Kathy Bock
Head of Vanguard Investments Canada

The partnership will see the university’s CS department establish several labs of professors, post-doctoral fellows, and students that will collaborate with Vanguard’s Toronto-based AI research team. The academics and researchers will collectively “develop broad AI solutions and insights to address business challenges and drive innovation within the financial services industry,” Vanguard said in a statement. 

The initial research will focus on principles for the ethical and transparent use of AI, more natural interaction with humans, decision-making, and improvements to performance and reliability.

To deliver on this, the parties will co-create papers and jointly host meetings, seminars, conferences, and recruitment initiatives for research projects. 

A spokesperson told BetaKit that Vanguard will also add around 70 roles to its AI research team in Toronto, for a total headcount of 90, and provide internship opportunities for University of Toronto students as part of the partnership.

RELATED: University of Waterloo to open GENESIS, a new blockchain and AI research lab

“Over the past fourteen years, we have proudly served Canadian investors and we are happy to grow our presence and team in Toronto, a city that is rapidly becoming a global hub for AI innovation and top technology talent,” Kathy Bock, managing director and head of Vanguard Investments Canada, said in a statement. 

Vanguard is one of the world’s largest investment management companies. The firm claims it manages $10 trillion USD ($13.7 trillion CAD) in global assets across its offering of 441 funds, including over $3.3 trillion USD ($4.5 trillion CAD) in global exchange-traded fund (ETF) assets, as of last month. The investment manager has offices in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and Australia.

Feature image courtesy University of Toronto. Photo by David Lee.

The post University of Toronto and Vanguard team up to expand AI research in finance first appeared on BetaKit.

Saskatchewan has given a boost to its tech sector through its first-ever research strategy meant to bolster research commercialization and give tax breaks to more startup investors. 

The provincial government-backed agency Innovation Saskatchewan announced an expansion to a key tax incentive for startups in the province as well as a funding increase for the Innovation and Science Fund (ISF).

Innovation minister Warren Kaeding said the new research strategy will “[accelerate] Saskatchewan’s ambitious growth plan target to triple the technology sector by 2030.”

In a statement, Saskatchewan innovation minister Warren Kaeding said the new research strategy will “[accelerate] Saskatchewan’s ambitious growth plan target to triple the technology sector by 2030.”

Innovation Saskatchewan is expanding eligibility to life sciences startups for investors to access the Saskatchewan Technology Startup Incentive (STSI), a 45-percent non-refundable tax credit for Saskatchewan-based investors backing local startups. The agency claims STSI has helped spur over $108 million in private investment since its introduction in 2018.

Kari Harvey, CEO of Innovation Saskatchewan, told BetaKit that expanding STSI was a way to attract healthtech startups, which are more capital-intensive and highly regulated, to set up shop in the province.

In April 2024, the Government of Saskatchewan doubled the annual cap for STSI from $3.5 million to $7 million and expanded it to include cleantech startups as eligible businesses. 

Saskatchewan already offers a refundable research & development tax credit for companies that covers 10 percent of the first $1 million of qualifying expenses. It also provides a refundable six-percent tax credit specific to purchases of manufacturing and processing equipment. 

RELATED: Conexus Venture Capital makes first Fund II investment into parking software startup Offstreet

The ISF matches funding opportunities for research institutions and has invested in a number of projects uniting the academic and private sectors. The fund is receiving a $2.4-million annual increase, nearly doubling its total funding to $5.2 million. It’s also expanding eligibility to four streams of applications: research infrastructure, research projects, international collaboration, and commercialization programs.

The new strategy also includes a refresh of Innovation Saskatchewan’s “research and technology parks,” located in Regina and Saskatoon, which include 1.3 million square feet of office and lab space. These hubs will be renamed Innovation Saskatchewan Parks after their previous owner, the Saskatchewan Opportunities Corporation (SOCO), was absorbed by Innovation Saskatchewan in 2022.

Harvey said that access to capital for early-stage and scaling companies in Saskatchewan still presents a hurdle. Venture capital (VC) firms invested a total of $11 million into Saskatchewan startups in Q1 2025, according to a report from the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA). This already represents a third of the total amount raised in the province in 2024, but the sector still has not returned to pre-pandemic levels.  VC firm Conexus Venture Capital is actively deploying its $30-million target Fund II, which held its first close last May and focuses on early-stage startups. 

Saskatchewan companies that have secured seed financing this year include parking software startup Offstreet and railway technology startup Rayhawk. 

Harvey added that securing talent is an ongoing challenge for the ecosystem, though the province’s tech sector employment is on the rise. An Innovation Saskatchewan report found that tech sector employment in the province doubled over a four-year period to reach roughly 5,500 workers in 2023. The tech sector accounted for 10 percent of all new jobs created in the province between 2016 and 2023, the report found.

Feature image courtesy Innovation Saskatchewan via LinkedIn.

Update (05/29/25): This story has been updated with commentary from Innovation Saskatchewan CEO Kari Harvey.

The post Innovation Saskatchewan’s first-ever research strategy boosts commercialization, tax incentives for tech first appeared on BetaKit.

Osler’s 2024 Deal Points Report: Venture Financings captured the state of the Canadian venture market last year, term by term, and deal by deal.

The data told one story. We asked four Osler partners to tell us the rest.

“The trends and the data points show that Canada is still an amazing place to found a technology company.”

Christian Jacques, Justin Young, André Perey, and Jacob Young help shape the deals that define the market. They work directly with startups and venture funds to structure and close dozens of financings each year. They see what slows a round, what pushes it forward, and what breaks it behind closed doors.

That gives them a uniquely sharp view of what founders are struggling with, what’s changed, and what it actually takes to get a round done in this market.

We spoke to each of them about the signals they’re watching, and what founders should carry with them into 2025.

The terms don’t lie

For André Perey, the biggest signal from the 2024 Deal Points Report wasn’t the volume of deals, it was how they were structured.

According to the report, standard venture terms remained consistent in 2024, including pari passu liquidation preferences,1x liquidation multiples, non-participating preferred shares, non-cumulative dividends, broad-based anti-dilution, and no redemption rights.

“These were not bad terms,” he said. “They’re very typical, consistent market terms. Nothing unusual.”

That stability, he argued, points to a functional, balanced market.

“During COVID, there was so much uncertainty that resulted in a lot of complicated structuring terms that were making their way into deals that by and large we did not see through 2024.”

While some companies that raised in 2021 are still navigating inflated expectations, Perey believes the broader market has corrected. 

“It’s going to take a while for everybody in the tech ecosystem to stop comparing things to 2021,” Perey said. “But don’t be under the impression that companies are not getting funded, because they absolutely are.”

Don’t let a great deal kill your next one

For Justin Young, the key issue he’s flagging for founders is a lingering mismatch between expectations and market realities, especially when it comes to valuation and control.

“I have some good companies that I work with who thought they were hitting a home run back in 2022, but found it difficult to live up to valuation expectations,” he said.

He’s advising founders to not get caught squeezing a perfect deal out of this market or fighting for a marginally higher valuation.

“Obsessing over your cap table can get you a couple points on founder dilution in your seed or Series A,” Justin Young explained. “But it can really affect your capacity to raise in subsequent rounds.”

Justin Young also noted how long it’s taking companies to actually close. “Founders tend to be optimists,” he said. “They’re used to working backwards from a launch date. But fundraising isn’t always that linear. You need to build in more time, not just to get a term sheet, but to actually close.”

He believes that founders thinking about not just the next raise, but the ones after need to focus on “speed and execution” above all else.

AI is now a story of its own

For Christian Jacques, 2024 was a year defined by contrast. 

“We were able to close rounds really fast for great companies,” he said. “But on the opposite side—with grade B or grade C companies—those rounds took almost three times longer than what it used to take.”

That unevenness shows up in the 2024 Deal Points Report, which found median close times increasing across all stages: 64 days at seed, 80 at Series A, and 70 at Series B. It wasn’t that founders weren’t getting funded, it’s that the bar to close was higher.

 AI financings were among the slowest on paper. But on Jacques’ desk, they moved the fastest. “Most of the fast-sale deals I closed in 2024 were mostly all AI companies,” Jacques said. 

The report described AI as a story of its own in 2024. The median post-money valuations for AI companies exceeded the median post-money valuations for all rounds in 2024, and while AI firms represented 18 percent of the number of financings completed in 2024, they represented 26 percent of all capital invested in 2024.

“There was a continuous frenzy with respect to AI,” Jacques added. “It now has its own set of valuations, timelines, and conditions.”

A return to consensus

In 2024, Jacob Young noticed a shift in how financings came together: lead investors weren’t willing to go it alone.

“There’s been a lot more requirement for a full syndication of—if not the entire round size—most of the round size,” Jacob Young said. “it is an incredible thing to witness where a lead investor not only believes in the company and wants to invest, but that they are able to draw a bunch of other investors to the table.”

That trend toward measured, consensus-backed rounds marked a departure from earlier years. “In early 2021, you could get a first closing done quickly and clean up the back end later,” Young explained. “Now the focus is on making sure a number of investors have reached the same conclusions about the company before we close.”

The 2024 Deal Points Report reflected that shift, showing longer median close times across all stages and more deliberate syndication. But Young doesn’t see this as a red flag, but as a return to discipline.

Amid all the noise, Jacob Young’s biggest takeaway from 2024 is that Canadian tech companies can still hold their ground.

“The trends and the data points show that Canada is still an amazing place to found a technology company and to build a business,” he said. “Last year, a lot of voters questioned whether the math still worked for building a business in Canada, but the raw talent of Canadian founders have shown it’s worth it.”

PRESENTED BY

The 2024 Deal Points Report offers one of the most comprehensive views available into how Canadian financings are really getting done.

For a deeper look at the data behind these dynamics, read Osler’s full 2024 report now.

Feature image courtesy Unsplash. Photo by Romain Dancre. All headshots provided by Osler.

The post A dispatch from the deal room first appeared on BetaKit.

Nord Quantique is touting another breakthrough in error correction that could make quantum computing more viable.

“Our machines will also consume a fraction of the energy, which makes them appealing to [high-performance computing] centres where energy costs are top of mind.”

Julien Camirand Lemyre
CEO, Nord Quantique

The Sherbrooke, Qué.-based company says it has developed quantum error correction that uses “multimode” encoding to produce quantum bits (qubits) instead of the conventional single-mode approach. Multiple modes in aluminum cavities (pictured above) represent different resonance frequencies, or those frequencies where quantum systems absorb or emit energy. Nord Quantique says that provides the redundancy needed for error correction without resorting to more physical qubits.

Nord Quantique claims this method not only keeps the size of a quantum system compact as it scales up, but draws much less energy.

In solving a difficult task like RSA-830 encryption (that is, RSA algorithm-based encryption with an 830-bit key length), the firm claims it needs 120 kilowatts (kW) of power to get the solution in the space of an hour. A photonic quantum computer is estimated to need 1,400 kW and 10 hours of processing time, while a classical computer would reportedly need 1,300 kW and nine days.

This makes the correction method a “key milestone,” according to Nord Quantique. It’s billed as particularly appealing to high-performance computing (HPC) data centre operators concerned about space and electricity usage. They can theoretically integrate quantum into their existing facilities (a 1,000-qubit system occupies 20 square meters) rather than having to make accommodations.

“Beyond their smaller and more practical size, our machines will also consume a fraction of the energy [of classical computers performing the same tasks], which makes them appealing, for instance, to HPC centers where energy costs are top of mind,” CEO Julien Camirand Lemyre said in a statement.

The firm also saw benefits that could come as quantum computers scale up, such as longer system lifespans (by reducing “silent” errors) and information that could lead to further error-correction advancements.

The work builds on research disclosed in February, when the company claimed that its use of bosonic codes and superconducting circuits had led to a 14 percent reduction in errors without requiring more qubits.

RELATED: Sherbrooke’s quantum sector gets $8.1-million boost from federal government

Nord Quantique was founded in 2020 and helped Sherbrooke become a quantum development hub alongside startups like Quantacet and Qubic Technologies. It has received financing that includes $9.5 million in seed funding co-led by BDC Capital’s Deep Tech fund. In April, the United States’ (US) Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) chose Nord Quantique to participate in a research program to develop a usable quantum computer by 2033, with Canadian rivals Photonic and Xanadu also joining in.

Domestic competition has heated up in recent months. Vancouver-based Photonic disclosed an error correction leap of its own in February, promising a new family of codes that could mitigate the need for more physical qubits. Toronto’s Xanadu, meanwhile, claims to have successfully networked quantum computers and improved their scalability.

Feature image courtesy of Nord Quantique.

The post Nord Quantique says error-correction discovery could make quantum computing data centres practical first appeared on BetaKit.

Two Canadian startups using artificial intelligence (AI) to improve healthcare at different levels have each raised more than $10 million in Series A financing. 

Montréal-based AssistIQ has secured $11.5 million in financing for its AI-powered hospital supply management platform, while Toronto-based ProteinQure nabbed $11 million for its AI-powered drug discovery platform. 

The news comes as Canadian hospital and healthcare providers take an interest in AI-powered tools to potentially improve care and relieve pressure on public healthcare systems.

AssistIQ looks to improve cost management at hospitals

AssistIQ said today it closed an all-primary, all-equity $11.5 million Series A round in April, led by Boston-based Battery Ventures, with participation from return investor Tamarind Hill. It raised a $2.5-million seed round in 2023, backed by Canadian investors including StandUp Ventures and N49P. 

AssistIQ has developed a software platform for hospital supply management, allowing facilities to track equipment such as supplies for surgeries and procedures. 

RELATED: Healthtech leaders behind AlayaCare and Mimosa say Canadian procurement lacks transparency and risk appetite

The startup claims its AI platform can monitor the usage of medical devices and supplies, saving time for nurses and healthcare professionals. The increased visibility and insights result in hospital cost and time savings, according to AssistIQ. 

“Health systems everywhere are under pressure: more patients, fewer staff, and tighter margins,” AssistIQ CEO and co-founder wrote in an email to BetaKit. “But when it comes to supply and implant tracking, legacy systems often break down at the point of care, not for lack of effort, but because the tools don’t work comprehensively or are too hard to adopt consistently.”

As part of the round, AssistIQ said it has brought its platform to Northwell Health, a New York state-based healthcare provider, continuing its expansion into the United States (US) after it secured a partnership with Owensboro Health Regional Hospital in Kentucky earlier this year. The company said it has deployed and refined its supply management tool through an ongoing partnership with the Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) Research Centre in Montréal.

ProteinQure to test its AI-engineered drug discovery

Biotechnology startup ProteinQure has developed an AI-powered drug discovery platform that uses statistical and machine learning approaches to identify new proteins that could be used in treatments for cancers and rare diseases.

Now, with $11 million in all-equity Series A financing from Tom Williams of Heron Rock Fund, with participation from Golden Ventures and Kensington Capital, ProteinQure is set to run its first clinical trial for a drug candidate for triple-negative breast cancer. 

ProteinQure is set to run its first clinical trial for a drug candidate for triple-negative breast cancer.

The drug targets a receptor that is overexpressed in solid tumours, and that is resistant to certain types of treatment. 

“This is the first drug in clinical trials from an Ontario-based AI company,” ProteinQure CEO and co-founder Lucas Siow told BetaKit. 

The trial is slated for the third quarter of 2025 and will include between 70 and 100 patients in Canada and the US, including at Toronto’s Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. 

Other Canadian biotech companies, such as BenchSci and Deep Genomics, have been leaders in the AI drug discovery space, but ProteinQure uniquely focuses on therapies using peptides, or smaller versions of proteins.

ProteinQure previously raised $5.2 million CAD in 2019, before the generative AI boom and interest in AI-powered drug discovery amped up. The new round brings ProteinQure’s total funding to $16 million.

Feature image courtesy Natanael Melchor via Unsplash.

The post Medtech AI startups ProteinQure and AssistIQ each close Series A rounds first appeared on BetaKit.

Ottawa-based Assent has tapped Michael Southworth as its new CEO, shifting longtime leader Andrew Waitman to an executive chairman role as the company eyes its next revenue target. 

The supply chain management software company said in a statement that Southworth was “specifically chosen” to spearhead its growth toward a $250 million revenue target, praising him for his “exceptional record of strategic growth and successful M&A leadership.” The company achieved centaur status, or $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR), last June.

“Michael brings the strategic clarity and operational excellence to take Assent to new heights.”

Andrew Waitman
Assent Executive Chairman

Southworth is based in Grand Falls, Virginia, according to his LinkedIn profile, where he most recently served as CEO of AI-enabled analytics platform Babel Street for the past three years.

He also brings previous executive experience from other American technology firms, including Transflo, Verint-Systems, Contact Solutions, Corning Incorporated, and MobileAccess Networks.

An Assent spokesperson told BetaKit that Southworth was selected for the job for his “clarity of vision, operational excellence, and commitment to innovation,” adding that he brings deep expertise in AI, enterprise platforms, risk management, and supply chain resilience.

“This leadership change positions Assent to accelerate global expansion, pursue strategic acquisitions, and deepen its product innovation,” the spokesperson said.

When asked if he would relocate to Canada, the spokesperson said that Southworth is “committed to deep engagement” with the Canadian team, with plans to spend regular time in Ottawa and Assent’s global offices. The spokesperson added that the company’s headquarters and roots remain “firmly” in Ottawa.

Waitman moves to his new role after more than ten years leading the company, which included 44 consecutive quarters of growth and building a global team of over 1,000 employees on four continents, the company said in a statement. In a LinkedIn post announcing his new role on the board of directors, Waitman said it “isn’t goodbye,” and that he will be focusing on long-term strategy, AI adoption, and “supporting this incredible leadership team.” 

RELATED: “It’s just straight math”: Assent CEO Andrew Waitman sets bar higher after hitting centaur status

“Michael brings the strategic clarity and operational excellence to take Assent to new heights,” Waitman said in a statement. “As Executive Chairman, I’m committed to supporting Michael and the company as we continue building one of Canada’s most successful global tech businesses.”

The former CEO reflected on his tenure in an interview with BetaKit last August after he led Assent to centaur status, and laid out how he thought it was possible for the company to hit $200 million ARR within four years. 

“It’s a lot of work but if you did 25 percent [growth] for three-and-a-half years, you’re at $200 million, right? It’s just straight math,” Waitman said at the time. 

When asked if Assent still thinks Waitman’s ambition is possible, the spokesperson said that Assent’s strategy and mission remains unchanged as it “continues to meet its ARR goals,” and that its operating plan for 2025 is on track.

Assent’s platform collects vendor management, ethical sourcing, and product data to help complex manufacturers navigate compliance and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting. As the United States continues to threaten tariffs worldwide, demand for Assent’s trade solution, which collects trade-related data such as country of origin and Harmonized Tariff Schedule codes, has increased, the spokesperson said.

Feature image courtesy Assent.

The post Michael Southworth “specifically chosen” as Assent’s new CEO to spearhead $250-million revenue effort first appeared on BetaKit.

The annual Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA) Awards recognized the deals, dealmakers, and community service of Canada’s venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) firms at the Invest Canada ‘25 conference in Calgary this morning.

CVCA crowned the winners of its Regional Impact, Community Leadership, and coveted Deal of the Year awards as conference attendees grappled with the industry’s weak performance and uncertain future. With the exception of the Community Leadership Award, each award is evaluated by the CVCA awards committee based on industry performance and impact over the year.

Real Ventures co-founder John Stokes was recognized for his firm playing an “instrumental role in energizing the vibrant ecosystem we see today.” 

Pender Ventures won the 2025 VC Deal of the Year award for its investment in fellow Vancouver-based firm Copperleaf Technologies. Copperleaf’s $1-billion go-private deal with Industrial and Financial Systems (IFS) last year resulted in Pender achieving a 42.9x multiple on invested capital (MOIC) as well as a 30.9 percent internal rate of return (IRR) stemming from its 2010 Series B investment, according to the CVCA. 

Montréal-based Novacap was awarded the 2025 PE Deal of the Year Award for its multiple investments in Montréal FinTech company Nuvei. Much like Pender and Copperleaf, Novacap’s investment was rewarded when Nuvei agreed to be purchased by American private equity firm Advent International for $6.3 billion USD, joining the 2024 go-private wave. CVCA highlighted how Novacap retained a portion of its existing Nuvei stake through the transaction, and invested new capital from its latest flagship fund. 

For those operating on the global stage, the 2025 VC Global Dealmaker Award went to Vancouver’s Vanedge Capital Partners, and the 2025 PE Global Dealmaker Award went to Toronto-based Clairvest Group for the second year in a row. 

Vanedge was awarded for its investment in Chicago, Illinois-based investment research platform Tegus, which realized a 4.2x MOIC and a 44.4 percent IRR when Tegus was acquired by its competitor AlphaSense last year. 

Meanwhile, Clairvest once again profited from an investment in a waste company. Waste Management’s acquisition of Winters Bros. Waste Systems of Long Island in July 2024 realized a 7.5x MOIC and a 24 percent IRR for Clairvest. Last year, Clairvest won the same award for its investment in New Jersey waste management company Arrowhead Environmental Partners.

CVCA also recognized three VC and three PE firms across the country with the Regional Impact Award. The winners positioned exiting portfolio companies to make meaningful impacts within their communities and broader business ecosystems. 

RELATED: Canadian VCs arrive at annual industry gathering in need of a “wake-up call”

The VC Regional Impact Award winners included Vistara Growth for Western Canada with its investment in Zafin, First Ascent Ventures in Central Canada for its investment in compliance software firm Assent, and Active Impact Investments in for its investment in Atlantic Canada’s Jaza Energy

On the PE side, Novacap took home a second award, winning the Central Canada Regional Impact Award for its investment in Plusgrade. PFM Capital won the Prairies award for its investment in All-Fab Group, and Ironbridge Equity Partners nabbed the Western Canada award for its investment in Midland Appliance. 

On the individual award level, Real Ventures co-founder and managing partner John Stokes took home the 2025 Barry Gekiere Lifetime Legacy Award for his firm playing an “instrumental role in energizing the vibrant ecosystem we see today.” 

CVCA noted Stokes’ role in catalyzing numerous startup networks, including co-founding the OSMO Foundation, which owned and operated Montréal startup hub Notman House up until it defaulted on its mortgage debts in late 2023. Around the same time, Stokes won the Community Builder of the Decade Award at the Startup Community Awards. 

Meanwhile, Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund senior director and Thin Air Labs founding member Crystal Phillips received the 2025 Ted Anderson Community Leadership Award, which acknowledges the commitment of time and effort to an organization or cause over several years. 

Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at 19 years old, Philips co-founded the Branch Out Neurological Foundation to address the underfunding of non-pharmaceutical solutions to neurological disorders.The foundation has raised over $5 million and funded hundreds of research grants. 

This year’s awards and Invest Canada conference will be the last for CVCA CEO Kim Furlong, who announced plans to step down from her post this summer as the organization nears the completion of its second consecutive three-year plan under her watch. 

Feature image courtesy CVCA. 

The post Pender and Novacap recognized for cashing in on last year’s go-private wave at 2025 CVCA Awards first appeared on BetaKit.

Telecommunications giant Bell is tossing its hat into the artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure ring as its competitors invest in AI data centres in anticipation of a growing demand for AI compute. 

The Bell AI Fabric project aims to build six AI data centres in British Columbia (BC), which the company says make up the first “supercluster” of a planned national network. Bell declined to disclose the value of the project to BetaKit, but said it was in the hundreds of millions (“nine-figure”) range.

American computing hardware company Groq will be providing the chips that power the data centres.

“Bell’s AI Fabric will ensure that Canadian businesses, researchers, and public institutions can access high-performance, sovereign and environmentally responsible AI computing services,” Mirko Bibic, president and CEO of Bell Canada and its parent company BCE, said in a statement. 

Traditional data centres provide computing power to store data and run applications. Canada is home to roughly 240 data centres, according to the Canada Energy Regulator. AI data centres, which can power training and inference of large-language models (LLMs), are significantly more energy-intensive.

While traditional data centres require between five and 10 megawatts (MW) of power, one AI “hyperscale” data centre typically demands more than 100 MW, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Per the IEA, that’s equivalent to the amount of electricity it would take to power 350,000 to 400,000 electric cars for one year—more than all fully electric cars registered in Canada in 2023. 

The power needed to run data centres is expected to grow 160 percent globally by 2030 due to increased AI use, according to a May 2024 report from Goldman Sachs. This could lead data centres to produce double the emissions they do today, and consume up to four percent of the world’s energy, up from one to two percent today.

Bell said its new centres will be powered by hydroelectricity. Two data centres in Kamloops, BC, and Merritt, BC, are slated to open this year, with the first coming in June. These will run on seven MW of power, Bell claimed—on the low end of the range for AI data centres. 

Two larger 26-MW AI data centres are scheduled to open over the next two years: the first at Thompson Rivers University (TRU), and the second also in Kamloops. The largest projects consist of two AI data centres, with no location determined, that will be designed for “high-density AI workloads” that Bell says will have a capacity of more than 400 MW. 

RELATED: Telus partners with Nvidia to transform its data centre into a Canadian “Sovereign AI Factory”

American computing hardware company Groq will be providing the chips that power the data centres. Bell said Groq’s AI chips, which it calls language processing units (LPUs), provide faster performance at lower costs compared to others on the market. 

In a press conference at Web Summit Vancouver, Groq COO and president Sunny Madra said the company already has 1.6 million developers in Canada who use its cloud services. 

“Having access to local inference, high speed on the network… is going to be really good for those developers,” Madra said. 

Groq has roughly 70 employees based in Canada, according to its LinkedIn page. Madra told BetaKit that the company plans to double down on its Canadian operations, and that BC, Ontario, and Québec are “natural” expansion targets.

Bell AI Fabric project lead Dan Rink said one of the reasons why they chose Groq is that the company does not store data processed through its hardware, allowing for a Canadian-controlled data stack.  

“Within the partnership, for our clients, for public sector, for research use, we control the data,” Rink said.

The data centre at TRU will provide students and faculty with access to compute, Bell said, not just on campus but across Canada through provincial network service provider BCNET. Bell said the data centre’s waste heat will be repurposed to provide energy to TRU’s buildings. 

The news comes two months after Telus, one of Canada’s other telecom giants, announced two AI data centres: one in Kamloops and the other in Rimouski, Que. The Rimouski project is a partnership with US chip maker Nvidia to turn an existing data centre into a facility that can power AI training and inference. 

In December, the Canadian government outlined its Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Strategy, a $2-billion initiative to finance the expansion of commercial AI data centres. Telus said it engaged in preliminary discussions to receive funding through the national strategy, but is prepared to go forward without it. The feds committed an initial investment of up to $240 million to Toronto-based AI startup Cohere to build a multi-billion-dollar AI data centre, in partnership with US company CoreWeave. 

A Bell spokesperson did not directly respond to a question about whether the company pursued funding through this strategy, but said it continues to engage with the government “on a number of files.”

Though no partnership has been announced yet, Rink said Bell is in talks with “multiple levels of the public sector” about access to compute. In response to the data centre investments by Bell and Telus, federal ministers of AI and industry Evan Solomon and Mélanie Joly released a joint statement welcoming the projects.

“These forward-looking private sector investments will help create high-quality jobs in Canada, open up new opportunities for workers at home and strengthen Canada’s position as an AI leader,” the statement reads.

Alberta is also trying to position itself as a leader in the space. In December, the provincial government published its own AI data centre strategy, aiming to attract $100 billion in investment to the province. 

But Rink told Bloomberg at Web Summit Vancouver that he didn’t think it made sense to opt for emissions-heavy natural gas when hydroelectricity is abundant in Canada. Bell told BetaKit it’s looking to expand beyond the first six data centres and develop facilities in Manitoba and Québec.

With files from Aaron Anandji. Feature image courtesy Bell.

The post Bell to build six AI data centres in Canada as telcos compete on infrastructure first appeared on BetaKit.

Toronto-based enterprise AI giant Cohere has filed a motion in a United States (US) Southern District of New York court asking it to dismiss a lawsuit in which media companies, including the Toronto Star, allege that the startup conducted large-scale copyright infringement. According to the lawsuit brought by the News/Media Alliance, Cohere scraped media content without consent and used it to train AI models, used media content in real time without authorization, and generated infringing outputs.

“The complaint offers a deafening nothing about real-world users, real-world prompts, or real-world outputs.”

Cohere motion

In its filing, Cohere claimed the media publishers had gone out of their way to “manufacture” a situation in which the company’s technology would generate allegedly infringing content. It disputed the notion that any practical infringement had taken place.

“The complaint offers a deafening nothing about real-world users, real-world prompts, or real-world outputs,” Cohere said in the motion.

BetaKit has asked Cohere and the News/Media Alliance for comment. In a blog post timed alongside the filing, Cohere maintained that the lawsuit showed a “lack of understanding” about the company’s enterprise product offerings, and that the plaintiffs used a developer demo tool in a way that bore “no semblance” to its intended uses.

Cohere further asserted in the post that its technology and customer base “respect intellectual property laws.”

The lawsuit, filed in February, comes from a mix of publishers that includes magazine conglomerate Condé Nast, Forbes, the Los Angeles Times, the Toronto Star, and Vox Media. The group seeks damages from Cohere that include as much as $150,000 USD ($207,000 CAD) for every infringement, as well as a court order barring Cohere from training its AI on these works.

RELATED: Major Canadian news orgs sue OpenAI for copyright infringement

Some publishers, including Condé Nast and Vox, already have licensing deals allowing ChatGPT creator OpenAI and other Cohere competitors to use their content. In January, Anthropic reached a deal with music publishers over its use of song lyrics. Other intellectual property (IP) holders are still embroiled in legal battles. OpenAI still faces a lawsuit from Canadian news outlets over alleged copyright abuses during the training of the model underlying the company’s flagship text generator ChatGPT.

Cohere’s chances of success with this motion, and the case in general, aren’t clear, Gilbert’s LLP Partner and IP litigation expert Paul Banwatt told BetaKit in an interview. While he said copyright holders have been “fairly successful” so far, he noted that there isn’t a significant legal framework in place for AI-related IP issues, and that it was likely this case will be “precedent setting.”

“As a general matter, what’s probably needed here is law and regulation,” Banwatt said.

He added that copyright law in the US has an “absolute nature” regarding violations. Unless the alleged infringer can find an exception, it doesn’t matter whether or not that party intended to infringe copyright.

“Those sorts of things stop mattering,” Banwatt said. 

Cohere launched in 2019 and focuses on development of large-language model (LLM) products aimed at businesses, where OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and other rivals target general consumers. It launched an Embed 4 model in mid-April that helps AI agents search for and retrieve data, and earlier this month forged partnerships with Dell and SAP.

The bid to dismiss the lawsuit comes soon after Cohere reported doubling its annualized revenue to over $100 million USD ($138 million CAD). In a Bloomberg interview, CEO Aidan Gomez maintained that his business was “very, very close” to profitability. However, The Information reported that Cohere had still achieved only 15 percent of its revenue goal projections from 2023.

Feature image of Aidan Gomez, CEO of Cohere, courtesy of World Economic Forum on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).

The post Outcome of copyright case against Cohere uncertain but likely “precedent-setting”: expert first appeared on BetaKit.

True to its namesake, Web Summit’s Vancouver debut featured dubstep, a lightshow, and the global technology conference’s signature wall of cubes. But unlike past editions of its predecessor, Collision, which could fall prey to strong vibes and soft questions, opening night in Vancouver was largely a collection of substantive conversations about the current state of tech.

Following some opening remarks from Web Summit CEO Paddy Cosgrave and local leaders, New York University professor emeritus Gary Marcus and Bluesky CEO Jay Graber took the stage for back-to-back discussions about the limitations of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and the potential of decentralized social media.

“People often say, ‘Gary used to think AI is stupid, now he thinks it’s dangerous.’”

Gary Marcus

Despite headlining a conversation about the moral and technical inadequacies of AI, Marcus—an American psychologist, cognitive scientist, AI entrepreneur, and author—said that he does not see himself as a critic of the tech. He emphasized that he wants AI to succeed, but noted that generative AI overshadows the fuller spectrum of the technology’s potential.

“​I think it’s the wrong avenue,” he said.

When asked about generative AI’s tendency to hallucinate, Marcus argued that the tech is fundamentally predicated on prediction and incapable of reasoning. He added that he finds it “depressing how little progress” has been made on reducing the propensity of large language models (LLMs) to hallucinate, and asserted that the notion the problem could be solved by ingesting more data has been proven false.

“[LLMs are] auto-complete on steroids, and that gives the illusion of intelligence, but it’s really just an illusion,” Marcus said. “So it works some of the time and not others. The same process drives a hallucination as a correct answer.”

RELATED: Half of the internet is bots and they’re feeding you lies

Marcus noted that the feigned intelligence of generative AI produces many downstream risks, such as misinformation at scale and cybercrime. But the real danger, he said, comes from “giving a person or machine a power that it shouldn’t have”—a thinly-veiled reference to US President Donald Trump that elicited laughs from around the room. 

“People often say, ‘Gary used to think AI is stupid, now he thinks it’s dangerous,’” Marcus said. “But some of the danger actually comes from the stupidity. The current AI can easily be abused.”

Marcus did note that there are some domains where the tech can be useful because the cost of hallucinations is not that high, citing programming (and its inherent expectation of debugging) as one example. He also acknowledged that LLMs are “not going anywhere” because the frenzy of interest in AI has produced enough competition to keep prices low.

But while Nvidia is one company that has profited by “selling shovels in the gold rush,” most have yet to realize revenues anywhere close to their capital expenditures. Marcus cited a recent study that surveyed 7,000 workplaces to determine if AI impacted their bottom line and found there was “no significant impact on earnings or recorded hours in any occupation.”

“It was sold as this universal thing, like snake oil, that was going to solve absolutely everything, and it’s not,” he said. “And people are wising up.”

Building the “lobby to the open social web”

While Marcus offered plenty of pointed criticisms of AI but few alternatives, Graber shared her vision for how decentralized social media could help build a more open and user-friendly web than her competitors.

Graber leads Bluesky, the fast-growing US-based decentralized social network that was initially incubated within Twitter and has ballooned to 35 million users since its launch in 2023, despite the company having just 25 employees. 

Bluesky has risen to prominence at a time when the user experience on many of its competitors’ platforms has degraded, thanks at least in part to optimizing for user engagement metrics to fuel advertising.

RELATED: The BetaKit Guide to Web Summit Vancouver

As a CEO in an industry dominated by firms that have taken different, more closed-ecosystem approaches, Graber said Bluesky has been built on the idea that users deserve control over their experience. That control extends to the ability for users to port their identity to other platforms, build new tools and content moderation features, and keep the relationships they have with their audience.

As a decentralized platform, Graber noted that Bluesky created “constraints for ourselves from the beginning” that prevent it from falling prey to the same pressures as other social media platforms. Bluesky intends to monetize its network with the help of subscriptions and by eventually building a marketplace around what is being developed on its platform. She added that if Bluesky fails to deliver on certain solutions and experiences, there will be alternatives available to its user base.

“Bluesky is not the end goal. It’s the start.”

Jay Graber, Bluesky

“Bluesky is not the end goal,” Graber said. “It’s the start. We built an open-source app that’s the lobby to the social internet, and hopefully, there will be many other applications and users will be able to move between them.”

Noting that “we’re at sort of an inflection point” with social media and the web, Graber said she is acutely conscious of the societal impact a platform like Bluesky could have.

“When you build something that critical—it’s really a communication infrastructure for society—you need to stay focused on, how is it affecting society?”

Graber believes humility is an important part of the equation, noting that it “keeps open the possibility that you know we’re wrong in the choices we make, and if we are, we want to make sure that someone else can get it right.”

With files from Douglas Soltys.

Feature image courtesy Sam Barnes/Web Summit via Flickr.

The post Web Summit Vancouver’s opening night offers thoughtful critiques and alternatives to current tech first appeared on BetaKit.

Ahead of Web Summit Vancouver, British Columbia (BC) organizations teamed up to showcase the innovation happening in cleantech, life sciences, and creative industries across the province. The stage? An electric bus.

BetaKit participated in the cleantech portion of the tour, which chauffeured approximately 40 investors and other attendees from as far away as Uruguay, Italy, and Japan around the Metro Vancouver Area. The road trip offered time to check in with industry leaders about the state of BC cleantech, how they are feeling about Web Summit Vancouver, shifting geopolitical winds and Canadian venture capital (VC).

In true West Coast fashion, Monday’s proceedings began under grey skies with a shuttle from downtown Vancouver to Surrey and what the event’s master of ceremonies called “a little bit of liquid sunshine.” But the dismal weather didn’t dampen the mood. The vibes were upbeat, and the excitement about BC cleantech—and the prospect of showcasing it to the globe at the conference—was palpable.

“Web Summit is an opportunity to speak to the world.”

Sarah Goodman,
NorthX

“As we think about this moment that we’re in, our sovereignty, the need to diversify our economy and trade routes, Web Summit is an opportunity to speak to the world,” NorthX Climate Tech president and CEO Sarah Goodman told BetaKit in an interview outside 33 Acres Brewing Company after the tour concluded.

During an introductory networking lunch in Surrey, speakers argued that BC’s diversified economy, clean energy resources, proximity to the western United States (US) and the Asia-Pacific region, strong postsecondary institutions like the University of British Columbia (UBC) and Simon Fraser University, and deep pool of tech talent have helped the province establish a strong presence in cleantech, life sciences, and creative industries.

Tech is BC’s fastest-growing industry, with more than 12,000 companies, 220,000 employees, and $55 billion in revenue, according to Invest Vancouver, which says 492 of those businesses are pure-play cleantech firms. The province currently hosts over half of Canada’s hydrogen and fuel cell companies, and five of the nine Canadian startups that cracked the 2025 Global Cleantech 100 list are headquartered in BC.

During a panel conversation before a lunch break in Surrey, moderator and Invest Vancouver president Jacquie Griffiths asserted that Metro Vancouver is “punching above its weight” when it comes to both cleantech and deep tech.

RELATED: Five of the nine Canadian startups on 2025 Global Cleantech 100 are from BC