Koho refreshes joint accounts with new reward features 8:15 AM (last hour)

Toronto-based FinTech firm Koho hopes to bring everyone’s money closer together with the launch of its refreshed joint accounts.

“We know Canadians believe in sharing finances, but many haven’t had the tools to do it easily.”
Daniel Eberhard, Koho

Koho first launched joint accounts in 2019, but has now refreshed them with a reward system. Users sharing their accounts can now accumulate 3.5 percent interest on their balances, up to 2 percent cash back on essentials, and 0.5 percent on all other purchases. The new joint accounts also carry no foreign transaction fees, free international ATM withdrawals, and existing, built-in budgeting tools like Roundup, Vault, and Goals.

Koho says the new joint account offering is a response to younger Canadians who are looking for tools to manage shared money while navigating affordability pressures. The company says 38 percent of its users report their shared expenses increasing over the past 12 to 24 months.

Citing a national survey conducted through the Angus Reid Forum, Koho says younger Canadians are also more open to non-traditional, shared finances. It notes that 13 percent of Gen Z who were polled were willing to share an account with a roommate, compared to less than five percent across older generations.

“We know Canadians believe in sharing finances, but many haven’t had the tools to do it easily,” Koho CEO Daniel Eberhard said in a statement. “As the cost of living goes up, joint accounts are helping people cover groceries and rent, as well as allowing them to pay bills, save for emergencies, or plan for the future.”

Koho joins other FinTech firms catching on to a new age of joint accounts. Earlier this year, Wealthsimple acquired the team behind San Francisco-based wealth management platform Plenty to aid in its expansion of products for couples and families, like joint accounts.

Founded in 2014, Koho has widened its services over the years to include a prepaid Mastercard, a line of credit offering, international money transfers, as well as credit history building and tenant insurance for renters. The company raised $190 million CAD in equity and debt last year to bolster its efforts in securing a Schedule 1 banking licence.

Disclosure: Wealthsimple vice-president of payments strategy and chief compliance officer, Hanna Zaidi, sits on BetaKit’s board of directors.

Feature image courtesy Koho.

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Wealthsimple unveils advanced investing tools as it hits $100-billion milestone 8:00 AM (last hour)

Wealthsimple has unveiled a suite of products and services meant to give its customers more advanced investing options and tools at a lower cost.

A growing share of Canadians “are ‘nerding out’ on investing like never before”

These range from zero-commission options contracts and cheaper cryptocurrency trading to the ability to buy and sell gold, access direct indexing, mutual fund exchange, a portfolio featuring alternative investments, loans to help maximize RRSP contributions, and artificial intelligence (AI) stock research tools.

The announcements come as Wealthsimple reveals a major milestone: the Toronto FinTech firm has now surpassed $100 billion CAD in total assets under administration (AUA). Wealthsimple hit the milestone three years ahead of its original December 2028 target, after growing 37 percent since March 31.

Wealthsimple shared the news today from Evergreen Brick Works in Toronto, during the second product showcase in its new Wealthsimple Presents series, which it dubbed “For Nerds Only.” The inaugural edition, held earlier this year, saw Wealthsimple reveal a slew of banking products that included a credit card, instant line of credit, and expanded chequing account.

With many of those offerings available either now or very soon, Wealthsimple has shifted its attention to sharing the company’s vision for the future of investing. “We want to return to our roots and focus on our investing products,” Wealthsimple chief commercial officer Paul Teshima told BetaKit in an interview ahead of today’s event.

Wealthsimple started in 2014 as a robo-adviser. Many at the time saw Wealthsimple as a product only for beginners, early investors, and younger people. Since then, the company has broadened its investment capabilities and moved into other areas of money management, like banking. It has also wooed wealthier clients and more sophisticated traders as part of its quest to build “a full-service financial solution” for Canadians. Now, the 11-year-old company is profitable, caters to more than three million clients, holds over $100 billion in AUA, and is valued at more than $5 billion.

The FinTech firm still views investing as a core part of that vision, and Wealthsimple’s new and upcoming releases reflect recent feedback from retail investor customers. “What we’ve learned is that clients are actually more confident than ever in their own ability to manage their investments, and they’re getting more sophisticated,” Teshima said.

A recent survey of 1,000 Wealthsimple customers between the ages of 25 and 45, who possess over $50,000 in investable assets each, found that 92 percent feel confident managing their own portfolios, two-thirds think do-it-yourself investing is the best approach for them, and 69 percent possess above-average risk tolerance. “They’re embracing what we call their inner finance nerd,” Teshima claimed.

Wealthsimple vice-president and head of capital markets Tara Kennedy told BetaKit that a growing share of Canadians “are ‘nerding out’ on investing like never before” by seeking to leverage the strategies once reserved for institutional and wealthy investors.

But 79 percent of the Wealthsimple customers surveyed feel that slow-to-innovate Canadian financial institutions are holding them back from reaching their goals.

“Today’s retail investor is intentional, curious, and motivated,” Kennedy said. “Our latest updates give them the powerful, intuitive tools they need to seize every opportunity in the market.”

As Wealthsimple looks to once again level up its investment capabilities to meet that demand, Teshima argued that there are three fundamentals to a successful investing strategy: low fees, diversification, and leverage. Today’s announcements fall into those three categories.

As it looks to lower fees, Wealthsimple claims it is now the first and only brokerage in Canada to offer true zero-commission options contracts, after eliminating its per-contract fees. The company is also launching a new volume-based, discounted fee structure for crypto trading. These capabilities, which come in addition to the zero-commission stock and exchange-traded fund (ETF) trading that Wealthsimple already provides, are now available.

“We believe that we need to continue to innovate in the world of investing, and AI is going to be part of that.”

Later this year, Wealthsimple will let clients move accounts with mutual funds to its platform, cover the transfer fees, and charge lower fees. In early 2026, the company intends to launch Norbert’s Gambit, an oft-requested currency conversion technique to help clients skip high foreign exchange spreads.

Wealthsimple is betting these moves will help it both lure new clients and convince existing customers to bring more business to its platform. “What we’ve learned is, over time, as people start using our products more, they tend to consolidate more of their wealth and do more things with us,” Teshima said.

On the diversification front, the company has rolled out gold trading in Canadian dollars with no-cost storage and home delivery, as well as a direct indexing portfolio, which typically involves support from an advisor. It says this could help clients outperform market indexes by 0.5 percent annually through strategic tax-loss harvesting.

By the end of 2025, Wealthsimple also intends to provide more advanced option strategies and launch its Summit portfolio, an advanced offering for long-term investors with exposure to private equity and private credit.

With regard to leverage, Wealthsimple intends to roll out Retirement Accelerator low-interest loans to help investors maximize their registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) contributions in early 2026.

Thanks in part to its acquisition of Montréal’s Fey earlier this year, Wealthsimple also plans to roll out an AI-powered investment research and trading dashboard to help clients find relevant stocks, analyze performance, and summarize market drivers.

“We believe that we need to continue to innovate in the world of investing, and AI is going to be part of that,” Teshima said, noting that Wealthsimple’s clients have been asking for more in-depth research capabilities.

Teshima sees room for the company to leverage natural language processing and generative AI to enable that research, provided any such tools pass rigorous testing for accuracy and have the right safeguards in place. He noted that Wealthsimple has already been using AI for customer support after following a similar process, and is implementing both its own AI models and external options, while retaining control over customer data.

While many of these products appear geared towards more sophisticated investors seeking to gain a competitive edge through more complex and riskier trading strategies and financial instruments, Teshima said the company believes that “more than just a subset of Canadians” will be interested in them.

“We’re hoping that we’ll get a mix of people, both who today will start using the tools, and some people just want to learn so that maybe in the future, they want to take on some of these strategies,” Teshima said.

Disclosure: Wealthsimple vice-president of payments strategy and chief compliance officer, Hanna Zaidi, sits on BetaKit’s board of directors.

Feature image courtesy Wealthsimple.

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The Canva for spreadsheets tackling Canada’s founder-finance gap 3:00 AM (6 hours ago)

As a chartered professional accountant, Ray Fitzpatrick spent years inside big corporations like Irving Oil and McCain Foods, running analysis that tested the assumptions of multimillion-dollar decisions. In those settings, numbers were a compass guiding every move.

But when Fitzpatrick shifted into the startup world, he found that compass was missing.

“There’s a million reasons why you won’t get funded. We make it so your finances aren’t one of them.”
Ray Fitzpatrick, Profitual

“It didn’t seem like accounting expertise was trickling down into small businesses, or at least the startups that I was investing in,” he said.

The trend continued throughout his time as an investor with the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation, where he backed dozens of young founders across the region. He encountered founders who knew their product inside and out, but couldn’t make sense of their own numbers.

“I never once invested in an entrepreneur who came from a finance background,” he said. “They were all engineers, computer scientists, life scientists, basically from every walk of life, of which they were experts in their fields, but they weren’t in finance.”

The gap he noticed became his idea for Profitual, a tool that would bring structured financial insight to the people who needed it most. Profitual helps startup founders easily create forecasts, budgets, and financial reports without needing an accounting background.

“We kind of want to be like the Canva for finance,” Fitzpatrick said. “We wanted to make it for the non-finance user and make it so that they can actually navigate the platform easily, understand their business better, and have it at a cost they can actually afford.”

The software splits into two sides: forecasting and reporting. On the forecasting side, users can create detailed budgets and models in as little as 15 minutes, without endless spreadsheets.

Ray-Fitzpatrick-Profitual — Ray Fitzpatrick is CEO and Founder of Profitual.

Using Profitual’s “building blocks” feature, startups can input information in language they understand that automatically creates their income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow for them.

In his experience, Fitzpatrick said many founders “thought they had more money than they actually had,” only to realize too late that they couldn’t make payroll.

Profitual helps companies avoid financial misunderstandings that can sink a promising company. Founders can also easily add a financing round in minutes by simply entering the amount, structure, and closing date, while Profitual handles the rest.

“We don’t want PhDs in data science to worry about, ‘Does this go on my balance sheet? Does this go to my cash flow?’” he said.

Profitual’s reporting engine strips out accounting jargon in favour of plain English.

The platform automatically benchmarks performance and generates summaries that anyone can understand. “We’re heavily conscious to make sure it doesn’t take on the tone of an accountant,” he said. “The metrics we pull together and the way we have the reports analyzed is from a very generic understanding so that anyone can understand the results.”

When Fitzpatrick launched Profitual three years ago, he expected startups to move on after their first finance hire. In fact, the opposite happened.

He said startup finance leads have embraced the product as “a little finance buddy,” using it to monitor runway, burn, and key metrics. The product helps people with accounting backgrounds understand the realities of startups, and startup founders clearly grasp the details of their financing. “Since the cost is not very prohibitive, we’ve been able to actually stick around a lot longer,” Fitzpatrick said.

Profitual now serves roughly 200 users, all in Canada, with some generating as much as $4 million in annual revenue.

Profitual’s philosophy stems from Fitzpatrick’s time on both sides of the table as a former accountant and an investor watching what happens when startups don’t get it. “The big accounting firms just aren’t a great help to startup companies,” he said. “And the startup isn’t a big enough book of business for them to care.”

Profitual has helped startups like MedReddie, which used the platform to build forecasts, track budgets, and report to investors. With Profitual’s support, the company oversubscribed their first round of financing, and began generating quality investor reports.

“There’s a million reasons why you won’t get funded,” Fitzpatrick said. “We make it so your finances aren’t one of them.”

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Build your financial forecast in less than 15 minutes. Try Profitual for free.

All photos provided by Profitual.

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Rally festival tells doom-scrolling teens “it’s okay to be unavailable” online 2:00 AM (7 hours ago)

A new digital wellness festival has spun up to rally teenagers behind the idea that they do not always have to be online.

At Toronto’s Meridian Hall yesterday, Rally hosted thousands of young students, parents, teachers, experts, policymakers, and cultural leaders to unpack how the next generation of Canadians can build healthy relationships with and without technology.

“We want to help schools figure out solutions and help teenagers know that it’s okay to be unavailable.”
Keith Wallace,
Rally

While a significant portion of the population rely heavily on their smartphones, Rally co-founder Keith Wallace highlighted that the emergence of social media and other tech platforms has coincided with a growing youth mental health crisis.

“There’s a real issue, and if we don’t start helping the teenagers today [with] managing this, by the time they’re in the workforce, there’s going to be real issues for all of us,” Wallace told BetaKit in an interview.

Wallace, the former general manager of the tech-focused Collision Conference, and his wife, entertainment host and content creator Brigitte Truong, teamed up to launch Rally as a means of putting teens and their support networks in the same room to connect and learn how to better manage their tech diets. One of the goals, Wallace said, is to “make being offline cool.”

Wallace said many teens today feel the pressure to always be online. Through Rally, he hopes to remind them that they do not have to be.

“We want to help schools figure out solutions and help teenagers know that it’s okay to be unavailable,” he added.

He credits Truong for coming up with the idea during the pandemic, while the couple was locked in their apartment doom-scrolling and facing their own struggles with screen time. After years working in tech and cryptocurrency, and feeling manipulated by platforms geared towards monetizing human attention, he said he wanted to do something “with a bit more purpose.”

The goal with Rally’s first one-day event—which was free to students—was to prove out the concept and break even, something Wallace says it is on pace to do thanks to support from partners like Bell Let’s Talk, CAMH, Canada Health Infoway, CIRA, Digital Moment, Meridian Credit Union, Snapchat, Telus, and the City of Toronto. The longer-term vision is to build Rally into an annual event.

Yesterday’s programming featured a live DJ who took requests and a wide array of speakers who gave bite-sized talks and presentations and interacted with attendees. Themes up for discussion included mental health and digital wellness, media literacy, self-expression and identity, the future of work, and social impact.

Proceedings kicked off with hosts urging attendees to turn off their phones, and the audience was loud and engaged, with fewer lit screens than are traditionally found at an event this size.

Rally co-founders Brigitte Truong and Keith Wallace on stage at Meridian Hall. Image courtesy Rally. Photo by Roberk Okine.

Motivational speaker Sam Demma, who took the Rally stage with a big red backpack, argued to BetaKit that everyone has a giant invisible backpack of stories, thoughts, and beliefs about themselves. He stressed that teens need to curate their tech and social media diets to ensure they have the best stuff in their backpacks, reach out to others for support when theirs get too heavy, and regularly check in on the people around them.

Tonya Johnson, head of communications for Canada at event partner Snapchat, thinks events like Rally are important. She said Snapchat’s goal in participating was to be part of the online safety conversation.

While Snapchat is a particularly popular among Canadian youth and teens, the company’s focus yesterday was on educating parents and teachers about how its app works and the tools it offers to ensure young people using its platform are doing so safely.

Grade 12 student and Youth Advisory Committee member Simran Sodha told BetaKit she believes that social media can be a great place to foster offline connections, but said it can be easy to define your self-worth based on Instagram or TikTok likes, follows, and comments. She noted that it can easily become overwhelming.

“It’s really hard to catch a break and create healthy boundaries,” Sodha said.

“It’s just important that we’re not all speaking this language that isn’t ours. If we’re all talking behind AI’s voice, then we’re not really communicating.”
Simran Sodha,
Grade 12 student

Constantly viewing “perfect, idealized”versions of other people’s lives, especially as a woman exposed to unattainable beauty standards and online toxicity, can take a toll, she said. To address this, Sodha said she and her friends have implemented their own screen time limits and have found setting these sorts of boundaries effective.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has created some new headaches, she noted. Sodha argued that while many of her peers are using it, teens ought to remember that there is a key difference between using it to help with their work versus replacing their own efforts.

“It’s just important that we’re not all speaking this language that isn’t ours,” Sodha said. “If we’re all talking behind AI’s voice, then we’re not really communicating.”

Sodha is wary of her peers increasingly turning to chatbots as a friend or therapist. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently suggested an answer to the loneliness epidemic could be AI personas. While Wallace does not have a child yet, he said he does not want chatbots to represent the future of friendship.

Wallace and Sodha think there should be strong age restrictions and greater regulation around this sort of tech.

Demma experienced his own mental health challenges after major knee injuries thwarted his full-ride scholarship and ambitions of becoming a professional soccer player. He had a tough time going on social media and seeing his friends realize their dreams when he could not. While Demma believes that it is healthy to celebrate the success of others, he argues that it can be really unhealthy if that is all you do and it makes you feel less worthy.

He credited a teacher who channeled his passion towards social impact and a full-year detox he took from social media at 21 for helping him through this difficult period.

“I was so afraid that my life was going to fall apart … and the opposite happened,” Demma said. “I built deeper relationships in real life [and] I booked more events than I thought I was going to book that year, despite the fact that I wasn’t on everyone’s timelines and feeds.”

Grade 11 student and Youth Advisory Committee member Ash MacArthur grew up with an iPad in his hand and said he and many of his friends have tried to develop a healthier relationship with tech. Some have no phones at all, while others have either implemented screen time restrictions themselves or have parents who have done so, he told BetaKit.

MacArthur echoed Demma’s message. ”Just put the phone down. As hard as it might be, you’re not going to be missing out on anything online when you’re engaging in real life.”

Feature image courtesy Rally. Photo by Roberk Okine.

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Aidan Gomez says Cohere could IPO “soon” as company holds secondary sale 21 Oct 12:48 PM (20 hours ago)

Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez believes the Toronto-based artificial intelligence (AI) scaleup could hit the public markets “soon.”

“I think public market investors would be excited to have a pure-play AI investment opportunity, as opposed to investing by proxy through hyperscalers.”
Aidan Gomez,
Cohere

Gomez made the comment while breaking down his company’s place in the AI market with Bloomberg’s Lynn Doan at the Bloomberg Tech conference in London this week. On stage, Gomez told Doan that he believes his company will become profitable before 2029.

“We have a differentiated deployment model, we have very high margins similar to a traditional [software-as-a-service] business, whereas many others in the industry are losing money per customer,” Gomez said. “We feel [we are] in a very good position to build a sustainable, profit-generating business.”

Gomez initially told Doan that he didn’t know when his company would hold an initial public offering (IPO), adding, while holding up crossed fingers, that he doesn’t “want to jinx” the potential IPO.

“I think [we’ll IPO] soon,” Gomez said, returning to formality. “We’re on a clear path to profitability; I think public market investors would be excited to have a pure-play AI investment opportunity, as opposed to investing by proxy through hyperscalers.”

When prodded by Doan, Gomez said he would entertain an offer to list on a UK stock exchange, particularly since the Canadian-born entrepreneur lives in the country, where his mother is from. However, he noted that the “core constraint” is access to capital.

“If that [capital] exists, we’ll be rational economic actors and list wherever,” Gomez said.

Founded in 2019 by former Google researchers, Cohere builds the large-language models (LLMs) that power chatbots and other AI applications for companies and government agencies. Cohere has raised $600 million USD from investors in recent months, achieving a valuation of $7 billion USD.

The IPO chatter follows Cohere opening a secondary sale this week for its employees to sell their company shares. Secondaries have become an increasingly popular means of generating liquidity for shareholders amid a lack of distributions from exits like IPOs. The company has also recently added former Uber executive Francois Chadwick as its first-ever CFO. He served as the rideshare company’s acting CFO and played a leadership role during the firm’s IPO.

The on-stage conversation also revealed that Cohere has reached $150 million USD in annual recurring revenue, up from the $100 million reported in May. Cohere is on track to bring in $200 million in revenue this year, a source familiar with the company’s operations previously told BetaKit.

Gomez also highlighted the work the Canadian AI darling has done over the past year to grow outside of the United States, including new offices and partnerships. Gomez said the moves have eliminated Cohere’s dependence on the US as a primary source of revenue (80 percent last year), with most money now coming from other countries.

Feature image courtesy Toronto Tech Week.

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MaRS relaunches Capital Program to keep Canada’s “anchor” companies at home 21 Oct 11:44 AM (21 hours ago)

MaRS Discovery District has relaunched its flagship Capital Program to help keep “high-potential” startups in Canada.

The refreshed program provides selected startups with guidance from experienced venture capitalists (VCs) and founders on the fundraising process. The program prepares founders for term sheet negotiations by giving their investment documents a pass through MaRS’ in-house fractional CFO and legal teams, then connects them to a network of global investors.

“This is a program that can significantly improve the chances of companies that are trying to grow and scale staying in Canada.”

“The idea of the program is to find the top 20 to 25 seed and Series A startups from across the country, and essentially provide them a one-to-one, white-glove service through their fundraising round,” MaRS Capital program head Liam Gill told BetaKit in an interview. “[We] make sure they have a good deck, good narrative, a good strategy, and everything that would come through a [due diligence] process already, and then we actually help them with meeting investors.”

After helping the companies through their fundraising and term sheet negotiations, MaRS provides resources in the form of public relations, branding, and international expansion strategies.

Gill said he joined MaRS in July to get the program, which ended last December, back on its feet. While the old version of the program was similar, helping MaRS companies through the fundraising process, it’s now expanding across Canada and beyond MaRS’ traditional focuses on climate and healthtech.

The program, completely subsidized by federal and provincial funding, now targets companies working in artificial intelligence (AI), defence and dual-use technologies, enterprise software, edtech, and, of course, climatetech and healthtech. However, MaRS isn’t just looking for any company.

“We largely look for companies that we feel have the most likely potential of becoming an anchor company in the economy,” Gill said, referring to the unicorns with $1 billion valuations or centaurs with $100 million in revenue. The goal of the program is to help those high-potential companies stay in Canada so they don’t have to move to the United States, Gill said.

He explained that it’s difficult to access capital in Canada, and that startups naturally reach out and potentially even relocate to the US to secure funding. The hope is that the program will instead make it easier to stay in Canada to continue working with MaRS and other local partners.

“If you’re a founder today in Toronto and you want to raise in the next three months, it’s a lot easier to focus your outreach on the [United] States than it is on Canada; that’s just the truth,” Gill said. “We can actually get you in front of a large volume of investors in Canada, and globally, which means that there is no longer that advantage of focusing on those investors in the States.”

Toronto VC firm Leaders Fund recently determined that Canada’s startup pipeline has been shrinking, with new data showing Canadian tech entrepreneurs fleeing the country at an alarming rate.

“We think that this is a program that can significantly improve the chances that companies trying to grow and scale staying in Canada,” Gill said.

MaRS is sourcing its Capital Program companies from its own portfolio, as well as from its network of VCs and government agencies, with Tydra Labs, Strello Health, and Chemshift Technologies already slated to participate in the relaunch. MaRS intends to open up Capital program applications to the general public this week.

Feature image courtesy MaRS.

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Harley Finkelstein and David Segal spill the tea on entrepreneurship at “Made in Montréal” event 21 Oct 9:18 AM (yesterday, 9:18 am)

Since moving to Montréal two years ago, Shopify president Harley Finkelstein has made i t clear that he thinks entrepreneurship runs through the city’s veins.

“We have to be force multipliers for Montréal. There’s a legacy to live up to.”
Harley Finkelstein,
Shopify

At HEC Montréal last night, joined by his friend and DavidsTea co-founder David Segal, Finkelstein took the stage to impart lessons to 600 attendees (mostly entrepreneurs) on building a global company from anywhere, including Canada.

The talk was part of the “Made in Montréal: From Bagels to Billion-Dollar Ideas” event, organized by TechTO in partnership with HEC Montréal’s incubator La base entrepreneuriale and Sage Canada, as part of Open House Montréal week. BetaKit was a media partner.

Finkelstein says he wants Montréal to be the “mecca” of entrepreneurship due to its rich history of immigrant-founded global companies that trace back to the city’s garment sector along Chabanel Street. He argued that founders have a responsibility to be tour guides and champions for the city.

“We have to be force multipliers for Montréal,” Finkelstein said. “There’s a legacy to live up to.”

Finkelstein said his grandfather, upon arriving in Canada in the 1950s, started an egg stand in Montréal’s Jean-Talon Market (it’s still there, and now its online store is powered by Shopify).

Segal, who co-founded DavidsTea with his cousin and led the retail company to an IPO in 2015, argued that the “best concepts in retail” have come out of Montréal, not Toronto, despite its status as an economic hub.

Alongside Finkelstein, Segal has reentered the tea business. The two partnered in 2021 to launch Firebelly Tea, which they called the “21st century tea company.” It sells luxury, loose-leaf teas and accessories, including an autowhisk that Segal has been “perfecting for years.”

Alongside a “Buy Canadian” movement, patriotic sentiment has been coming to a boil in Canadian tech this year as a trade war continues with the United States. At Toronto Tech Week in June, Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez encouraged founders to say “no” to investors who told them to move to the US. At the ALL IN conference in Montréal, a panel of venture capital (VC) investors claimed that Canada was the best place to build a business.

“People are going to tell you that you have to move elsewhere,” Finkelstein said. “You do not.”

While Segal and Finkelstein made championing Montréal a key point of the night, they argued that location is no longer a limiting factor for building a company. They encouraged the crowd to build a company from anywhere and to hire and sell globally.

“You don’t have to go to a local VC or local angel. You don’t have to hire a CFO or a general counsel here, you can hire them anywhere,” Finkelstein said. “That means you can live wherever you want and operate at whatever scale you want.”

Finkelstein’s hope for SR&ED reform

Finkelstein addressed his advocacy for reform to the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax credit. He claimed consultancy fees were siphoning a significant portion of the $4.7 billion in government tax credits away from entrepreneurs. Referring to a memo he submitted to Build Canada, he argued that reforming the program to cut costly consultants out of the process could benefit entrepreneurs.

Finkelstein said that the new government marks a change in engagement from what he’s seen in the past. He said that 10 days ago he handed a version of the memo with his proposed changes to SR&ED directly to finance minister François-Philippe Champagne.

“I have felt more engagement in the last six months than I have in the last 16 years when it comes to government,” Finkelstein said.

Proposed changes to the SR&ED program anticipated in the upcoming budget include reintroducing capital expenditures as eligible for claims and making public companies eligible for the preferred tax credit rate.

‘When no one’s watching’

What sets a company’s culture apart, Finkelstein argued, is “what you do when no one’s watching.” He encouraged founders in the room to follow Shopify’s lead in hiring entrepreneurs with a “give-a-shit” attitude to spearhead different divisions of the business.

“If you look across every product line at Shopify…the people running each of those areas of the business are founders, in some cases founders we acquired,” Finkelstein said. “That has been our best trick to keeping our company culture as strong as possible.”

He argued that seeing more scaleups with founders at the helm is a “wonderful” thing.

“No one is a guardian of a company’s culture the way founders are,” he said. “There’s no way a hired gun from McKinsey is going to care more about the culture of Shopify than Tobi and I.”

Segal said a company’s culture, especially with consumer-facing businesses, should empower people working on the front lines, like customer service reps. A brand’s values should never change, he said, but how a company does things should never stop changing. “What’s important is you don’t confuse the two,” he said.

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

All images courtesy TechTO.

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Investissement Québec transforms early-stage program into $200-million VC fund 21 Oct 4:58 AM (yesterday, 4:58 am)

Investissement Québec has officially relaunched a popular early-stage investment program as a $200-million venture capital (VC) fund for the province’s tech startups.

“There are two clear objectives: to build the next generation of flagship technologies, and to fill the gaps in development stages that are a little underserved.”

The fund, known as Fonds Impulsion, was created with $150 million already dedicated to Impulsion PME, an early-stage investment matching program that briefly shut down last fall. An additional $50 million was allocated from the province’s research and innovation strategy.

The allocation was previously announced in the provincial budget in March, but IQ has now launched the fund and provided more details on how it will work.

The fund is targeting pre-seed and seed tech startups across sectors, according to IQ director of early-stage VC Claire Lelièvre and vice-president of VC Alex Laverdière. In a French-language interview BetaKit has translated into English, Laverdière said the fund plans to invest in roughly 70 unique companies over its lifetime. It’s expected to span roughly 10 years with the opportunity for a re-up from the provincial government.

The original initiative, Impulsion PME, launched in 2021 under former provincial minister Pierre Fitzgibbon. It was given an additional $120 million from the province in 2023 as part of Québec’s five-year innovation strategy. The program was created and financially supported by the ministry of the economy, but Investissement Quebec employees managed and delivered the program. In her own French-language interview, Lelièvre said it deployed roughly $65 million across 67 startups during its operations.

The program was abruptly shuttered in November 2024, leaving several entrepreneurs in the lurch. Some told BetaKit they had been counting on the program’s investment-matching mechanism to close their first rounds of financing. The program has now been fully sunsetted in favour of the new Fonds Impulsion fund.

Startups will have to apply and obtain a reference from an approved ecosystem partner to benefit from the new fund, much as they did with Impulsion PME. IQ still plans to act as a “complementary” investor, bringing in private and quasi-public investors in on rounds. The fund is still sector-agnostic and only open to Québec-headquartered companies, but will regularly evaluate which sectors align with the province’s strategic priorities.

“The fund’s objective is still the same, but it’s more ambitious,” Lelièvre told BetaKit. It plans to write cheques between $250,000 and $2 million, and can now complete multiple follow-on investments instead of just one.

Lelièvre, who will lead the fund’s management, said that IQ has relaxed some application criteria and simplified the reference process to make it more “entrepreneur-friendly.”

The initiative comes 10 years after the provincial agency made its first investment in Montréal-based e-commerce and point-of-sale firm Lightspeed in 2015. Over the past two years, Québec’s pre-seed and seed-stage VC investment landscape has become a source of concern, with experts worrying about a pipeline of companies drying up.

In the spring, a report led by industry group Réseau Capital worried experts as it found that seed-stage venture deals in the province dropped by more than half year-over-year, while dollars invested had decreased by two-thirds. In August, early-stage investments had grown by 30 percent year-over-year, but broader VC activity in the province had slumped.

With its mandate of economic development, IQ has a significant foothold in the Québec VC landscape. VC and fund investments make up 17 percent of the agency’s portfolio and are worth $1.2 billion, according to its latest annual report.

IQ, and by extension the provincial government, has invested more recently in early-stage funds like Telegraph Ventures, which closed $35 million to back pre-seed artificial intelligence (AI) startups.

The agency recorded an annual loss of 4.9 percent in 2024 on direct VC and indirect fund investments as the broader agency just broke even. In its annual report, IQ attributed the middling performance to slowing private investment, worsening economic outlooks, and a stock market dip.

Laverdière said that IQ’s VC activities have notched 13-percent returns over 10 years, outperforming the Canadian VC market, which sits at around 10 percent for internal rate of return over the same time period.

“There are two clear objectives,” Laverdière said. “To build the next generation of flagship technologies, and to fill the gaps in development stages that are a little underserved.”

Feature image courtesy Investissement Québec.

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Can today’s AI wunderkinds clear tomorrow’s enterprise hurdles? 21 Oct 3:00 AM (yesterday, 3:00 am)

Three months ago, Leaders Fund Co-Founder Gideon Hayden ran a little experiment.

He looked at the ages of founders who had started ten post-ChatGPT AI startups like Anysphere and ElevenLabs, and then looked at the ages of the founders behind older giants such as Stripe and SpaceX. The average founder age had dropped from 31 to just 25.

“Having the best product is probably 15 percent of the battle.”
Gideon Hayden, Leaders Fund

In thoughts shared on LinkedIn, Hayden said that either “some of these people are frauds,” or “there is a new generation of AI startup founders that are starting successful companies way younger than we’ve seen in the past, and doing it with much less capital and fewer people.”

AI startups are scaling faster and younger than ever. But early speed is not the same as long-term survival. Winning over consumers with a clever product demo is one thing, but convincing a regulated enterprise to stake its reputation and data security on a ten-person team is another.

There are several notable startups that have been rumoured or stated to have reached $100 million in annual recurring revenue very quickly and with relatively small teams by leaning on product-led growth rather than the standard enterprise procurement process.

But crossing the bridge to true enterprise contracts might be a different ball game. So, BetaKit asked four investors what it will take for today’s AI founders to survive the hype, win over enterprises, and build companies that last.

Plan beyond the rush

Aspenwood Ventures’ Managing Director Lars Leckie regularly advises founding teams selling into large institutions, and he describes today’s procurement climate as a “Wild West.”

Many already Fortune 500s are testing AI tools in ways that bypass the usual guardrails: security reviews, vendor assessments, and compliance hoops. According to a recent report from LayerX, 91 percent of AI tools inside enterprises operate without any IT oversight.

Leckie says that many AI companies are landing big contracts because enterprises have relaxed procurement rules in order to capitalize on AI.

“Friction has been removed from the cycle,” Leckie said.

But that won’t last. Leckie cautioned that enterprises will eventually recalibrate, and today’s AI experiments will be pulled back into the standard procurement process.

Leckie said founders therefore need to start “putting the scaffolding in place to be ready for that change” and get ready to win deals after the gold rush.

Prove your company can endure

Paul McKinlay, Executive Managing Director and Head of CIBC Innovation Banking, is the first to say that enterprises prefer to be fast followers rather than first movers.

“It’s impossible for big enterprises to ignore AI,” McKinlay said. “At the same time, they still have to be very protective of their data assets and customer information.”

That tension means startups face a tougher test than they might expect. Buyers aren’t just evaluating the product; they are measuring whether the company itself can survive over time.

Elizabeth Weil, Founding General Partner at Scribble Ventures, said one of the strongest signals to enterprises comes from founder-led sales.

“The way someone sells their vision to investors communicates a lot about their sales acumen,” Weil said. “Founder-led sales is critical, and you can see a high degree of know-how across many factors like their speed, clarity of communication, conviction, and networking. All of these translate well when selling into any industry.”

But communication alone doesn’t guarantee resilience. Enterprises also want assurance that the company won’t falter if key people walk away. Fast growth and small teams can create distinct risks for enterprise partners.

“If you have eight people and one or two of the key leaders leave, that’s a bigger issue for a buyer,” McKinlay added.

Add in regulatory risk, compliance demands, and long implementation cycles, and the question becomes whether the startup has the depth to endure.

“Having the best product is probably 15 percent of the battle,” Hayden said. “It’s necessary, but not sufficient to win a deal.”

Build credibility with backers

Enterprise procurement can stretch from weeks to months, and during that cycle, buyers are measuring product fit, as well as whether a team has the credibility to support them over the long haul.

“The thing that most startups in the early days lack is credibility,” Hayden said. “They’re young, they’re unproven. No one knows who they are.”

This is where the composition of a startup’s backers can tip the scales. When enterprise buyers see reputable investors or financial institutions at the table, it signals that someone has already done the hard diligence.

“If you have credible, top-notch VCs, as well as a bank like us around the table, it means you have some financial diligence behind you already,” McKinlay added.

Patience is also a necessity. Leckie pointed to Calgary-based AI startup Smart Access as one example of a team that scaled the right way—growing contracts step by step from $300,000 to $2 million before recently landing its first contract with an enterprise customer.

Big enterprise wins bring heavy onboarding, compliance, and support costs, Leckie said. Without the right investors and advisors, those costs can sink a young team.

Even with strong backers, founders can sabotage themselves by overpromising or underestimating what it takes to serve enterprise customers. Investors and financial partners like Hayden and Leaders Fund view how teams forecast resources as a key test of discipline.

“When I see companies that are doing really well, but they believe that they’ll never have to invest in things like account management, sales, or customer support because they’re an AI company, that’s a red flag to me,” Hayden said.

For now, small AI teams are enjoying rapid adoption and marquee logos. But the real test will be whether they can scale from shadow IT and credit-card pilots to enterprise systems of record.

“It’s easy to get really excited about a really cool demo or what AI can do, but you need to be customer obsessed,” Hayden added. “I think that that’s true both on the technology side, but also in how one might sell to an enterprise.”

The procurement hump is waiting. The startups that clear it will be the ones that combine speed with resilience, credibility, and the unglamorous work of enterprise sales.

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CIBC Innovation Banking works with high-growth companies to provide the capital and guidance they need to move from fast pilots to enterprise-scale relationships.

Learn how we support your growth.

Feature image courtesy of Unsplash. Photo by Charles Deluvio.

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Tech investor associations urge unified capital strategy ahead of budget 21 Oct 1:00 AM (yesterday, 1:00 am)

With the Government of Canada set to drop its budget in two weeks, two organizations that represent Canadian technology investors are lobbying for the feds to “recognize the importance of a unified capital strategy” for innovation funding.

In a recent joint letter to finance minister François-Philippe Champagne, the National Angel Capital Organization (NACO) and Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (CVCA) argue that Canada’s innovation economy has been “constrained” by a fragmented capital landscape that often forces companies to relocate abroad or sell prematurely.

NACO and CVCA argue the feds need to make supporting Canadian tech “a national priority.”

In their letter, NACO CEO Claudio Rojas and CVCA board chair Jeannette Wiltse assert that the country needs to make supporting Canadian tech “a national priority.” They say Canada needs to implement a more focused policy strategy to ensure that innovative companies have the funding required to launch, grow, and stay here if it wants to secure its economic sovereignty.

As part of the federal government’s pre-budget consultations, NACO and CVCA have already shared some specific recommendations on how to achieve this. NACO has also elaborated on what a more unified capital strategy for Canada could look like in an associated report.

Canada’s tech financing ecosystem faces some big challenges. Pre-seed and seed activity for Canadian startups has continued to decline, and United States investors are still playing an outsized role supporting the growth of mid- and later stage Canadian firms. This comes at a time when ambitious founders are leaving the country at an accelerating rate, and a persistently cool exit market has left many venture capital (VC) firms struggling to fundraise.

NACO has already recommended that the feds incentivize greater investment at the pre-seed and seed stages by launching a $450-million early-stage matching funds program complementary to the Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative (VCCI), with a focus on national defence and tech. It also seeks a $200-million investment establishing a national infrastructure to activate private capital using existing organizations like angel networks and early-stage funds.

NACO’s pre-budget submission also asked for the Government of Canada to introduce a capital gains reinvestment deferral and a 30-percent, refundable National Investment Tax Credit for investments in Canadian-controlled VC funds or private placements.

CVCA’s own recent budget recommendations also included a call for the feds to implement a capital gains tax exemption on equity in domestic, early-stage companies that extends to limited partnership structures to help Canada compete with the Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) tax incentive south of the border.

Additionally, the CVCA is calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new Liberal government to deliver on its predecessor’s commitments to recapitalize VCCI with $1 billion and invest $1 billion in a fund for homegrown mid-cap companies, while also adopting an evergreen model for VCCI and other venture capital incentive programs. The CVCA’s latest asks mirror the organization’s recommendations from earlier this year.

Feature image courtesy NACO.

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Clio the latest Canadian company to partner with Affirm for “buy now, pay later” service 20 Oct 11:40 AM (yesterday, 11:40 am)

Clio is getting into the FinTech side of the legal business as it becomes the latest Canadian company to partner with San Francisco-based “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) tech company Affirm.

Clio claims its new offerings address “a misaligned financial model” in the legal industry.

The partnership will power Clio’s own BNPL offering, which gives a law firm’s clients the option to pay their legal fees over time in monthly or biweekly installments. Clio has also launched its own capital advance program, Clio Capital, to provide law firms with quick access to funds to help manage their cash flow or invest in growth opportunities.

The BNPL offering and Clio Capital are embedded directly into Clio’s payments and law practice management software in the United States, with additional regions to follow.

The Burnaby, BC-based legaltech company says the offerings address “a misaligned financial model” in the legal industry. Firms often require large upfront retainers to begin work, but clients often don’t have immediate access to those funds, even if they’re expecting payouts down the road.

“Financial stress has been one of the most persistent challenges facing law firms and their clients,” AJ Axelrod, Clio’s vice-president of payments and financial services, said in a statement. “These innovations reduce administrative burdens, strengthen client relationships, and allow firms to operate with greater stability and scale.”

Affirm entered the Canadian market in 2021 when it acquired Canadian BNPL firm PayBright for $340 million CAD. The company has struck multiple partnerships this year to increase its footprint in the country, including with Shopify and FreshBooks.

Clio announced its FinTech offerings on the second day of its legaltech conference in Boston, ClioCon, last week. Clio kicked off the conference by launching an enterprise division to support large law firms and corporate legal departments, a customer base Clio has been targeting for some time. The new suite is made up of artificial intelligence (AI)-based offerings stemming from Clio’s acquisitions of ShareDo and vLex this year.

Feature image courtesy Clio.

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Feds commit $189 million to renew Black Entrepreneurship Program 20 Oct 9:32 AM (2 days ago)

The federal government is investing $189 million to keep the Black Entrepreneurship Program going for another five years.

“When Black entrepreneurs can access capital, mentorship, and reliable data, they turn ideas into jobs and community prosperity.”
Rechie Valdez, Minister of Women and Gender Equality

The initiative launched with $221 million in 2021 to provide funding and resources to Black entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized business owners. It provides financing, training, mentorship, and networking opportunities through three programs: the National Ecosystem Fund, the Black Entrepreneurship Loan Fund, and the Black Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (BEKH).

The renewed funding will keep capital flowing through the programs, expand its advisory support, and improve its data collection.

The federal government’s Regional Development Agencies, which include the likes of Pacific Economic Development Canada (PacifiCan) and Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), have been allocated up to $105.4 million to expand the geographic coverage of the Ecosystem Fund. FedDev Ontario recently invested $2.4 million to support the Black Entrepreneurship Alliance’s incubator programs.

The Black Entrepreneurship Loan Hub will have up to $67 million earmarked to provide loans of up to $250,000 to Black business owners and entrepreneurs across the country. Fund administrator The Federation of African Canadian Economics (FACE) and the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) will also continue collaborating on the project. Alongside American non-profit Black Ambition, FACE awarded $200,000 to Black founders as part of the inaugural Melamoon pitch competition earlier this month.

BDC’s venture arm created its own $100-million Black Entrepreneurs Fund last year. In March, the organization tapped Jason Baibokas to define the investment thesis and criteria of the fund.

BEKH, led by Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business and Dream Legacy Foundation, will receive up to $7.5 million to conduct large-scale qualitative and quantitative research on Black entrepreneurship in Canada. The research maps Black business ecosystems across the country to identify critical gaps where Black entrepreneurs are facing the greatest challenges.

“When Black entrepreneurs can access capital, mentorship, and reliable data, they turn ideas into jobs and community prosperity,” Minister of Women and Gender Equality, Rechie Valdez, said in a statement. “This $189-million investment in renewing the Black Entrepreneurship Program will help more Black entrepreneurs start up, scale up, and build a stronger economy for all Canadians.”

The renewed programming comes as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in Canada’s private sector fall to the wayside in the wake of a wide-scale rollback in the United States. Earlier this year, Canadian tech giant Shopify dismantled its Equitable Commerce team and removed a webpage for its One Million Black Businesses initiative. On Feb. 1, the start of Black History Month, the company also locked a Slack program support channel for Black business owners.

The government claims that the Black Entrepreneurship Program has supported more than 24,000 Black entrepreneurs across the country, with 801 loans, representing more than $70.6 million, approved under the Black Entrepreneurship Loan Fund.

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

Feature image courtesy Unsplash. Photo by Iwaria Inc.

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YSpace to put women entrepreneurs in the spotlight at ELLA Ascend 2025 Showcase 20 Oct 3:00 AM (2 days ago)

On October 30, the ELLA Fireside Chat and Ascend 2025 Showcase, powered by Desjardins, will host a conversation featuring women who built entirely new markets from the ground up, followed by live pitches from women founders looking to do the same.

Hosted by YSpace—York’s pan-university entrepreneurship and innovation hub—the event will bring together founders, investors, and ecosystem leaders for a night that celebrates women entrepreneurship and marks the culmination of ELLA Ascend 2025, YSpace’s dedicated program for women entrepreneurs.

“The hope is that everyone leaves with a sense of practical empowerment.”
Marlina Ramchandran, YSpace

Opening the evening will be a highly anticipated fireside chat featuring Helena Ruken, co-founder and CEO of women’s professional football club AFC Toronto, Mona Minhas, managing partner at BDC’s Thrive Venture Fund.

Joining them will be Tealbook founder and CEO Stephany Lapierre and CATTLEytics Founder and CEO Shari Van de Pol.

Ruken is leading the push to establish professional women’s soccer in Canada, and has long championed sport as a medium for fostering confidence and leadership in women and girls. AFC is Toronto’s first professional women’s soccer club and competes in the Northern Super League, which currently plays at York University’s campus.

Minhas, newly minted managing partner at BDC’s Thrive Venture Fund, is also reshaping how capital flows to women-led ventures. Before she joined BDC Capital in 2021, Minhas served in leadership roles at Toronto-based retail startup Knix, in addition to holding leadership roles at Rogers Communications and the Canadian Broadcast Corporation.

YSpace-Ella-2024 — This year’s cohort includes 12 businesses ranging from medtech and EdTech to video production, nostalgic-scented candles, and curated dining experiences.

“Programs like Ascend are supporting bold, capable women founders with great vision, who’ve proven they can execute,” Minhas said. “The question now is: how do we help them build the networks, systems, and access that make growth lasting?”

The fireside discussion, which will be moderated by Marilyn Horrick, Senior Vice President, Market Growth, Brand Expansion, and Partner Relations, Outside Quebec, Desjardins Group, will cover how the participants challenged convention, spotted opportunities in overlooked spaces, and helped scale ventures from the ground up.

“I’ve had the great chance to meet and speak with many entrepreneurs in Ontario, but across the country, and through those conversations, what I’ve really learned—yes, capital is still a big part of the question—but so is being able to create a network, being able to get advice and mentorship and guidance,” said Horrick.

Following the conversation, YSpace will showcase ventures from the ELLA Ascend 2025 cohort, which is powered by Desjardins and supported by funding from the federal government through Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada.

ELLA is the flagship accelerator program for women entrepreneurs. Its four-month Ascend program is designed to help women entrepreneurs build momentum and scale their ventures. YSpace provides these startups with personalized mentorship and workshops, over $60,000 in startup resources, and 50 percent matching support toward fractional executive services.

This year’s cohort includes 12 businesses ranging from medtech and EdTech to video production, nostalgic-scented candles, and curated dining experiences. It’s that breadth that sets ELLA apart, according to Marlina Ramchandran, ELLA Entrepreneurship Manager at YSpace.

“Innovation takes many forms, which is why we’ve expanded ELLA beyond the conventional accelerator model to support founders across service-based ventures, product-driven businesses, and high-growth technology ventures,” she said. “This really started when we were doing our market analysis and realized that most women-led businesses were in product and service-based businesses that have the potential to scale and grow.”

Women own only 18 percent of Canadian businesses and receive a fraction of venture capital funding. That gap represents an economic loss, too, and closing it could add as much as $180 billion to Canada’s GDP. ELLA is closing that gap, having already supported more than 2,700 women entrepreneurs since 2020.

“ELLA is especially critical at this moment because women entrepreneurs face persistent systemic barriers at a time when the economy is under significant strain,” Ramchandran added.

Canada is navigating record-high unemployment and the ripple effects of global trade tensions, and Ramchandran believes women-led businesses can play a pivotal role in this climate.

“Women-led businesses have proven to deliver strong returns, and can play a pivotal role in driving innovation, creating jobs, and stabilizing local economies,” she said.

At the upcoming showcase, three ventures from the Ascend cohort will step into the spotlight to share their pitches with an audience of peers and ecosystem leaders.

It’s a fitting close for a night built to spark what YSpace hopes will become the next wave of women-led companies in Canada. Ramachandran wants the event to leave a lasting imprint on the people in the room.

“The hope is that everyone leaves with a sense of practical empowerment,” she said. “The most important thing for attendees to take away is that they too can use the tools and insights shared tonight to build and grow.”

PRESENTED BY

Join us for the YSpace ELLA Fireside Chat & Ascend 2025 Showcase where bold ideas, breakthrough innovation, and entrepreneurial achievement converge in one extraordinary celebration. Register now.

Photos provided by YSpace.

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Ready Plan Go raises $750K to automate accountants’ grunt work with AI 20 Oct 2:00 AM (2 days ago)

Every time tax season used to roll around, Montréal’s Nima Jalalvandi said it brought him nothing but stress. As the go-to person who did taxes for his family and friends, Jalalvandi said it was like “spring cleaning, with none of the benefits.”

Jalalvandi and his co-founders have responded by building Ready Plan Go, an artificial intelligence (AI) platform that aims to automate the grunt paperwork for accountants and let them spend more time giving clients tax and financial-planning advice.

“We want to increase satisfaction so accountants feel they can do meaningful work.”
Nima Jalalvandi, Ready Plan Go

Ready Plan Go calls its software an “AI-powered back office” for tax preparers. It’s meant to speed up document collection, data extraction from digital documents, and tax software form entry.

“We want to increase satisfaction so accountants feel they can do meaningful work, by creating the infrastructure layer of the back office for tax prep,” Jalalvandi said in an interview with BetaKit.

After going through accelerator programs Station FinTech Montréal and Next AI, Ready Plan Go nabbed two awards at Startupfest worth $175,000, including the 2SLGBTQIA+ Prize and the FinTech grant. The early-stage company has now rounded this out to a $750,000 pre-seed round, including a cheque from Mistral Venture Partners and 15 angel investors from Montréal’s startup ecosystem. These include Stay22 CEO Andrew Lockhead and Firat Gezen, the former president of General Dynamics Canada. Some of the money came from the sale of Jalalvandi’s own house.

Ready Plan Go’s business model partly depends on acquiring the books of tax firms with accountants leaving the business or retiring. The company is first targeting United States firms because they have larger client bases, and it recently landed its first large client in Pennsylvania.

Jalalvandi said the money will be used to buy more business and work on product development. The four-person team consists of two founders with a business background and two chartered professional accountants.

While the AI platform is designed to replace some of the work of accountants, Jalalvandi claimed it’s only reducing the workload of a shrinking workforce. The accounting industry is at the precipice of a broad transformation, as more than 80 percent of licensed professionals are expected to retire within the next decade, and there are fewer young people joining the profession. An April 2024 survey conducted by the firm Robert Half found that 90 percent of finance and accounting hiring managers already face challenges due to a labour shortage.

Jalalvandi sees the lack of accountants as an opportunity for firms to integrate Ready Plan Go’s tech. The online platform has AI agents completing multiple stages of the tax preparation process, as well as connecting to exterior filing platforms such as Drake and ProSeries.

“There will be a human there to make sure context is always there,” Jalalvandi added.

Some research into AI in accounting has found it useful in speeding up tedious “pre-work,” such as classifying transactions and compiling client information. According to a Stanford University survey of 277 accountants across 79 firms in the US, accountants using AI served more clients, finalized monthly statements a week earlier, and spent less time on back-office processing tasks. However, the same survey found that 62 percent of accountants worried about AI-generated errors, and 43 percent were concerned about data security when using AI.

Jalalvandi explained that customers of the firms it partners with will have to consent to sharing their data with these AI models. He added that the company is working on getting SOC 2 certification, a widely used security compliance framework.

Ready Plan Go also uses a mix of large language models (LLMs) to make sure that tasks are completed with maximum accuracy. Jalalvandi gave the example of extracting text from PDF documents—if multiple LLMs don’t score 100 percent accuracy, then the system pings a human to review the documents. “Ninety-nine percent is not enough,” he said.

Feature image courtesy Ready Plan Go.

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BDC report finds optimism is up among Canadian entrepreneurs despite trade war uncertainty 20 Oct 12:00 AM (2 days ago)

A new report from the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) has found that Canadian entrepreneurs have become more optimistic about the economy in the months since the United States trade war began.

“They are not sitting there and waiting to see what the economy is going to do.”
Pierre Cléroux, BDC

Confidence among domestic small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) dropped when the US suddenly announced tariffs on Canada and other countries near the beginning of 2025. But as those SMBs have grown more accustomed to operating in this business climate, they have also become more optimistic about the future, despite continued headwinds.

Forty-five percent reported feeling confidence during the third quarter, compared to 33 percent in Q2, according to BDC’s State of Entrepreneurship 2025 report.

In an interview with BetaKit, BDC vice-president and chief economist Pierre Cléroux attributed this uptick to SMBs now having “less uncertainty” regarding the impact of these tariffs and the steps that they have taken to ensure their survival and competitiveness in this “new reality.”

“They are taking action … They are not sitting there and waiting to see what the economy is going to do,” he added. Cléroux noted that 74 percent of the Canadian entrepreneurs surveyed have implemented measures to increase their productivity over the past year in response to economic pressure.

Many have switched suppliers or pursued new markets, he said, noting that after thinking “north-south” for most of the last 30 years, more Canadian SMBs are looking further east or west to diversify their businesses.

Nearly one-third have also turned to new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) to do more with less and ensure their profitability, the report found, while 20 percent have adopted existing solutions.

But some big challenges remain, and the majority (55 percent) of the approximately 2,500 entrepreneurs surveyed by BDC remain skeptical that conditions will improve anytime soon.

All this pressure appears to have taken a toll. While 86 percent of SMB owners say they are in good health, 54 percent also reported having experienced emotional or mental exhaustion over the past year. “That’s a high number,” Cléroux said.

“The year has been difficult,” he added. “There’s no doubt that there’s pressure on these entrepreneurs. There’s a lot of uncertainty. Things have been changing very quickly since the beginning of this year.”

As this study is the first of its kind, Cléroux said he is interested to see how that share evolves over the coming years.

But Cléroux also takes some solace in knowing that 92 percent would choose to become an entrepreneur again. He argues that this speaks to the passion, dynamism, and resiliency of Canadian SMB owners in the face of continued challenges, following an already tough stretch that has also featured a global pandemic and rising inflation.

Cléroux said Canadian SMBs face two main headwinds: cost pressure (thanks to inflation, US tariffs, and a low Canadian dollar) and soft or declining demand.

Twelve percent of SMBs are preparing for a radical transformation of their business, the report found. Despite these headwinds, more than half (55 percent) still expect to see moderate or strong growth this year, a very good sign given the slowing economy, Cléroux said.

While Canadian SMBs are still investing in growth projects, Cléroux said the amount of investment has dipped. He noted that the priority at the moment is on improving (or maintaining) profitability, retaining customers, and staying competitive.

Feature image courtesy Freepik. Photo by DC Studio.

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Gen Z wants BlackBerry back. Why? 19 Oct 11:59 PM (2 days ago)

A few weeks back, a bunch of gadget heads descended upon a Brooklyn café to kick off the campaign to Bring Back BlackBerry.

The campaign is led by frenemy and former tech blogger Kevin Michaluk, alongside Jeff Gadway, a friend and former colleague from Research In Motion (maker of the original BlackBerry smartphones). Both are co-founders of smartphone keyboard accessory company Clicks Technology.

BBB has audacious goals, including one million petition signatures, getting Michaluk on BlackBerry’s board of directors, and a license to use the BlackBerry brand with a newly built “digital essential” phone. Both Gadway and Michaluk have deep experience rallying communities to causes (remember #TeamBlackBerry?), and the campaign is a truly first-rate marketing endeavour.

It might be more than marketing. Friend and former tech blogger Josh McConnell covered the event, noting the collective hope for a return to intentional tech. “You could feel that shared belief: that tech could once again be human-scaled, not habit-shaped,” he wrote.

The belief has resonated with Gen Z, who are romanticizing the BlackBerry era on social media despite not really being old enough to remember it. It’s not just adopted nostalgia; think of it as a generational immune response to a society built on habit-shaping technology. “I’m sick of having a slot machine that sucks my time and dopamine,” posted one petitioner about their iPhone.

That this is all for the device that spawned the term CrackBerry is ironic but also fitting. On a podcast about the life and death of BBM, The Verge’s Nilay Patel correctly identified that BlackBerry was a company built around navigating constraints: slow networks, small batteries, and tiny screens. As those constraints fell away, so too did the company’s success.

I don’t think anyone looking to Bring Back BlackBerry wants those constraints to return. But I do think they want better tools to help navigate the world at a human scale.

Douglas Soltys
Editor-in-chief

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Canadian FinTech leaders told to finally expect open banking progress in fall budget

Multiple Canadian FinTech leaders BetaKit spoke with under condition of anonymity have been told by government officials, and the industry associations that lobby them, to expect the next phase of open banking legislation in the Nov. 4 federal budget.

Sources also indicated that the upcoming budget will likely contain “language” around stablecoins, a digital asset that is typically pegged to a currency such as the United States dollar.

BDC commits $100 million to boost rural entrepreneurship across Canada

The Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) is committing $100 million to business loans for the half-million entrepreneurs living in rural and remote areas of Canada.

The development bank claims the money will help generate up to $250 million in gross domestic product over five years and fulfill its mandate to serve people outside of major cities.

Clio caps off year of big acquisitions by launching new enterprise division

Burnaby, BC-based legaltech company Clio has launched an enterprise division to support large law firms and corporate legal departments, a customer base it has been targeting for some time.

The new suite caps off Clio’s work in artificial intelligence acquisitions over the past year, bringing together its Clio Operate, Clio Docket, Clio Library, and Vincent by Clio offerings for enterprise clients.

“It is war”: How Alexi hopes to dominate the AI legaltech market

Alexi CEO Mark Doble claims his legaltech company has seen a 3,000-percent boost in users year-over-year and now serves more than 600 mid-market to enterprise legal firms as customers.

But Alexi’s rapid growth is set against an uber-competitive legaltech landscape where many legal firms are rushing to incorporate AI tools. Doble says the competitive landscape of legaltech powered by AI is akin to a “war.”

Lyft to hire hundreds more staff in Toronto amid plans to open new tech hub

Ride-hailing platform Lyft says it will open a new tech hub in downtown Toronto next year as it aims to add hundreds more staff in the city.

The company is looking to scale its “few hundred” employees in Toronto up to “several hundred” with the new hub, a spokesperson told BetaKit. Toronto will become Lyft’s second-largest North American tech hub after its San Francisco headquarters.

Danielle Smith expands ministerial team leading Alberta’s $100-billion AI data centre push

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has tapped utilities minister Nathan Neudorf to work with innovation minister Nate Glubish and finance minister Nate Horner on the province’s AI data centre attraction strategy

Neudorf joins the roster as proposals for AI data centre projects are already outpacing electricity availability.

Kaz Nejatian brings his former Shopify “second-in-command” to Opendoor

Kaz Nejatian has tapped Shopify vice-president of operations Giang LeGrice to lead operations at San Francisco-based real estate tech firm Opendoor.

The former Shopify COO called LeGrice his “second-in-command” at Shopify and a “world-class leader.” LeGrice is the second former Shopify colleague Nejatian has brought to Opendoor since he took over.

FEATURED EVENTS FROM OUR PARTNERS

The Hinton Lectures return next month, hosted by the AI Safety Foundation. As AI’s safety cracks are widening, Owain Evans, Director of Truthful AI, will take audiences to the cutting edge of alignment research. Read about this year’s lectures.
Toronto Community Week 2025 is bringing some of the most influential names in community leadership to Startwell from October 23 to 25. The global conference aims to turn community into a measurable business advantage. Read about the first Toronto edition.
On October 24, Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst will host a free webinar aimed at helping early-stage companies engage with the province’s top cybersecurity challenges. Read how the future of Ontario’s critical industries hinges on startups.
The conversations unfolding at this year’s SAAS NORTH on November 5 and 6 at the Rogers Centre in Ottawa will not be predictable, and the on-stage matchups won’t be obvious. Read about how SAAS NORTH 2025 has been designed to surprise.

Weekly Canadian Deals, Dollars & More

VAN – Pawsible Ventures raises $10M to support pet health startups
VAN – Spring Impact Capital closes $14M for impact-focused fund
TOR – Provision raises $7M USD for AI pre-construction co-pilots
TOR – FreshBooks adds BNPL feature through Affirm partnership
OTT – Defence tech firm Dominion Dynamics secures $4M
HFX – ABK Biomedical raises $35M USD to commercialize liver cancer treatment

The BetaKit Podcast – Why Canada doesn’t buy Canadian tech

“If you’re a founder in Canada, you have a playbook, which is: try to get outside of the country as soon as possible. Try to sell outside of the country.”

Raymond Luk thinks the “cultural belief we’re not good enough” creates a homecourt disadvantage for Canadian tech. He’s trying to kickstart a solution to our nation’s procurement woes with a new summit called Source Canada, so buyers and sellers can speed date. Is a cultural kick in the pants enough to get Canada to buy Canadian tech? Let’s dig in.

Take The BetaKit Quiz – This week: Evan Solomon heads to the Gulf, Canadian Tire hits a speedbump, and Canada’s latest Nobel laureate

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 October 17, 2025.

Pain points don’t get solved in isolation, they get solved through connection.

At SAAS NORTH, networking is built into the experience: curated spaces, 1:1 founder-investor meetings, and informal meetups designed to help leaders compare notes, share solutions, and spark partnerships.

Feature image courtesy Josh McConnell via Substack.

The post Gen Z wants BlackBerry back. Why? first appeared on BetaKit.

Why Canada doesn’t buy Canadian tech 19 Oct 3:04 PM (2 days ago)

I’m sure most Canadians have experienced it this year: you’re at the grocery store checking labels, making sure your meat, vegetables, and ketchup chips all come from Canada.

In 2025, ‘buy Canadian’ is a thing.

“If you’re a founder in Canada, you have a playbook, which is: try to get outside of the country as soon as possible. Try to sell outside of the country.”
Raymond Luk
Source Canada

But in tech, the accepted truth is that Canadians are the worst customers. Across sectors, Canadian startups find themselves looking outside of the country not only for revenue, but also for the validation required to successfully sell back home. It’s a pain point that even the most successful entrepreneurs in Canada feel.

Entrepreneur Raymond Luk is trying to change that, launching a new summit called Source Canada so buyers and sellers can speed date. His hope is to combat the “cultural belief” that Canadian tech isn’t good enough to buy early and often.

But is a cultural kick in the pants enough to solve our nation’s longstanding procurement woes? As Luk notes in this episode of The BetaKit Podcast, procurement touches R&D, productivity, national sovereignty, and talent retention. Right now, “ambitious founders” are fleeing the country at an alarming rate. We won’t have to worry about Canadian startups selling in Canada if there are no startups in Canada left to sell.

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

So, Canada doesn’t buy Canadian tech. What are we going to do about it?

Let’s dig in.

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The BetaKit Podcast is presented by The Cyber Challenge, powered by Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst and CCTX: Your pathway to new sales, industry connections, and non-dilutive funding.

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When: Friday, October 24, 2025
Time: 12 – 1 PM EST | Where: Virtual (Zoom) | Cost: Free

PRESENTED BY

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Recorded and edited at Toronto Podcasts.

The post Why Canada doesn’t buy Canadian tech first appeared on BetaKit.

FreshBooks partners with Affirm to offer “buy now, pay later” feature 17 Oct 11:26 AM (4 days ago)

FreshBooks customers in the United States and Canada can now let clients pay their invoices a little bit at a time.

FreshBooks expanded its partnership with American payments processor Stripe last year to launch its Payments offering.

The Toronto-based financial software company is adding the buy now, pay later (BNPL) feature to its Payments offering through a partnership with San Francisco-based Affirm. When businesses select BNPL as an eligible invoice payment method through Freshbook Payments, their clients can sign up through Affirm to pay through biweekly or monthly plans. Business owners receive the full invoice amount upfront, minus a transaction fee, while the client pays Affirm over a set period.

“By giving their clients a smarter, more flexible way to pay for services, FreshBooks customers can win more jobs, drive customer loyalty, and fuel long-term growth,” FreshBooks head of product Andrew Gunner said in a statement.

Founded in 2004, FreshBooks aims to help small and medium-sized businesses manage finances, billing, payroll, payments, and client engagement through its accounting platform. The company expanded its partnership with American payments processor Stripe last year to launch its Payments offering, which allows businesses to send a Stripe payment link to their clients alongside invoices that are automatically recorded in FreshBooks.

Following a multi-year struggle to reach profitability, FreshBooks casually unveiled a new permanent CEO in March, alongside $125 million USD in debt financing from Morgan Stanley. Shaheen Javadizadeh took the top job from long-time interim leader Mara Reiff, who shifted to COO. FreshBooks told BetaKit that it would use the debt to continue on its current path of driving profitable growth.

Canadian e-commerce giant Shopify renewed and expanded its own exclusivity agreement with Affirm earlier this year to bring its once US-restricted partnership to Canada and beyond. In April, Affirm announced that some Shopify merchants in Canada gained early access to Shop Pay Installments, marking the first time the BNPL product was available outside of the US.

Affirm entered the Canadian market on its own in 2021, when it acquired Canadian BNPL firm PayBright for $340 million CAD.

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

Feature image courtesy Unsplash. Image by Towfiqu barbhuiya.

The post FreshBooks partners with Affirm to offer “buy now, pay later” feature first appeared on BetaKit.

Evan Solomon heads to the Gulf, Canadian Tire hits a speedbump, and Canada’s latest Nobel laureate 17 Oct 10:28 AM (4 days ago)

QUIZ START

The post Evan Solomon heads to the Gulf, Canadian Tire hits a speedbump, and Canada’s latest Nobel laureate first appeared on BetaKit.

Danielle Smith expands ministerial team leading Alberta’s $100-billion AI data centre push 17 Oct 10:16 AM (4 days ago)

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has added another Nate to the ministerial team that’s trying to attract data centres to the province through a $100-billion artificial intelligence (AI) data centre strategy.

Neudorf will work with colleagues to fast-track AI data centre projects that have “bring your own power” generation projects attached.

Utilities minister Nathan Neudorf will work with innovation minister Nate Glubish and finance minister Nate Horner to complete and publicly announce the province’s AI data centre attraction strategy. Smith issued the command in a new batch of mandate letters sent out to cabinet ministers this week, saying the strategy should combine “strong investment attractiveness with stable, affordable electricity and fair returns for Albertans.”

Neudorf joins the roster as proposals for AI data centre projects are already outpacing electricity availability. 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).

According to 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 20.7 gigawatts (20,700 MW) in Q3 2025. Comparatively, the agency’s all-time peak in demand is 12,384 MW, set in January 2024.

Smith has tasked Neudorf to work with AESO on a forecast of Alberta’s electricity requirements, as well as the current state of available power from the province’s generators and projects under construction. Neudorf will also work with Glubish to fast-track AI data centre projects that have “bring your own power” generation projects attached.

Alberta put the data centre strategy forward in December 2024, looking to attract $100 billion of investment in AI data centres by 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 space for companies.

Glubish has been vocal about his desire to make Alberta the premier destination for AI data centres, arguing it will make Alberta more attractive for AI companies looking to set up shop with affordable and reliable access to computing power.

Despite Alberta pushing its natural gas grid as a perk, those building AI infrastructure have avoided the province in favour of renewable energy. Telus recently opened its inaugural Sovereign AI Factory data centre in Rimouski, Que., powered primarily by hydroelectric power. Bell also plans to rely on hydroelectricity with its AI data centres in BC. Bell’s project 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.

Glubish previously claimed to BetaKit 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. However, in this week’s mandate letter, Smith asked Neudorf to complete public engagement on how nuclear energy can fit into Alberta’s energy mix, and to develop a nuclear roadmap and regulatory framework to “ensure projects can be advanced as soon as possible.”

UPDATE (10/17/2025): This article has been updated with more recent electricity demand figures provided by the Alberta Electric System Operator.

Feature image courtesy Nathan Neudorf via LinkedIn.

The post Danielle Smith expands ministerial team leading Alberta’s $100-billion AI data centre push first appeared on BetaKit.

“It is war”: How Alexi hopes to dominate the AI legaltech market 17 Oct 8:49 AM (5 days ago)

As Toronto-based Alexi approaches a revenue milestone, its CEO says the competitive landscape of legaltech powered by artificial intelligence (AI) is akin to a “war.”

Mark Doble, who co-founded the startup in 2017, claimed Alexi saw a 3,000-percent boost in users year-over-year and now serves more than 600 mid-market to enterprise legal firms as customers. These firms include Ontario’s Oatley Vigmond and Vancouver’s MacLean Law.

“Our positioning is [that] it is war and we are going to win. None of this ‘rising tide lifts all boats.’”
Mark Doble, Alexi

But Alexi’s rapid growth is set against an uber-competitive legaltech landscape where many legal firms are rushing to incorporate AI tools. This has led industry incumbents like Thomson Reuters and LexisNexis to roll out their own AI solutions. Meanwhile, the capital is flowing for startups: this month, Toronto-based Spellbook raised $50 million USD for its “AI copilot for lawyers.” Canadian tech’s largest-ever software funding round went to legaltech Clio last year.

Despite legaltech’s rise in popularity, Doble says he is confident in Alexi’s competitive advantage. In an interview with BetaKit, he described workflow automation for upper-mid-market and enterprise law firms as a “three-company race” between his startup, American company Harvey, and European firm Legora.

“Our positioning is [that] it is war and we are going to win. None of this ‘rising tide lifts all boats.’ We are outcompeting on every dimension,” he claimed.

San Francisco-based legal software provider Harvey was most recently valued at $5 billion USD and announced in August plans to expand its Canadian presence with more than 20 roles in Toronto. Harvey declined to comment for this article.

Legora, a large player in the European market, raised an $80-million USD Series B round earlier this year at a $675-million USD valuation. It says it has served more than 400 customers. Legora did not respond to a request for comment.

Alexi sells AI-powered legal software designed to help lawyers and legal teams produce research memos, identify relevant legal issues and arguments, and automate routine tasks. It recently ramped up custom workflow creation for law firms, establishing a library of agentic workflows that firms can adopt and tailor to their needs.

As the use of AI gains steam in the industry, legal professionals have concerns about its implementation. A 2024 survey of 443 Canadian legal professionals by Appara, a legaltech company, found that concerns around data privacy, security, and tool accuracy are “holding the legal industry back from fully embracing AI.” Twenty-six percent of respondents were concerned about the risks and ethical implications of using AI, and 23 percent didn’t trust how their data was being used.

Part of Alexi’s competitive edge, according to Doble, is the company’s new, security-focused option for data-hosting services. This year, Alexi debuted private cloud deployment as a security-forward option, which relies on a single-tenant architecture. This means there is a single instance of the Alexi software app for each individual client firm, reducing the risk of insecure data transfers. Data security has become a hot-button issue in Canada as the federal government explores “sovereign” cloud hosting to reduce its reliance on US companies.

With a single-tenant environment, Doble said the customer, rather than the vendor, benefits from any investments made into the platform. “It really incentivizes law firms to invest in their own AI technology,” he said.

Numbers-wise, Doble said private cloud has allowed Alexi to grow significantly this year. The company claims it’s on track to hit $10 million in annual run rate (monthly revenue times 12) by the end of the year. Its revenue is roughly split between Canada and its southern neighbour, he said, slightly favouring the United States.

As it expands its footprint, Alexi plans to open a New York City office next year but to remain headquartered in Canada. The company has so far raised nearly $25 million CAD to fuel its growth, including $4.5 million in venture debt this February.

Unlike some other companies in Canada that are taking AI-first strategies, Alexi is not slowing down hiring. Doble said the company wants to double its team of 50 by January 2026 in product, engineering, and sales roles. While “AI enablement is critical” throughout the team, there is “no shortage of ideas for us to pursue and things to build” for customers, he said.

“If you’re not hiring, if you’re not growing, you’ve run out of ideas,” Doble added.

Feature image courtesy Alexi.

The post “It is war”: How Alexi hopes to dominate the AI legaltech market first appeared on BetaKit.

Canadian FinTech leaders told to finally expect open banking progress in fall budget 16 Oct 1:06 PM (5 days ago)

Canadian FinTech leaders expect the upcoming federal budget to take the next legislative step toward a long-awaited open banking system.

”After years of discussion and consultation, we need to get it done. This means legislation and a timeline for going live.”
Andrew Graham,
Fintechs Canada

Multiple FinTech leaders BetaKit spoke with under condition of anonymity have been told by government officials and the industry associations that lobby them to expect the next phase of open banking legislation in the Nov. 4 federal budget. Phase 2 of the framework deals with common rules and an accreditation plan for financial services providers.

Sources also indicated that the upcoming budget will likely contain “language” around stablecoins, a digital asset that is typically pegged to a currency such as the United States dollar.

Department of Finance spokesperson Benoit Sabourin told BetaKit in an emailed statement that it “would be inappropriate” for the agency to “speculate” on what the budget might include.

However, Ryan Turnbull, parliamentary secretary to the finance minister, suggested today in an X post that the government is committed to open banking as it prepares its budget.

“At this year’s Fintech Leaders’ Summit, I reaffirmed our government’s commitment to building a more innovative, competitive, and inclusive financial sector,” Turnbull wrote, using the hashtag #Budget2025.

“From modernizing payment systems to advancing frameworks for consumer-driven banking and digital assets, we’re laying the foundation for a stronger, more connected economy.”

FinTech leaders have been calling for a consumer-directed finance system for years, a measure they say will improve financial service competition and lower prices for Canadians. Proponents argue that open banking would establish a secure way for customers to share their financial information with third parties and more easily switch from banks to other financial service providers. Open banking would, in theory, also eliminate the need for an insecure data-sharing practice known as “screen-scraping,” which requires consumers to provide their online banking username and password to access financial data.

“Like many in the FinTech sector, I’m looking for the budget to make meaningful progress on open banking,” Borrowell CEO and Fintechs Canada board chair Andrew Graham told BetaKit. ”After years of discussion and consultation, we need to get it done. This means legislation and a timeline for going live.”

A long and winding road to open banking

Canada’s path to open banking began with a review announced in the 2018 federal budget. Despite an initial piece of legislation introduced in 2024, the system has yet to come into effect after years of consultations and delays.

The federal government’s first open banking review took place in 2019 to assess its utility to Canadians. A resulting report recommended moving forward on a framework, and further talks discussed concerns around consumer data rights and mitigating privacy and data security.

It then took two years for the Advisory Committee on Open Banking to release a final report on the subject, a “glacial pace” that frustrated many in the FinTech industry. In 2022, the federal government followed through on recommendations by establishing working groups and appointing Abraham Tachjian as its open banking czar to design and implement parts of the system, including an accreditation framework. The advisory committee recommended that the initial phase of open banking would become operational by January 2023.

When the 2023 federal budget came and went with no update on an open banking timeline, a group of Canada’s largest FinTech companies launched a public advocacy campaign to push for faster movement on the file.

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:

The feds eventually introduced the Consumer-Driven Banking Act in its 2024 budget, which appointed the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) to develop rules and oversee implementation for an open banking system. At the time, the feds said a “second piece of legislation” would be tabled in the fall to flesh out the remaining elements of the framework.

But the 2024 Fall Economic Statement (FES) brought more delays, alongside the departure of finance minister Chrystia Freeland, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to closely follow. Despite promises that the framework would be implemented in 2025, the FES delayed the system’s launch to 2026.

In June, FCAC commissioner Shereen Benzvy Miller said the agency is working on a consumer awareness strategy, an accreditation process, and common rules for open banking. Benzvy Miller added that the FCAC can “look forward” to the second half of an open banking framework from the Department of Finance, but did not provide a timeline.

After Prime Minister Mark Carney was elected this spring, FinTech leaders expressed cautious optimism about the new leader’s ability to deliver payment system modernization through open banking and real-time rail (RTR), another repeatedly delayed initiative.

Many FinTech and cryptocurrency leaders have called for the Canadian government to develop a framework around stablecoin use as the digital asset grows in popularity. The Bank of Canada has also said the government should consider developing stablecoin regulation.

In an op-ed for BetaKit, Coinbase Canada CEO Lucas Matheson called for Canada to develop its own stablecoin infrastructure to avoid being reliant on US-made payment rails. “The choice isn’t just about whether we will lead in the future of digital finance, it’s about avoiding being left behind,” he wrote.

Feature image courtesy Francois-Philippe Champagne via LinkedIn.

The post Canadian FinTech leaders told to finally expect open banking progress in fall budget first appeared on BetaKit.

Lyft to hire hundreds more staff in Toronto amid plans to open new tech hub 16 Oct 11:32 AM (5 days ago)

Ride-hailing platform Lyft says it will open a new tech hub in downtown Toronto next year as it aims to add hundreds more staff in the city.

“Our expansion in the GTA will enable us to tap into exceptional talent.”

A Lyft spokesperson told BetaKit the company has “a few hundred” employees in Toronto and is looking to scale that to “several hundred” with the new hub. Toronto will become Lyft’s second-largest North American tech hub after its San Francisco headquarters, the spokesperson added.

“Our expansion in the GTA will enable us to tap into exceptional talent across engineering, product, operations, and beyond – allowing us to build world-class teams that will drive innovation across every part of our business,” Jason Vogrinec, Lyft executive vice president of core systems and platforms, said in a statement.

The new office is part of Lyft’s global growth strategy. The company operates rideshare and taxi mobility services in nearly 1,000 cities across 11 countries. It also provides bikeshare programs in 86 cities across 16 countries.

Lyft’s Toronto office will come as Lyft sees an increase in its Canadian business, with rides in the country growing by more than 20 percent year-over-year in the first half of 2025. Cass Zawadowski, Lyft’s Toronto-based executive creative director, said in a statement that the new office will be “a hub for innovation that our team is genuinely excited about.”

Lyft entered the Canadian market in Toronto and Ottawa in December 2017 and has had dedicated teams in the Québec cities of Longueuil and Montréal for several years, the company said. The ride-hailing company received permission to operate its app in Montréal and Québec earlier this year. Lyft also powered the tech behind Bikeshare Toronto and other bikeshare systems across Québec.

Close to 500,000 Canadians provided services through gig work platforms like Lyft in 2024, according to StatCan. The prevalence of gig work has garnered scrutiny from labour critics and governments. Ontario followed British Columbia’s lead in July with the Digital Platform Workers’ Rights Act, which established minimum wage standards for the time drivers spend completing trips.

Feature image courtesy Lyft.

The post Lyft to hire hundreds more staff in Toronto amid plans to open new tech hub first appeared on BetaKit.

Clio caps off year of big acquisitions by launching new enterprise division 16 Oct 8:51 AM (6 days ago)

Burnaby, BC-based legaltech company Clio has launched an enterprise division to support large law firms and corporate legal departments.

“Practice management was about efficiency. Intelligent legal work is about outcomes.”
Jack Newton, Clio

Announced on the opening day of Clio’s legaltech conference in Boston, ClioCon, the enterprise suite provides software for both the legal and business operations side of a customer base Clio has been targeting for some time. Clio CEO Jack Newton told BetaKit in March that the company has long hoped to expand to large law firms, which he called “a very significant and important segment of the legal market.”

The new suite caps off Clio’s work in artificial intelligence (AI) over the past year, bringing together its Clio Operate, Clio Docket, Clio Library, and Vincent by Clio offerings for enterprise clients.

Clio Operate evolved out of Clio’s acquisition of United Kingdom (UK)-based ShareDo earlier this year. The work management platform connects workflows, analytics, and collaboration across global teams to help large law firms manage client demands while maintaining structure and oversight. Newton said at the time that acquiring ShareDo was a chance for Clio to expand into the enterprise market “five years or more” ahead of schedule.

Already live in the UK, the Operate platform is launching in the United States, with additional markets to follow. Meanwhile, the Docket feature provides access to court filings, motions, and procedural updates across jurisdictions. The company says the offering is designed to expand with new court data and integrations over time.

Vincent by Clio is an AI-powered search engine and assistant that helps legal professionals quickly find and extract key information from legal documents. This feature, as well as the Clio Library database, is built on Clio’s $1-billion USD acquisition of Spanish legaltech company vLex in June.

Clio said it has added some new features to Vincent for its enterprise customers, including contract drafting, more integration support, and the ability to customize AI tools. Clio claims Vincent is built on “authoritative legal sources” to deliver accurate, explainable results for legal work. Hundreds of lawyers have been caught and even fined for using AI tools after false legal cases showed up in their work.

The company previously said the vLex acquisition was intended to “fast-track” its AI capabilities, and Clio has done just that. Its new Intelligent Work platform integrates vLex’s database and Vincent AI across Clio’s entire product suite, moving AI from a task-based assistant to performing entire jobs inside a firm.

“Practice management was about efficiency. Intelligent legal work is about outcomes,” Newton said.

Clio raised a $900-million USD (at the time $1.24-billion CAD) Series F at a more than $4-billion CAD valuation in July 2024, the largest software funding round in Canadian tech history. Clio claimed to BetaKit in June that it has an annual recurring revenue of $300 million USD and serves more than 200,000 legal professionals worldwide.

Feature image courtesy Clio.

The post Clio caps off year of big acquisitions by launching new enterprise division first appeared on BetaKit.

SAAS NORTH will feel a little different this year 16 Oct 7:59 AM (6 days ago)

Every autumn, SAAS NORTH gathers Canada’s SaaS industry under one roof. But this year will be different.

The conversations unfolding on November 5 and 6 at the Rogers Centre in Ottawa will not be predictable, and the on-stage matchups won’t be obvious. In other words, SAAS NORTH 2025 has been designed to surprise.

“We designed this year’s program so that every leader walks away with ideas and strategies they can put to work immediately.”
David Tyldesley, SAAS NORTH

The theme for 2025 is Future-Proof SaaS in the Age of AI. The conference, which has been around since 2016, aims to pressure-test industry assumptions, and ask whether the models that have defined the last decade are still applicable today.

“You can’t look at the pace of change in software this year and run the same conference you did last year,” said David Tyldesley, Co-Founder of SAAS NORTH. “We designed this year’s program so that every leader walks away with ideas and strategies they can put to work immediately.”

One of the clearest windows into the “Future-Proof” theme will be on the BetaKit Keynote Stage on November 5. Hot Tub Time Machine will feature Mallorie Brodie, CEO and co-founder of Bridgit, and Eldon Sprickerhoff, founder of eSentire. The session will rewind through the SaaS industry’s biggest moments before fast-forwarding into an AI-driven future. The session promises to be equal parts retrospective and raw.

From there, the focus shifts to the very model of SaaS itself. From SaaS to RaaS features Michael Litt, Vidyard founder and Garage Capital investor, exploring a future where customers no longer pay for the product but for results.

The Funding Game will also put a SAAS NORTH twist on a classic dating game. One investor takes the role of Bachelor or Bachelorette, while three founders vie for their attention.

SAAS North 24 Day 1-73 — Manuela Barcenas, Head of Marketing at Fellow, was a host at SAAS NORTH 2024.

On day two of the conference, the lens narrows on people. Work Rewired will bring leaders from Klue, Fellow.ai, Gadget, and Quest together to share how they’re building lean, AI-first organizations. The session addresses one of the most pressing founder questions: how to balance automation with culture as the way work itself changes.

And the story doesn’t stop with startups. On November 6, BetaKit’s Editor-in-Chief Douglas Soltys will sit down with Savinay Berry, Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer at OpenText, for a look at how one of Canada’s largest enterprises is going all in on AI and what it means to “future-proof” when the stakes are measured in billions.

Threaded through the program are the fault lines defining SaaS right now: the push and pull between human judgment and automation, the shift from subscription pricing to outcome-driven models, and the choice between rebuilding systems entirely or iterating in real time.

SAAS NORTH has also long been a platform for war stories, and this year is no exception. JD Saint-Martin, President of Lightspeed, will pull back the curtain on scaling a SaaS business to $1 billion in annual recurring revenue, a milestone achieved by fewer than one in 10,000 companies.

In another session, Vitaly Pecherskiy, CEO and founder of StackAdapt, will share how his company deliberately sidestepped the hype cycle to quietly scale to $500 million in revenue.

And closing out the list of standouts, Kris Nicolaou, founder and CEO of Brain Box Labs, will deliver a keynote packed with tactical lessons from more than 20 years of building and refining product systems for clients, startups, and his own teams.

BetaKit is once again a proud media partner of SAAS NORTH, and as in years past, some of the conference’s most highly anticipated conversations will take place on the BetaKit Keynote Stage. For Litt, the value of the conference comes from the density of peers and rivals gathered in one place.

“SAAS NORTH is a really exciting conference,” he said. “I saw all the people I should be spending more time with that are my peers within the SaaS ecosystem. Whether they are investors, mentors, advisors, CEOs, founders, customers, everybody in Canada tends to be here.”

The conversations at SAAS NORTH rarely stay confined to the stage. Ideas tested in Ottawa next month will resurface in strategy decks, boardroom conversations, and in the sessions competitors reference long after the conference ends.

PRESENTED BY

Get 20 percent off your pass to SAAS NORTH 2025 by using the code BETAKIT20 at checkout. We’ll see you there!

All photos provided by Cube Business Media.

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Why the future of Ontario’s critical industries hinges on startups 16 Oct 3:00 AM (6 days ago)

Ontario’s critical industries are under mounting pressure from a turbulent global economy and an increasingly hostile digital arena, and many are finding that the legacy systems they rely on are not equipped to meet today’s cyber threats.

In sectors such as advanced manufacturing, mining, and smart infrastructure, operational technology (OT) controls everything from power grids to hospital equipment, and the risks to these systems are no longer theoretical.

“OT is a category that requires specialized attention and in-depth conversation.”
Connie Tang, Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst

According to experts at Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst, Toronto Metropolitan University’s national centre for training, innovation, and collaboration in cybersecurity which equips businesses big and small with the latest security offerings, the same systems that keep lights on and machines running are now drawing the attention of increasingly sophisticated cybercriminals.

Experts warn that vulnerabilities in OT environments can’t be secured through traditional IT defences, leaving critical infrastructure exposed in ways few organizations are prepared to handle.

“Cybersecurity Awareness Month reminds us that threats to our digital and industrial systems affect everything, from agriculture to public safety,” says Connie Tang, Director of Public Sector and Small Business at Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst at Toronto Metropolitan University. “OT is a category that requires specialized attention and in-depth conversation.”

The Catalyst believes this gap represents a massive and largely untapped opportunity for the province’s startups. As large organizations struggle to modernize decades-old systems, young companies are able to move faster, test new approaches, and build specialized tools that address the complex realities of OT environments.

On October 24, the Catalyst will explore this opportunity in a free webinar, “How Ontario’s Startups Can Tackle OT Security,” aimed at helping early-stage companies understand and innovate around one of the province’s most pressing cybersecurity challenges.

The session will feature presentations from leading experts who will outline the risks that the sectors face today and how startups can tailor solutions for these high-stakes environments.

The event is taking place during Cybersecurity Awareness Month, as part of the Catalyst’s year-round efforts to build a thriving security sector in Ontario.

Central to that work is the Cyber Challenge program offered by Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst in partnership with the Canadian Cyber Threat Exchange and supported in part by the Government of Ontario.

According to Tang, the program is central to helping startups “test real-world problems, like OT vulnerabilities, and scale cutting-edge solutions that strengthen Canada’s resilience.”

With old technology comes consolidated processes, and the approach of the three-month challenge is to offer personalized one-on-one guidance to mentor tech organizations about common risks and practical solutions.

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, and entrepreneurs receive $20,000 in non-dilutive funding while taking a deep dive into IP strategy through go-to-market messaging, with the opportunity to test their products directly with potential customers.

Momentum is building toward more advanced cybersecurity solutions. The first 10 startups that advanced to the Cyber Challenge’s second stage raised nearly $3 million in investment, generated $2.45 million in new sales, and filed six new IP applications.

But building a cybersecurity company is rarely straightforward. Eldon Sprickerhoff, founder of eSentire and now an advisor to the Catalyst, remembers how isolating the early stages of that journey can be.

“When I founded eSentire, programs like this simply didn’t exist; you had to piece together funding, mentorship, and market access on your own,” Sprickerhoff said.

Now on the mentorship side, Sprickerhoff sees what he once needed most. “What makes the Cyber Challenge so rare is that it brings all of those elements together in one place, and it does so with a focus on solving real cybersecurity problems across critical industries,” he added.

The Cyber Challenge is structured to help startups transition from obstacle to market-ready solution across seven sectors, including smart infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, and life sciences. It begins with a prep phase, where accepted companies work on identifying a concrete cybersecurity challenge within one of seven program sectors, which then builds toward a pitch in stage two.

In the next three-month stage of the program, 10 startups receive $20,000 in non-dilutive funding and benefit from an intensive cycle of mentorship and curated programming. Industry experts work closely with founders to refine their go-to-market strategies, strengthen sales messaging, and navigate intellectual property challenges, including IoT security, supply chain integrity, and data privacy.

Ontario’s critical systems are modernizing faster than their protections. The Cyber Challenge and the Catalyst’s October 24 webinar aim to close that gap by connecting founders with the industries most in need of new ideas, and the support to build them.

PRESENTED BY

The webinar, “How Ontario’s Startups Can Tackle OT Security” will take place on Oct. 24. Secure your spot here.

Photos provided by Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst.

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Spring Impact Capital closes $14-million fund to grow Canada’s climate and healthtech ecosystem 15 Oct 1:29 PM (6 days ago)

Vancouver-based Spring Impact Capital has secured $14 million CAD in commitments for its first impact-focused venture capital (VC) fund, following its final close late last month.

Spring Impact Capital was launched in 2023 by leaders from Vancouver impact investing incubator and accelerator Spring Activator (Spring) to back more early-stage Canadian startups developing scalable climate and health technology solutions.

“As we progressed, we fine-tuned our budget and decided that we are able to achieve what we wanted with this fund size.”
Olivia Hornby,
Spring Impact Capital

Co-founder and managing partner Keith Ippel told BetaKit at the time the goal was to take advantage of Spring’s deal flow and network, meet growing demand for impact investing, and help fill a gap in Canada’s pre-seed and seed market.

While the emerging manager ultimately fell $6 million short of the $20-million target it shared that year amid a continually tough VC fundraising market, Spring Impact Capital co-founder and managing partner Olivia Hornby told BetaKit the firm is still proud of the result.

“As we progressed, we fine-tuned our budget and decided that we are able to achieve what we wanted with this fund size,” Hornby said.

Hornby claimed that Spring Impact Capital initially set out to raise $15 million, before upping its goal after speaking with some larger investors who typically cut bigger cheques.

She said Spring Impact Capital now has “a robust list” of prospective limited partners (LPs) who may be interested in supporting its future funds at a later date.

In total, Spring Impact Capital met with hundreds of Canadian entrepreneurs and investors over the past two years, amassing over 40 institutional and individual LPs.

The fund’s LPs include Spring, Social Finance Fund-backed Boann as well as Realize Capital Partners, the United Church of Canada Foundation, First West Credit Union, Rally Assets, the University of Victoria, and the Peter Gilgan Foundation. There are also undisclosed individuals and family offices.

Spring Impact Capital plans to back as many as 25 cleantech and healthtech startups at the pre-seed and seed stages. The firm intends to issue cheques between $250,000 and $400,000, with the ability to lead rounds and room for follow-on investments.

Spring Impact Capital has deployed just over $2 million to date across eight startups, three of which previously participated in Spring programming. This group includes Sherbrooke-based water quality monitoring tech startup BioAlert Solutions, Calgary portable eye-care device maker RetinaLogik, Vancouver-based health and wellness software provider Ginger Desk, and Vancouver lightning prevention startup Skyward Wildfire.

Hornby acknowledged that both the United States’ pullback from clean energy and the Sustainable Development Technology Canada fallout have created some hesitation when it comes to investing in climate and impact.

“As investors, it’s afforded us the ability to take our time in diligence and be careful about valuations,” Hornby said. “Overall, we have always been hesitant to invest in companies that rely on government policy and subsidies, but we remain bullish about climate technologies, which solve real pain points in a more sustainable and financially viable way.”

Feature image courtesy Spring Impact Capital.

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Provision raises $7 million USD to build AI co-pilots for pre-construction estimates 15 Oct 12:30 PM (6 days ago)

Provision wants to help pre-construction professionals move faster and minimize errors with the help of artificial intelligence (AI).

Provision aims to build “the most accurate co-pilot for construction estimators.”

The Toronto-based construction technology startup has secured $7 million USD ($9.8 million CAD) in seed funding to develop its AI co-pilot, which helps construction estimators find information and identify risks and opportunities based on project documents.

The round, which closed in August, was led by Cercano Management with support from fellow new backer Jamie McDonald of Black & McDonald, as well as existing investors Y Combinator and One Way Ventures. It brings Provision’s total funding to $8.7 million USD.

Provision was founded in 2022 by CEO Luigi La Corte and CTO Brendan Ardagh, a pair of entrepreneurs with combined experience in construction, tech, and investing.

La Corte, the son of an immigrant general contractor, worked in civil engineering with Arup and infrastructure investing through Plenary Group. Ardagh—a quantity surveyor by training—formerly held the CTO role at human resources software startup Jem HR and co-founded student accommodation marketplace DigsConnect.

Provision claims that billions of dollars are lost every year due to errors that could have been caught at the pre-construction stage of projects, from design mistakes to scope misunderstanding and inaccurate estimates.

With Provision, La Corte and Ardagh aim to build “the most accurate co-pilot for construction estimators,” who must determine project costs by reviewing huge sets of complex documents. Provision aims to make those estimators’ lives easier by helping them answer targeted questions about documents quickly and accurately.

“We originally started to help reduce risk across projects, but we found that estimators had the biggest incentive to get this right during their process,” La Corte told BetaKit. “Originally we simply pointed out risks, and now we help pre-construction teams reduce the time it takes to prepare estimates.”

La Corte said that the company is developing its own models for specialized tasks that existing large language models are incapable of addressing effectively. The startup is betting that its domain-specific AI products—which include Project Review, Chat Agent, and Scope Agent—are better suited to tackling this challenge than more general-purpose chatbots.

In the construction industry, the cost of getting things wrong during the planning phase can be high, as severe or repeated miscalculations can lead to legal problems and business failures.

While Provision believes AI models can boost the productivity of construction estimators, there is also the risk of AI-generated responses presenting false or misleading information as fact, a problem that appears to be increasing with recent, more complex models.

“Given the high risk of miscalculation, we’re investing heavily in generating data sets to get up to 99 percent accuracy,” La Corte said. “This is very hard, since there are no datasets publicly available and building them is meticulous.”

La Corte said Provision’s long-term plan is to help companies “gut check any pre-construction work with multiple agents that work alongside estimators to ensure no mistakes are made.”

Provision’s traction has helped it attract investors. The company is already working with large construction firms in Europe and Canada like Acciona, Bird Construction, Colas, EllisDon, and PCL Construction, and it says it has reviewed $100 billion worth of projects after growing nearly 10x last year to more than $1 million in annual recurring revenue. The startup plans to add eight more employees to its 10-person team in the near future.

Feature image courtesy Freepik.

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ABK Biomedical raises $35 million USD to bring liver cancer treatment to market 15 Oct 10:49 AM (6 days ago)

Halifax-based ABK Biomedical has raised $35 million USD ($49.1 million CAD) in Series D funding to commercialize its liver cancer treatment.

The round was led by investment bank J.P. Morgan through its Life Sciences Private Capital arm, with participation from returning healthtech investors including F-Prime Capital, Santé Ventures, Eight Roads Ventures, as well as a “significant undisclosed medical device company.” With its first investment in the company, J.P. Morgan Life Sciences Private Capital will gain a seat on ABK’s board of directors.

The Eye90 microspheres have been undergoing clinical trials since 2021 and were recently approved for a second clinical trial.

The Series D funding supports ABK’s ongoing clinical operations, furthers its product innovation and development, and prepares it for the commercialization of its proprietary Eye90 microspheres, which are “x-ray visible” small particles that help with diagnostic imaging.

ABK was founded at Dalhousie University in 2012 by material scientists Dr. Daniel Boyd and Dr. Sharon Kehoe as well as radiologist Dr. Robert Abraham. The founders engineered and patented their microsphere technology.

In 2018, ABK redesigned its microspheres with a focus on Y90 radioembolization, a minimally invasive procedure that combines embolization (stopping blood flow to a specific blood vessel) and radiation therapy to treat liver cancer. The Eye90 microspheres, as they came to be known, have been undergoing clinical trials since 2021 and were recently approved for a second clinical trial to evaluate their effectiveness in 120 patients with liver cancer. ABK claims the Eye90 microspheres are the first and only imageable Y90 microspheres device.

“We’re looking forward to our Route90 study demonstrating the breakthrough promise of Eye90 microspheres, offering better care for patients with liver cancer,” ABK Biomedical president and CEO Mike Mangano said in a statement.

Eye90 earned Breakthrough Device Designation from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2023. The designation is granted to devices that may provide a more effective treatment or diagnosis of life-threatening or debilitating conditions for which no approved alternative exists.

ABK last raised a $30 million USD Series C round in 2022 to support Eye90’s research and development, which brought its total funding to around $90 million CAD, according to Entrevestor. Including its Series D funding, ABK has now raised more than $140 million CAD. ABK said any additional Series D funds will be used to increase the scale and scope of its manufacturing and supply chain operations to support Eye90’s commercialization “well into the future.”

Feature image courtesy ABK Biomedical.

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Pawsible Ventures looks to sniff out opportunities in pet health 15 Oct 8:27 AM (7 days ago)

Animal wellness startups can fetch capital and business development support through a new Vancouver-based venture fund and studio.

“Pet health is one of the fastest-growing industries on the planet, but early-stage founders are starved for capital and support.”
Alex Chieng,
Pawsible

Pawsible Ventures has launched its inaugural, $10-million fund to support early-stage pet health startups with capital, incubation, and distribution services. The venture studio will hold quarterly cohorts where entrepreneurs and veterinarians co-create and validate new products.

Pawsible was co-founded by Shafin Diamond Tejani and Alex Chieng to fill a gap for early-stage, pet-focused startups digging into the $250 billion USD global pet health and wellness market. Chieng will lead the fund and studio, bringing experience in the space as the founder of the veterinarian communications platform Vetsie.

“Pet health is one of the fastest-growing industries on the planet, but early-stage founders are starved for capital and support,” Chieng said in a statement. “With Pawsible, we’re not just investing, we’re building.”

Alex Chieng stands, holding a small dog in his arms. — Pawsible co-founder Alex Chieng.
Image courtesy LinkedIn

Tejani is the CEO of publicly traded technology investor and accelerator Victory Square, which is backing the fund with capital alongside clinic network Hydreight Technologies. Victory Square has a similar venture arm for healthtech, but with a less furry focus. Victory Square will use its existing distribution partners, including clinics, pharmacies, and lab systems, to take Pawsible companies’ products out for a test walk.

“We’ve built the pipes that connect innovators to patients in human health — now we’re opening those pipes to animal health,” Tejani said in a statement.

The $10-million fund will be deployed into as many as 20 startups across the world over the next three years, both through the studio and in external companies. Chieng told BetaKit that, while its investment thesis is global, Pawsible places a strong emphasis on supporting Canadian founders and helping them scale internationally, particularly into the United States. The fund’s initial checks range from $100,000 to $500,000, with room for follow-on investment. The platform’s first cohort will focus on solutions in veterinary care, practice management, diagnostics, biohealth, insurance, automation tools, pharmaceuticals, and wellness.

“Our goal is to create a long-term platform that bridges human and animal health, helping founders move from concept to scale through capital, incubation, and real-world distribution support,” Chieng wrote in a LinkedIn post.

Feature image courtesy Unsplash. Photo by Hannah Lim.

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Numr’s Demo Day win proves what structured support can unlock in just four months 15 Oct 8:01 AM (7 days ago)

In just four months, Amitayu Basu grew his customer experience platform, Numr, by nearly 40 percent, momentum he credits to the relationships gained through the YSpace Tech Accelerator.

Numr, which helps businesses identify pain points in the customer journey and take action to improve retention and growth, was voted Demo Day winner for this year’s cohort.

“Winning Demo Day is validation. It tells us that what we’re building matters.”
Amitayu Basu, Numr

By graduation, Basu, Co-Founder and CEO of the company, had also launched pilot programs with two major North American financial services companies and one telecommunications giant.

“When we joined, Numr had no clients in North America,” Basu said. “Back then, getting a meeting was tough. Now we have a strong network and real momentum.”

“The accelerator helped us grow up as a company, to stop thinking like a scrappy startup, and start operating like a scalable business,” Basu added.

Numr was already part of the YSpace incubator program, operating from its offices in Markham and collaborating with York University researchers, when Basu decided to apply for the Tech Accelerator. Basu said he already knew the benefits of being part of the community and trusted the team’s expertise. What stood out most, he added, was the quality of the accelerator’s mentors and the strength of the founder cohort.

YSpace, York University’s entrepreneurship and innovation hub, has supported more than 1,400 startups that have collectively generated $350 million in revenue, raised $160 million in funding, and created nearly 2,000 jobs.

YSpace-Tech-Demo-Day — YSpace’s recent Tech Accelerator Demo Day 2025 awarded $30,000 in cash prizes to startups.

Its Tech Accelerator, sponsored by the City of Toronto, is a four-month program split into growth and fundraising sprints. It’s designed for market-ready startups, providing more than $60,000 in support and up to $30,000 in cash awards.

According to Nafis Ahmed, Associate Director at YSpace, the accelerator stands out for its hands-on approach. The program starts with a rigorous mentor matchmaking process, pairing founders and mentors based on industry expertise and interests. Over the four-month program, each founder works with two mentors, one focused on business strategy and the other on growth.

“We help founders get in the right rooms with the right people,” Ahmed said. “A lot of programs focus on the business, but from day one, we knew it was really important to not only focus on business, but also on the individuals and the founders themselves.”

The accelerator also runs a unique peer program called Masterminds. Led by Program Officer Alina Ali, Masterminds is designed to support founder well-being and leadership development. Ahmed calls it “the silent co-founder no one asked for.”

“Masterminds support leadership development within founders by discussing their challenges, their wins, their ups and downs, whether personal or business related. It’s a more structured, formalized way to peer groups,” said Ali.

TA Demo Day - Numr — Numr CTO and Co-Founder Samudra Gupta holds the first-place trophy at YSpace’s Demo Day.

For Basu, those connections proved pivotal. Having participated in other leading accelerators, he said YSpace was where he built his most lasting relationships.

“Talking to mentors and other founders helped me break through a huge mental block around how to approach new customers,” he said. “A few mentors worked closely with us on channel management strategies, which led to partnerships with some of the world’s largest consulting and market research companies. Those relationships wouldn’t have happened without YSpace.”

As Demo Day’s first-place winner, Numr received $15,000, which Basu said will go toward marketing and sales expansion.

“But the win itself is personal,” he added. “Winning Demo Day is validation. It tells us that what we’re building matters. It’s Numr planting a flag and saying, ‘We’re here, we’re ready, and we’re going to win this market.’”

Additional prizes were awarded to second-place winner Pooya Saberi of Tinybox Systems, third place winner Kay Boamah of swiirl, and People’s Choice winner Kareem Abdur-Rashid of Kare Chemical Technologies.

“This cohort was one of the strongest we’ve seen,” Ali said. “I think all of them met their milestones and goals they set at the beginning of the program, which made Demo Day extremely competitive.”

PRESENTED BY

Applications for the next YSpace Tech Accelerator open January 2026. Sign up for the program waitlist to stay updated.

All photos provided by YSpace.

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Dominion Dynamics secures $4 million to modernize Arctic surveillance 15 Oct 5:00 AM (7 days ago)

Ottawa-based Dominion Dynamics is making the most of Canada’s defence tech surge as it secures $4 million in pre-seed funding.

“We haven’t had a [Canadian] company built from the ground up to deliver modern capability at the speed of relevance.”
Eliot Pence,
Dominion Dynamics

The pre-seed was raised on a simple agreement for future equity (SAFE) and backed almost exclusively by Canadian investors, with participation from Golden Ventures, Garage Capital, Afore Capital, Side Door Ventures, and strategic angel investors. While Afore and Side Door are American firms, the partners that led their investment are Canadian, Dominion founder Eliot Pence told BetaKit. The only two American investors in the round, Pence’s family and friends, contributed less than $50,000, he added.

While Canadian pre-seed investment activity has continued to slump this year, Dominion raised its funding within five months of its June founding. The company intends to raise another round of funding to grow its headcount from below 10 employees to around 40 by the end of Q1 2026, Dominion COO Mitch Carkner told BetaKit last month.

Dominion Dynamics’ platform connects off-the-shelf sensors across land, sea, air, and space into a data fabric for coordination and data sharing across allied networks. The company is focused on the Arctic, where melting ice has revealed alluring new trading routes that place Canada’s continued control over the region into question. Last month, Dominion struck a three-year partnership with the Arctic Training Centre in Whitehorse to develop and test its systems in the “extreme” environment.

Carkner previously told BetaKit that Dominion will be able to create a mesh network to detect vessels in the Arctic within 12 to 18 months. He claimed this network should come at a lower price point than a modernization of the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD).

Dominion’s founder, Pence, is a native of Victoria, BC. He led the international team of Anduril Industries as it grew from an American defence tech startup to a defence tech giant between 2018 and 2022. Carkner told BetaKit that Dominion will emulate Anduril’s operational model by anticipating and building the defence tools it thinks will be required in the future, rather than waiting for specific procurement orders.

“We are ultimately planning on building a sovereign defence prime [contractor] for Canada [that] can compete with the American primes and European primes,” Carkner said.

On top of its Canadian cap table, Dominion’s advisory board is filled with notable Canadians. Former Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole chairs the advisory board. He is joined by a former chief of the Defence Staff, General Wayne Eyre; a former vice-chief of the Defence Staff, Lieutenant-General Mike Rouleau; and former PSP Investments CEO Neil Cunningham.

Dominion is benefiting from the increased venture and government defence tech spending as the ongoing trade war with the United States renewed Canada’s focus on its sovereign and military capabilities. The federal government has committed to spending five percent of its GDP on defence by 2035, launched a new agency to overhaul military procurement, and begun encouraging banks and pension funds to invest in the sector.

“Canada’s defence future cannot be outsourced,” Pence said in a statement. “We have the talent, the government’s commitment, and the stakes, but we haven’t had a company built from the ground up to deliver modern capability at the speed of relevance.”

A wave of new accelerators aiming to support dual-use (civilian and military) startups has been springing up across the country as the defence tech industry gets hotter. Matt Lombardi, the co-founder of defence innovation network and newsletter The Icebreaker, joined the BetaKit Podcast last month to break down why the sector is exploding in Canada.

Feature image courtesy Dominion Dynamics

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First-ever Toronto Community Week will be headlined by Wattpad, Stripe, and Calendly 15 Oct 3:00 AM (7 days ago)

Toronto Community Week 2025 is bringing some of the most influential names in community leadership to Startwell from October 23 to 25.

A gathering dedicated to professionals who drive exceptional community experiences in the B2B landscape, Toronto Community Week is produced by Led by Community, a British non-profit that has presented Community Week events in London for two years, and next year, will be hosting events in Lisbon and New York.

“The talks and people behind it truly understand what it takes to build meaningful professional networks.”
Ilker Akansel, TalentLed

The Toronto edition is designed to elevate the community profession as a strategic business function, rather than a siloed initiative.

In its first-ever Canadian edition, the three-day event will give hundreds of professionals from tech, SaaS, customer experience, and more a place to explore what it takes to build communities that truly scale.

Community has become a serious business function for many tech companies. Once seen as a marketing add-on, community building now entails dedicated teams that are at the heart of how companies connect with customers, gather feedback, and shape products in real time.

Here are three reasons you’ll want to be at Toronto Community Week 2025.

The structure

Toronto Community Week is structured around sharing, testing, and building on ideas. It will kick off with a workshop day focused on community strategy and customers. Attendees will work directly with experts to apply frameworks for advocacy, engagement, and customer connection within their organizations.

Day two of the conference will feature keynote presentations and panels from some of the brightest minds in the community building space. Sarah Masterton-Brown, Head of Community at Mews, said these sessions always bring a broad mix of insights.

“Each session feels like a genuine exchange of ideas, not just another conference,” she said.

The week will end with Unconference Plus Toronto, a high-energy, participant-led day where attendees set the agenda. The day will allow attendees to pitch and vote on topics, followed by breakout conversations workshops, and a chance to share key takeaways from the day.

The speakers

Toronto Community Week brings together some of the most recognizable names in community and customer experience from Canada and around the world.

Richard Millington, Founder of community consulting firm FeverBee, will unveil his playbook for building resilience as engagement patterns shift across industries.

Erica Kuhl, EVP and General Manager at Silicon Valley-based Gainsight, will explain how a community can become a company-wide centre of excellence, drawing on her experience at companies like Salesforce.

Caitlin O’Hanlon, Toronto-based Head of Creators and Community at Wattpad, will share what it means to listen at scale, drawing on the millions of voices that have shaped the storytelling platform.

Ashley Williams, Community lead at Stripe, will dig into strategies for turning skeptics into champions and making community indispensable to business growth.

Jillian Bejtlich, Senior Manager of Community and Advocacy at Calendly, will explain how design and architecture shape user behaviour and engagement.

The energy

The London Community Week hosted earlier this year drew hundreds of attendees and more than 50 speakers from across Europe.

Ilker Akansel, Founding Partner at TalentLed, said the event has become a regular source of fresh ideas. “Community Week has become my go-to source for inspiration,” Akansel said of the London version. “The talks and people behind it truly understand what it takes to build meaningful professional networks.”

Erin Lynch, Senior Customer Success Manager at Hivebrite, said the conversations at Community Week were refreshingly candid. “It was inspiring to be surrounded by community builders willing to share their experiences and successes,” she said.

Ruthie Berber, Director of Community at Grow Therapy, said the conversations reminded her of why she got into the field in the first place. “It’s about people, purpose, and shared learning,” Berber said.

Toronto Community Week picks up where those conversations left off, and aims to give professionals a place to reconnect, share notes, and turn community into a measurable business advantage.

PRESENTED BY

If you’re building exceptional community experiences in the B2B landscape, buy your tickets now.

All photos courtesy of Led by Community.

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BDC commits $100 million to boost rural entrepreneurship across Canada 15 Oct 12:00 AM (7 days ago)

The Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) is committing $100 million to business loans for the half-million entrepreneurs living in rural and remote areas of Canada.

“It is tough for young businesses to get financing; it’s tough in the tech sector and it’s even tougher when you’re in a remote, rural area.”
Miguel Barrieras
BDC

The Crown corporation, whose sole shareholder is the Canadian government, has partnered with a federally funded network of economic development organizations to increase the financing and resources available to small business owners.

The Community Futures network of 267 offices provides business development services, loans, and financing to small and medium-sized businesses. The Québec-based offices are known as the Réseau de SADC et CAE, while entrepreneurs in Atlantic Canada access support through the Community Business Development Corporation.

BDC said Community Futures will match the loan amounts by contributing an additional $100 million. That money will come from Canada’s regional development agencies, which fund the network’s operations. Altogether, Community Futures says it has loaned more than $6.3 million to 135,000 businesses and helped create nearly 800,000 job opportunities.

The new envelope builds on BDC’s Community Banking initiative, an effort launched in November to boost Canada’s entrepreneurship rate. The development bank claims the money will help generate up to $250 million in gross domestic product over five years and fulfill its mandate of serving people outside of major cities.

BDC’s mandate is to support Canadian entrepreneurship, with a focus on small and medium-sized businesses, and operate as a complementary player in the market. The bank provides loans and equity funding through its investment arm, BDC Capital, and advisory services to companies and funds across the country.

Miguel Barrieras, BDC chief impact and community banking officer, said in an interview with BetaKit that the initiative aims to reach more entrepreneurs in underserved regions of Canada. He claimed that rural populations tend to have a higher share of entrepreneurs compared to urban ones.

“The complementarity of our common reach…makes it so much stronger and will allow us to reach a lot more entrepreneurs who have historically had fewer alternatives,” Barrieras said.

Barrieras said the $100 million will augment the Community Futures offices’ loan capacity and, in some cases, allow them to double loan amounts from $250,000 to $500,000. The development bank is also providing Community Futures with advisory services and resource materials, such as information on how best to use artificial intelligence (AI) or tips on cybersecurity.

Though the initiative is not being run through BDC’s venture capital (VC) arm, Barrieras said the debt financing opportunities can still benefit early-stage startups, particularly for their first “break” of capital.

“It is tough for young businesses to get financing; it’s tough in the tech sector and it’s even tougher when you’re in a remote, rural area,” Barrieras said. Obtaining further financing will be easier as these companies “will have proven themselves” by securing loan opportunities, he claimed.

The early-stage venture financing landscape in Canada has been on the downturn, particularly amid economic uncertainty due to an ongoing trade war, making it challenging for some startups to access seed financing. Companies building in AI and software have largely been insulated from the trend, while those in healthtech and hardware have struggled.

In a statement, Minister of Industry Mélanie Joly said the initiative leverages the “complementary strengths” of BDC’s financing and advising expertise, combined with the Community Futures network’s community ties.

The initiative is different from BDC’s Accelerator Loan Program, which seeks to guarantee up to $800 million in loans to entrepreneurs provided by partner financial institutions. Through this program, the debt financing will be a 50-50 split between BDC and the Community Futures office, with “competitive” loan terms.

Barrieras claimed that this makes the financing experience more “friendly” for entrepreneurs, who will deal with the economic development offices in their communities. As part of its larger Community Banking initiative, BDC committed $100 million in June to guarantee loans issued by the majority Indigenous-owned First Nations Bank of Canada to Indigenous organizations buying Canadian businesses from retiring owners. More recently, the development bank pledged $50 million for a similar initiative to help women entrepreneurs acquire businesses.

Update (10/16/2025): This story has been updated to include more details on Community Futures’ matching financing commitment.

Feature image courtesy Madison McLauchlan for BetaKit.

The post BDC commits $100 million to boost rural entrepreneurship across Canada first appeared on BetaKit.

Kaz Nejatian brings his former Shopify “second-in-command” to Opendoor 14 Oct 10:43 AM (7 days ago)

Kaz Nejatian has tapped Shopify vice-president of operations Giang LeGrice to lead operations at San Francisco-based real estate tech firm Opendoor.

Giang LeGrice. Image courtesy LinkedIn.

Nejatian, formerly COO of Canada’s largest tech company, Shopify, has been building out Opendoor’s leadership since taking over the CEO position last month. In a post shared on X, Nejatian called LeGrice his “second-in-command” at Shopify and a “world-class leader.”

“Having overseen transformation of ops teams and led financing planning, analysis, and business analytics at Shopify, there is no one in the world I trust more to help Opendoor find the next gear,” Nejatian said.

LeGrice is the second former Shopify colleague Nejatian has brought to Opendoor since he took over. Former Shopify product manager Fahd Ananta joined Opendoor shortly after Nejatian to lead “everything on the buyer side” of the company.

Nejatian had been at Shopify since 2019 but took the reins at Opendoor from interim CEO Shrisha Radhakrishna in September, following a period of GameStop-style trading led by retail investors. Nejatian has doubled down on the populist angle, parting ways with Opendoor’s external relations agencies to favour using X to speak directly to its investors. Nejatian recently indicated that Opendoor will look to establish an office in Toronto.

LeGrice joins Opendoor alongside its new chief growth officer, Morgan Brown. Brown comes from Dropbox, where he served as the vice-president of product and growth for artificial intelligence (AI) products. Brown will focus on building an “AI-first growth and marketing” organization, he wrote in a LinkedIn post.

Shopify filled Nejatian’s COO vacancy last week, promoting general counsel Jess Hertz to the job. While Shopify filled one open job, it’s now left with another C-suite vacancy after CRO Bobby Morrison announced his departure after three years with the company.

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

Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Collision via Sportsfile. Licensed under CC BY 2.0.

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How CTK Bio uses R&D support to compete on cost 14 Oct 3:00 AM (8 days ago)

For CTK Bio, the fight to replace plastic begins with cost.

The startup has already proved that creating biodegradable alternatives is possible, but matching the price of conventional plastic requires nonstop experimentation, and a steady flow of capital to fund it.

“Let’s just create value for the customer, and in return, they transition, and therefore make their model more sustainable.”
Daniel Shum, CTK Bio

“We need to be able to match the cost of traditional plastic, or even be under that, in order to disrupt this plastic industry,” Daniel Shum, Chief Operating Officer at CTK Bio, said on an episode of the “What The Tech” podcast. That requires relentless research and experimentation.

At CTK Bio’s Surrey, British Columbia lab, the work begins with what most companies discard.

Hemp by-products from the cannabis industry, biomass streams piling up inside factories, and other costly waste materials become the building blocks for a new kind of bioplastic.

The company transforms landfill-bound plant and plastic waste into resins that can be molded into fully biodegradable products—everything from camping cutlery to golf tees.

Shum’s goal is to make sustainability the default choice.

“Let’s just create value for the customer, and in return, they transition, and therefore make their model more sustainable,” he said.

Meeting that goal means running three distinct R&D stages: synthesizing polymers, refining their composition, and processing them for mass production. It also requires close work with global manufacturers to engineer materials that fit their exact needs.

That level of trial and error doesn’t come cheap. Canada’s SR&ED program helps offset the cost, but accessing it can be daunting. CTK Bio’s first SR&ED provider was chosen mostly on price, and the experience fell flat.

“Needless to say, we had a terrible experience with them,” Shum said.

In year two, the company turned to Boast, which combines technical and R&D tax expertise to help companies access SR&ED tax credits fast.

“Generally, it could take a year, two years, before someone even picks this up and has the level of understanding of what we’re trying to do,” he said. Boast’s team was able to quickly learn CTK Bio’s language and translate complex science into strong SR&ED claims that returned more capital to the business.

Beyond capturing credits, CTK Bio has also tapped into Boast’s QuickFund program, which lets companies access a portion of their SR&ED refund early. For a growing cleantech startup, having early access to cash can allow teams to start on activities that will increase their SR&ED eligibility for the next quarter.

“I can’t tell you how many times we were able to leverage that program to work in our favour from a cash flow perspective, it’s just so helpful,” Shum added.

This year, CTK Bio formally launched its solutions platform to help businesses comply with Canada’s single-use plastics ban, and recently began supplying its products to businesses in the United States.

But at home, adoption is stalled. Current legislation still categorizes compostable plastics alongside conventional single-use items, giving businesses little incentive to adopt them.

Rather than wait for regulation to catch up, CTK Bio is putting more resources into new R&D, including developing compostable film that can bond directly to paper. It’s the kind of costly, iterative work that depends on steady access to funding.

For Shum, programs like SR&ED and partners like Boast are what make that possible.

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If you’re driving innovation in cleantech, Boast can unlock real value from your R&D. Learn more.

Feature image courtesy of CTK Bio.

The post How CTK Bio uses R&D support to compete on cost first appeared on BetaKit.

Canadian VC movement and AI at Elevate 14 Oct 12:00 AM (8 days ago)

Dear reader,

I hope you had a relaxing holiday filled with friends and family.

As I write this, I am on the couch surrounded by loved ones, slowly recovering from a regrettable combination of high-caloric deliciousness and low impulse control.

Speaking of stuffed goods, Team BetaKit cooked this week, covering the latest developments from Elevate, Canadian venture capital movers and shakers, and major company milestones. The result leaves me without the literal kilobytes to contribute anything beyond serving up their efforts in a tinfoil-covered to-go plate, still warm and reminding you of home.

I’ll be back next week. If I can just get off this couch.

Douglas Soltys
Editor-in-chief

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Dispatch from Elevate

This year’s Elevate Festival focused on Canada’s role in the artificial intelligence race.

From job loss to mental health, innovation leaders (and Canadian actor Simu Liu) unpacked the human impact of AI on opening night.
OpenAI chief global affairs officer Chris Lehane teased opening a Canadian office in an interview with BetaKit.
Canadian healthtech entrepreneurs discussed how slow policy and weak procurement limit Canadians’ access to aging and fertility tech.
It wouldn’t be Elevate without pitch competitions. Find out who The Black Innovation Zone, Moneris eCommerce North, and Elevate Women+ crowned as their winners.

Shopify promotes Jess Hertz to COO as chief revenue officer departs

Shopify promoted general counsel Jess Hertz to chief operating officer as the company’s chief revenue officer, Bobby Morrison, announced his departure after three years.

Hertz is filling the void left by the departure of Kaz Nejatian, who left Shopify to lead San Francisco-based real estate tech firm Opendoor last month.

Manzil surpasses $100 million in halal mortgages for Muslim Canadians

Toronto-based Islamic FinTech startup Manzil has surpassed $100 million in total halal mortgage financings after doubling the size of its mortgage business in less than a year.

Manzil co-founder and CEO Mohamad Sawwaf described the milestone to BetaKit as “a testament” to both the strength of the company’s mortgage product and the demand for it.

Canadian venture updates

Toronto-based Radical Ventures closed $650 million USD ($907 million CAD) for its new fund investing in early-stage AI companies.
Vancouver-based VC firm Pender Ventures has hired Cheri Corbett as a partner. Formerly of BDC Capital, Corbett joins Pender nearly one month after its Montreal-based partner, Isaac Souweine, left the firm.
Québec’s leading AI institute, Mila, may create its own VC fund to turn more of its research output into commercial ventures. Mila tapped Jonathan Shaanan, the managing director of Couche-Tard’s corporate VC operation, to help develop the fund.

Canadian cloud providers unite to launch sovereign cloud offering for government

ThinkOn, Hypertec Group, Aptum, and eStruxture are each chipping in components of what they claim is Canada’s first end-to-end, sovereign, and AI-ready government cloud.

“This initiative restores both data and operational sovereignty, ensuring the Government of Canada can run its most critical workloads under its own control,” said ThinkOn CEO Craig McLellan.

Ex-Cohere execs Sara Hooker and Sudip Roy unveil new AI startup

Former leaders from Toronto-based Cohere and its research division are launching Adaption Labs, a startup aimed at building efficient AI that can “adapt and continuously learn.”

Former Cohere Labs head Sara Hooker will lead the new venture alongside her former Cohere colleague, Sudip Roy, who was the company’s senior director of inference.

Former Dye & Durham leaders resurface with $100-million USD SPAC targeting Canadian tech

Toronto-based MAK Acquisition, led by former executives from legaltech company Dye & Durham, has filed plans with Canadian regulators for a $100-million USD ($139.5-million CAD) initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The special purpose acquisition company hopes to acquire technology businesses that provide “critical solutions in niche markets,” such as tech-enabled services, space, and defence.

Swiirl teams up with former Raptors star Jerome Williams for 40-city student tour

Toronto- and San Francisco-based Swiirl will be powering a 40-city North American tour for Shooting for Peace, the non-profit educational program created by NBA legend and former Toronto Raptors player Jerome Williams.

Kicking off in Toronto, Shooting for Peace will curate its programming using Swiirl’s new agentic AI offering, Pulse. Pulse will listen in on Williams’ session and learn what topics matter most to students and educators.

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The Hinton Lectures return next month, hosted by the AI Safety Foundation. As AI’s safety cracks are widening, Owain Evans, Director of Truthful AI, will take audiences to the cutting edge of alignment research. Read about what to expect at this year’s lectures.
Brampton’s startup scene is heating up, and Brampton Venture Zone is helping local founders become the next Canadian tech success stories. More than half of BVZ’s current portfolio is now focused on health and related sectors, positioning Brampton as the land of opportunity for healthtech founders. Read about the tech incubator putting Brampton on Canada’s startup map.

Weekly Canadian Deals, Dollars & More

1Password holds $100M secondary sale, inks AI integration deal
Spellbook raises $50M USD Series B led by Khosla Ventures
Mark Cuban-backed TransCrypts closes $20M CAD seed round
PhenoTips raises $2M to fuel international expansion
Melamoon pitch competition awards $200K to Black founders
CDL, Vimy Forge, and Calian launch defence tech programs
NordSpace partners with C-Core to build aerospace infrastructure
TransPod partners with Canadian steelmakers for Alberta hyperloop
Deep Sky to build $500M carbon capture facility in Manitoba
EQ Bank unveils new account for Canadian small businesses
Felix launches new “longevity” platform

The BetaKit Podcast — Can Canada build its own social network?

“It’s one thing to say ‘let’s do this in a sovereign way.’ It is a whole other to actually do it.”

Gander Social is attempting to do something that seemed inconceivable six months ago: build a Canadian social network. What does sovereign social media look like? And what will prevent Gander from devolving into every other social network? CEO Ben Waldman joins to answer these questions and many more.

Take The BetaKit Quiz – Manzil’s milestone, a venture capital wind down, and the Junk Yard Dog returns

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 October 10, 2025.

Calling investors, entrepreneurs, and ecosystem partners

Join FutureSight Ventures at its annual Investor Summit & Demo Day for an afternoon of world-class speakers, inspiration, and company pitches. Hosted at the storied National Club in Toronto, home to rich experiences and new relationships, thought leaders will share hard-won lessons, bold predictions, and practical frameworks you can apply immediately.

Expect founder spotlights, live demos, and candid conversations on building defensible AI ventures and scaling with discipline. Network with LPs, operators, and technologists shaping the next decade of vertical B2B AI SaaS and discover opportunities to invest, advise, or collaborate.

Seats are limited. Request an invite to secure your spot and be part of a community committed to turning ideas into enduring companies.

We can’t wait to welcome you on October 29th from 3 PM to 7 PM.

BetaKit is an Elevate media partner. Feature image courtesy Brandon Ferguson Media for Elevate Festival.

The post Canadian VC movement and AI at Elevate first appeared on BetaKit.

Can Canada build its own social network? 13 Oct 4:00 PM (8 days ago)

In the year of our meme lord 2025, social media sucks.

And social media has sucked for some time, but this year things have taken a turn: Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg thinks the solution to the loneliness problem his company helped create is AI friends, and both Meta and OpenAI have launched apps mostly for AI-generated video slop.

“It’s one thing to say ‘let’s do this in a sovereign way.’ It is a whole other to actually do it.”
Ben Waldman
Gander Social

But what if there was a better way? Perhaps a more Canadian way?

Gander Social is attempting to do something that seemed inconceivable six months ago: build a Canadian social network.

The very idea prompts a slew of interesting questions. What does sovereign social media look like? How Canadian would it be? What would prevent Gander from devolving into every other social network?

On this week’s episode of The BetaKit Podcast, I pose these questions to Gander CEO Ben Waldman and many more. Given the app is preparing for a closed beta launch later this month—alongside a crowdfunding campaign through FrontFundr—it was very interesting to learn which questions Walman has answers to and which he doesn’t.

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

One area Waldman was able to speak to in detail, however, was identity verification. Gander intends to handle this fraught topic in the most Canadian way possible, leveraging core tech built by Interac and Canada Post. It’s a solution that might help endear the fledgling social network to its core user base.

But will draping itself in the Canadian flag help Gander navigate the cold start problem all social networks face at launch, or the enshittification problem all tech faces after it successfully scales?

Let’s dig in.

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Feature Image courtesy Gander Social. Recorded and edited at Toronto Podcasts.

The post Can Canada build its own social network? first appeared on BetaKit.

Serenity Power wins $100K Women+ Pitch Prize at Elevate 10 Oct 10:43 AM (11 days ago)

Elevate Festival crowned multiple pitch competition winners this week, including a University of Toronto (U of T) spinout based in Calgary that develops clean power technology.

Serenity Power, founded by U of T master’s graduate Aleisha Reese Cerny, received $100,000 from angel investors at The Firehood through the Elevate Women+ Pitch Prize. The win builds on the startup’s success at Montréal’s Startupfest in July, where it nabbed a $100,000 Black Entrepreneur Investment prize.

“This success demonstrates that our founders can compete alongside the best of Canadian talent.”
Melisa Ellis,
Nobellum

The Calgary startup develops solid oxide fuel cell technology, which uses electrochemistry to convert fuels like diesel into electricity. It aims to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions by replacing power generation for markets such as mining, oil and gas, data centre operations, and remote utilities.

Serenity Power and 39 other women-led startups attended a five-week virtual incubator to develop investment readiness and fundraising skills. Twelve top companies were chosen to pitch on stage at Elevate to investors from The Firehood.

Among the pitch participants was Tydra Labs, another Startupfest pitch competition winner that converts shell waste from crustaceans into chitin and other sustainable bioproducts for cosmetics and packaging. According to the Elevate Women+ program, Tydra Labs secured additional funding through the incubator program as it looks to raise $750,000.

Elevate and The Firehood partnered with Toronto-based investment platform Equivesto this year to help with financing for participants. Equivesto CEO Alexander Morsink said in a statement that its tech helps investors and founders “navigate the closing process through a transparent, digital platform.”

The Elevate Women+ program also receives federal support through the Women Entrepreneurship Strategy’s (WES) Inclusive Women Venture Capital Initiative. The WES, administered by Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada, was originally announced in 2018 with $2 billion in funding to support ventures led by women and gender-diverse people.

The pitch competition took place on the third day of Toronto’s seventh annual Elevate Festival. The event was projected to attract 10,000 attendees, with programming covering subjects including artificial intelligence (AI), FinTech, product development, and cybersecurity. BetaKit is an official Elevate Festival media partner.

Elevate Festival also hosted the Black Innovation Zone’s (BIZ) Ecosystem Showcase Pitch Competition, organized by the collective of Black-led organizations in partnership with TiE Toronto and Meridian.

Moon Trades founder Wintta Ghebreiyesus places third in Black Ecosystem Showcase.
Image courtesy Douglas Soltys for BetaKit.

In an email to BetaKit, Nobellum CEO and co-organizer Melisa Ellis said that BIZ’s pitch showcase has become a “gateway” for underrepresented founders to access wider opportunities. Founders who received sponsored tickets through BIZ won the Women+ pitch prize two years in a row, she said.

“This success demonstrates that our founders can compete alongside the best of Canadian talent, while urging the innovation community to rethink, redefine, and reinvest in diverse founders,” Ellis said.

First-place winner Be One to Give (B12Give), an Uber Eats-style logistics company that redistributes surplus food, received a $7,500 prize. Sustainable beauty company Shower Thoughts came in second place with $5,000, and mining robotics startup Moon Trades took home third place and $2,500.

Moon Trades founder Wintta Ghebreiyesus, an aerospace engineering PhD from Toronto Metropolitan University, told BetaKit that the startup has built a rover-enabled platform for mining that could work on the moon. Currently, it’s pursuing commercial contracts to survey industrial sites.

“The Black Innovation Zone recognition comes at a critical time for Canada’s critical mineral sector,” Ghebreiyesus said.

Other pitch competitions included the Moneris eCommerce North Showcase Pitch Competition, which saw content creation startup Shutterb take home the $10,000 winning prize.

Feature image courtesy Elevate. Photo by Brandon Ferguson Media.

The post Serenity Power wins $100K Women+ Pitch Prize at Elevate first appeared on BetaKit.

1Password holds $100 million secondary sale, inks deal to deepen AI focus 10 Oct 9:57 AM (11 days ago)

Toronto-based 1Password has partnered with Browserbase, an infrastructure provider for artificial intelligence (AI) agents using web browsers without a graphical interface.

The Canadian cybersecurity company claims the partnership will address a key security challenge in the agentic AI pipeline while also creating liquidity for shareholders.

“AI is opening up new ways to help people work smarter and get more done, but the fundamentals of security don’t change.”

As people adopt AI agents to perform tasks on their behalf, those agents must be able to log in and work securely. 1Password’s Secure Agentic Autofill plug-in allows agents on Browserbase’s infrastructure to authenticate with web services (like logging into a user’s account) without exposing the user’s credentials. The partnership with the cloud browser automation platform is similar to the deal it struck with AI-native web browser Perplexity, one of Browserbase’s customers, last month.

The partnership followed a $100-million USD secondary sale of the company this month, with participation from Qualtrics founder Ryan Smith and Accel partner Ryan Sweeney, 1Password CEO David Faugno told BetaKit in an email statement. Faugno added that Sweeney and Smith represented $75 million of that purchase from founders and employees through their new Halo Fund. Flume Ventures also participated in the sale, which maintained the $6.8-billion valuation 1Password earned in its 2022 equity round.

Faugno has previously worked in leadership positions with both Sweeney and Smith at Accel and Qualtrics. The sale led to 1Password becoming the official cybersecurity partner of Smith’s NBA and NHL teams, the Utah Jazz and Utah Mammoth.

“This transaction was designed to create a liquidity opportunity for long-tenured employees and our founders while welcoming a new strategic investor,” Faugno said. “1Password is cashflow positive with a strong balance sheet, and this transaction was not about raising capital but about recognizing our team’s contributions and aligning with a partner who brings strategic value across technology, sports, and entertainment.”

Secondaries have become an increasingly popular means of generating liquidity for shareholders amid a lack of distributions from exits like initial public offerings (IPOs). Faugno told The Globe and Mail in March that 1Password was on track for an IPO, but noted it was unlikely the company would do so before 2026.

Adapting to the AI era has been a focus for 1Password this year. The company bolstered its Extended Access Management platform in April with ways to help customers manage AI agents more securely. Faugno, who was co-CEO at the time, told BetaKit that AI agents are often accessing and taking action with sensitive corporate credentials and data, creating an “unbelievable security risk.”

“AI is opening up new ways to help people work smarter and get more done, but the fundamentals of security don’t change,” Faugno said in a statement.

1Password has seen major leadership transitions this year, including the departure of CTO Pedro Canahuati and CRO Julian Teixeira this month. Earlier in the year, 1Password brought on CFO Greg Henry to replace Jeannie De Guzman as she transitioned to COO. In July, longtime CEO Jeff Shiner moved to executive chair, handing the reins to Faugno.

UPDATE (14/10/25): This story has been updated with comments from 1Password CEO David Faugno.

Feature image courtesy 1Password.

The post 1Password holds $100 million secondary sale, inks deal to deepen AI focus first appeared on BetaKit.

BDC Capital’s Cheri Corbett joins Pender Ventures as partner 10 Oct 8:18 AM (12 days ago)

Vancouver-based venture capital (VC) firm Pender Ventures has hired BDC Capital’s Cheri Corbett a month after partner Isaac S o uweine departed.

Corbett joins Pender after more than a decade at BDC Capital, the VC arm of the Business Development Bank of Canada. Most recently, Corbett spent three years as a partner and team lead at its Climate Tech Fund, which invests late-stage seed and growth stage capital into companies developing technologies for the green energy transition. Before that, she led investments at its previous, $600-million cleantech fund, which is now fully deployed, and was a director of growth and transition capital.

“What stands out most about Cheri is her blend of strategic insight and collaborative leadership.”

During Corbett’s tenure, BDC Capital’s climate-focused fund invested in companies including Cyclic Materials and Deep Sky. She was recognized by the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA) awards in 2024 for her investment in liquid cooling tech company CoolIT Systems.

“What stands out most about Cheri is her blend of strategic insight and collaborative leadership,” Pender said in a LinkedIn post announcing the hiring. “She’s deeply committed to supporting entrepreneurs, building high-performing teams, and driving impact through thoughtful investing, values that resonate deeply with our mission at Pender Ventures.”

The news comes nearly a month after Montreal-based partner Isaac Souweine left the firm. Souweine, who worked alongside principal Meryeme Lahmami in Montréal, told BetaKit his departure was a “mutual decision” and that he left to explore other opportunities in the Canadian tech startup and investment community.

Corbett, who is based in Calgary, will join Montréal-based Lahmami and Vancouver-based managing partner Maria Pacella. The firm hired Calgary-based associate Jacob Grainger early this year after receiving $5 million from the Alberta Enterprise Corporation toward its most recent fund. Pacella previously said that Pender’s geographic strategy remains unchanged with Souweine’s departure, and that Montréal and Québec are still “a priority” for the VC firm.

Launched in 2019, Pender Ventures is the VC arm of Vancouver investment firm PenderFund Capital Management. Pender Ventures invests in B2B software and healthtech startups, typically in or around the Series A stage.

Some of its standout portfolio companies include Vancouver-based Jane App, which offers a platform for health and wellness practitioners, and Copperleaf, which sells analytics software. The firm won VC Deal of the Year at Canada’s venture capital association awards earlier this year for Copperleaf’s $1-billion go-private deal, which 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.

The firm is investing out of its $100-million second fund, which closed last November. At that point, Pacella said Pender’s net IRR through its first, $25-million fund was between 20 and 30 percent.

Feature image courtesy CVCA.

The post BDC Capital’s Cheri Corbett joins Pender Ventures as partner first appeared on BetaKit.

Manzil’s milestone, a venture capital wind down, and the Junk Yard Dog returns 10 Oct 7:33 AM (12 days ago)

QUIZ START

The post Manzil’s milestone, a venture capital wind down, and the Junk Yard Dog returns first appeared on BetaKit.

Shopify promotes Jess Hertz to COO as chief revenue officer departs 9 Oct 1:25 PM (12 days ago)

More C-suite changes have come to Canada’s biggest tech company.

Shopify has promoted its general counsel, Jess Hertz, to chief operating officer, while the company’s chief revenue officer announced his departure after three years.

“My operating system as COO: make the work visible, shorten feedback loops, deliver in smaller increments, own outcomes end-to-end.”
Jess Hertz, Shopify

CRO Bobby Morrison wrote in a LinkedIn post that his time at Shopify was “some of the most impactful and fulfilling of my career.” According to his profile, Morrison previously held the same role at FinTech company Intuit and spent nearly 20 years at telecommunications firm Verizon in various roles.

“I didn’t know what I was missing until I had the chance to work with a mission-obsessed, founder-led company,” Morrison said. He said he helped Shopify turn a negative cash flow in 2022 into eight straight quarters of free cash flow above 15 percent, in addition to quintupling its market capitalization.

Morrison thanked his colleagues and praised CEO Tobi Lütke’s leadership, writing that he would “take those lessons forward into what’s next.”

Shopify told BetaKit it had restructured its commercial organization, which had impacts on leadership, but did not comment on individual employees.

The shake-up follows the departure of COO Kaz Nejatian last month, after he left Shopify to lead San Francisco-based real estate tech firm Opendoor. Nejatian had led product and merchant services, among other roles, and was promoted to COO in 2022.

Nejatian called his move to the company, which offers a digital home buying and selling platform, a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to “redefine what’s possible in real estate.” The associated regulatory filing said that Shopify’s remaining executive team would assume his responsibilities going forward and was “ready to ensure a seamless transition.”

Shopify confirmed that it had called up Hertz to replace Nejatian following posts on social media from Hertz and other company executives.

“Jess has spent four years deeply understanding our business and rewiring how we operate, building systems in legal, talent, and across the company at scale,” a Shopify spokesperson said in a statement to BetaKit. “She thinks from first principles, ships smart fixes, and combines public sector and technology experience with proven execution.”

In a LinkedIn post, Hertz said she was “thrilled” at the appointment and described her approach to the new role.

“My operating system as COO: make the work visible, shorten feedback loops, deliver in smaller increments, own outcomes end-to-end,” Hertz wrote. “When the work is visible, ownership is clean, and defaults are sharp, winning is the side effect.”

Lütke and Shopify president Harley Finkelstein congratulated Hertz on the promotion on social media. Lütke wrote in a post on X that Hertz has “played a key role in building most of the best systems at Shopify.” In his own post, Finkelstein said Hertz was one of “the best operators” as she designed scalable systems, removed complexity, and empowered teams.

An attorney and Harvard University graduate, Hertz clerked for eventual United States Supreme Court judge Sonia Sotomayor, then worked as a counsellor for a federal agency and the US deputy attorney general. She was former US President Joe Biden’s principal deputy counsel when he was vice-president under the Obama administration.

Hertz then made a foray into the tech sector, joining Facebook (now Meta) in 2018 as associate general counsel, where she focused on regulatory and government affairs. In 2020, Biden appointed Hertz to his transition team, which drew criticism from some within the Democratic Party due to her former job at the tech giant. Hertz served as White House staff secretary until October 2021, when she joined Shopify.

Founded in 2006 in Ottawa, Shopify is an e-commerce platform that sells services to small merchants as well as large enterprises. It’s currently Canada’s largest company by market capitalization, worth just under $300 billion CAD. The company’s share price dropped by just over one percent today.

Coming off of strong second-quarter earnings, Shopify recently announced a partnership with OpenAI to bring its merchants’ products into ChatGPT through an in-app shopping feature.

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

Feature image courtesy Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine on Flickr (CC0 1.0).

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At Elevate, founders call out barriers holding back Canadian healthtech 9 Oct 12:55 PM (12 days ago)

Canadian entrepreneurs at Elevate Festival claimed employers and policymakers are holding up the adoption of healthtech aimed at building families and aging gracefully.

“We don’t have 13 healthcare systems, we have 13 ‘sick care’ systems.”

Industry leaders at two panels identified key barriers in funding, procurement, slow-moving policymakers, unsupportive employers, and a lack of proactive care. They also shared potential solutions.

Braze Mobility founder and CEO Pooja Viswanathan noted that her startup, which is building blind spot sensors for wheelchairs, has had “a really tough time” securing financing in Canada, but faced a much easier path south of the border.

“Even though we’ve created innovation here, we’ve had to go to the US, like a lot of other [Canadian] healthtech [and] medtech companies,” Viswanathan said. “It’s really unfortunate because Canadians are not able to really take advantage of Canadian innovation.”

Fellow panellist Alex Mihailidis, a University of Toronto professor who works with Age-Well, said this is why the aging tech network has focused much of its efforts on policy. Mihailidis said Canadian policymakers have been saying “all the right things,” are aware that contending with Canada’s aging population is a big issue, and know tech can help.

But Mihailidis likened this work to “pushing a big rock up a very large hill.” He argued that “the actions in Canada have not been where they need to be” on the age tech front compared to some of the country’s global peers.

Mihailidis contended that the provincial jurisdiction of Canadian healthcare has made policy changes more difficult. Even so, he thinks some provinces have been doing a better job than others, singling out British Columbia and Alberta as positive standouts and Ontario as a laggard.

Domestic procurement has long been a challenge in Canadian healthtech, with critics citing a lack of transparency and an unwillingness to take risks. Ontario has been trying to improve in this respect.

Rhonda Zwingerman, co-founder and chief medical officer at Twig Fertility—which is using a combination of brick-and-mortar clinics and tech to make fertility care more accessible— thinks a more proactive approach could also unlock the potential of Canadian healthcare.

“We don’t have 13 healthcare systems, we have 13 ‘sick care’ systems,” she argued. “We’re really quite good at reacting to emergencies and urgent things, but we’re pretty bad at proactively keeping people healthy.”

While Canada has universal healthcare, fertility is often beyond its scope. That can be a problem given that common treatments like in vitro fertilization are expensive and time-consuming. Sprout Family co-founder and CEO Jackie Hanson sees an important role for companies to play here.

Hanson, whose startup is working to make fertility benefits more accessible by helping employers adopt them through its digital platform, argued that Canadian businesses need to implement strong parental leave policies and provide fertility coverage to employees. She felt that there is a business imperative to do so.

Hanson said many Canadian workers still take out big lines of credit and refinance or sell their homes to cover the costs of fertility treatments. She also claimed these workers are carrying “a massive psychological weight” that can negatively impact their productivity and availability. The absence of such policies can also lead top employees to leave companies as they start families, she said.

“Employers have a unique advantage—they can remove barriers, they can normalize conversations, and they can create more education in ways that institutions and governments are just not doing very well right now,” Hanson said.

Image courtesy Elevate. Photo by Brandon Ferguson Media.

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Deep Sky aims to build one of the world’s largest carbon capture facilities in Manitoba 9 Oct 11:56 AM (12 days ago)

Just over a month after opening its first facility, Deep Sky has set its sights on Manitoba.

“Southwestern Manitoba perfectly embodies what the carbon removal industry needs to succeed.”

The Montréal-based cleantech startup has selected the province as the next location for Deep Sky Manitoba, its largest direct-air capture (DAC) facility to date. The company said southwestern Manitoba offers an ideal location for the $500-million facility, sporting ideal geology for safe and effective underground carbon dioxide (CO2) storage.

In fact, Deep Sky expects the facility to become one of the world’s largest CO2 removal facilities, sucking 500,000 tonnes of carbon out of the air per year once it’s at full scale. Swiss startup Climeworks’ plant in Iceland, which opened in 2024, was dubbed “the world’s largest carbon-capture plant” at the time and absorbs 36,000 metric tonnes of carbon. Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) is planning to open its own DAC facility in Texas this year with an expected annual throughput of 500,000 tonnes of CO2.

Deep Sky will take advantage of Manitoba’s hydroelectric grid, which the company said provides abundant renewable energy to power DAC technology without creating additional emissions. The provincial government also passed legislation allowing for the storage of CO2 last year, with specific regulations anticipated to pass this fall.

“Southwestern Manitoba perfectly embodies what the carbon removal industry needs to succeed: ideal geology, clean energy, a skilled workforce, and forward-thinking leadership,” Deep Sky CEO Alex Petre said in a statement.

Deep Sky was founded in 2022 by Hopper co-founders Frederic Lalonde and Joost Ouwerkerk. The company monetizes its DAC technology by selling carbon credits to large companies hoping to offset their carbon footprints. Companies like Microsoft and the RBC have already purchased carbon credits from Deep Sky worth about 10,000 tonnes of stored CO2 over 10 years.

Deep Sky opened its pilot DAC facility in Innisfail, Alta., roughly an hour away from Calgary, this past August. Dubbed Deep Sky Alpha, the facility will capture 3,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere by the end of the year. A spokesperson told BetaKit that Deep Sky Alpha is a smaller-scale facility that serves as an innovation centre to select the best DAC systems for its large-scale facilities, like Deep Sky Manitoba.

The spokesperson added that Deep Sky will “support a lot” of the new facility’s $500 million price tag itself, but will be seeking additional investment to reach full commercial scale. Deep Sky has raised more than $130 million from investors, including a $40-million USD ($57.3 million CAD) grant from Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Catalyst.

Deep Sky has begun engaging with municipal, Indigenous, and other local stakeholders as it evaluates potential sites for the Manitoba project, which includes the Pipestone and Two Borders areas southwest of Brandon, the spokesperson told BetaKit. It has already signed a Declaration of Relationship with the Dakota Nations of Manitoba to explore investment and other partnership opportunities.

Deep Sky anticipates selecting its final site this fall, ahead of drilling the CO2 storage well by the end of this year. It plans to begin construction of its initial. 30,000-tonne removal capacity in 2026. The rest of the capacity will be built out in “phases.” The company said the Manitoba site is “among a portfolio of large-scale projects that are under development,” including in Quebec.

Phil De Luna, Deep Sky’s former chief science and commercial officer, said in June that Canada has an opportunity to “step up” as the United States government scales back its climate change mitigation efforts. Last week, Deep Sky poached the operations of CarbonCapture subsidiary True North Carbon, which intended to set up its 2,000-tonne DAC project in Arizona before American policies drove it to Deep Sky’s Alberta facility, according to the Financial Post.

Feature image courtesy Deep Sky.

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Spellbook raises $50-million USD Series B led by Khosla Ventures 9 Oct 9:15 AM (13 days ago)

Toronto-based legaltech startup Spellbook, which provides an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered contract review platform for lawyers, has secured $50 million USD ($69.9 million CAD) in Series B funding.

“The level of agility needed to be in this market is extreme and unlike ever before.”
Scott Stevenson, Spellbook

The all-equity round was led by one of Silicon Valley’s most notable venture capital firms, Khosla Ventures, under the direction of managing director Keith Rabois, who is joining Spellbook’s board. The round also saw participation from Threshold Ventures and returning investors Inovia Capital, Bling Capital, Moxxie Ventures, Path Ventures, and former Shopify CTO Jean-Michel Lemieux.

The new funding will help expand Spellbook’s tool beyond contract review and scale its go-to-market team, the company said in a statement. Spellbook CEO Scott Stevenson told BetaKit that Spellbook will grow its team from 115 (110 of which are in Canada) to 230 employees over the next one to two years. He added that the company will likely raise debt for acquisitions in the future as it anticipates industry consolidation.

Spellbook claimed its platform has reviewed more than 10 million contracts from nearly 4,000 customers across 80 countries, including Nestlé, eBay, and Kennedys Law. The company claimed it’s on pace to triple revenue this year, but Stevenson did not provide a specific figure.

“Spellbook is using technology to make law faster, better, and more transparent,” Rabois said in a statement. “It’s the Shopify and Square democratization story for lawyers.”

The fresh capital brings Spellbook up to a $350 million USD post-money valuation. Spellbook has raised over $80 million USD to date. The startup last raised $20 million USD ($27 million CAD) in Series A funding, led by Inovia, in January 2024.

Founded as Rally out of St. John’s, NL in 2018, Spellbook’s self-described “AI co-pilot for lawyers” (or “Cursor for contracts”) helps legal practitioners review and draft contracts through a Microsoft Word integration. Spellbook claims its platform provides “relevant and substantive suggestions” grounded in real-time data rather than so-called “AI slop.” Hundreds of lawyers have been caught using AI tools after false legal cases showed up in their work.

Spellbook has frequently updated its features, such as a new AI agent to automate workflows. Stevenson said Spellbook aims to be the world’s first “high-frequency software,” likening the effect AI has on software to the stock market moving from slow floor trading, to electronic trading, to high-frequency hedge funds making thousands of trades per day.

“Every six months, we can do new things that we couldn’t do before. It’s a completely different mindset,” Stevenson said. “The level of agility needed to be in this market is extreme and unlike ever before.”

Feature image courtesy Spellbook.

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Ex-Cohere execs Sara Hooker and Sudip Roy unveil new AI startup 9 Oct 2:00 AM (13 days ago)

Former leaders from Toronto-based Cohere and its research division are launching a startup aimed at building efficient artificial intelligence (AI) that can “adapt and continuously learn.”

“This will change how everyday users and companies around the world are able to shape and own AI.”
Sara Hooker

Former Cohere Labs head Sara Hooker will lead the new venture alongside her former Cohere colleague, Sudip Roy, who was the company’s senior director of inference.

Adaption Labs will work on “adaptable intelligence,” according to a post on X by Hooker. In a separate LinkedIn post, she said the company will lead in “extremely efficient adaptation” that will enable AI to evolve in real time. “This will change how everyday users and companies around the world are able to shape and own AI,” she wrote.

In his own post, Roy wrote that he is taking on a new challenge “at the intersection of efficiency and adaptability.” He said the next AI breakthrough “won’t just be about larger models—it will be about systems that can efficiently adapt without the computational overhead of traditional gradient-based methods.”

Gradient methods, such as gradient descent, are machine learning methods widely used to train large-language models (LLMs). They involve optimizing the parameters of a mathematical model to obtain the fewest possible errors. Other approaches to training AI do not involve gradients. One example is evolutionary algorithms, a computational method inspired by natural selection where solutions to a math problem are represented as individuals in a population.

Industry-standard approaches to training AI models, such as those used by OpenAI and Google, have involved massive amounts of data and energy. Adaption Labs appears to be pursuing efficiency in its AI development to cut both energy consumption and costs. Some of the job postings mention “severe compute budgets,” which the company says will force it to innovate and collaborate across the tech stack.

Despite its California headquarters, Adaption Labs is hiring for some hybrid positions in Canada and the United Kingdom, including a brand designer, a design engineer, and an efficiency research engineer.

After spending five years as a research scientist with Google DeepMind, Hooker joined Cohere in 2022 to lead Cohere Labs. Earlier this summer, she announced she was leaving but stayed on through September to oversee applications for Cohere’s Research Scholars program. After Hooker’s departure, Cohere Labs promoted research scientist Marzieh Fadaee to lead the division.

Hooker led research at Cohere Labs across a number of fronts, including multilingual capabilities, inference efficiency, and LLM alignment and safety. Cohere’s Aya series of models brought LLM support to 55 new languages, she said.

The researcher also co-authored a paper this spring pointing out alleged unreliability in the rankings of popular chatbot leaderboard LM Arena, which drew largely applause but some backlash from the AI research community.

For his part, Roy joined Cohere in 2021 after seven years at Google as a research scientist. Before becoming the Canadian startup’s senior director of inference, he was the director of engineering. According to his LinkedIn, Roy will be Adaption Labs’s CTO.

Founded in 2019 by former Google researchers, Cohere builds LLMs that power chatbots and applications for enterprises and governments. Valued at $7 billion USD, it is one of Canada’s best-funded and most valuable private technology companies.

Feature image courtesy Sudip Roy via LinkedIn and Sara Hooker via LinkedIn.

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“Stay tuned”: OpenAI teases Canadian office 8 Oct 2:01 PM (13 days ago)

Leaders at OpenAI say the company wants to grow its presence in Canada and potentially play a role in the country’s efforts to build sovereign AI.

In an interview with BetaKit, OpenAI chief global affairs officer Chris Lehane and senior advisor of global affairs Dev Saxena said they see plenty of room for the American artificial intelligence (AI) giant to grow in Canada.

“[Canada] is obviously a place that any AI company would be interested in.”

While the large-language model (LLM) developer does not have an office north of the border, Lehane and Saxena said OpenAI already has a “pretty significant presence” in the country, lots of Canadian developers building on its platform, and many working with its Silicon Valley team on AI research.

“There’s a lot of Blue Jays shirts this week in our office in San Francisco,” Lehane quipped, while Saxena noted that this group has been vocal about Canada’s importance and is “very eager to contribute back home.”

Lehane, who spoke with BetaKit yesterday ahead of his appearance at Elevate Festival’s AI-focused opening night, hinted that an office north of the border could be in the cards at some point, but did not provide specifics. “Stay tuned,” was all he said.

“As we begin to think about what our presence is going to look like globally, given the [AI] talent pool here, [Canada] is obviously a place that any AI company would be interested in,” Lehane said. “That’s part of the reason we’re having conversations here.”

Lehane noted that the company spoke with Canadian AI minister Evan Solomon earlier this week and has been meeting with other public and private sector leaders as part of a push to figure out what role OpenAI could play in Canada’s efforts to build sovereign AI.

“A big part of what we’re doing right now is listening and learning from those folks,” he said.

Geopolitical and trade tensions with the United States have spurred countries like Canada to pursue digital sovereignty across AI and the cloud. Earlier this year, Solomon told BetaKit that “sovereignty does not mean solitude,” indicating that he anticipates that Canada will need to work with foreign companies and partner with other countries to build out its AI sector.

The shape of Canada’s strategy will be determined partly by an AI task force that has just embarked on a 30-day sprint.

Lehane said OpenAI is trying to figure out how it can help bolster Canada’s efforts, and stressed that the company would like to be a “constructive partner.”

“From minerals and metals through to energy generation and transmission into the data centre, into AI model training through to application diffusion—that’s one of the most complex and expensive value chains in history,” Saxena argued. “No country can do that end to end.”

Saxena said he sees this moment as an opportunity for Canada to determine where exactly in that value chain the country wants to play and then identify foreign partners that can help export some of those capabilities and build up its domestic capacity in other areas.

Lehane noted Canada is one of the birthplaces of AI, and said he thinks the country is in a strong position to play a leadership role in the future of the technology. He said Canada has a few key competitive advantages: strong AI talent, access to energy, and capital. Lehane said every country is struggling with the two other pieces of the puzzle: data and chips.

OpenAI is interested in securing data centre capacity in Canada to support its operations here. That could mean building infrastructure or serving as an initial tenant for developers that require commitments from clients.

For now, OpenAI’s work in Canada has included partnering with Canadian e-commerce giant Shopify to allow merchants to sell directly through ChatGPT.

OpenAI is also contending with a copyright lawsuit from major Canadian publishers, including The Globe and Mail and Toronto Star, that it has argued ought to be heard in the US. Lehane would not comment on the suit but acknowledged that “everyone recognizes that these are really important issues to get right.” He added that the company has been working to identify win-win models and strike partnerships with publishers.

OpenAI announced two Canadian partnerships this week. It’s teaming up with local accelerator Creative Destruction Lab to help domestic charities and non-profits adopt AI, and working with the Vancouver Board of Trade to make OpenAI’s AI certification program available to the organization’s members. Simultaneously, the company revealed that ChatGPT has over 800 million weekly active users worldwide.

“That’s not the end of the story,” Lehane said. “It is probably the prologue to what we hope will be a much longer story here.”

Feature image courtesy Elevate. Photo by Brandon Ferguson Media.

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Canadian cloud providers unite to launch sovereign cloud offering for government 8 Oct 12:28 PM (13 days ago)

Four Canadian cloud providers have teamed up to launch a sovereign offering for government clients.

“This initiative restores both data and operational sovereignty, ensuring the Government of Canada can run its most critical workloads under its own control.”

ThinkOn, Hypertec Group, Aptum, and eStruxture are each chipping in components of what they claim is Canada’s first end-to-end, sovereign, and artificial intelligence (AI)-ready government cloud. The firms claim the partnership allows the Government of Canada and its ecosystem of software providers to run critical workloads under a Canadian-controlled cloud.

Each partner contributes a different element. While eStruxture provides its sovereign data centre facilities that are already operating across Canada, Hypertec supplies the hardware. ThinkOn delivers cloud and data services, while Aptum provides the orchestration and governance platform.

The collaboration takes advantage of each company’s unique circumstances in the Canadian market.ThinkOn is the only Canadian company approved to sell cloud services to the government, Hypertec is the only Canadian-headquartered original equipment manufacturer for chip giant Nvidia, and eStruxture is the country’s largest homegrown data-centre builder. Notably, Aptum president and CEO Ian Rae is a member of Canada’s AI strategy task force.

“Our locally assembled systems ensure operational sovereignty at the hardware level, and our sovereign-first heritage keeps more value in Canada’s digital value chain rather than flowing offshore,” Hypertec CEO Simon Ahdoot said in a statement. Hypertec also recently partnered with 5C and AI institute Mila to launch the Sovereign AI Research Hub in Montréal.

The four cloud providers’ procurement-ready offering follows heightened conversation around Canada’s sovereign data capabilities. Canada’s AI minister, Evan Solomon, called digital sovereignty “the most pressing policy and democratic issue of our time” at Montréal’s ALL IN conference last month. Prime Minister Mark Carney recently announced that developing a “Canadian sovereign cloud” would be among the newly launched Major Projects Office’s top priorities.

American firms own nearly a third of Canada’s 283 data centres, but storing information in Canadian data centres doesn’t guarantee sovereignty. Under the US CLOUD Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), data hosted on servers owned by United States companies could be turned over to US law enforcement by request.

“For too long, Canadian government data in foreign-owned clouds has been subject to laws written outside our borders,” ThinkOn CEO Craig McLellan said in a statement. “This initiative restores both data and operational sovereignty, ensuring the Government of Canada can run its most critical workloads under its own control.”

Feature image courtesy Scott Rodgerson via Unsplash.

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EQ Bank unveils new account for Canadian small businesses 8 Oct 10:56 AM (13 days ago)

Equitable Bank (EQ Bank) is targeting Canadian small businesses with its new business banking offering.

The challenger bank has added a high-interest business account with free transactions and no monthly fees to its fully digital banking experience. The new account has launched nationwide, outside of Québec.

EQ Bank surveyed 461 small business owners and the top business banking concerns were steep costs and low interest.

The EQ Bank business account has no minimum balance requirement and a 2.25-percent interest rate on deposits, with access to business guaranteed investment certificates (GICs), which can provide up to 3.3 percent interest. The bank will also soon launch its own prepaid business card, which will feature no annual fees and cash back on monthly spending over $10,000.

The business account offering comes with up to 10 sub-accounts to set aside money for things like taxes, expenses, and payroll, as well as dedicated customer service based in Canada.

EQ Bank said it surveyed 461 small business owners and found the top business banking concerns to be steep costs and low interest, while 25 percent indicated that their single biggest pain point was high or unexpected fees.

“This is about catalyzing positive, long-lasting change and bringing real competition to an under-serviced market that deserves better options,” EQ Bank senior vice-president Dan Broten said in a statement.

EQ Bank is following other challengers looking to address small business banking pain points. Last month, Toronto-based Float launched its own business accounts. The FinTech startup’s first dedicated chequing account offers zero fees, sets no minimum balance requirements, and doesn’t require businesses to lock into its ecosystem to access funds. Another Toronto-based FinTech startup, Venn (formerly Vault), has been targeting this market since 2023 and just introduced streamlined incorporation.

EQ Bank recently tapped OpenText CFO Chadwick Westlake to take over as president and CEO following the unexpected death of Andrew Moor. Moor had been CEO of EQ Bank since 2007 and made it one of the largest challenger banks in Canada. During his tenure, assets under management grew from $4.4 billion to $134 billion.

Feature image courtesy EQ Bank via X.

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Mila exploring venture fund to commercialize AI research 8 Oct 9:05 AM (14 days ago)

Québec’s leading AI institute says it’s in the early stages of creating a potential venture capital (VC) fund to turn more of its research output into commercial ventures.

Montréal-based Mila has brought on Jonathan Shaanan, the managing director of Couche-Tard’s corporate VC operation, as a strategic advisor to help develop the fund.

“Our goal is to amplify the number of startups emerging from Mila’s extraordinary pool of talent, while ensuring that as many of them as possible are built here in Canada.”

Shaanan announced in a LinkedIn post that he was joining Mila as Circle K Ventures winds down. According to that post, Stéphane Marceau, Mila’s general manager of venture AI initiatives, and Alex Shee, Mila’s entrepreneur-in-residence, are also leading the initiative.

“Mila is entering a new era where commercialization is a higher priority, alongside its top-tier research,” Shaanan wrote. “As part of this shift, I will be driving the creation of its own venture fund. It is still early days, but things are moving quickly and I hope to share more details soon.”

Created in 2020, Circle K Ventures said it had deployed more than half of an initial $100 million into companies such as grocery delivery startup Food Rocket, which shut down in 2023, and Jackpocket, which was acquired by sports betting company DraftKings last year.

“Venture investing comes with inherent volatility, and in today’s market environment, ACT’s shareholders are understandably focused on more predictable returns. As a result, the decision was made to wind down the fund,” Shaanan wrote. BetaKit has reached out to Couche-Tard for comment.

Shaanan, who was previously an early-stage technology investor at government-backed BDC Capital, said the Mila fund is still in “exploration,” so details about fund size or investment targets have not been finalized.

Marceau told BetaKit in an email that informal conversations have made clear “there’s strong interest from strategic partners in a potential Mila fund.”

Marceau claimed that more than 50 startups linked to Mila have raised over $100 million in recent years, with just “one and a half people” managing support for startups. “We think now is the time to focus and scale this activity,” he wrote.

There has been interest from several VCs, including some in the United States who want to “get closer to the Mila community,” Marceau said. Some American VCs have invested in Mila students right after they published their doctoral theses, he claimed. He said these students plan to build companies in the US “following the guidance of their American investors.”

“Our goal is to amplify the number of startups emerging from Mila’s extraordinary pool of talent, while ensuring that as many of them as possible are built here in Canada,” he wrote.

While tech talent draining to the US has long been a concern, worries have intensified recently among some Canadian investors and startup CEOs. New data from Toronto VC firm Leaders Fund found a sharp decline in the share of Canadian-headquartered “high-potential” startups compared to just a few years ago. Concurrently, Canadian tech leaders have advocated for immigration policy to draw tech and AI talent away from the US.

The interest in a venture fund comes during a new era for Mila, which was founded in 1993 by Turing Award winner and leading computer scientist Yoshua Bengio. Hugo Larochelle, an adjunct professor at the Université de Montréal and the former head of Montréal’s Google Brain research lab, was appointed last month as Mila’s new scientific director.

Larochelle told BetaKit he wants the non-profit institute to be more “ambitious.” His priorities are maintaining Mila’s high research quality, helping members commercialize their work, and supporting the creation of new startups.

According to Marceau, Mila’s “most powerful leverage point” is helping its AI scientists become “venture scientists” by turning their scientific advances into world-class companies.

Since its founding, Mila has grown into a joint initiative between leading academic institutions in Québec, including Université de Montréal and McGill University. Mila and its sister organizations, Toronto’s Vector Institute and Edmonton’s Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute, are funded by the federal government through the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy.

The institute also serves as a research hub for industry partners, including Canadian startups Protexxa and AbCellera. Enterprise AI startup Cohere’s new chief AI scientist, Joelle Pineau, is a core academic member at Mila.

Feature image courtesy BrainBox AI.

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Mark Cuban-backed TransCrypts closes $20-million CAD seed round 8 Oct 8:36 AM (14 days ago)

Canadian-founded TransCrypts has secured $15 million USD ($20.9 million CAD) in seed funding to expand its blockchain-based record-keeping and verification platform.

The all-equity round was led by Silicon Valley-based blockchain investor Pantera Capital, with participation from Lightspeed Faction, Alpha Edison, Motley Fool Ventures, California Innovation Fund, and Gusto co-founder Tomer London.

Some of the stars behind TransCrypts’ 2023 pre-seed round also returned to re-up their investment, including Shark Tank’s Mark Cuban, Techstars, Alumni Ventures, Protocol Labs, Apertu Capital, Informed Ventures, Asymmetry Ventures, and The Atland Fund. TransCrypts CEO Zain Zaidi told BetaKit that the round valued the company at over $80 million CAD.

The new funding will help the startup formally expand beyond employment credentials to support educational and health records.

TransCrypts was founded in 2020 out of the University of Toronto Scarborough’s incubator program, The Hub, by Zaidi and his cousin, Ali Zaheer. Its API-enabled platform encrypts files, primarily employment records, and stores them on a blockchain. TransCrypts previously launched its platform in Ukraine and Turkey to let hospitals and refugees upload, access, and share medical records despite war and earthquakes.

The company claims its records-management platform helps users maintain full control over their personal information and verify legitimacy in an era of AI-driven fraud and digital misrepresentation.

The new funding will help the startup formally expand beyond employment credentials to support educational and health records in the United States and Canada next year. While its medical record platform is live in nine countries, the startup recently secured certification under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in the US.

Zaidi said TransCrypts doesn’t have many issues holding sensitive documents like health records, since consumers completely own their end-to-end encrypted records. He added that the company itself can’t even see the contents.

“We view ourselves like the post office,” Zaid told BetaKit. “We simply take the sealed enveloped from the issuer and hand it to the consumer, and then take the sealed envelope from the consumer and share it with whoever the consumer wants.”

The company, which is dual-headquartered between San Francisco and Toronto, also plans to more than double its team in the next year, with a particular focus on its Canadian operations. Zaidi said 11 employees from the 18-person team are based in Canada.

In 2023, TransCrypts said it was making $70,000 in revenue per month and facilitating more than one million employment and income verification documents for 140 different enterprises. The company claims it now supports over 4 million users across its more than 450 enterprise customers, including companies in the Fortune 100 and Fortune 500. Zaidi told BetaKit that TransCrypts made over $500,000 in revenue last month.

Feature image courtesy TransCrypts.

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AI takes centre stage on Elevate’s opening night 8 Oct 7:22 AM (14 days ago)

During an evening that featured a Marvel superhero, the Toronto Raptors’ DJ 4Korners, and multiple Blue Jays shoutouts, Elevate Festival’s opening night stayed focused on the human impact of artificial intelligence (AI).

“What we choose to build together today will define Canada’s future for decades to come.”
Lisa Zarzeczny, Elevate

Elevate co-founder and CEO Lisa Zarzeczny noted on stage that this year’s event comes as Canada faces big questions about how to solidify its digital sovereignty, foster domestic entrepreneurship, and navigate the ongoing trade war with the United States.

“There’s a shared understanding that we stand at a critical time and that what we choose to build together today will define Canada’s future for decades to come,” Zarzeczny said.

Almost all speakers touched upon the economic impacts of new companies and products built on the back of AI. Chris Urmson, the Canadian co-founder and CEO behind American autonomous trucking company Aurora, was pressed early on about the potential for AI to drastically replace the work done by humans—something that Anthropic co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei has warned about.

Urmson argued that “the jobs will shift around” rather than being eliminated and that AI will create more jobs than it renders obsolete, but said he expects the nature of many roles to evolve.

Urmson noted that the number of truck drivers needed is far greater than the number of people interested in the work. He also pointed out that the average driver is nearing retirement age. He pointed to a future where, within 25 years, humans no longer drive heavy trucks, a gig so dangerous he likened it to coal mining.

“If you look around any room you’re in, everything in that room at one point moved on a truck. Our whole economy, our whole way of life, is dependent on that,” he said. “[If] we can bring in technology to make it safer, make it more sustainable, and more efficient, it’s an incredible opportunity.”

Canadian actor Simu Liu, who generated laughs with his tale about being fired from Deloitte after just nine months, also had AI job displacement on his mind. A Dragons’ Den dragon and general partner at Markham Valley Ventures, Liu thinks AI will be “as transformative as the industrial revolution.” But he still noted a personal worry about the potential to be replaced by (or paired with) AI actors.

At other times, the displacement conversation was less theoretical and more tangible. OpenAI chief global affairs officer Chris Lehane was questioned by TechCrunch editor-in-chief Connie Loizos on whether tools like ChatGPT are actually democratizing access to information or simply competing with sources like TechCrunch. The conversation followed OpenAI’s recent release of a fast-growing video-generation app called Sora that has surfaced new copyright complaints that add to lawsuits from Canadian publishers like Torstar, Postmedia, The Globe and Mail, CBC/Radio-Canada, and The Canadian Press already on the company’s plate.

Lehane responded by saying the question is one he worries about every night. “Are we going to truly be able to democratize this? There’s going to be enormous amounts of money generated by this, and are everyday people able to participate if the pie really expanded?”

Perhaps no speaker illustrated the current social dichotomies created by AI better than Justin Scaini, who leads strategy, innovation, and transformation at Kids Help Phone. Scaini unpacked how the tech has become both part of the problem and the solution for Canada’s youth mental health crisis. He painted a picture of how existing chatbots trained to speak with adults can fail to notice cries for help from young folks.

But Scaini also showcased a forthcoming product from Kids Help Phone that blends human connection and AI trained on its own data to help it provide a “new standard of care” that expands its existing capabilities without creating additional harms.

The need for human connection in tech was reinforced by Accenture Song Global CEO Ndidi Oteh, who cited internal data showing that 70 percent of customers say they make a decision on what products and services they will use based on the customer experience. “So when you think about how you are differentiating yourself … you have to make sure that the AI and the technology that you use is helping you create more human connections, not less,” Oteh said.

In conversation with Oteh, Cohere co-founder Nick Frosst acknowledged that large language model performance is beginning to plateau. While there is still room to improve, especially when it comes to adoption, he noted that their limitations have also become clearer.

“A few years ago, there was this idea that these models will just become gods,” Frosst said. “I think it’s very clear that now they won’t.”

Noting the ongoing “enormous amount of rhetoric” regarding AI, Frosst stressed to entrepreneurs in the room to remember the greater purpose of what they’re building.

“I would encourage you to remember that AI is a tool for the thing you’re trying to build,” he said. “What you’re trying to do is independent of AI.”

BetaKit is an Elevate media partner. All images courtesy Brandon Ferguson Media for Elevate Festival.

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Former Dye & Durham leaders resurface with $100-million USD SPAC targeting Canadian tech 8 Oct 4:00 AM (14 days ago)

A new special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) has formed to try to take advantage of Canada’s stagnant public markets.

“Canada offers a compelling opportunity to deploy capital into a market that is outperforming globally.”

Toronto-based MAK Acquisition, led by former executives from legaltech company Dye & Durham, has filed a preliminary prospectus with Canadian regulators to perform a $100-million USD ($139.5-million CAD) initial public offering (IPO) on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Canaccord Genuity and CIBC Capital Markets are acting as lead underwriters for the IPO.

The SPAC hopes to acquire technology businesses that provide “critical solutions in niche markets,” such as tech-enabled services, space, and defence. It says it will prioritize opportunities with high revenue retention, low customer concentration, and low capital expenditure requirements.

MAK CEO Matt Proud. Image courtesy MAK.

The firm believes the lack of activity on the public markets in recent years provides a “unique opportunity” to acquire and scale technology companies that are looking for liquidity at a discount.

“With solid fundamentals, strong sector leadership, robust capital markets, a scarcity of new issuance, Canada offers a compelling opportunity to deploy capital into a market that is outperforming globally and primed for growth,” MAK said in a statement. The SPAC will look to either combine multiple companies or take a single large company public.

MAK is led by CEO Matt Proud and CFO Avjit Kamboj, who each held the same titles at Dye & Durham. The company’s board includes Art Mesher, who once helmed Descartes Systems Group.

Proud left Dye & Durham last November after becoming the target of a series of governance challenges from investors dissatisfied over the company’s leverage, pace of acquisitions, and board oversight, according to The Globe and Mail. The company fired Kamboj earlier this year after he reportedly didn’t get along with Proud’s replacement.

The legal software company has been making headlines since Proud and his younger brother Tyler, who built the publicly-traded company together, had a falling out that resulted in a prolonged behind-the-scenes battle, according to The Globe and Mail.

Feature image courtesy Arturo Castaneyra via Unsplash.

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Inside the tech incubator putting Brampton on Canada’s startup map 8 Oct 3:00 AM (14 days ago)

When Tenomix applied to Brampton Venture Zone (BVZ) for support three years ago, the medtech startup had little more than a mock-up and an idea to automate lymph-node detection in cancer pathology.

Today, the startup has advanced its technology into pilot testing and raised $3 million to date. That progress began when BVZ—an early-stage incubator run through Toronto Metropolitan University’s (TMU) Zone Learning network and backed by the City of Brampton—stepped in to provide guidance at a critical moment in its development.

“Brampton is one of Canada’s most dynamic cities, full of energy and people who will shape the nation’s future.”
John MacRitchie, Toronto Metropolitan University

“We believed in the founders and their vision of what they were doing,” says Fardan Khan, BVZ’s Interim Director. “We obviously don’t claim any of our startup’s successes, but it shows that good things can happen when even very-early stage startups get the right support at the right time.”

The City of Brampton recently renewed its partnership with BVZ of TMU for another five years, which will ensure BVZ can continue backing the next generation of tech ventures.

“Brampton is one of Canada’s most dynamic cities, full of energy and people who will shape the nation’s future,” says John MacRitchie, TMU’s Assistant VP of Zone Learning & Strategic Initiatives. “With the city’s continued support, BVZ is poised to deepen its role in fostering ventures, fueling talent and shaping the broader economic development of the region.”

More than half of BVZ’s current portfolio now comes from health and related sectors. With the arrival of TMU’s new School of Medicine this fall, along with institutions like the William Osler Health System and the Osler Research Institute for Health Innovation, Khan believes Brampton increasingly offers the kind of contacts and collaborators that startups need for mentorship, clinical validation and capital.

“For founders at the early stage, having access to the right kind of people and experts is sometimes the biggest challenge,” said Khan. “Because we’ve built those partnerships in the community, we can make the introductions, and then it’s up to the founders to do the hard work.”

Khan also pointed to the Brampton’s MedTech Task Force, which is focused on driving further health innovation in the region, as another sign of the ecosystem taking shape. While he noted that conversations with potential partners are still in the early stages, “the willingness to collaborate is strong and the fact that they are present in Brampton presents a significant opportunity.”

Brampton sits within North America’s third-largest biotechnology cluster, where employment in health and life sciences has grown by 50 percent since 2005. The city is also home to major firms including Medtronic, Dynacare, Sun Pharma Canada, Boston Scientific and Canadian Blood Services.

Still, BVZ is not positioning itself in biotech or pharmaceuticals, said Khan. Instead, it is concentrating on digital health, wellness, and early-stage medtech, from preventative care and chronic disease management to efficiency tools and supply chain solutions.

“Brampton has a vastly diverse and one of the fastest-growing populations — working with founders that are solving for these unique challenges is vital,” he explained.

The BVZ Launch program helps MVP-ready startups get overall market validation and work towards securing pilot opportunities.

BVZ’s approach has already paid off for startups in BVZ’s network. Tenomix, for instance, turned introductions to Dynacare and William Osler into a pilot study. Another company, Waive, which uses AI to reduce doctors’ administrative workload, tapped BVZ’s connections at TMU and in the local health network to expand its footprint in Brampton.

Beyond healthtech, BVZ has also supported startups like Scooty, which is reshaping shared mobility in Brampton with e-scooters, and Transify, which is looking to streamline logistics with its data visualization platform.

BVZ’s healthtech focus is also tied to who its founders are. Since 2021, 48 startups have come through its Launch program, almost half led by women and most by founders from underrepresented groups. Those voices, Khan said, are shaping tools for preventative care, chronic disease, and day-to-day efficiency in healthcare.

“It’s not just the stereotypical young guys in hoodies pitching to VCs,” Khan added.

BVZ’s mandate also takes shape in its Brampton Innovator Program, which brings founders from Brampton and the Peel region into a structured environment with the mentorship, tools, and connections needed to grow scalable tech businesses. That program is available to founders working in healthtech, mobility, logistics, FinTech, and AI, among others.

For his part, MacRitchie believes Brampton’s growing network and emerging technologies are giving it an outsized role to play nationally.

“As we continue to focus on our core strength in healthtech, collaboration with community partners and experts in areas like [extended reality tech], logistics and AI will be essential,” MacRitchie said. “These technologies are not isolated – they directly intersect with healthcare and will play a vital role in shaping Canada’s global healthtech footprint.”

For Khan, the next chapter is about deepening collaboration with the medical school and other partners, while also bridging Brampton’s startups with Toronto’s ecosystem through assets like the Biomedical Zone.

Ultimately, Khan hopes BVZ’s legacy will be that healthtech founders instinctively look to Brampton as the place for opportunity.

“That’s something we would love to be able to say.”

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BVZ is the platform where founders can transform bold ideas into impactful innovations. Explore our programs.

All photos provided by Brampton Venture Zone.

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PhenoTips raises $2 million to expand “genomic health record” platform’s global reach 8 Oct 2:00 AM (14 days ago)

Toronto-based genomic health software startup PhenoTips has secured a $2-million CAD seed extension to fuel its international expansion plans.

In an exclusive interview with BetaKit, PhenoTips co-founder and CEO Orion Buske said the healthtech company plans to use the financing to grow its presence in Canada and the United Kingdom (UK). The firm will also set itself up for expansion into the United States before moving into other countries across Europe and the Middle East.

“We want to move faster, and that is really hard in healthcare, and it’s really hard as first-time founders.”
Orion Buske,
PhenoTips

Buske and the PhenoTips team remain bullish on the potential for genetics and genome sequencing “to transform medicine and improve the quality of healthcare around the world.”

The CEO argued that a combination of declining costs and an increasing number of detectable diseases is evidence that the timing is right for healthcare systems to leverage genomics. He said he sees room for PhenoTips to provide the “genomic health record” and “missing layer” required to deliver that breakthrough.

PhenoTips’ all-equity, all-primary financing, which closed in July, was led by existing backer GreenSky Ventures with support from new investor the Ontario Centre of Innovation. Buske said it came at the same valuation as PhenoTips’ initial $2.5-million seed round in 2021, but did not share how the latest round valued the startup, which has raised $4.5 million to date.

“We want to move faster, and that is really hard in healthcare, and it’s really hard as first-time founders,” Buske said. “What this money is getting us is … it’s buying us some time and breathing room, buying us the ability to look more long term, and buying us some senior leadership to help us make the right choices.”

Born out of a University of Toronto and SickKids Hospital research project, PhenoTips was founded in 2014. The startup, formerly known as Gene42, sells software that helps healthcare providers and researchers collect and manage patient data around genetics. PhenoTips’ solution allows clinicians to easily record, standardize, and share data that helps gauge patients’ risks for hereditary conditions.

Buske said that, since the seed round, PhenoTips has grown to one million patients in its system, tripled its annual recurring revenue, hit 20 employees, and secured 30 institutional customers across Canada, the UK, and Europe. These include hospitals, research programs, and genomics service providers.

GreenSky managing partner Marian Hoffmann claimed to BetaKit that GreenSky has already demonstrated strong product-market fit in both the UK and Canada.

Given its leadership in the rollout of genomic medicine at scale, the UK has become a focal point for PhenoTips and now accounts for the majority of the startup’s business. Buske said the UK’s healthcare system has similarities to Canada’s, and claimed coordination has made it easier to achieve alignment on large, ambitious projects.

Between this and ongoing US “turmoil and uncertainty,” the CEO expects more Canadian healthtech startups to follow suit and venture across the Atlantic before turning their attention south of the border.

“The timing is right for PhenoTips’ solution because clinical adoption of genomic health records continues to expand, partly driven by the increased digitization of the health care system and partly driven by government funding,” Hoffmann argued.He cited two examples of this, including the UK government’s push to integrate genomics into routine care through the Unified Genomic Record as well as major electronic health record providers increasingly expanding their genomics capabilities.

PhenoTips has also been carefully working to integrate artificial intelligence into its platform. The startup aims to support medical application coding and data transformation as it looks to free up more time for genetic counsellors. Buske said these workers often get saddled with the administrative and paperwork load, and would have more time to focus on counselling.

Feature image courtesy PhenoTips.

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Cyclic Materials the first Canadian company to crack MIT Technology Review’s climate tech list 7 Oct 11:37 AM (14 days ago)

Toronto-based Cyclic Materials has cracked MIT Technology Review’s 2025 Climate Tech Companies to Watch list.

Cyclic Materials is the first and only Canadian company to make the list since its inception.

Now in its third year, the annual list highlights “the most promising” companies tackling climate change on the planet. Cyclic Materials, which helps recycle critical minerals in electronics, is the first and only Canadian company to make the list since its inception. It joins firms like Chinese battery maker HiNa Battery Technology, Swedish low-emission cement company Cemvision, and American gene-editing agriculture firm Pairwise.

For its annual list, MIT Technology Review says it looks for “companies with the potential to substantially drive down greenhouse gas emissions or deliver products that could help communities meaningfully reduce the dangers of heatwaves, droughts, or other extreme weather.” From there, the publication narrows its selections down to those with an established track record of things like raising capital, building plants, or delivering products.

Founded in 2021, Cyclic Materials has developed a supply chain aimed at sustainably recovering rare earth elements from electric vehicle motors, wind turbines, MRI machines, and electronic waste from data centres. The company’s goal is to create a circular supply chain by taking landfill-bound products and recovering their critical metals through its magnet recycling processes.

Cyclic Materials has raised $57 million USD in Series B funding over the past year, and counts Microsoft among the round’s initial backers. Cyclic re-opened the round to welcome investment from Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund and InMotion Ventures.

In April, Cyclic invested $20 million USD of that money into its first commercial facility in Arizona. In June, it invested another $25 million USD to establish a Centre of Excellence for Rare Earth Recycling in Kingston, Ont. The facility will serve as Cyclic’s industrial and innovation backbone, featuring full-scale commercial processing and a research and development hub.

MIT Technology Review is an independent media company founded at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1899. The publication examines the commercial, social, and political impacts of technology.

Feature image courtesy Cyclic Materials.

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Radical Ventures holds $650-million USD final close for new early-stage AI fund 7 Oct 8:32 AM (15 days ago)

Toronto-based Radical Ventures has closed a $650 million USD ($907 million CAD) fund to invest in early-stage artificial intelligence (AI) companies.

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has now invested $280 million USD across various Radical funds since 2019.

First reported by The Globe and Mail and confirmed by BetaKit, the fund is backed by a $75-million USD contribution from The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which has now invested $280 million USD across various Radical funds since 2019.

Radical partner Aaron Brindle told BetaKit that the firm is not permitted to share details of its other limited partners (LPs). “Suffice to say they are large institutional investors, pension funds, and endowments,” Brindle said.

Radical launched its third early-stage AI fund in 2023 with a $550 million USD target close. At the time, Brindle told BetaKit that a “significant majority” of the fund was already closed, but he did not share a specific dollar amount. The Financial Times reported that the family office of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt backed the fund.

Brindle said this new, $650 million fund, its fourth in the early-stage category, is replacing the 2023 fund and that the new fund will begin investment “Imminently.” This fund represents Radical’s sixth fund overall and follows last year’s growth fund.

Founded in 2017, Radical invests primarily in companies that leverage AI, backing Canadian startups as well as businesses based abroad. The firm is led by co-founder and managing partner Jordan Jacobs, the co-founder of AI research hub Vector Institute and AI startup Layer 6, which was acquired by TD in 2018. Radical has offices in London and San Francisco, where Richa Mehta became its newest partner in November.

Radical’s portfolio includes many of Canada’s buzziest AI startups, including Toronto-based large-language model developer Cohere, autonomous driving company Waabi, and quantum computing firm Xanadu.

The firm launched its fifth and largest fund to date in August 2024: an $800-million USD growth fund focusing exclusively on growth-stage AI startups. Some of Radical’s limited partners include TD, Wittington Investments, and AI leaders like Geoffrey Hinton and Fei-Fei Li.

Feature image courtesy Radical Ventures.

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Felix eyes preventative health market with new “longevity” testing program 7 Oct 8:09 AM (15 days ago)

Toronto-based digital health company Felix is expanding to offer ongoing health monitoring, aimed at increasing “longevity,” as Canadian patients seek options for preventative healthcare.

Felix is part of a growing list of Canadian telehealth startups that make convenience and discretion part of their draw.

The company’s new longevity platform includes an annual test and ongoing monitoring for $500 per year. The plan offers testing of more than 35 biomarkers, including measures of metabolic health, kidney and liver functioning, testosterone, vitamins, and inflammation measurements. It also includes a “biological age” test that relies on the Levine Phenotypic Age, an algorithm developed by research scientist and former Yale professor Morgan Levine in 2018.

Emma Stern, Felix’s co-founder and chief operating officer, told BetaKit in an interview that the testing marks a “departure from our traditional model” of providing on-demand consultations and prescriptions. Founded in 2019, Felix sells therapeutics through a virtual platform that covers assessments, lab tests, prescriptions, and drug delivery. It sells drugs and treatments for common conditions like erectile dysfunction, menopause, acne, hair loss, depression, and anxiety, as well as contraceptives and weight management drugs.

“There’s this macro trend where people are seeing the value in preventative healthcare and longevity testing,” Stern told BetaKit. “We’ve seen a lot of demand brewing within our user base.”

On the other hand, Stern claimed that Felix is targeting the preventative health market because Canada’s overburdened healthcare system is failing to serve it. More than one in five Canadians don’t have a primary care doctor, and a 2025 Canadian Medical Association survey found that 37 percent of Canadians sought medical advice online because they couldn’t access healthcare.

“We felt this was a very natural place for Felix to step in,” Stern said.

Anti-aging science has grown in popularity in recent years, partly thanks to the “biohacking” movement that promotes lifestyle changes to optimize the body’s functioning and extend one’s lifespan. The movement, which spurred a litany of startups selling wellness plans, gear, and supplements, has also given rise to extreme life extension experiments, like Silicon Valley billionaire Bryan Johnson, who is trying to reverse his body’s aging process.

According to Stern and Felix’s chief product officer, Avrum Laurie, the program was developed to “cut through the noise” of existing misinformation and hype around longevity medicine. The company said Ontario physician Dr. Melody Hui helped develop the program to ensure its methods were clinically sound.

The longevity platform is only available in Ontario, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan. The at-home tests are only available in Ontario. After the tests, a licensed healthcare practitioner—either a physician or nurse practitioner—reviews the results and creates a plan that could include “lifestyle changes, prescription medication, and over-the-counter wellness supplements.”

The dashboard allows patients to track their health over time and has a chat function so they can contact their healthcare practitioner. A more expensive, “ultimate” tier will have expanded biomarkers and video consultations.

Felix is part of a growing list of Canadian telehealth startups, such as Phoenix and Maple, that make convenience and discretion part of their draw for certain markets, particularly for stigmatized conditions. While Felix currently targets consumers directly and claims to have facilitated 1 million medical consultations, Stern said the company is continuing to explore other avenues of access.

The startup has raised more than $30 million to fuel its expansion from investors including BDC Capital, the Canadian Business Growth Fund, and Whitecap Venture Partners.

Though it declined to share revenue, Felix said it has grown 80 percent year over year. The company claimed its weight loss program is the most “in-demand” and that it saw a 100-percent increase in patients from January to August of this year. Its weight management program includes GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs like Ozempic that were originally developed to treat diabetes but also demonstrate efficacy for weight loss.

Stern said Felix sees further opportunity in this market as Novo Nordisk’s patent protection in Canada on Ozempic is set to expire in early 2026, opening the door for pharmaceutical companies to develop generic versions of the drug and sell them at lower prices. She added that Felix is “working closely” with drug manufacturers to ensure a consistent supply for its patients.

Feature image courtesy Unsplash. Image by National Cancer Institute.

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The Hinton Lectures return as AI’s safety cracks widen 7 Oct 3:00 AM (15 days ago)

Earlier this year, Owain Evans ran a training exercise on a language model.

Within a short time with some narrow training, his team proved these models were capable of producing “very obviously unethical” outputs—like praising dictators and offering malicious advice.

“Do not assume that these very smart CEOs have the answers when it comes to safety.”
Owain Evans, Truthful AI

He calls this “emergent misalignment,” a sign of how quickly AI systems can drift from intended behaviour.

“This issue of alignment is not solved,” Evans said. “A lot of resources are being put into making AI as capable and powerful as possible, and a lot less is going into safety.”

Evans will deliver three keynote talks at this year’s Hinton Lectures in Toronto.

The event is organized by the AI Safety Foundation, which aims to increase our awareness and scientific understanding of the catastrophic risks of AI.

The Hinton Lectures was co-founded by University of Toronto-based deep learning pioneer Geoffrey Hinton, who himself has also long warned against the potentially disastrous effects of the systems he helped create, along with the Global Risk Institute (GRI), to demystify AI for the public and provide a platform for open, accessible discussion on its future.

Evans also knows this terrain well. As Director at non-profit research group Truthful AI and Affiliate Researcher at UC Berkeley’s Center for Human-Compatible AI, he has spent more than a decade studying how to keep increasingly powerful systems acting in ways that reflect human values.

He has mentored leaders at OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic, and he worries that companies are racing to make AI more powerful while paying far less attention to keeping the models safe.

“Do not assume that these very smart CEOs have the answers when it comes to safety,” Evans said. “If companies are trying to compete in this very hot race with other companies, and they’re trying to get things out as quickly as possible, and they’re cutting corners, then you get worse outcomes.”

In a series of lectures across three days, Evans will take audiences from a high-level overview of AI’s trajectory to the cutting edge of alignment research. Attendees can expect insights on how researchers are probing AI “thinking,” testing its ethical stability, and even neuroscience-style analysis of artificial models.

“I’m concerned about a situation in the future where, because we’ve given a lot more power to these systems, it is much harder to prevent mistakes,” he said. “The cost of failures of alignment could be a lot more severe.”

According to the AI Safety Foundation, when The Hinton Lectures debuted in 2024, they stood out for their openness. Researchers, policymakers, and the public shared a space where AI’s future could be debated, and the response showed a real appetite for clear, accessible discussions.

This year’s expanded program, which includes both in-person talks and a global livestream, aims to meet that demand.

Geoffrey Hinton himself will once again attend the event, bringing the perspective of someone who shaped modern AI and is now urging caution about its direction. The lectures are proudly supported by founding sponsor GRI and presenting sponsors AISF and Manulife.

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The Hinton Lectures offer a rare chance to hear directly from leading researchers and join a dialogue about where we go next. Register here.

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TransPod partners with Canadian steelmakers for 1,000-km/h Alberta rail project 7 Oct 2:00 AM (15 days ago)

TransPod has secured partnerships with two Canadian steel companies to support its proposed “ultra-high-speed” rail line between Calgary and Edmonton.

With preliminary work completed, the project is paused pending the release of the Government of Alberta’s transportation master plan later this year.

As part of the agreement, Algoma Steel will supply up to 2 million tonnes of Canadian-made steel over the course of the project’s construction, while Supreme Steel will manufacture the steel guideways that will carry TransPod’s FluxJet vehicles at more than 1,000 km/h between the two cities.

TransPod said the collaboration will reduce reliance on volatile export markets and tariffs from the United States.

“Together with Algoma and Supreme Steel, we can generate jobs, strengthen supply chains, and position Alberta as a hub of productivity,” TransPod co-founder and CEO Sebastien Gendron said in a statement.

The Toronto-based autotech startup has suffered a few setbacks since it began exploring the project with Alberta in 2020, which will facilitate 45-minute trips between the province’s two largest cities.

Since the company secured a $688.2 million investment for the project in 2022, Alberta has made TransPod commit to adding a stop in Red Deer, between Calgary and Edmonton. The company has also been blocked from acquiring the necessary land for the corridor since its unique infrastructure isn’t recognized under Alberta’s Railway Act.

With preliminary work completed, the project is paused pending the release of the Government of Alberta’s transportation master plan later this year, TransPod said in a statement. The master plan should give the company the clarity it needs to acquire the necessary land, according to Railway Supply.

TransPod said it and its partners are “fully prepared” to resume development as soon as the strategy is released. A feasibility study claimed the project will create up to 140,000 jobs and add $19.2 billion to the region’s GDP throughout construction.

First proposed by Elon Musk over a decade ago, Hyperloops are transportation systems where pods travel through sealed, low-pressure tubes free of air resistance or friction. While Hyperloop systems have been criticized as expensive, that hasn’t prevented companies like the now-defunct Virgin Hyperloop and others from exploring the concept.

TransPod has argued that its approach differs from Hyperloop systems. “We’re trying to move away from that word [Hyperloop] just to really differentiate ourselves from what the public thinks,” Gendron said at a demonstration in 2022. “This is not Elon Musk’s technology; it’s a transportation technology.”

Feature image courtesy TransPod.

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CDL Defence, Vimy Forge, and Calian Ventures launch programs to boost Canadian defence tech 6 Oct 12:40 PM (15 days ago)

A group of Canadian technology and defence leaders has launched a trio of initiatives designed to foster innovation as Canada prepares to accelerate its defence spending.

Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is rolling out a global CDL Defence accelerator stream aimed at supporting startups with dual-use technology that directly addresses defence, national security, and critical infrastructure needs. CDL Defence aims to support up to 25 startups each year at its sites across Canada and Europe, including CDL-Atlantic and CDL-Toronto.

The Canadian tech industry has been gearing up for Canada’s ramp-up in defence spending.

Atlantic Canada is also getting its own dedicated national defence accelerator in Fredericton-based Vimy Forge. Announced last week and led by leaders from Kognitiv Spark and Tidal Venture Partners, Vimy Forge aims to bring together Canadian small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), academia, industry partners, and government to help scale Canadian defence tech solutions.

“Canada can’t afford to treat defence innovation as something that happens elsewhere; it must be part of how we build national resilience and economic growth at home,” Vimy Forge founding partner and Tidal Venture co-founder and managing partner Ian Whytock told BetaKit.

Whytock noted that as the only G7 nation without a dedicated defence innovation accelerator, “Canadian innovators often fall into the ‘valley of death’ between research and real procurement,” or export their intellectual property abroad. Vimy Forge hopes to change that with an accelerator model meant to bring together companies, customers, and investors that “don’t usually speak fluently to each other.

Meanwhile, Ottawa defence company Calian plans to support SMBs in the sector through a slightly different approach. It’s launching Calian Ventures to help businesses with existing solutions test, validate, and sell their defence offerings to the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF).

Calian senior vice president Robin Richardson told BetaKit that Canada’s defence sector currently consists of over 585 firms generating $14.3 billion in revenue and supporting more than 81,000 jobs, highlighting that more than 85 percent of them are SMBs.

“These companies are driving real innovation but continue to face barriers when trying to scale their solutions into CAF or allied programs,” Richardson said, noting that Calian Ventures hopes to change that by helping SMBs navigate that process and orchestrating greater collaboration between different players in Canada’s defence tech ecosystem.

These hubs and programs join a growing list of initiatives aimed at accelerating Canada’s defence tech and national security capabilities.

Interest in defence investment has been heating up lately as the ongoing trade war with the United States has spurred the Government of Canada to bolster its sovereign and military capabilities. The Canadian tech industry has been gearing up for this shift, but the sector has its work cut out for it after decades of underinvestment in defence.

Canada is one of a few NATO allies that have failed to meet the organization’s defence expenditure threshold of two percent of a member country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Prime Minister Mark Carney has pledged to finally meet that target within the fiscal year—much earlier than 2030, which he initially promised during this year’s election campaign.

The feds have also committed to spending five percent of GDP on defence by 2035, changed their approach to procurement, and begun encouraging banks and pension funds to invest in the sector ahead of the upcoming release of the federal budget on Nov. 4, which Carney has indicated will include a comprehensive Defence Industrial Strategy.

These conditions have given way to a flurry of activity in Canadian defence tech from public and private players. The Business Development Bank of Canada has communicated plans to support the sector, Kensington and One9 have teamed up, and defence tech startups like Ottawa’s Dominion Dynamics and Calgary’s North Vector Dynamics have secured funding to develop their solutions.

“Canada’s defence and security landscape is changing rapidly … there is more capital, demand, and strategic urgency than we have seen since WWII,” Richardson claimed.

Last month, the BetaKit Podcast sat down with Matt Lombardi, co-founder of the defence innovation network and newsletter Icebreaker, to unpack why Canada’s defence tech sector is suddenly exploding.

Update (10/07/25): This story has been updated to include commentary from Calian senior vice president Robin Richardson.

Feature image courtesy Unsplash. Photo by Jason Hafso.

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Inaugural Melamoon pitch competition awards $200,000 to Black founders 6 Oct 11:10 AM (15 days ago)

A Bluetooth-enabled hard hat, a wellness-inspired foodtech startup, and a clean skincare brand all took home prizes at the inaugural Melamoon pitch competition for Black founders in Toronto.

“I think it’s important that we show the relationships that exist above the political climate that we’re in: that people always find a way to work together, build strength, be resilient, and move forward.”

Following a two-week intensive program to refine their companies and pitches, six finalists from a cohort of 50 founders presented their business ideas to a panel of judges at The Globe and Mail Centre in Toronto on Sept. 27, with a total of $200,000 in non-dilutive cash up for grabs.

Jamaal Bond took home the $100,000 grand prize for Evitavonni Construction’s Sound Armour, a digitally enabled hard hat meant to improve safety and communication among workers on construction sites. The hat integrates voice and audio transmission along with weather updates and danger alerts.

The second-place winner of $50,000 was Biola Oluwajuyigbe, founder and CEO of Healx Foods, which produces comfort foods (like cauliflower fries) with clean ingredients. The company sells in more than 100 grocery stores across Canada, including Sobeys and Avril.

Chevon Riley won $25,000 for skincare brand Natural Organic Matters (NORM), which makes moisturizers with simple ingredients such as almond butter and hazelnut oil. The people’s choice award went to Dr. Phyllis Pobee for her women-focused digital health and fitness platform GeneLean360.

“We’ll be using the winnings to bring this innovative technology into the hands of every woman who deserves to feel like her healthiest, most vibrant self,” Pobee told BetaKit.

Melamoon is a collaborative organization between the Federation of African Canadian Economics (FACE) Coalition, a national organization for Black entrepreneurs, and Black Ambition, an American non-profit founded by musician Pharrell Williams that aims to close the wealth gap for under-represented founders.

The judges included Regina Gwynn, co-founder of Black Girls Talk Tech; Michael Hyatt, entrepreneur and former Dragon’s Den investor; Erik Moore, founder and managing director Base Ventures; and Tanya Walker, a commercial litigation lawyer and board director for the Law Society of Ontario. Canadian Minister of Women and Gender Equality Rechie Valdez also attended the ceremony.

Melamoon claimed that the $200,000 it awarded is the largest amount of equity cash prizes awarded to Black founders in Canada. Black founders face a funding gap in Canada compared to other groups, according to a report by RepMatters and BKR Capital: fewer than one percent of venture dollars have gone to Black-led companies in Canada since 2020. The report estimated that $312 million in additional funding was needed in 2024 to match Black founders’ representation in the Canadian population.

The organization’s boosting of Black talent comes as some of the corporate world has rolled back diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. An analysis by The Globe and Mail found a sharp drop in the number of Canadian companies willing to share diversity metrics since 2021.

“I think it’s important that we show the relationships that exist above the political climate that we’re in: that people always find a way to work together, build strength, be resilient, and move forward,” Tiffany Callendar, co-founder and CEO of FACE Coalition, said at the event in conversation with sponsor The Brandon Gonez Show.

But some organizations in Canada continue to financially support entrepreneurs from under-represented backgrounds. Ontario’s Black Entrepreneurship Alliance recently received $2.4 million from a federal agency. The Melamoon event received financial support from the Canadian government and the Crown corporation Business Development Bank of Canada, as well as Interac, TD Bank, Now Toronto, and Black Women Talk Tech.

Feature image courtesy The Federation of African Canadian Economics.

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NordSpace and C-Core partner to build ground station infrastructure across Canada 6 Oct 10:12 AM (15 days ago)

NordSpace will work with C-Core to establish aerospace communications infrastructure across Canada.

The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) last week to conduct joint site engineering, regulatory planning, and business case studies for new ground stations across the country. Ground stations, sometimes known as Earth stations, are equipped with satellite dishes and telemetry equipment to communicate, track, and control satellites and other aerial systems.

Based in St. John’s, NL, C-Core is a research and development firm with expertise in radar and space hardware development. The firm currently has ground stations in Inuvik, NWT, and in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL. The new MOU includes initial planned stations in Inuvik and NordSpace’s Atlantic Spaceport Complex (ASX) in St. Lawrence, NL, which is approximately 350 kilometres away from St. John’s.

A C-Core ground station in Inuvik — C-Core’s Inuvik ground station. Image courtesy C-Core.

The ground stations will expand Canadian capabilities for global satellite communications access and support launch operations from Canadian soil, according to NordSpace. The Markham-based company has been trying to execute Canada’s first commercial rocket launch since August, but has experienced multiple setbacks during its launch windows.

“C-Core’s collaboration will help ensure reliability of our commercial launch activities both at our spaceport, and in the High Arctic where Canadian sovereignty and security are under threat,” NordSpace CEO Rahul Goel said in a statement. “These capabilities will also open new revenue streams for NordSpace and help further vertically integrate our space missions.”

NordSpace was featured in BetaKit Most Ambitious for its goal of facilitating Canada’s first commercial space launch. The aerospace company also wants to develop space launch vehicles, spaceports, and satellites entirely in Canada. It hopes these efforts will bolster the country’s space mission capacity, which it argues will aid the country’s security and sovereignty.

The company broke ground on the ASX, set to become Canada’s first operational commercial spaceport, this August. The spaceport will feature launchpads for orbital and suborbital missions, and will have facilities for radar systems as well as other ground support equipment.

While construction is underway, the company’s initial launch attempts at the ASX have relied on temporary mobile infrastructure shipped from Ontario. So far, an erroneous trigger of its rocket’s ignition safety system and fuel issues have kept the company’s dreams grounded. A new launch date is expected sometime in the “coming weeks.”

Feature image courtesy NordSpace.

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Swiirl teams up with former Raptors star Jerome Williams for 40-city student tour 6 Oct 3:00 AM (16 days ago)

A Canadian startup is going on tour with NBA legend Jerome Williams, the former Toronto Raptors player commonly known as Junk Yard Dog (JYD).

“You’ll be amazed at what can be created when a kid’s being dead honest.”
Jerome Williams

Toronto- and San Francisco-based community engagement platform Swiirl will be powering a 40-city, North American tour for William’s non-profit educational program Shooting for Peace. The tour kicks off at York University in Toronto on Nov. 1. Through it, Shooting for Peace aims to bring financial literacy, mental health, and wellness education to more than 500,000 students in the Greater Toronto Area.

Williams’ foundation, the JYD Project, is making a multi-million-dollar, in-kind donation of his new book, R.O.L.E Player, to students in participating school districts on the tour. It will also offer access to Shooting for Peace’s digital, financial, and mental wellness curricula. Shooting for Peace will use Swiirl’s new agentic artificial intelligence (AI), Pulse, to listen in on Williams’ sessions and learn what topics matter most to students and educators. This will help curate programming.

“You’ll be amazed at what can be created when a kid’s being dead honest,” Williams told BetaKit in an interview, adding they may not know about compounding interest or checks and balances. “You assume that parents are at home teaching kids. Well, that might not be the case,” he added.

The tour builds on an existing partnership Shooting for Peace and Swiirl struck earlier this year. Brands normally use Swiirl to commission students and youth to create content, from artwork to social media videos, to engage communities at the local level. Swiirl’s new offering is meant to turn that content creation into insights, gathering a community’s unfiltered thoughts on a brand while compensating users.

“Instead of having to ship it out to one school in particular, we can go district-wide with the press of a button,” Williams said. “When you plug and play with Swiirl’s AI system, it’s game over, because now the students are not only engaged with the educational piece, they’re also getting some monetization out of it.”

The Shooting for Peace tour has 34 cities booked across North America, including Vancouver, Calgary, and Montreal, with at least six more planned stops. Williams looks forward to kicking off the tour in the city he once played in, and said there will be time for students to have lunch and play basketball while learning about financial literacy and other life skills.

“I might have some surprises in the bag. I don’t want to let anything out, but I can tell you this: JYD will be in the house with his shoes laced up,” Williams said.

With files from Douglas Soltys. Feature image courtesy Swiirl.

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Manzil surpasses $100 million in halal mortgages for Muslim Canadians 6 Oct 2:00 AM (16 days ago)

Toronto-based Islamic FinTech startup Manzil has surpassed $100 million CAD in total halal mortgage financings after doubling the size of its mortgage business in less than a year.

In an exclusive interview with BetaKit, Manzil co-founder and CEO Mohamad Sawwaf described the milestone as “a testament” to the strength of the company’s mortgage product, and the demand for it. He said Manzil has provided halal mortgages to approximately 240 Muslim-Canadian households.

Manzil has built up a waitlist of $10 billion worth of applications since the startup first launched its halal mortgages in 2020.

Sawwaf claimed that this represents the most business that any halal mortgage financier has done in Canada to date. He argued that the $100-million milestone “lays the groundwork” for Manzil to grow to $1 billion and beyond, noting he sees a $250-billion total addressable market for halal mortgages in Canada. As Sawwaf noted, however, Manzil’s vision for becoming “the North American Islamic neobank” spans more than just mortgages.

Founded in 2017, Manzil aims to help Muslim Canadians and Muslim Americans build wealth in a way that is consistent with their ethical and spiritual obligations. The company caters to a growing demographic that is largely shut out of the traditional financial system by a lack of options that satisfy their religious requirements. Many Muslims refrain from investing in any companies or products tied to alcohol, tobacco, gambling, or weapons, and don’t use financial services that involve interest.

Manzil has been working to build what Sawwaf has called “the halal version of Wealthsimple.” The startup, which got its start offering halal mortgages in Canada, has since expanded to offer a wider variety of financial products for Muslims, including United States (US) residents. Sawwaf claimed to BetaKit in July that Manzil remains well-capitalized and expects to reach break-even profitability by the end of 2025.

Mortgages represent a key pillar in Manzil’s overall strategy. The startup’s halal mortgages use capital sourced from the Manzil Mortgage Fund, which trades on the Cboe Canada exchange and acts like a fixed-income fund. Manzil is an AAOIFI member, and the company’s halal mortgage products are based on murabaha (cost-plus sale) and musharaka (co-ownership partnership) structures. They are designed to adhere to globally recognized Islamic finance standards and independently reviewed and certified by IFAAS.

According to Manzil’s website, over 10,000 Canadian Muslims use the startup’s products. Manzil’s mortgage backlog also offers clear evidence of strong demand. Sawwaf said that Manzil has built up a waitlist of $10 billion worth of applications since the startup first launched its halal mortgages in 2020, and he claimed that this list is growing by about $100 million per month at the moment without any marketing.

Manzil brought its halal investment services to the US earlier this year following its purchase of American peer Aghaz Investments in 2024.

Manzil’s halal mortgages are now available in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and Québec, and the company hopes to bring them to remaining provinces within the coming year. They are not yet available in the US.

The startup’s growth strategy involves more than just mortgages: it is also targeting an end-of-year launch for its own savings and spending accounts with partner DC Bank.

“The goal of that is to create an additional product that we know our community needs and there’s demand for, and attract a different set of deposits that we can also augment and supplement our mortgage program and potentially launch other financing programs,” Sawwaf said, citing auto and business financing as areas Manzil would like to enter in the future.

Sawwaf noted that Manzil’s Aghaz acquisition also gave the startup the capacity to launch its own halal exchange-traded fund, something that the company has already filed to do in the US. It expects to eventually bring a comparable offering to Canada.

BetaKit reporter Josh Scott is speaking with Sawwaf about the work Manzil is doing to reimagine neobanking in North America on stage at Elevate Festival on Oct. 8.

Feature image courtesy Manzil.

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Canada must not ignore its innovation problems 6 Oct 12:00 AM (16 days ago)

At my second-ever ALL IN in Montréal, I experienced déjà vu.

Just before observing Ministers Solomon and Joly knight Cohere as Canada’s new economic champion, I caught the tail end of a panel discussing the country’s venture pipeline. I am too polite to name names, and the important bit isn’t who said what but what was said: Canada doesn’t have a capital problem; entrepreneurs suffer only from a lack of positive reminders that this is a great place to build a business, etc.

Like me, you have probably heard these sentiments before. Here’s the thing: the data doesn’t support the narrative. Canadian VCs are in the midst of their worst extended fundraising run in a decade and deploying capital at the lowest levels since the early days of COVID.

The issues go beyond dollars and cents. While many champ at the bit to lure America’s H-1B visa castaways, “high-potential” Canadian startups are fleeing to the US at an alarming rate. Josh Scott reports below that Canada’s Start-up Visa program (designed to bring foreign entrepreneurs here) now features a wait time of 53 months.

That story was enough for unfailingly polite Senator Colin Deacon to claim a “complete disconnect” between government and innovators in the country. Last year, the senator’s office conducted a review of federal innovation programs. They were “sorely disappointed.”

“I desperately hope we can stop creating programs that are designed to eliminate the risk of bureaucratic and political blame,” Deacon wrote. “Otherwise, we’re destined to continue to deliver failure.”

I agree with Senator Deacon. Negativity can be a self-fulfilling narrative, but ignoring problems is not a solution. In a moment when many seem so eager to build Canada, let’s start by being honest with ourselves about what works and what doesn’t. The best homes are built on strong foundations.

Douglas Soltys
Editor-in-chief

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Entrepreneurs face nearly five-year wait for Canada’s Start-up Visa

While talk swirls about the potential for Canada to attract foreign technology talent affected by the United States’ H-1B visa changes, wait times under Canada’s program for luring immigrant entrepreneurs have ballooned to 53 months. The lengthy timeline has led some to question whether the program is effective.

Ottawa launches Defence Investment Agency to overhaul military procurement

The federal government’s new Defence Investment Agency is set to overhaul the military procurement process, promising faster approvals, earlier industry engagement, and domestic economic benefits.

Shopify merchants to sell directly through OpenAI’s ChatGPT with new partnership

Shopify will soon bring its merchants’ products into ChatGPT through a partnership with OpenAI, as the chatbot developer rolls out in-app shopping for the first time.

The e-commerce giant says orders will be processed like they would through a merchant’s typical channels. ChatGPT will display store names, and merchants will control whether shoppers use the Instant Checkout feature or their online store.

Alberta’s AI legacy runs deep. Here’s how one founder is building on it

Ahead of her appearance at Elevate Festival next week, BetaKit sat down with Artificial Agency co-founder Alex Kearney to learn more about her journey from academia to starting her own AI company.

Kearney, who is developing an AI-powered “behaviour engine” for video games, spoke on Alberta’s long history of AI research, how gaming has played a key role in that research, and the benefits and pitfalls of launching an AI startup in Canada.

Canada’s productivity problem takes center stage at Competition Summit 2025

Canada is becoming increasingly anti-competitive and unproductive due to overregulation, industry heads and officials told attendees at Canada’s Competition Summit this year.

Industry minister Mélanie Joly set the tone when she told the room the government would be “hawkish” on competition. Most of the afternoon, however, focused on what the government is doing wrong.

At Munk School event, FinTech leaders call for Canada to take bigger swings

Some of the most influential names in Canadian FinTech gathered to take stock of where the industry stands at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy’s third annual The Future event this week.

Leaders like Purpose Investments founder Som Seif, Interac exec Debbie Gamble, and Questrade policy head Tanya Woods expressed worry that the country and its entrepreneurs aren’t taking bigger swings on priorities like open banking, payments modernization, and stablecoins.

Platform Calgary president and CEO Terry Rock leaving for Alberta Innovates

Platform Calgary president and CEO Terry Rock is leaving the local tech hub to become senior vice-president and chief operating officer of provincial agency Alberta Innovates.

Alberta Innovates said Rock’s leadership at Platform Calgary created “one of Canada’s most vibrant tech ecosystems,” and that he will help the agency do the same on a provincial scale by strengthening collaboration and operationalizing its strategic plan.

Elevate Festival’s 2025 Startup Open House hits Toronto on Oct. 9

The 2025 Elevate Festival in Toronto is less than two weeks away, and, after a long hiatus, Startup Open House is slated to return on Oct. 9 at the locations of over 500 startups and organizations across the city.

FEATURED STORIES FROM OUR PARTNERS

Based in Toronto and San Francisco with a team of over 20, FutureSight Ventures co-founds and funds vertical B2B AI SaaS companies, and aims to build world-class businesses with experienced leaders. Its $15-million AI Company Creation Fund will hold a final close in November 2025. Read about how FutureSight is turning company-building into a science.
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Weekly Canadian Deals, Dollars & More

KW – OpenText to sell off “non-core” eDOCS unit for $163M USD
TOR – 1Password’s CTO and CRO leave the company
TOR – Venn launches product to help entrepreneurs incorporate
OTT- Hyperlume acquired by semiconductor company Credo
MTL – Oasis Learning raises $1.5M for AI corporate training videos
MTL – Avitia to expand its advanced cancer testing across Quebec
MTL – Mila joins Sovereign AI Research Hub with Hypertec and 5C

The BetaKit Podcast — Are Canadian entrepreneurs willing to let their old companies die?

“Don’t talk to your customers because your customers will keep you in the place that you used to be.”

AI adoption is now an industry-wide mandate. It’s putting a lot of pressure on Canadian entrepreneurs: to scale with customer demand (safely and responsibly); to reskill employees; even to kill their old company to let the new AI-first version live. What are the challenges and opportunities? Featuring Michael Buhr (C100), Aydin Mirzaee (Fellow AI), Avery Pennarun (Tailscale), and Amanda Arciero (Airudi). Recorded live at ALL IN 2025.

Take The BetaKit Quiz – Shopify adds OpenAI to cart, Constellation loses its star, and Canada’s new defence agency

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 October 3, 2025.

Feature image courtesy Freepik.

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Are Canadian entrepreneurs willing to let their old companies die? 5 Oct 3:13 PM (16 days ago)

This week, we’ve got another hot podcast from ALL IN, Canada’s burgeoning AI conference (BetaKit is an ALL IN media partner).

One key takeaway from ALL IN this year is that AI adoption is now an industry-wide mandate (bonus takeaway: it’s also a mandate within our federal government). Last week, I spoke with Tailscale’s Avery Pennarun about the pressure CISOs are facing to adopt AI internally, and the massive security risks for companies that move fast without secure processes (which don’t entirely exist yet).

Pennarun joins me again for this panel conversation, which talks about AI pressures entrepreneurs are facing from a variety of perspectives: to scale with customer demand (safely and responsibly); to reskill employees; even to kill their old company to let the new AI-first version live.

“Don’t talk to your customers because your customers will keep you in the place that you used to be.”
Aydin Mirzaee

It’s a great snapshot of the challenges and opportunities Canadian AI entrepreneurs are facing right now, featuring Michael Buhr (C100), Aydin Mirzaee (Fellow AI), Avery Pennarun (Tailscale), and Amanda Arciero (Airudi) alongside Pennarun. Mirzaee in particular speaks candidly about the decision to kill the old Fellow as part of an embrace of AI just under two years ago—one that has led the company to eight figures in AI-based revenue.

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

How did he make that choice? How are the rest managing the pressure to scale?

Let’s dig in.

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The BetaKit Podcast is presented by The Cyber Challenge: Your pathway to new sales, industry connections, and non-dilutive funding.

If you’re ready to scale, refine, and be a leader in cybersecurity innovation, apply today at www.thecyberchallenge.ca.

Feature image courtesy ALL IN.

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OpenText to sell off “non-core” eDOCS unit for $163 million USD in cash 3 Oct 10:17 AM (18 days ago)

OpenText is selling off its eDOCS unit to Utah-based NetDocuments for $163 million USD ($227.3 million CAD) in cash.

The Kitchener-Waterloo-based company began exploring the sale of its “non-core assets” in August to focus on its core business of information management for artificial intelligence. The eDOCS business, which helps legal professionals with document management, contributed approximately $30 million in revenue to OpenText’s latest fiscal year.

The deal includes integrating the eDOCS software and its associated customer contracts, services, and employees into NetDocuments. BetaKit has asked for details on the number of impacted workers. The transaction is expected to close by early 2026, when OpenText will use the sale proceeds to reduce its debt.

“This divestiture further enables our continued focus on growing our core business centered on secure information management for AI,” OpenText executive chairman and chief strategy officer Tom Jenkins said in a statement. “This transaction supports our capital allocation framework while strengthening our focus on businesses that will drive our future revenue growth.”

Jenkins added that OpenText will continue to explore opportunities that “rationalize” its non-core assets from its portfolio.

The continued review of its assets is just one symptom of OpenText’s three-year “business optimization plan” that’s meant to bring the company’s costs in check. OpenText also replaced its CEO and CTO of nearly 14 years, Mark Barrenechea, this August after the company reported stalled revenue growth. In his stead, executive vice-president of international sales James McGourlay was named interim CEO while Jenkins spearheaded an executive search committee.

The executive change came shortly after CFO Chadwick Westlake left to become president and CEO of Equitable Bank. OpenText tapped former BlackBerry CFO Steve Rai to fill that vacancy this week.

Founded in 1991, OpenText provides a suite of cloud-based information management solutions to businesses, competing with the likes of IBM, ABBYY, and Hyland. The company has adapted over the years to introduce cloud and AI services, including cybersecurity and AI agents.

Feature image courtesy OpenText.

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Canada’s productivity problem takes center stage at Competition Summit 2025 3 Oct 9:35 AM (19 days ago)

Canada is becoming increasingly anti-competitive and unproductive due to overregulation, industry heads and officials told attendees at Canada’s Competition Summit this year.

Hosted by Competition Bureau Canada, the annual event brought together business leaders and regulators to discuss market competition issues in Canada. Industry minister Mélanie Joly set the tone when she told the room the government would be “hawkish” on competition. The comment lived on throughout the day’s programming and conversations as an encouraging sign that the government recognizes the importance of a competitive market. Most of the afternoon, however, focused on what the government is doing wrong.

“Incumbents benefit when the rules are stacked against challengers.”
Matthew Boswell

Bureau policy advisor Matthew Chiasson highlighted a Statistics Canada report that found federal regulatory burden increased by 37 percent between 2006 and 2021, while new businesses entering the market declined. On top of that, a Bureau study found average rank stability has increased — larger companies are becoming incumbents, and startups aren’t disrupting.

In afternoon remarks, Competition Bureau commissioner Matthew Boswell positioned startups as an important piece of the economic puzzle. He explained how they can push for innovation and efficiency in the marketplace, but said their ability to compete can be stifled by government regulation.

“Licensing hurdles, ownership limits, excessive fees: these barriers don’t just slow entrepreneurs down, they lock them out,” Boswell said. “And let’s be clear, incumbents benefit when the rules are stacked against challengers.”

Bank of Canada senior deputy governor Carolyn Rogers explained her vision of how competition incentivizes innovation, which, in turn, drives productivity. Rogers, who was one of the original voices to sound the alarm on Canada’s lacking productivity last year, said there are structural challenges in the Canadian economy that aren’t simple to fix. She pointed out that, despite Canadian Geoffrey Hinton winning a Nobel Prize for his work in artificial intelligence last year, most of the technology’s commercialization is happening in the United States.

“We should be able to leverage our ingenuity and our innovation more,” Rogers said. “Do we need more investment? Do we need changes in regulation? The answer is probably all of the above.”

On a panel discussing competition’s influence on entrepreneurship, Borrowell CEO Andrew Graham said it’s a “time of anxiety” for the Canadian tech scene. While the executive said many “may not like what’s going on in the US,” he also argued the country is a friendly environment for entrepreneurs and noted how much easier it is to experiment with stablecoins there.

“It doesn’t feel like the easiest time to be an entrepreneur in Canada,” Graham said. “If you’re graduating from [the University of Waterloo] in computer science and you want to start a tech business, there’s a lot of compelling reasons to do that in California or Texas or New York versus Ontario.”

Rachel Wasserman, the founder and principal of Wasserman Business Law and a fellow at the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project, took a different tack. She raised concerns about private equity rollup firms buying up businesses from aging owners rather than other entrepreneurs, a phenomenon she referred to as the “succession tsunami.”

“We are facing, and this is not hyperbole, the potential extinction of entrepreneurship in this country if we don’t find a solution to either make entrepreneurship easier and provide opportunities for entrepreneurship through acquisition,” Wasserman claimed.

She called for government engagement, rather than deregulation, to solve this problem, proposing that the government guarantee asset-backed loans for entrepreneurs. This would give potential successors a tool that is typically only available to private equity players.

“Entrepreneurs invest more in our economy, they’re more productive, [while] asset managers are inherently extractive with overuse of debt and asset stripping,” Wasserman argued. “Pro-business policy and pro-capital policy are not the same.”

Boswell told BetaKit following the summit that awareness about Canada’s competition problems is growing, calling the event’s virtual 700-person attendance part of a “great awakening.” After hearing about government barriers to competition throughout the day, Boswell said it’s “long past the time” to fix the issues facing the Canadian economy.

“We’ve got to get out of the way,” Boswell said. “We’re not anti-regulation but do it smart; think about competition.”

Feature image courtesy Competition Bureau Canada via LinkedIn.

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Alberta’s AI legacy runs deep. Here’s how one founder is building on it 3 Oct 9:13 AM (19 days ago)

As Canada’s tech community gathers for the Elevate Festival starting Oct. 7, conversations around artificial intelligence are taking centre stage.

Occupying an important place on that stage will be Alex Kearney. Kearney is an AI researcher connected to DeepMind, Twitter, and the University of Alberta. She is also developing an AI-powered “behaviour engine” for video games at Artificial Agency, which she co-founded.

Kearney will be at Elevate next week talking about the surprising and vital links between gaming and AI research. Other AI sessions at Elevate involve policy leaders from Cohere and OpenAI, Meta researcher Setor Zilevu, and Spotify director David Nyhan, among other key figures.

BetaKit sat down with Kearney to learn more about her journey from academia to starting her own AI company. She reflected on Alberta’s long history of AI research, how gaming has played a key role in that research, and the benefits and pitfalls of launching an AI startup in Canada.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

You were previously a DeepMind scientist. Was it a challenging leap from researcher to helming your own AI company?

It definitely is a transition, because the way you think about problems and what you focus on is different, but I found it personally to be really rewarding.

I spent over 10 years working on AI research, both in industry and academia. But now I’m focused on a very different set of objectives. It’s really just delivering tools so that these designers can create entirely new genres and games.

One of the most invigorating things for me is when we share the tools that we’ve developed with a new game designer or a new company, and just watching folks light up with that inspiration, that moment where they realize, “Oh my gosh, I can do this thing that I hadn’t even contemplated before.”

That really gets me fired up.

What prompted the focus on AI agents for gaming versus other categories?

Games have been a test bed for AI agents for decades. Getting superhuman performance in something like Atari, or a game like StarCraft, those have been high watermarks, from an academic perspective, to show we’re making systems that are competent.

Play is such a fundamental thing, right? It’s a part of how we come to understand the world around us. It’s how we learn, and it’s also how we identify intelligence in many ways.

One of the things that I strongly feel is how chat interfaces let us see the potential of LLMs as intelligent systems. Because you can naturally engage with these systems in a language that’s universal: your own human language. I think through games and play, we’re really going to have that “aha” moment where the public can feel what intelligence is like in a systematic environment.

How do you see the AI industry evolving in Edmonton, and how does that compare against Canada at large?

One of the things that often surprises people is the history of the AI ecosystem in Alberta, and how far back it goes. We’ve been an AI research center for over a quarter of a century.

One of the things that I find heartening is the way that within our Alberta ecosystem, we’re acknowledging that we have this rich tradition in machine learning and reinforcement learning, and we’re looking at ways to broaden it throughout the different academic disciplines.

Over the past few years, there have been a lot of really exciting breakthroughs globally in that area. And that’s a trend that I think is going to continue, and I feel like the university and the province are really investing in that area.

What do you see as the advantages and pitfalls of launching an AI startup in Canada?

I think there’s sort of a can-do attitude. At least within Alberta, there’s a real innovative, take-a-risk attitude that I find, personally, quite inspiring.

But there’s also a humility that counters that. I feel like we are outside of the hype bubble, so to speak, by building in Canada, and specifically by building in Alberta, and that promotes a sense of clarity that I really quite like.

There’s a double-edged sword to that humility, though, which is that we’re often not as loud. We don’t celebrate our successes, even on a federal level, as much as some of our global counterparts.

So I think one thing we can get better at is celebrating our wins, and that’s something that festivals like Elevate really help facilitate.

Do you see events like Elevate as important to fighting “brain drain” to the US? Or even reversing the trend?

I think getting researchers, investors, and innovators in the same room is important. And I think creating the scenario where you get to see what other people are building is important. Success begets success, and seeing positive examples in the ecosystem helps others think to themselves, “I can do that. It’s possible. I could build here. I could raise capital here.”

And so to that extent, having these sorts of celebrations of Canadian innovation and people building locally is important, because those proof points help the next generation see what’s actually possible.

BetaKit is an Elevate media partner.

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Shopify adds OpenAI to cart, Constellation loses its star, and Canada’s new defence agency 3 Oct 9:02 AM (19 days ago)

QUIZ START

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At Munk School event, FinTech leaders call for Canada to take bigger swings 3 Oct 5:45 AM (19 days ago)

Canada’s FinTech leaders say they are worried the country and its entrepreneurs aren’t taking bigger swings on priorities like open banking, payments modernization, and stablecoins—or implementing the systems to support them.

At the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy’s third annual The Future event this week, some of the most influential names in Canadian FinTech gathered to take stock of where FinTech stands. Speakers discussed why action is needed now and expressed optimism that shifting geopolitical conditions have created an opportunity for Canada.

“Somehow and somewhere along the way, we started coasting, we started assuming that what was built would maintain itself.”
Som Seif,
Purpose Investments

Purpose Investments founder and CEO Som Seif kicked off the discussion by arguing that, unlike past generations, Canadians today have “stopped building” and are simply resting on their laurels.

“Somehow and somewhere along the way, we started coasting, we started assuming that what was built would maintain itself,” Seif said. He argued that Canadian graduates and entrepreneurs are in a “confidence crisis” as they increasingly choose to build their businesses elsewhere.

But Seif also asserted that geopolitical uncertainty created by the United States and recent technological advances have created a unique opportunity for Canada to shift its approach. He argued that the country already possesses all of the ingredients necessary to compete on the global stage, from the land to the energy, talent, expertise, and enthusiasm.

“We need to organize ourselves around a single driving belief that Canada wins and Canada can build,” Seif said. “Not Canada studies, not Canada considers, not Canada forms a committee, but Canada builds. The window is open right now.”

Debbie Gamble, the group head and chief strategy and marketing officer at Interac, echoed this belief. “We like to admire the problem,” Gamble said. But with the global economy currently in “crisis,” she argued that now is the time for Canada to focus on execution.

Seif thinks that Canada would do well to choose bold bets over safety, take advantage of the current window to lure more talent to Canada, launch a sovereign wealth fund, and do a better job of celebrating entrepreneurial success—though whether Canada has the existing infrastructure to attract those skilled workers is another question.

On the FinTech infrastructure front specifically, Canada has lagged its peers on not just open banking and payments modernization but also, more recently, stablecoins, and this has constrained industry progress.

Julien Brazeau, assistant deputy minister of financial sector policy with Canada’s Department of Finance, said Canada got here because it still likes to pat itself on the back for emerging relatively unscathed from the global financial crisis of 2008. He noted that while Canada’s focus on “resilience and stability” has “paid dividends” since then, it has also been “an obstacle in terms of our ability to move on innovation and competitiveness.”

In this context, Brazeau added that three consecutive minority governments have made it difficult to secure the political willpower to introduce more innovation and potentially greater risk to the nation’s financial services system.

However, as Portage Capital Solutions general partner and fellow panellist Devon Kirk noted, caution can carry danger of its own. “This idea that if you wait to see what the winning model is going to be, you can sidestep some risks is seductive,” Kirk said.

Kirk argued that, in practice, innovation tends to come from iteration and build up over time. She asserted that moving too slowly could create “bigger, longer-term risks” to the global competitiveness of national economies and financial systems. “I think we’re seeing that play out currently in Canada,” she said.

Jaded from years of waiting, Canadian FinTech leaders BetaKit spoke with earlier this year expressed cautious optimism that Prime Minister Mark Carney is the right leader to see through key FinTech priorities like open banking and payments modernization.

Brazeau noted on stage that Carney “knows these issues through and through,” and said there is a strong desire across the board at the moment to ensure Canadian competitiveness.

“I see the next few months … as an exciting time to potentially land a lot of these planes that have been circling now for a while, whether it be open banking, payments modernization, or accelerate our work on stablecoins as well, so that we can ensure that we are competitive going forward … [We’re] cognizant that it’s been a slow ride, but we’re committed to action.”

Tanya Woods, head of government and regulatory affairs and policy counsel at Questrade, argued that, in the meantime, Canada’s FinTech industry ought to focus on organizing and providing the Government of Canada with a consensus, rather than separate, competing asks. “If we bring [the feds] consensus, it’s a much easier sell because our customers are voters,” she said.

But Woods also quipped to Brazeau that if the feds fail to deliver on key industry priorities once again in their upcoming budget, the pressure will be on from Canadian FinTech.

“November 4 is a big day,” Woods said. “If you don’t do what you said you’re going to do, we’re going to complain.”

Correction (10/05/25): An earlier version of this story omitted key context regarding Julien Brazeau’s statements about Canadian financial services innovation. BetaKit regrets the error.

Feature image courtesy Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Photo by Aron Harris.

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Venn launches product to make incorporation easier for Ontario entrepreneurs 3 Oct 2:00 AM (19 days ago)

Toronto-based FinTech startup Venn has rolled out a new offering designed to help Ontario entrepreneurs incorporate their businesses more easily and affordably.

With its incorporation product, the Canadian business banking platform hopes to make formally establishing a company in Canada cheaper, faster, and simpler.

“We hope this acts as a catalyst to push more Canadians into entrepreneurship.”
Saud Aziz, Venn co-founder

Incorporating a business requires name searches, filings, and banking set-up. Direct government incorporation can cost up to $300 CAD: $199 for federal incorporation and $299 for provincial. Venn claims entrepreneurs using the company’s offering can file to incorporate their business federally or provincially in as little as five minutes through a single, online application, while simultaneously applying for a Venn business account.

Venn does not charge any extra service fees and provides up to $350 as a welcome bonus ($250 federal and $350 provincial) to customers who fund their Venn business account within 30 days of opening, more than covering the cost of incorporation. Venn claims this is a first for Ontario.

“New businesses are the lifeblood of our economy … By making the process to incorporate fast, free, and easy, we hope this acts as a catalyst to push more Canadians into entrepreneurship,” Venn co-founder Saud Aziz told BetaKit via email.

Canadian entrepreneurship has been declining, and recent data indicate that some of the country’s most ambitious founders are choosing to build their companies outside of the country.

“We have some of the brightest and most talented minds in Canada, and we’d love to see them building more businesses,” Aziz said. He noted that Venn is working quickly to expand geographic coverage under this product and hopes to spread across Canada soon.

Venn’s incorporation offering appears similar to Stripe Atlas in the United States. The startup’s domestic competitors include Toronto-based Ownr Canada. Unlike Venn, Stripe Atlas charges a one-time setup fee of $500 USD, while Ownr charges $499 CAD—though it also helps clients save $300 when they sign up for a business bank account with owner RBC.

Venn was founded in 2021 by Aziz and Ahmed Shafik, a pair of former Revolut employees. Earlier this year, the FinTech startup rebranded from Vault and closed $21.5 million CAD in Series A financing to develop more products and advance its plans to build an all-in-one financial platform for Canadian businesses.

Aziz said that the company has since expanded its suite of banking and software offerings to include CDIC-protected accounts, Google Pay support, FX limit orders, Interac e-transfers, expense policies, greater automation, and multi-factor authentication. He noted that the FinTech startup has also begun attracting some larger clients beyond its base of small and medium-sized businesses.

Feature image courtesy Venn.

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Platform Calgary president and CEO Terry Rock leaving for Alberta Innovates 2 Oct 12:03 PM (19 days ago)

Platform Calgary president and CEO Terry Rock is leaving the local tech hub to make a mark at the provincial level.

Rock will leave his post on Oct.14 to become senior vice-president and chief operating officer of the provincial agency Alberta Innovates. In his place, Platform Calgary COO Jennifer Lussier will step in as interim CEO while the organization’s board searches for a permanent replacement.

Rock’s leadership at Platform Calgary created “one of Canada’s most vibrant tech ecosystems.”

Platform Calgary said Rock has made a “transformational impact” on the organization and Calgary’s tech ecosystem since joining the tech hub in 2018. He led the organization to open its Innovation C entre in June 2022, and is credited for bringing together the partners and resources that support Platform Calgary’s 800 member companies.

Lussier joined the organization in 2019 as a startup advisor, moving her way up before serving as the COO for the last two-and-a-half years. A Platform Calgary spokesperson told BetaKit that Lussier’s appointment is intended to maintain continuity and focus for its team and the ecosystem as the hub gears up for a number of upcoming flagship events, including Techstars Startup Weekend and Calgary Innovation Week.

“The Platform Calgary Board has absolute confidence in Jen Lussier’s ability to step seamlessly into the interim CEO role,” board chair Dean Prodan said in a statement. “Her deep knowledge of the organization and Calgary’s innovation community will ensure stability and continued support for Calgary innovators during this transition.”

Jennifer Lussier stands in an office — Jennifer Lussier,
Interim CEO at Platform Calgary

Rock is joining Alberta Innovates during a period of change. The agency named Mike Mahon its permanent CEO in May after he delivered a comprehensive review of its programs and a new strategic go-forward plan as interim leader. Alberta Innovate board chair Tony Williams told BetaKit at the time that the mission had shifted from creating an ecosystem to harnessing what the organization helped to build.

In a LinkedIn post announcing his appointment, Alberta Innovates said Rock’s leadership at Platform Calgary created “one of Canada’s most vibrant tech ecosystems,” and that he will help the provincial agency do the same on a provincial scale by strengthening collaboration and operationalizing its strategic plan.

Feature image courtesy Platform Calgary via LinkedIn.

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Ottawa launches Defence Investment Agency to overhaul military procurement 2 Oct 10:11 AM (19 days ago)

The federal government’s new Defence Investment Agency is set to overhaul the military procurement process.

While procurement issues are common for Canadian tech companies across all industries, defence comes with special financing and regulatory hurdles that bring long wait times. The new office will centralize procurement review and approval for defence contracts, removing redundant steps to speed up the process, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement.

The Defence Investment Agency will also strategically tie procurement to domestic industrial benefits, including prioritizing infrastructure that has both civilian and military applications. It will also ensure earlier engagement between the Canadian Armed Forces and Canada’s defence industry so they can sync up their priorities and timelines.

Housed within Public Services and Procurement Canada, the agency will be directly led by CEO Doug Guzman, a former RBC deputy chair and Goldman Sachs managing director, and overseen by defence procurement secretary of state Stephen Fuhr. The new branch will prioritize partnerships that help Canada meet its recent commitment to increase defence spending among NATO countries.

“All at once, we can drive investment, strengthen our national security, and meet our international commitments,” Guzman said. “We will bring speed and simplicity to the process of arming our military, while building Canada’s industrial capacity.”

The Defence Investment Agency’s first phase of operations will focus on “standing up the organisation,” deploying integrated procurement teams, and advancing a first wave of “high-priority defence procurements,” according to the PMO. The Globe and Mail reported that it will oversee procurements valued at or above $100 million, while smaller contracts will stay under standard processes.

Council of Canadian Innovators president Ben Bergen said his organization sees “positive indications” that the government will strategically use procurement as a tool of domestic economic growth, but success hinges on cultivating a “resilient” domestic ecosystem.

“This will require communication and close collaboration with industry leaders, as we work to change the culture of Canadian government procurement, which has too often shut out scale-up technology companies,” Bergen said.

Venture and government spending in defence tech has exploded over the past year, particularly following Prime Minister Mark Carney’s military spending commitment. Isabelle Hudon, the president and CEO of the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), told BetaKit last month that the Crown corporation is gearing up to serve the country’s defence tech sector in “a less shy” and “more aggressive way.”

As demand increases, the startups and infrastructure to support it follows. Early-stage defence tech firm Dominion Dynamics says it raised a “very substantial” pre-seed round within months of founding. It also partnered with the new Arctic Training Centre in Whitehorse to test its technology. Defence tech venture capital firm One9 and local economic development agency Invest Ottawa struck a partnership to open its research and development complex to defence and security startups. Meanwhile, a new accelerator for defence tech firms, Vimy Forge, also launched in New Brunswick this week.

Feature image courtesy Mark Carney via LinkedIn.

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A CTO’s guide to legacy software modernization 2 Oct 3:00 AM (20 days ago)

Small Business Month is here, and BetaKit is presenting a series of “How to” explainers focused on some of the top startup issues and pain points.

Estyn Edwards has seen too many organizations stretch the life of legacy applications until the cost of maintaining them outweighs the benefits.

At digital transformation firm Punchcard Systems, he has spent more than a decade working with companies wrestling with their own tech stack because they haven’t moved fast enough.

“If you want to be innovative, you need to spend that time on modernizing.”
Estyn Edwards, Punchcard

“Every dollar that you’re spending on legacy application maintenance, is a dollar you’re not spending on growth,” Edwards said. “So if you want to be innovative, you need to spend that time on modernizing.”

The sunk costs of bad software are not to be underestimated.

According to a McKinsey survey from 2020, CIOs reported that 10 to 20 percent of the company budget that is supposed to be dedicated to new products is being diverted to resolving existing software issues.

In a recent conversation with BetaKit, Edwards outlined six rules that help companies modernize their tools without derailing their day-to-day operations.

Know when it’s time

There are three clear indicators that modernization can’t be put off any longer, according to Edwards:

Estyn Edwards, Co-Founder and CTO at Punchcard Systems.

If developers are spending more time fixing bugs than building new features.
When release cycles drag from weeks into months.
And when aging systems are creating notable security gaps.

All of these situations require a software upgrade, Edwards said, as the potential business costs outweigh the price of upgrading.

“If you’re in a modern stack, you can innovate quickly, pivot, take risks knowing you can recover,” Edwards said. “It’s much better for most organizations to be able to release something, say, weekly and get feedback, and use that feedback to steer the direction, as opposed to every month or two months, getting a big change and then having to turn the ship.”

Map the implications early

Many leaders make the mistake of targeting the noisiest problem for an upgrade without thinking through how it will impact other systems.

When Punchard works with a company, they start by mapping every application and its dependencies across a business to understand how the system works as a whole.

Only from there can leaders properly weigh the risks of your current state against the potential business value of an upgrade, said Edwards.

A modernization strategy that ignores either piece could burn resources without solving the real problem, he added.

Understand your options

Once leaders recognize what needs to change, the question becomes how far to go. Edwards said companies must choose between the “six R’s:” rehost, replatform, refactor, rebuild, retain, and rehire.

At one end of the spectrum is rehosting, the classic lift-and-shift that moves an application into the cloud without altering its code. This may reduce risk quickly, but it doesn’t fundamentally improve the system’s agility.

Replatforming goes one step further by adjusting applications to take advantage of managed services, like Azure or AWS. With better scalability and monitoring, organizations gain a stronger foundation while still avoiding deep code changes.

Punchcard-Hackday — Twice per year, Punchcard Systems holds Hack Days, where team members from different departments work on an experimental project.

Refactoring, on the other hand, does involve significant rewriting. Companies may, for example, break apart monolithic applications into microservices that can evolve independently.

Sometimes, Edwards said, the best move is to retain certain applications as they are in order to focus resources elsewhere, or to retire unused systems outright.

Choosing among these options depends on both the severity of the risks an organization faces and the business value each application provides.

Rehosting “is purely upgrades and reducing your risk,” Edwards said, noting that refactoring or rebuilding “not only does that, but also changes your ability to innovate and move forward quickly.”

Modernize without mission creep

One of the biggest risks of a modernization project is losing focus. Edwards has seen upgrades stall when organizations decide to tack on new requirements midstream, and turn what should be a migration into a total reinvention.

The key to avoiding this, he said, is to move incrementally. “Eventually, your time to market and your release cycles should go from months to weeks to days,” he said.

Automate the drudgery

And AI can now help make incremental steps faster and less painful, he notes. In the past, many teams had to guess at the business rules embedded in the code of legacy systems that had little to no documentation.

Punchard often uses AI to look at the system and surface those rules, saving time and avoiding a lot of trial and error. In a recent project for a utility company, Punchcard trained a custom AI to recognize coding patterns in a piece of software they were upgrading and cut conversion time dramatically.

“It wasn’t magic—there were still lots of problems and friction, and developers still had to do a lot of work,” Edwards said. “But it took out a lot of that drudgery work that people hate doing.”

Stop paying interest on old tech

Modernization is best understood as a business investment, not an engineering project, according to Edwards.

Technical debt is equivalent to financial debt, he said, because every dollar spent propping up an old system is one lost to growth and innovation.

“This accrues interest,” he added. “If you’re not paying down the capital, you’re just going to fall further and further behind.”

“Almost all areas of business these days are somewhat related to technology,” Edwards added. “So you need to make sure that your technology is at least on the cutting edge, so that you’re able to move quickly and adapt to changes in the market.”

PRESENTED BY

At Punchcard Systems, we partner with scale-ups and midsized enterprises to build custom software that impacts the metrics that matter. Learn more.

All photos provided by Punchcard Systems.

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Avitia partners with Genoscience to expand rapid cancer test access in Québec 2 Oct 3:00 AM (20 days ago)

A biotech startup producing rapid tests for cancer screening is teaming up with a Québec organization to grow its footprint in the province.

Montréal-based Avitia has partnered with private health clinic Genoscience to expand access to advanced cancer testing to more than 50 locations in Quebec. The collaboration will allow Avitia’s non-invasive liquid biopsy tests to detect cancers in more patients outside of the province’s largest cities.

“Most countries, and most provinces in Canada, have realized that anything—particularly in the post-COVID world—that can reduce the strain on hospital infrastructure is good.”

The biotech startup offers genetic screening for cancer mutations on-site through a blood test, eliminating the need for cancer centres to send out lab tests to third parties, which can be costly and time-consuming. Its software platform analyzes genetic screening data to pinpoint the presence of cancer in the blood, then uses machine learning to match patients to a list of potential treatments.

James Lumsdaine, Avitia’s co-founder and CEO, said in an interview with BetaKit that the partnership continues the startup’s growth plan across Canada to bring access to more patients.

“You’re keeping everything that directly impacts the patient within a very convenient radius from them, so that the impact on their life is minimized,” Lumsdaine said.

The liquid biopsy is a less invasive alternative to a tissue biopsy, which has traditionally been used to screen for cancers. Avitia uses next-generation sequencing (NGS) to detect cancer-causing mutations in a patient’s genome. The popularity of NGS in the cancer diagnostic space has grown over the past decade as the technique has become more affordable and efficient.

Avitia claims that its technology has been used in over 40,000 cancer diagnostic tests performed by its partners. Lumsdaine said Avitia’s liquid biopsy is only available for a fee through the private system. He claimed that some provinces in Canada are increasingly looking into reimbursing liquid biopsies in the public system.

However, Lumsdaine claimed the cost is lower than for some private competitors, and varies depending on a given partner’s location, logistics, and shipping. Lumsdaine declined to provide a number, but fellow Canadian company Mdetect provides lung cancer early detection tests for about $500 each. California-based biotech company Grail offers its Galleri cancer-screening blood test for $2,100 at a clinic in Toronto.

“We’re actively working to reduce barriers to reimbursement and ensure that cost never stands between a patient and the care they deserve,” said Genoscience CEO Martin Landry in a statement.

Lumsdaine said Avitia is looking to improve its product offering by expanding its informatics platform, which processes the blood markers and makes recommendations. It’s also developing a specific product suited to help diagnose endometrial and uterine cancers, which disproportionately impact women of colour and those of lower socioeconomic backgrounds.

The financial burden of developing cancer and receiving treatment in Canada is $33,000 on average, including out-of-pocket expenses and lost income, according to the Canadian Cancer Society.

Preventative tests, including liquid biopsies, have the potential to catch cancers earlier and lead to better outcomes, according to the American Institute for Cancer Research. In Canada, the federal health minister ordered an overhaul of the national Task Force on Preventive Health Care, arguing that many guidelines on routine screening for common cancers were out of date.

“Most countries, and most provinces in Canada, have realized that anything—particularly in the post-COVID world—that can reduce the strain on hospital infrastructure is good,” Lumsdaine said.

Avitia launched its cancer diagnostic platform earlier this year—with the intellectual property assets of the now-defunct company Imagia Canexia Health—and raised $5 million CAD in seed funding. Canexia (formerly Contextual Genomics) was founded in 2012 to develop genetic screening assays for cancer treatment selection and disease monitoring. Canexia merged with Imagia, a digital medical solutions provider focused on data privacy, in 2022.

Lumsdaine declined to share revenue. He said that Avitia has a footprint in most of Canada and will be launching international partnerships in the Middle East and Southeast Asia before the end of this year, following a similar model to the Genoscience partnership.

Feature image courtesy Avitia via LinkedIn.

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Oasis Learning AI is the Canadian startup giving corporate training an AI overhaul 2 Oct 2:00 AM (20 days ago)

As OpenAI rolls out a social media app for videos generated by artificial intelligence (AI), a Canadian startup has built an AI platform that helps Nvidia and other Fortune 500 companies create corporate training videos.

Karine Bah Tahé used to craft training content for corporate clients with tens of thousands of employees through her company Blue Level. The firm delivered training in human resources, soft skills, and diversity, equity, and inclusion to corporations such as Deloitte, Apple, and Colgate.

But putting together content would take months, and it wasn’t easily scalable across different departments and languages. Bah Tahé, a graduate of Concordia University’s John Molson School of Business, took her years of experience in corporate training and found an opportunity for automation.

“I saw all these inefficiencies and scattered tools,” Bah Tahé told BetaKit in an interview. “It created a lack of access to the most impactful and relevant education you could get as an employee.”

The entrepreneur co-founded Oasis Learning AI to build a productivity tool for custom training courses for companies with huge employee bases. The AI-powered platform creates an automated pipeline from an employee submitting a training module request to managers designing and customizing a video. The videos can range from cartoon-like to hyperrealistic and can be customized with plug-ins for existing design apps like Canva.

Outside of its custom video product, Oasis offers clients a library of preset videos on topics like harassment prevention and cultural competence. Clients can also book workshops with human facilitators in a more traditional workplace training model.

“Our ultimate goal is to completely transform how fast employees can learn by delivering highly customized, just-in-time training,” Bah Tahé said.

Her startup raised $1.5 million in SAFEs and convertible notes earlier this year from lead investor BKR Capital, BDC Thrive Lab, Capital M Ventures, The Firehood, Techstars Chicago, and Women’s Equity Lab Toronto. Oasis also won cas h prizes at SAAS North and Elevate’s Women+ program in the fall of last year.

Lise Birikundavyi, co-founder and managing partner at BKR Capital, is joining the Oasis board, while Olga Cruz of BDC Thrive Lab will take an advisory role.

Birikundavyi told BetaKit that Oasis pushes the boundaries of corporate learning by allowing companies to more easily tailor learning experiences and meet employees where they are.

“The company was founded on a genuine care for employee growth, and that ethos is deeply personal for every member of their team,” she said. “They are a global, diverse, and inclusive group by nature, connecting the dots in ways that few others can.”

According to the BDC’s latest annual report, the bank is on track to support nearly 23,000 women founders in Canada by fiscal 2027. It has recently bolstered its support for women through initiatives like its 2022 commitment of $500 million to women-led Canadian startups and funds through the Thrive platform.

The Oasis product stack is serving a market increasingly interested in leveraging AI to speed up processes. The number of Canadian businesses using the technology to produce goods or deliver services was 12.2 percent in May, which was double the year before, according to Statistics Canada.

The startup, which has eight full-time employees, is catering to large enterprises, including global chip maker Nvidia, tech giant Apple, and Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles. Oasis claims to implement multiple layers of security to protect client data through industry-standard encryption. Bah Tahé said her company doesn’t use customer data to train Oasis, which relies on a mix of large language models to power different tasks.

Oasis plans to use the funding to hire more engineers, accelerate product development, and deliver better training solutions, according to CTO Michael Thu. He added that the startup is investing in enterprise-grade security and compliance certifications to serve larger customers, including ISO 27001 certification.

Feature image courtesy Business Development Bank of Canada.

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C-suite execs Pedro Canahuati and Julian Teixeira leave 1Password 1 Oct 10:44 AM (20 days ago)

A pair of senior technical and go-to-market executives have recently departed Toronto-based 1Password as the technology company continues to reshape its leadership team.

CTO Pedro Canahuati and CRO Julian Teixeira, who had each been with 1Password for more than four years, left the password management software firm this month. Teixeira and Canahuati announced the news through LinkedIn posts.

“It’s the right time, and the right moment, to pass the baton.”
Julian Teixeira

“It’s been an incredibly fun challenge, I learned so much, and I’m really proud of what the team accomplished in my time here,” Canahuati wrote.

“I’m leaving knowing the company is in incredibly capable hands and on a strong path forward,” Teixeira wrote in his own post. “It’s the right time, and the right moment, to pass the baton.”

Both Canahuati and Teixeira indicated that they plan to take some time to reflect before deciding what comes next. BetaKit has reached out to 1Password, Canahuati, and Teixeira for additional comment on why they left and who will be replacing them.

These are not the only C-suite changes that 1Password has made this year. In March, 1Password brought on Greg Henry as chief financial officer, replacing Jeannie De Guzman as she transitioned to chief operating officer. Two months ago, long-time 1Password CEO Jeff Shiner moved to executive chair, handing the reins to then co-CEO David Faugno.

Founded in 2005 and formally known as AgileBits, 1Password is one of Canada’s most valuable tech companies. It sells identity security and access management software that helps facilitate sign-ins to applications and websites. It counts The Associated Press, Salesforce, and Under Armour among its clients.

Over the years, 1Password has evolved from a consumer-facing password manager to a broader digital security platform for businesses, scaling from a small team to a profitable, 1,400-person business with more than $250 million USD in annual recurring revenue serving millions of consumers and over 165,000 companies.

To fuel its growth, 1Password has raised $920 million USD in total funding to date from a group that includes Accel, Iconiq Growth, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Salesforce Ventures, and Tiger Global, among others. It most recently closed a $620-million Series C round at a $6.8-billion valuation in 2022. 1Password has also made four acquisitions, most recently buying the UK software startup Trelica in January.

The company has focused recently on addressing some of the business security concerns surfaced by the rise of agentic artificial intelligence (AI). Last month, 1Password also struck a partnership with Perplexity to help manage credentials and other sensitive user information on the Silicon Valley-based firm’s AI-native browser.

Faugno—who, like Henry, has helped take other companies public—told The Globe and Mail in March that 1Password was on track for an initial public offering. However, he noted at the time that it is unlikely 1Password takes the plunge before 2026.

When asked in July whether or not this was still the case, a 1Password spokesperson told BetaKit there were “no explicit plans” but that a public offering was “likely in our future.”

Feature image courtesy 1Password.

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Hyperlume snapped up by San Jose-based Credo for undisclosed amount 1 Oct 10:07 AM (20 days ago)

Ottawa-based Hyperlume, which develops optical interconnects for artificial intelligence (AI) data centres, has been sold to San Jose, Calif.-based semiconductor company Credo. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Credo, which trades on the NASDAQ stock exchange with a $25-billion USD market cap, said the acquisition of Hyperlume’s micro light-emitting diode (microLED) technology can address the future of AI-driven data infrastructure. Credo said that escalating bandwidth demands are changing the way that data is transmitted in data centers, and MicroLED technology can help scale “massive AI clusters.”

Hyperlume is the latest Canadian semiconductor startup to be swallowed up by a larger American player.

“MicroLED technology aligns with our mission to innovate and advance high-speed connectivity by enabling faster, more reliable, more energy-efficient, and scalable solutions for the AI era,” Credo president and CEO Bill Brennan said in a statement. “We welcome the Hyperlume team to Credo and look forward to creating a new class of connectivity solutions together.”

Founded in 2022 by CEO Mohsen Asad and president and CTO Hossein Fariborzi, Hyperlume aims to address connectivity bottlenecks in accelerated computing and AI data centres with its specialized microLEDs (a type of emerging flat-panel display technology) and power circuitry.

Asad told BetaKit in an email statement that every Hyperlume employee is joining Credo. Meanwhile, he will serve as Credo’s senior director of core technologies. He added that the company will continue its operations in Ottawa and further expand its presence in Canada.

“Canada’s strength in innovation is evident, and this acquisition is a testament to it,” Asad said.

The deal comes approximately seven months after Hyperlume closed $12.5 million USD in seed funding to commercialize its technology. The round was co-led by Canadian Crown corporation BDC Capital’s Deep Tech Venture Fund, as well as Toronto-based climate tech investor ArcTern Ventures, with support from United States-based MUUS Climate Partners and SOSV, and the venture capital arms of American chipmaker Intel and South Korean consumer electronics giant LG.

Hyperlume claims its microLED-based optical interconnects are both faster and more energy efficient than other available options. It claims its interconnects offer 10 times the computing performance and quintuple the power savings at one-quarter the cost of traditional copper interconnects.

Data centre interconnects link two or more data centres together to share and transfer data over varying distances. In the AI era, data centre use—and thus energy consumption—has skyrocketed. Goldman Sachs expects that AI will drive a 165-percent increase in data centre power demand by 2030.

Hyperlume’s website notes that existing AI models are already pushing the limits of traditional interconnects. It argues that scaling the next generation will require much greater connectivity and significantly reduced power consumption.

Hyperlume joins a growing list of promising Canadian semiconductor startups like CentML, Tenstorrent, and Untether AI that have either moved south or been swallowed up by larger American players in recent years.

UPDATE (10/3/2025): This story has been updated with a comment from Hyperlume CEO Mohsen Asad.

Feature image courtesy Hyperlume.

The post Hyperlume snapped up by San Jose-based Credo for undisclosed amount first appeared on BetaKit.

Entrepreneurs face more than a decade wait for Canada’s Start-up Visa 1 Oct 5:55 AM (21 days ago)

While talk swirls about the potential for Canada to attract foreign technology talent in the wake of changes to the United States’ H-1B visa, wait times under Canada’s existing program for luring immigrant entrepreneurs are growing to unprecedented lengths.

Canada’s Start-up Visa (SUV) Program offers a direct path to permanent residency for foreign entrepreneurs with innovative business ideas. When this story was initially published, SUV processing time had surpassed four years. Since then, SUV wait times appear to have more than doubled, to over a decade, according to the program’s webpage.

The Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) minister’s May 2025 “transition binder” paints an even more dire picture, stating that wait times for new SUV applicants have hit 35 years (420 months). This continually ballooning timeline has led some to question whether the program is an effective mechanism for bringing foreign founders to the country.

“As if entrepreneurs will wait a full economic cycle to open a business in Canada,” Testbed Lab president Kirk Lubimov wrote in an X post.

The federal government indicates the processing time for SUV applications is now between 10 and 35 years.

Launched as a pilot in 2013 after the end of the Federal Entrepreneurship Program (FEP), the SUV was made permanent in 2018. While publicly listed SUV wait times have increased significantly since July 2022, when they were a more modest 12 to 16 months, a 2023 report from IRCC acknowledges that processing these applications has been a growing problem for much of the SUV’s lifespan.

In 2018, SUV applications took 11 months to process, compared to 16 months in 2019, the report indicates. Program wait times surged to 28 months in 2020 and have grown since then, hitting 32 months in 2022, the last year the report covers. Archived web data indicates SUV processing around this time in 2023 took about 37 months, and by 2024, it had reached 40 months.

IRCC took over sole administration of the SUV last year from the Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (CVCA) and the National Angel Capital Organization (NACO)—which were responsible for vetting and approving designated organizations—as the feds reviewed “ongoing challenges” with the program, including mounting processing times and a large backlog of applications.

At the time, IRCC halted the approval of new designated organizations and implemented a new hard annual cap of 10 new applications accepted per organization, marking a reversal from previously reported plans to scale up SUV intake. IRCC also began prioritizing submissions supported by investors that have committed capital to startups and incubators that are part of Canada’s Tech Network, which represent only a portion of designated orgs.

IRCC told BetaKit that the feds significantly reduced admissions through the SUV and Self-Employed Persons programs last year in a push to reduce immigration “to sustainable levels.” The federal department said it slashed the target number of acceptances from 6,000 in 2024 to 2,000 this year, ahead of another planned cut to 1,000 in 2026. This reduction has contributed to the SUV backlog—which numbered more than 42,000 applications as of July—and longer wait times, the IRCC said.

To help mitigate the impact of these wait times, the IRCC introduced a three-year open work permit last October that allows SUV applicants to come to Canada to build their businesses while awaiting processing.

The SUV program is not alone: processing times for Canadian immigration applications under other permanent residency programs have also increased drastically, leaving applicants and lawyers stunned.

Canada’s new immigration bill offers another potential answer as to what the feds might do to tackle this problem: with Bill C-2, the Government of Canada is seeking the power to cancel, suspend, or vary applications “for reasons determined to be in the public interest” in an apparent bid to help cut soaring immigration backlogs and wait times. Canadian immigration lawyer Marina Sedai told the Toronto Star that SUV applicants could be among the targeted groups.

In late 2023, The BetaKit Podcast discussed the SUV’s struggles with former NACO CEO Yuri Navarro, who previously helped create and administer the program, and immigration researcher Stein Monteiro, co-author of a report that found the SUV was failing to fill the shoes of its predecessor, the FEP. Monteiro’s analysis found the SUV was falling short in a number of key areas, from job creation to global trade and long-term business viability.

To qualify for the SUV, an incoming founder must have the committed support of a designated venture capital (VC) fund (with a $200,000 investment), angel investor group (through a $75,000 investment), or a business incubator (via acceptance into an incubation program).

At the time, Navarro explained that the program was designed to take part of the decision-making process away from government bureaucrats and give investors and incubators with the capacity to vet these technology startups the power to nominate them while still ensuring that immigration officers had the final say. Navarro attributed some of the problems with the SUV to its design and the organizations designated to make those decisions.

“Whereas the angel stream and the VC stream had to put money up to support the companies … the incubators didn’t have to, but also were able to charge the companies for services,” he said on the podcast, adding that this structure has created opportunities for some organizations to “use the program to their advantage.”

Navarro noted the high volume of “low-quality” applications submitted by “bad actors” monetizing the SUV for their own gain clogged the system and put officials in a difficult spot. Multiple sources BetaKit spoke with last year, who have historically been involved with the SUV program, also expressed concern about some incubators charging high fees in return for letters of support.

That IRCC SUV report from 2023 found that incubators were responsible for four-fifths of all submissions. The report also stated that “most of the problematic” SUV applications came from these incubators.

The report also noted misuse by immigration lawyers and consultants selling SUV business plans, and acknowledged that high volumes of weak applications could suggest many applicants do not intend to start or run a business in Canada but simply view the program as an “expedited path” to PR. Despite this, as of the report, no organization has had access to the program involuntarily revoked due to “integrity concerns.”

In a recent interview with BetaKit, Navarro said the SUV was “not a real option” for entrepreneurs looking to immigrate in its current form. While he believes that Canada still needs an SUV, Navarro argued that the feds need the power and will to either revoke bad actors’ access or replace it with something better.

Current NACO CEO Claudio Rojas told BetaKit that the SUV program “has tremendous potential to help Canada attract the best and brightest innovators from around the world,” but argued that in order to realize this potential, “it must be recognized as a strategic economic tool that reflects the urgency of entrepreneurship.”

NACO CEO Claudio Rojas argued that the SUV program “must be recognized as a strategic economic tool that reflects the urgency of entrepreneurship.”

Some think that the US’ new H-1B fee presents an opportunity for Canada. During a recent United Kingdom trip, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney even revealed Canada is looking at “a clear offering” for people in the tech sector otherwise eligible for an H-1B.

But this eagerness to attract talent stands in contrast to the effectiveness of Canada’s existing immigration programs for entrepreneurs and tech talent.

A CVCA spokesperson told BetaKit that these lengthy SUV processing delays “risk undermining confidence in programs designed to attract talent.”

The SUV is not the only federal program to suffer from inefficiency. The Global Talent Stream, a fast-track initiative that lets Canadian tech companies quickly and temporarily hire skilled foreign workers, has also faced criticism for increasing wait times.

Past programs, like the targeted H-1B work permit stream that the feds launched in July 2023, which hit its 10,000-application cap in just two days, offer some evidence that Canada can occasionally get this right—though data obtained by The Logic shows only 1,625 people actually came to the country on the new work permit between then and December 2024.

Update (10/20/25): This story has been updated to note that SUV wait times appear to have increased drastically since the story’s initial publication.

Feature image courtesy Freepik.

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“It’s never been easier to build, but it’s never been harder to win.” FutureSight turns company-building into a science 30 Sep 3:00 AM (22 days ago)

John Carbrey was still in his University of Toronto dorm room when the phone rang with an offer: $250,000 for the software he was building.

The offer pulled Carbrey into the world of entrepreneurship, and over the next decade, he founded and scaled multiple B2B ventures, including one EdTech company, currently named SchoolMessenger, which grew to serve 60 percent of public schools in North America and hit more than $100 million in revenue.

“Founders choose to partner with us because they get a whole co-founding team with many different specialities and skillsets.”
John Carbrey, FutureSight

But his curiosity never stopped, as Carbrey started studying bigger questions about entrepreneurship itself. Why do so many founders fail? Why are even repeat founders still tripping up on the first 50 hurdles on the path from idea to business?

“One of the most precious resources we have is the entrepreneurial energies of values-driven leaders,” he said. “We want more values-driven leaders doing impactful things in the world, and we want them to be much more successful at it.”

Today, Carbrey is the Founder and Managing Partner of FutureSight Ventures, a venture studio that believes building companies can be a science.

Based in Toronto and San Francisco with a team of over 20, FutureSight co-founds and funds vertical B2B AI SaaS companies, and aims to build world-class businesses with experienced leaders. FutureSight’s AI Company Creation Fund, a $15-million fund, will hold a final close in November 2025.

Founders typically approach FutureSight through an application or introduction. Some come with an idea they want to refine, while others may arrive with no concept, but a strong desire to build.

FutureSight matches them either with their own concept or with validated opportunities. From there, the founder works side-by-side with FutureSight to test the market, shape the product, and design a go-to-market strategy. The studio provides resources including design, engineering, and operations so the founder isn’t building alone.

John Carbrey is the Founder and Managing Partner of FutureSight Ventures

“Founders choose to partner with us because they get a whole co-founding team with many different specialities and skillsets,” Carbrey said.

FutureSight’s model is structured around four stages: ideation, validation, company building and growth. The goal with validation, Carbrey explained, is to “kill as many ideas as we can.” Only about one percent of concepts survive that first stage, and by aggressively filtering early on, FutureSight aims to save founders from wasting years on ideas too small to matter.

FutureSight ideas that make it through are matched with a co-founder and management team, as well as resources and coaching across product development, go-to-market, finance, cost modelling, investment readiness, and leadership.

One of the companies in FutureSight’s portfolio is Mercata, an AI-native research operating system for fundamental investors. Its founder, Toronto-based Rich Emrich, had already built and scaled Acuity Insights to over $20 million in recurring revenue. After exiting Acuity, Emrich was keen to get involved with another venture, but wanted to avoid attaching himself to “something that’s going to be small,” according to Carbrey.

“He was really looking for a partner in building the next generational company,” Carbrey added.

FutureSight had been interested in building a financial services company with AI, and started exploring the idea with Emrich. Together, they launched a product that gives portfolio managers and hedge funds what Carbrey called, “a significant amount of cognitive leverage to be much more effective” using deep research and AI.

Once an idea is validated and a venture is moved into the formation stage, FutureSight begins a 24-week process that involves providing pre-seed capital, recruiting initial customers, and launching an MVP.

Alan Smith Partner - FutureSight — FutureSight Ventures Partner Alan Smith introduces the venture studio’s niche at a recent event.

Toronto-based CrewScope is another startup in FutureSight’s portfolio. Working with FutureSight helped CrewScope raise its $1-million round of pre-seed funding in 2025 from GroundBreak Ventures and the Ontario Centre of Innovation for a product that improves labour productivity in the construction industry.

Across these ventures, Carbrey said AI is the throughline. With AI holding the potential to transform a variety of industries, Cabrey sees the FutureSight model as a way to stand up companies with the right team, accelerating great ideas quickly.

FutureSight currently reviews about 1,000 founder inquiries each month, with only two being selected. The bar is high, according to Carbrey, and nearly all founders the team works with are repeat founders who have built and exited companies before.

So, why do they sign on? According to Carbrey, it comes down to partnership and clarity.

“They don’t want to do it alone, and we’re able to bring a unique full stack, co-founding team with many different experts,” he said.

FutureSight also helps founders zero in on what’s worth the next decade of their life.

“I’m most proud of being able to work with our founders and see them connect and say, ‘Yes, this is my mission on earth for the next decade,’” Carbrey added.

Carbrey defines success for FutureSight on two fronts: “launching iconic companies with values-driven entrepreneurs” and giving investors an “exceptional return” through exposure to the rise of AI. It’s a vision rooted in optimism, but tempered by the realities of today’s tech market.

“It’s never been easier to build, but it’s never been harder to win,” Carbrey said.

FutureSight’s bet is that by combining repeat founders with an expert co-founding team and a rigorous kill-bad-ideas process, it can tilt those odds in the right direction.

PRESENTED BY

FutureSight Ventures powers your startup with an entire co-founding team who have built successful companies, from zero to one, and want to do it again with you. FutureSight’s Annual Investor Summit & Demo Day is being held on October 29, 2025. Apply to join.

All photos provided by FutureSight Ventures.

The post “It’s never been easier to build, but it’s never been harder to win.” FutureSight turns company-building into a science first appeared on BetaKit.

Shopify merchants to sell directly through OpenAI’s ChatGPT with new partnership 29 Sep 1:22 PM (22 days ago)

Shopify will soon bring its merchants’ products into ChatGPT through a partnership with OpenAI, as the chatbot developer rolls out in-app shopping for the first time.

OpenAI introduced a new “Instant Checkout” feature to its consumer chatbot today that lets users in the United States buy products from Etsy sellers without leaving the app. Shopify merchants will reach ChatGPT soon, alongside multiple-item purchases, the company said.

A Shopify spokesperson told BetaKit that a select group of Shopify merchants, including Glossier, Spanx, and Steve Madden, will be allowed to sell on ChatGPT as part of an early-access program, which will then be broadened to include more merchants.

“People are discovering products in AI conversations, not just through search or ads.”

Shopify merchants can sign up to receive updates about the program’s rollout. According to the Ottawa-based e-commerce giant, orders will be processed like they would through a merchant’s typical channels. ChatGPT will display store names, and merchants will control whether shoppers use the Instant Checkout feature or their online store.

OpenAI said it plans to expand Instant Checkout to more regions next year.

“People are discovering products in AI conversations, not just through search or ads,” Vanessa Lee, Shopify’s vice president of product, said in a blog post. “This will let our merchants show up naturally in those moments and give shoppers a way to buy without breaking their flow.”

BetaKit has reached out to Shopify for further details on the partnership and associated fees for merchants.

OpenAI is also accepting applications from merchants outside of Etsy or Shopify who hope to have their products show up in ChatGPT searches.

To be listed, sellers must make their checkout application programming interface (API) compatible with OpenAI’s agentic commerce protocol—an open-source checkout payment framework built in partnership with payments processor Stripe.

Shopify’s stock jumped by six percent on the Nasdaq and the Toronto Stock Exchange following the announcement. ATB Financial analyst Martin Toner said investors will be watching to see how much this new shopping option will accelerate e-commerce sales.

Shopify’s gross merchandise volume (GMV) is expected to near $400 billion USD this year, “a big number to push higher by any material amount,” according to Toner.

He added that Shopify has historically maintained a lower take rate (percentage claimed from merchants per sale) compared to e-commerce platforms such as Amazon. Creating a new avenue of demand through ChatGPT, prompts questions about the company’s strategy, Toner said.

“Is this the catalyst for Shopify to start monetizing demand generation?” he asked. “They’ve resisted for their entire history. It’s hard to say.”

According to OpenAI, merchants will have to pay a small fee for each purchase. The chatbot will “optimize the user experience” based on considerations like“availability, price, quality, primary seller status, and the presence of Instant Checkout.

The announcement follows months of rumors and speculation about a partnership between Shopify and OpenAI. An investor asked about the reported partnership during Shopify’s Q2 earnings call, to which company president Harley Finkelstein said he was “actively working on new opportunities and partnerships.”

“While we might be announcing this today, we’ve been building for agentic commerce for a long time now,” Finkelstein said in a video posted to social media. “We are so excited to see it rolling out.”

A preview note from the National Bank of Canada also referenced the potential partnership with OpenAI, saying it could drive more than $500 million in net revenue on a future run-rate basis for Shopify relative to current estimates.

Shopify, which provides an online retail platform to small merchants and large enterprises, beat its forecasted revenue growth last quarter and briefly beat out the Royal Bank of Canada to regain the title of most valuable public Canadian company by market capitalization.

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 Shopify merchants to sell directly through OpenAI’s ChatGPT with new partnership first appeared on BetaKit.

Elevate Festival’s 2025 Startup Open House hits Toronto Oct. 9 29 Sep 12:46 PM (22 days ago)

The 2025 Elevate Festival in Toronto is less than two weeks away, and one of its signature events is about to return after a long hiatus.

“It’s about walking into a startup’s space and seeing [innovation] come to life.”

The revived Toronto edition of Startup Open House is slated to take place Oct. 9 between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the locations of over 500 startups and organizations across the city. Some remote-oriented startups will also use the MaRS Discovery District to showcase their work.

Participants this year include Clio, the incubator DMZ, Loopio, Simple Ventures, Vector Institute, Wattpad, and others.

Startup Open House debuted in 2013 when Busbud CEO Louis-Philippe Maurice and Mission COO Gabriel Sundaram sought to help the startup community open its doors to the public and connect with potential recruits, investors, and like-minded innovators. By 2018, it operated in seven cities and had over 100 startups courting over 10,000 participants.

Elevate acquired Startup Open House in 2019. At the time, Maurice said the project needed a permanent team to help organize and scale its efforts. That year’s open houses took place in three cities, but the COVID-19 pandemic put gatherings on hold from 2020 through 2023.

The event returned to Montréal in May 2024 after the nonprofit Montreal NewTech bought the local rights from Elevate. Elevate runs the Toronto event alongside community promoters TechTO and ElanTech.

At this year’s Montréal event, BetaKit is partnering with TechTO and Sage to host a fireside chat with Shopify president Harley Finkelstein and DavidsTea founder David Segal.

The Toronto Startup Open House returns at a potentially crucial moment for the Canadian tech industry. Startups are navigating economic uncertainty amid the continuing trade war with the United States. The environment has led to layoffs, leadership changes, and ongoing fundraising difficulties as startups compete for limited resources.

Elevate Festival co-founder and CEO Lisa Zarzeczny told BetaKit via email that the “stakes are incredibly high” for Canada, with “urgent” questions around AI policy, sovereignty, and major projects that she hopes this year’s show will address. She also noted encouraging signs of improving alignment between public and private sectors that could help startups.

“What’s encouraging is that there’s real momentum, with government and private initiatives pulling in the same direction,” Zarzeczny said.

TechTO CEO Marie Chevrier Schwartz told BetaKit that Elevate and ElanTech were eager to collaborate on the return of the community initiative.

Startup Open House was one of my favourite ecosystem events before the pandemic,” she said. “It’s an opportunity for amazing companies to open their doors and for promising talent to discover amazing companies to work at or partner with. I’d think of it as a massive city-wide job fair for Toronto and Montreal.”

Zarzeczny agreed, calling Startup Open House a step beyond conventional panel discussions.

“It’s about walking into a startup’s space and seeing [innovation] come to life,” she said.

BetaKit is an Elevate media partner.

Feature image courtesy Creative Commons. Shared under Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic.

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Mila partners with Hypertec and 5C to launch Sovereign AI Research Hub in Montréal 29 Sep 11:58 AM (22 days ago)

Montréal-based artificial intelligence (AI) institute Mila is working with local AI infrastructure companies Hypertec and 5C to establish a Sovereign AI Research Hub, which aims to provide computing resources to researchers and startups.

“Developing state-of-the-art compute with less energy and more intelligence is the way forward to scale Canada’s global impact.”
Valérie Pisano, Mila

The research hub will be based out of Hypertec’s new headquarters in LaSalle, on the south end of Montréal. It’s meant to create more than 50 jobs, provide resources to accelerate AI research and entrepreneurship, and deliver services with a lower energy footprint than other compute facilities.

Hypertec and 5C are investing up to $250 million in the development, which will serve as Hypertec’s global headquarters. The company broke ground on the facility in March, claiming it would create several hundred new jobs.

The announcement came during the third annual ALL IN conference in Montréal, which saw more than 6,000 tech companies, business leaders, researchers, and government officials convene to discuss the Canadian AI industry.

Valérie Pisano, president and CEO of Mila, welcomed the news as a win for both researchers and local startups. “Developing state-of-the-art compute with less energy and more intelligence is the way forward to scale Canada’s global impact,” she said in the statement.

Founded by AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio, Mila specializes in deep learning research and has partnerships with several Canadian academic institutions. It recently appointed a new scientific director, Hugo Larochelle, who has said that he intends to better support academics in commercializing their research and building companies.

More from ALL IN 2025

Read BetaKit’s full coverage from ALL IN 2025 here.

Hypertec said its new LaSalle campus will provide up to three megawatts (MW) of “secure” AI infrastructure, with graphics processing units (GPUs) from leading chip developers Nvidia, AMD, and Intel. Lab testing at the new AI hub will aim to develop “frugal AI,” or the best AI application performance for every dollar spent.

Traditional data centres provide computing power to store data and run applications. While these require between five and 10 MW of power, one AI “hyperscale” data centre typically demands more than 100 MW, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

For Mila, one of three federally backed Canadian AI institutes with more than 1,000 researchers, the new hub is an opportunity to unite its academic efforts with AI computing power—something that academics have said is difficult to procure given high demand from the tech sector.

According to a federal consultation, a majority of AI researchers interviewed said that the demand for public compute infrastructure often exceeds supply and impacts what projects researchers choose to pursue. This isn’t just a challenge in Canada: a Nature survey of academics worldwide showed frustration with a lack of access to compute for AI research.

RELATED: The feds are ALL IN on AI

Founded in 1984 in Saint-Laurent, Que., Hypertec builds and operates data centres that offer cloud infrastructure and services to thousands of customers. It spun off Hypertec Cloud and acquired the American company 5C in April, giving it a larger footprint in the United States, with roughly 600 MW of computing capacity through 5C’s existing data centres.

Hypertec’s business has grown as companies in Canada and globally have sought to build more data centres to capture demand for AI services. This summer, the company announced a $5-billion plan to build two gigawatts of AI computing capacity in Europe with new data centres. To fuel this buildout, it secured more than $1 billion in equity and debt financing from Brookfield Asset Management and Deutsche Bank.

The project has support from all three levels of government. Federal AI minister Evan Solomon said the initiative is “advancing Canada’s digital sovereignty” as the data centre operator is Canadian. Christine Fréchette, Québec’s minister of the economy, said it would “further strengthen Québec’s leadership in the field.” The city of Montréal struck a deal with Hypertec to sell it the plot of land in LaSalle, successfully deterring its plans to build a facility on Technoparc Montréal.

Feature image courtesy Hypertec Group via LinkedIn.

The post Mila partners with Hypertec and 5C to launch Sovereign AI Research Hub in Montréal first appeared on BetaKit.

The feds are ALL IN on AI 29 Sep 5:59 AM (23 days ago)

It was a good week to be Canada’s AI darling.

One day after the company announced another $100 million USD in funding to bring its valuation to $7 billion (story below), Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez got to sit on the ALL IN stage surrounded by Canada’s federal AI minister, the country’s largest company by market cap, and its second-largest telecom (all three parties are customers, by the way) for a conversation that focused in part on ‘how to build 10 more Coheres.’

This type of hometown boosterism is nothing new for Canada’s tallest poppies (hat tip to past ‘10 more’ inductees Shopify and BlackBerry), but what followed was much more pointed.

Closing the conference in a keynote address, Minister of Industry Mélanie Joly emphatically delivered a clear statement of intent: “We will build Cohere and we will make it a Canadian champion.”

Why? “We need economic growth,” Joly said. “And AI is all about economic growth.”

It’s one thing to be the belle of the ball. It’s another to be the linchpin of a country’s economic strategy. Particularly when governments are generally bad at picking winners. Maybe building champions will be different.

Even if the economic gains have yet to materialize, it’s clear this government is all in on AI. Minister Evan Solomon also announced his new task force responsible for refreshing Canada’s national AI strategy this week (story also below). The marching orders were clear.

“[AI] is the second great technological revolution in the last quarter-century,” Solomon said. “It is incumbent on everyone in this room, all of us, and our government, to make it ours.”

Solomon pointed to the federal budget in November multiple times throughout the week as a mechanism for future AI policy changes (including venture capital support). Until then, expect more strong talk.

Douglas Soltys
Editor-in-chief

Your Tax Credit Strategy Needs a 2026 Game Plan

Big shifts are coming to Quebec’s CDAE (e-business) tax credit, and for tech companies, the stakes are high.

What’s at risk? Thousands in potential credits, tighter qualification rules, and missed chances to reinvest in your growth.

If you’re hiring developers, building digital tools, or scaling a product-led team, you might still qualify. But with the 2026 rule changes approaching fast, now’s the time to find out.

Why book your free CDAE assessment?

See if you still qualify under the 2026 changes
Get expert insight into what your team structure means for your claim
Discover how much you could recoup to reinvest in growth

Book your free assessment today!

Canada hopes to build a sovereign cloud to counter US dominance. It won’t be easy

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced this month that he plans to build a sovereign cloud through the Major Projects Office amid larger governmental efforts to fund “sovereign AI,” where Canadian companies run data-hosting services rather than rely on American players (which Telus got a head start on this week).

Storing data in Canadian data centres doesn’t necessarily guarantee data sovereignty, but the need for Canadian-controlled infrastructure has yet to be met with a plan to execute. What could that look like?

Canadian tech looks to poach H-1B visa castaways as its own “ambitious founders” flee

A sudden change to the United States’ immigration policy by the Trump administration has the Canadian technology sector eager to lure more skilled foreign workers north of the border. But a renewed talent pipeline won’t solve slowing tech salary growth, declining entrepreneurship, and fleeing tech founders.

Minister Evan Solomon reveals Canada’s AI Task Force

Canada’s AI minister, Evan Solomon, unveiled a 26-member AI Strategy Task Force—filled with leading researchers, executives and entrepreneurs—to help shape a new, national AI plan.

The announcement comes days after Solomon said that the government will update its AI strategy a year ahead of schedule.

BDC pledges $50 million to help women entrepreneurs buy businesses from aging owners

As a wave of aging Canadian entrepreneurs retire, the BDC has launched a new, $50-million fund aimed at providing women entrepreneurs with the capital and support they need to buy and grow those outgoing leaders’ companies.

BDC also promoted Mona Minhas to managing partner of its women-focused Thrive Venture Fund this week. Minhas takes over for long-time leader Michelle Scarborough, who left the organization earlier this year.

TikTok collected personal info from “a large number” of Canadian children

A new report from Canadian privacy watchdogs says TikTok had “inadequate measures” to keep children off its platform, resulting in the collection of personal and potentially sensitive information. While investigators say TikTok “generally disagreed” with the findings, the company committed to updating its practices.

NordSpace’s second rocket launch attempt flames out after multiple launchpad fires

NordSpace decided to forgo its second window for Canada’s first commercial rocket launch this week after multiple attempts were halted by minor fires on the launchpad.

NordSpace said propellant issues led to a “fuel-rich scenario” where its engine was burning more fuel than the air it was taking in. A new launch date is expected sometime in the “coming weeks.”

Toronto Tech Week returns in 2026

Mark your calendars, because Toronto Tech Week will return in 2026.

After a successful debut this past June, next year’s festivities will take place earlier, from May 25 to May 29, and feature the return of Toronto Tech Week’s flagship Homecoming event.

Meet the Toast Top 25 Women in Tech

In partnership with BetaKit, the Toast Top 25 Women in Tech initiative spotlights women working in tech or tech-adjacent businesses whose impacts on the Canadian innovation economy often go unnoticed.

Honourees were named at the Toast Summit in Calgary this week. Antler partner Shambhavi Mishra, MedEssist CEO Joelle Almeida, Certn CTO Saba El-Hilo, and others were recognized for their contributions to Canada’s tech ecosystem.

Weekly Canadian Deals, Dollars & More

VAN – Variational strikes $349M USD deal with pharma giant Merck
CGY – Attabotics sells remaining assets to Lafayette Systems
KW – FluidAI lands FDA clearance to sell post-surgery monitor in US
TOR – Cohere’s valuation hits $7B USD with new $100M
TOR – Simple Ventures’ funding hits $15M
TOR – Mycroft secures $3.5M USD to build “Goldilocks” security tool
TOR – Loblaw doubles down on Gatik driverless trucks partnership
TOR – Venture for Canada taps Steven Wang for CEO
MTL – Google Android head Sameer Samat joins Lightspeed’s board
MTL – Telegraph Ventures secures $35M to back AI startups
MTL – Nesto launches expanded product for big banks
MTL – SRTX confirms permanent cuts for 92 employees

The BetaKit Podcast — Tailscale’s CEO has an idea “worth billions” for AI startups

“That’s the literal term several CISOs have used with me unprompted: ‘ticking time bomb.’ There’s no world in which this doesn’t explode the way it’s done right now.”

Tailscale CEO Avery Pennarun thinks the AI revolution has put a gun to the head of CISOs: embrace unsafe data practices or get fired. They’ve told him the cybersecurity risks are a “ticking time bomb.” Pennarun joins The BetaKit Podcast to explain how his company has evolved from a programmable mesh network to air traffic control for AI agents, and why he needs other startups to build new tools to make sure the planes land safely. Recorded live at ALL IN 2025.

Take The BetaKit Quiz – Meta’s super PAC, Trump’s talent tariff, MDA Space goes rinkside

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 September 26, 2025.

Feature image courtesy ALL IN.

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Tailscale’s CEO has an idea “worth billions” for AI startups 28 Sep 3:00 PM (23 days ago)

At Web Summit Vancouver, Tailscale CEO Avery Pennarun told BetaKit’s Josh Scott that the pressure to adopt AI has created a “Wild West” for corporate cybersecurity.

The statement stood out for the obvious reason, but also because it’s rare to find founders with both the technical chops and the capacity to articulate those chops in a way that’s accessible to the average person.

“That’s the literal term several CISOs have used with me unprompted: ‘ticking time bomb.’ There’s no world in which this doesn’t explode the way it’s done right now.”
Avery Pennarun
Tailscale

I made a mental note to connect with Pennarun at ALL IN, Canada’s most prominent AI conference (BetaKit is an official media partner). Fortunately, Pennarun happened to be on the panel I was moderating at the conference, so I was able to convince him to explore the Wild West with me in podcast form.

The journey begins with the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open source framework that standardizes how large language models and AI agents connect to external tools, data, and systems. MCP has become incredibly popular in a short period of time—so short that many companies are deploying without the requisite security and privacy steps.

Pennarun thinks the AI revolution has put a gun to the head of CISOs: embrace unsafe data practices or get fired. Those same CISOs have told him the false choice has created a “ticking time bomb.”

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It’s a troubling circumstance, but not all bad news. The agentic AI explosion has put Tailscale in a position to provide significant value, leveraging its core skill of connecting any device anywhere to essentially become an air traffic control system for any agent accessing and acting on corporate data.

The thing is, knowing where the planes are going is important, but not as important as ensuring they land safely. Pennarun says all the current security protocols are still relevant in an AI era; they just need to be built into new tools.

Which leads to Pennarun’s pitch at the heart of this podcast: build the AI tools that will be “worth billions,” so Tailscale isn’t forced to. Who will answer the call?

Let’s dig in.

PRESENTED BY

The BetaKit Podcast is presented by CADSI: The national voice of Canada’s defence, security, and emerging technology sectors.

CADSI advocates for a resilient and sustainable defence and security sector by engaging government, shaping policy, and strengthening Canada’s role with global partners. We create platforms that connect industry with decision-makers, foster collaboration, and reinforce Canada’s position as a reliable partner in international security.

Visit defenceandsecurity.ca to grow your defence business with CADSI.

Recorded live at ALL IN. Feature image courtesy Tailscale.

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Constellation Software shares close week down 17 percent after founder and CEO steps down 26 Sep 2:13 PM (25 days ago)

Constellation Software’s founder and chief executive Mark Leonard stepped down from his position after 30 years at the company this week, citing health reasons. The software giant’s stock price hasn’t recovered.

Leonard, who founded the company 30 years ago, will remain on the board. Mark Miller, who joined the company in 2001, was appointed as president in his stead. Miller previously led Volaris Group, an acquisition-focused division of Constellation.

Constellation is a global provider of software across a number of industries. The company acquires, manages, and builds other software businesses as well.

In a statement, Leonard said he and the board had “full confidence” in Miller’s ability to deliver on Constellation’s business plan.

“I can think of no one more experienced, knowledgeable and capable to lead the company at this time,” Leonard said.

“On behalf of the Board and all of the employees of Constellation, I’d like to wish Mark a full and swift recovery,” John Billowits, board chair of Constellation, said in the statement. “His visionary leadership, humility and wisdom have inspired countless Constellation leaders and employees to build what has become a truly exceptional global software company.”

The news came days after Leonard hosted a conference call with Constellation investors about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the software industry. During the call, Leonard warned investors that it was difficult to predict the future of the technology, and assured them that Constellation was using AI and tracking developments closely, according to The Globe and Mail.

Constellation’s stock price dipped by roughly five percent following the call. After the company announced Leonard’s abrupt resignation Thursday, the stock dropped by 10 percent. At market close today, it was at its lowest point of the year, trading at $3,660 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Leonard founded Constellation in 1995 after working in the venture capital industry for more than a decade, to assemble a portfolio of software companies that dominated in their respective verticals. He has drawn comparisons to Warren Buffett for his role in building Constellation into a tech juggernaut.

The company is one of Canada’s largest public tech firms, with a roughly $82-billion market cap. Its latest earnings saw the company’s revenue grow 15 percent year over year to reach $2.84 billion. It has more than 125,000 customers across more than 100 countries.

Constellation launched a $200-million venture fund in 2021—VMS Ventures—to find potential acquisition targets. Senior vice president Farley Noble told The Globe and Mail last year that the company was targeting tech firms struggling to turn profitable after raising venture dollars.

Feature image courtesy Nikon Corporation via Unsplash.

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Cohere’s new CFO on carving out space in a crowded AI market 26 Sep 1:24 PM (25 days ago)

Cohere’s new CFO believes there’s a “fundamental difference” between the artificial intelligence (AI) startup and its large language model (LLM) competitors that goes beyond its focus on enterprises instead of consumers.

According to Francois Chadwick, Cohere spends money on computing power to train its LLMs but doesn’t carry its customers’ full compute cost. Customers don’t have to pay as much to integrate services, he claimed, allowing the Canadian firm to carve out an advantage in a crowded, well-capitalized, and foundational AI field.

Chadwick spoke with BetaKit at the AI-oriented ALL IN conference in Montréal, just after Cohere announced it had raised an additional $100 million USD from the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) and Nexxus Capital Management, bringing its valuation to $7 billion USD.

“They don’t have to throw out the baby with the bathwater…to prove to themselves that they’re going to get that ROI.”
Francois Chadwick,
Cohere

Chadwick, who previously served as Uber’s acting CFO, was hired earlier this month alongside chief AI officer Joelle Pineau as the company announced $500 million USD in fresh funding. A Cohere spokesperson said that the first close was oversubscribed, so the team decided to add on a smaller, second close “to give us additional capital and also to allow really good investors to join.”

Founded in 2019 by former Google researchers, Cohere builds LLMs that power chatbots and other AI applications for enterprises and governments.

It faces stiff competition from larger American LLM developers like OpenAI and Anthropic that have raised more money. Meanwhile, tech giants building their own AI models—Google, Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft—are expected to spend a combined $400 billion USD on capital investments next year, according to the Wall Street Journal. Chip giant Nvidia also announced it would invest up to $100 billion USD in OpenAI to fund more data centres for AI compute.

Cohere’s main product is a workspace platform called North. It allows users to create personalized AI agents to perform and automate tasks like document summaries and emails. It also offers security options, such as on-premise deployment (running software on a company’s computers rather than remote servers).

Chadwick noted that Cohere lets customers continue using their existing cloud services and AI models when deploying Cohere’s North platform.

More from ALL IN 2025

Read BetaKit’s full coverage from ALL IN 2025 here.

“They don’t have to throw out the baby with the bathwater…to prove to themselves that they’re going to get that ROI,” Chadwick claimed.

Cohere is on track to bring in $200 million in revenue this year, according to a source familiar with the company’s operations. That means its valuation is set to be 35 times its revenue, which puts it lower than OpenAI, Perplexity, and Anthropic, according to some estimates.

On stage at ALL IN, Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez claimed that 99 percent of the company’s revenue came from outside of Canada two years ago. He now puts that number between 85 and 90 percent due to a greater appetite from Canadian buyers.

Throughout the conference, Cohere was featured on several panels and lauded by government officials like AI minister Evan Solomon and industry minister Mélanie Joly as a leading AI company.

“We will build Cohere, and we will make it a Canadian champion,” Joly said in a closing keynote speech.

Beyond providing Cohere with $240 million via its Sovereign AI Compute Strategy, the government has also signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with the company to explore using its AI tools within the public service. Joelle Pineau, the company’s chief AI officer, was also tapped as part of the feds’ new AI strategy task force.

As the federal government works on new rules for data and AI, Chadwick believes Canada should strike a balance between the United States’ anti-regulation approach and the stricter laws of the European Union.

“What I think should happen is…you build rules and regulations that allow companies to build, allow capital to flow to those companies, and then you put sensible regulations on how they actually get used,” he said.

Feature image courtesy ALL IN

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Minister Evan Solomon reveals Canada’s AI Task Force 26 Sep 9:30 AM (26 days ago)

Inovia Capital partner Patrick Pichette, Cohere chief artificial intelligence (AI) officer Joelle Pineau, and Build Canada founder Dan Debow are among 26 members of AI minister Evan Solomon’s AI Strategy Task Force trusted to help the federal government renew its AI strategy.

“This is the second great technological revolution in the last quarter-century. It is incumbent on everyone in this room, all of us, and our government, to make it ours.”

Solomon revealed the roster, filled with leading Canadian researchers and business figures, while speaking at the Empire Club in Toronto on Friday morning. He teased its formation at the ALL IN conference earlier this week, saying the team would include “innovative thinkers from across the country.”

The group will have 30 days to add to a collective consultation process in areas including research, talent, commercialization, safety, education, infrastructure, and security.

“[AI] is the second great technological revolution in the last quarter-century,” Solomon said. “It is incumbent on everyone in this room, all of us, and our government, to make it ours.”

Other notable industry names on the list include Council of Canadian Innovators president Ben Bergen, CloudOps CEO Ian Rae, LawZero co-president Sam Ramadori, and League CEO Michael Serbinis.

On the academic side, University of British Columbia professor Gail Murphy, University of Alberta professor Michael Bowling, and University of Waterloo dean of engineering Mary Wells are also among those helping shape the government’s AI direction.

The group will report back to Solomon in November, fuelling the federal government’s refreshed national AI strategy, which the AI minister pledged would be tabled this year.

“This is going to be our roadmap,” Solomon said at ALL IN. “It was supposed to be [tabled] at the end of next year; [we] can’t afford to wait.”

In a fireside chat with Toronto Star editor-in-chief Nicole MacIntyre following the announcement, Solomon said the tight, 30-day timeline avoids creating outdated policy.

“Two things happen in government too often: ‘pilot-itis’ and ‘committee-itis,’” Solomon said. “We can’t talk ourselves to death on this.”

Solomon observed that admission to the task force was in high demand, but he feels it is ultimately balanced in “all sorts of ways,” with different representation from across the country. The government will also open public consultations on Oct. 1, so Canadians not on the list can provide their feedback.

“Do I expect people to read this list and to drop a ball of confetti on my head? No, because it ain’t going to be perfect,” Solomon said. “That’s not the goal. The goal is to be effective and to be open.”

More from ALL IN 2025

Read BetaKit’s full coverage from ALL IN 2025 here.

Canada had been iterating on its AI strategy for several years under former prime minister Justin Trudeau, beginning in 2017 with a $125-million commitment. The strategy evolved with further funding for Canada’s AI institutes and innovation clusters in 2022 before the government pledged $2.4 billion in the 2024 budget to support compute and bring new AI tech to market.

At ALL IN, Solomon said his priorities include addressing Canadian entrepreneurs’ concerns about access to capital, customers, and compute. He also wants to build consumer trust in AI, modernize Canada’s data privacy laws, and establish a Canadian sovereign cloud.

In an email statement to BetaKit, Bergen said the task force is “exactly the kind of collaborative process that CCI has long called for.”

“[The task force] brings industry leaders and policymakers together to ensure Canada doesn’t just adopt AI — we lead in commercializing it, regulating it responsibly, and building world-class companies here at home,” Bergen said.

The full AI Strategy Task Force is listed below; each member will consult their network on specific themes.

Research and Talent

Gail Murphy, professor of computer science and vice-president – research and innovation, University of British Columbia and vice-chair at the Digital Research Alliance of Canada
Diane Gutiw, VP – global AI research lead, CGI Canada and co-chair of the Advisory Council on AI
Michael Bowling, professor of computer science and principal investigator – Reinforcement Learning and Artificial Intelligence Lab, University of Alberta and research fellow, Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute and Canada CIFAR AI chair
Arvind Gupta, professor of computer science, University of Toronto

Adoption across industry and governments

Olivier Blais, co-founder and VP of AI, Moov and co-chair of the Advisory Council on AI
Cari Covent, technology executive
Dan Debow, chair of the board, Build Canada

Commercialization of AI

Louis Têtu, executive chairman, Coveo
Michael Serbinis, founder and CEO, League and board chair of the Perimeter Institute
Adam Keating, CEO and Founder, CoLab

Scaling our champions and attracting investment

Patrick Pichette, general partner, Inovia Capital
Ajay Agrawal, professor of strategic management, University of Toronto, founder, Next Canada and founder, Creative Destruction Lab 
Sonia Sennik, CEO, Creative Destruction Lab
Ben Bergen, president, Council of Canadian Innovators

Building safe AI systems and public trust in AI

Mary Wells, dean of engineering, University of Waterloo
Joelle Pineau, chief AI officer, Cohere
Taylor Owen, founding director, Center for Media, Technology and Democracy

Education and Skills

Natiea Vinson, CEO, First Nations Technology Council
Alex Laplante, VP – cash management technology Canada, Royal Bank of Canada and board member at Mitacs
David Naylor, professor of medicine – University of Toronto

Infrastructure

Garth Gibson, chief technology and AI officer, VDURA
Ian Rae, president and CEO, Aptum
Marc Etienne Ouimette, chair of the board, Digital Moment and member, OECD One AI Group of Experts, affiliate researcher, sovereign AI, Cambridge University Bennett School of Public Policy

Security

Shelly Bruce, distinguished fellow, Centre for International Governance Innovation
James Neufeld, founder and CEO, Samdesk
Sam Ramadori, co-president and executive director, LawZero

With files from Josh Scott

Feature image courtesy ALL IN

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Meta’s super PAC, Trump’s talent tariff, MDA Space goes rinkside 26 Sep 8:56 AM (26 days ago)

QUIZ START

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BDC Capital promotes Mona Minhas to managing partner of Thrive Venture Fund 26 Sep 8:20 AM (26 days ago)

The Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) has promoted Mona Minhas to managing partner of its Thrive Venture Fund for women-led Canadian technology startups.

“I look forward to continuing our valuable work with our amazing portfolio founders, fellow investors, and partners as we continue to propel Thrive Venture Fund in its next chapter,” Minhas wrote in a LinkedIn post announcing the promotion from her previous role as partner.

BDC Capital executive vice-president Geneviève Bouthillier told BetaKit that Minhas’ “leadership, dedication, and deep commitment” to the Thrive Venture Fund’s mission have proven “instrumental” to date.

Minhas replaces longtime leader Michelle Scarborough, who left the organization earlier this year

“With over two decades of experience across corporate, entrepreneurial, and venture capital environments, she brings a unique blend of strategic insight and operational excellence,” Bouthillier added.

Before she joined BDC Capital in 2021, Minhas served as CFO and COO at Toronto-based e-commerce startup Knix, in addition to holding leadership roles at Rogers Communications and the Canadian Broadcast Corporation.

Minhas replaces longtime leader Michelle Scarborough, who l e ft the organization earlier this year.

BDC is a Crown corporation wholly owned by the Government of Canada that operates at arm’s length. Its mandate is to support Canadian entrepreneurship, with a focus on small and medium-sized businesses, and operate as a complementary player in the market. The bank provides loans, equity funding through its investment arm BDC Capital, and advisory services to companies and funds across the country.

BDC Capital’s $300-million Thrive Venture Fund succeeded its $200-million Women in Technology Venture Fund and is part of the $500-million CAD Thrive platform that BDC launched in 2022 to bolster its support for women-led Canadian startups and funds.

According to BDC’s latest annual report, the bank has directly supported 21,586 women entrepreneurs in Canada and is on track to reach nearly 23,000 by fiscal 2027.

BDC Capital has also recently added two other new team members to the Thrive Venture Fund, associate Valerie Lando and analyst Cole Brodkin. They join Minhas, existing partners Steven Abrams and Kimberly Yeung, principal Thomas Green, associate Phuong Bui, and analyst Benjamin Corbett.

Minhas’ promotion comes shortly after BDC revealed its new, $50-million Thrive Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA) Fund to help women entrepreneurs buy businesses from aging owners and build up Canada’s search fund ecosystem. Amanda Kattan is serving as Thrive ETA Fund partner, and Geoff Otto has been brought on as an analyst.

BDC also recently launched a second, $200-million Industrial Innovation Venture Fund and disclosed plans to ramp up its support for Canadian defence tech startups.

Feature image courtesy BDC.

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Meet the Toast Top 25 Women in Tech 26 Sep 6:05 AM (26 days ago)

Twenty-five women were honoured at the Toast Summit in Calgary yesterday for their contributions to Canada’s tech ecosystem.

“There are incredible women in this country doing really cool shit, and they just don’t get profiled enough.”
April Hicke

The winners included Antler partner Shambhavi Mishra, MedEssist CEO Joelle Almeida, and Certn CTO Saba El-Hilo, among other tech executives, venture capitalists, and community leaders. The full list of honourees can be found below.

“It really came from a simple observation,” Toast co-founder and CEO April Hicke said. “There are incredible women in this country doing really cool shit, and they just don’t get profiled enough.”

Founded in 2022, Toast is a tech recruitment company focused on increasing women’s representation in the industry. It offers inclusive networking and hiring services and hosts events to support and expand opportunities for women and diverse people in the tech industry.

BetaKit CEO Siri Agrell (L) and Toast CEO April Hicke (R). Image courtesy Sam Doty for Toast.

Nine tech and community leaders comprised the judging panel, including The Fireweed Institute co-founder Jacqueline Jennings, TechTO CEO Marie Chevrier Schwartz, ZayZoon founder Tate Hackert, and Melissa Lisanti, chief of staff of data, digital, and innovation at PwC. The team received over 1,000 submissions.

At the third annual Toast Summit, speakers discussed hiring strategies, navigating the gender pay gap, and leveraging technology for good.

The event also featured wellness workshops and a market for local, women-owned brands. Hicke and BetaKit CEO Siri Agrell hosted the Toast Top 25 portion of the event.

“To watch a room full of people cheer for these remarkable women from coast to coast was something special,” Hicke said. “The energy was absolutely palpable.”

She said the diversity of women on the list, across sectors, ages, locations, and backgrounds, showed the many forms innovation can take.

“These 25 women represent the breadth of talent, vision, and impact happening in Canada right now, and shining a light on them matters.”

The Toast Top 25 Women in Tech

Alice Reimer

Alice is CEO of the FinTech company Fillip Fleet and a co-founder and board director at The51. She serves as an advisor at Creative Destruction Lab Rockies and was the co-founder and CEO of Evoco, a SaaS company adopted by global retailers like Walmart and Home Depot. She was named to Profit’s W100 as one of Canada’s Top Female Entrepreneurs and recognized as one of Alberta’s 50 Most Influential People.

Alicia Roisman Ismach

Alicia is a fintech leader and community builder based in Atlantic Canada. She is a seasoned entrepreneur and fintech expert who has successfully launched, grown, and sold multiple companies. She founded the non-profit Atlantic Fintech and is involved in community initiatives across New Brunswick.

Angie Papatsonis

Angie is an alumna of Airbnb and Neo Financial, and the current delivery director at VantEdge. At Neo, she built and mentored a team of high performers on the strategic operations side, where she empowered a sense of genuine excitement to build things from scratch.

Arushi Parmar

Arushi is the vice president of banking at RBCx. She has over a decade of experience across Cleantech and SaaS, and has worked closely with the Women Venture Forward program at the Ivey School of Business. She has built her reputation as a leader who not only drives innovation but also creates opportunities for others to grow alongside her.

Briana Falls

Briana is co-CEO and chief business officer of Leeg Group. Under her leadership, Leeg has doubled revenue year-over-year and grown its user base by more than 60 percent. She has over 20 years of experience in partnerships, business transformation, and operational scale.

Charlene SanJenko

Charlene is an Indigenous founder and CEO of reGEN Impact Media. Through this work, she and her team are cultivating a new genre of regenerative media that nourishes, inspires, and strengthens. Her vision is for intentional, relational media habits that ripple through families, workplaces, and communities, anchoring healing for a more humane and hopeful future.

Elysa Darling

Elysa is the COO of Digital. Under her leadership, the company has accelerated the commercialization of technologies that are bridging the gap between research and real-world adoption. She has built high-performing teams, streamlined operations for maximum impact, and positioned Digital as a trusted convener where industry and government align toward shared objectives.

Erin Bobicki

Erin is the CEO of Cura. She also co-founded Aurora Hydrogen. Her achievements have earned her international recognition, including the $5-million Crush It! Challenge grand prize and the Coalition for Eco-Efficient silver medal. The former University of Toronto professor is a mother of six with significant experience leading volunteer initiatives.

Gina Theivendra

Gina led digital mental health initiatives at Kids Help Phone, scaled a seed-stage startup in Ottawa, built platform products supporting patients nationwide at Loblaw, and is now launching a 0–1 vertical at a Toronto AI scale-up. She also leads product and operations at MyEndo, an app founded by an all-female obstetrics team.

Janet Lin

Janet is the senior vice president and chief information officer at Equitable Bank, and chair of the board at the Information Communication Technology Council of Canada. Her accomplishments have earned her honours like the 2023 Women in Technology Canada Award, and Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women. She also co-founded Loblaw’s Women in Technology.

Jenna Earnshaw

Jenna is co-founder and COO of Wisedocs, where she has been instrumental in scaling the company from ideation to a high-growth startup. Prior to Wisedocs, she led go-to-market efforts at Showpass, PartnerStack, and Railz, helping scale each company from pre-seed to multi-million-dollar revenue.

Jillian McLaren

Jillian is managing director of the Community Safety and Wellness Accelerator, where she helped the program become the CofoundersBeta “Canada’s Top Accelerator” in 2025. She launched the Women Leading Social Impact Summit and has hosted record-breaking demo days, built meaningful partnerships, and steadily increased accelerator applications by fostering a purpose-driven culture.

Joella Almeida

Joella is the founder and CEO of MedEssist. Under her leadership, the company has helped pharmacists launch clinical services, navigate public health crises, and future-proof their roles in healthcare. She demonstrates a deep commitment to innovation that is both scalable and human-centered, elevating the entire ecosystem.

Katrina German

Katrina is the three-time tech founder behind OneStory, LightLeaf Solar, and Ethical Language Management. Her contributions have earned recognition that includes the International Women in Tech Award (Web Summit, Lisbon) and the Startup Canada Prairie Award for Innovation. She’s also been named one of SME Business Review’s “10 Visionary CEOs to Watch” and serves as a regular tech expert on CTV Morning Live in Saskatoon.

Linda Biggs

Linda is the co-founder and CEO of Joni, where she introduced Canada’s first internet of things-enabled period care dispenser, a technological breakthrough that helps ensure free period care is always available. Joni has donated over one million period products through nonprofit partnerships, reaching the country’s most vulnerable populations.

Lourdes Juan

Lourdes is the founder and CEO at Knead Technologies. Knead’s white‑label software redefines food rescue as a climate tech opportunity, shifting it from charity to scalable innovation. She invests time in advocacy, speaking at SXSW, innovation summits, and industry forums on inclusive entrepreneurship and climate resilience. Her earlier ventures, the Leftovers Foundation and Fresh Routes, redistributed millions of pounds of food and created sustainable employment opportunities.

Lucrezia Spagnolo

Lucrezia is the founder and CEO of Vesta, a technology company building trauma-informed digital tools for survivors of gender-based violence. A published researcher in technology and survivor-centered design, she has advised global changemakers as an executive in residence at the Ashoka Foundation. She currently mentors women entrepreneurs through the Toronto Public Library.

Michelle Younes

At Invest Ottawa, Michelle designed and launched the IO Venture Path, which empowered over 1,300 companies to raise more than $1.7 billion in capital and create more than 5,200 jobs. She has expanded venture funding commitments from $1.75 million to $8 million, and increased women advisor representation from 8 percent to nearly 50 percent. She helped secure over $40 million in new funding and led the rollout of initiatives like SheBoot, and Immigrant Founder Launchpad.

Natalie Ashdown

Natalie is the COO and co-founder of Evoco, where she spearheaded the development of plant-based chemistry solutions like bio-foams and bio-leathers. Beyond her professional achievements, she engages with community initiatives like the RBC Women in Cleantech powered by MaRS, and the Asia Pacific Foundation Trade Delegation mission, inspiring young female professionals to pursue careers in science and technology.

RajyaLakshmi Kotamraju

RajyaLakshmi is the CTO at Snap Accounts Payable Corporation. Her more than 20-year journey from India’s tech hubs to Wall Street to Atlantic Canada’s fintech scene positions her as a unique bridge within Canada’s tech ecosystem. She holds a non-provisional patent for attended automation modules—demonstrating continued contribution to actual technological advancement. She has also successfully registered multiple other innovations throughout her career.

Roshni Wijayasinha

Roshni is the CMO of Fractional and the founder of Prosh Marketing. She has 18 years of experience spanning global brands like Sony and Johnson & Johnson, and has helped more than 45 startups grow and scale. She mentors with Techstars, Founder Institute, and the Holt Fintech Accelerator, and her thought leadership has been featured by Forbes, CBC, CTV, and BetaKit.

Saba El‑Hilo

Saba is the CTO of Certn, with over a decade of experience across firms like Hootsuite, Etsy, Mapbox, Unbounce, and Neo Financial. In 2013, she founded “Girl Development,” a Vancouver‑based meetup empowering women technologists. She is also a featured speaker on AI, data infrastructure, and engineering performance at industry conferences, where she helps shape the national conversation on tech maturity.

Shambhavi Mishra

Shambhavi is an associate partner at Antler Canada. She is one of the few women of color in a leadership role within Canadian venture capital, and she uses that platform to create access, open doors, and advocate for under-represented founders. She mentors emerging talent through programs like Google for Startups and QueerTech, and was recently appointed to the board of the South Asian Venture Capital Association.

Tanuvi Bali

Tanuvi Bali is a senior manager at PwC, where she advises Fortune 500 clients across high-impact sectors like energy and nuclear. She has been a part of PwC’s Women in Leadership program, led women in tech panels, and mentors women to take leadership roles in consulting and tech. She also consults engineers and executives on digital twins, AI, and agentic AI strategies.

Tiffani Westerman

Tiffani is the founder and CEO of two cloud security startups: GRC Concierge and Wesley Clover Services. She is a recipient of Ottawa’s 40 Under 40 award and a current nominee for Premier’s Award for Colleges Ontario in the Entrepreneurship and Economic Development category. She is also a business mentor through the Ottawa Catholic School Board’s Social Entrepreneurs Program.

Feature image courtesy Toast.

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Google Android head Sameer Samat, FinTech CEO Odilon Almeida join Lightspeed board 25 Sep 12:42 PM (26 days ago)

Lightspeed Commerce is adding the president of Google’s Android ecosystem, Sameer Samat, and seasoned FinTech CEO Odilon Almeida to its board of directors.

“Their insights will be invaluable as we innovate and scale globally.”

The Montréal-based payments processor said Samat’s deep product and technology expertise and Almeida’s extensive industry experience “fortifies two strategically important areas” for the board as the company executes on its strategic transformation plan.

As president of the Android ecosystem at Google, Samat leads global teams responsible for Android across all form factors, as well as the Google Play Store and developer tools. Samat was also a founding member of Google’s commerce team, where he started Google Shopping.

Almeida was the CEO of global payments software ACI Worldwide, and once served as the president of money transfer service Western Union. He is currently in leadership positions at private equity firms AJ Holdings and Advent International.

“[Samat and Almeida’s] appointments directly align with the capabilities we determined were needed to guide our product-led growth strategy and profitability initiatives,” Lightspeed CEO Dax Dasilva said in a statement. “Their insights will be invaluable as we innovate and scale globally.”

The appointments will become official on Oct. 1 as longtime board members Patrick Pichette and Rob Williams step down.

Williams served a term as chair of Lightspeed’s risk committee. Meanwhile, Pichette, a partner at early Lightspeed investor Inovia Capital, replaced Dasilva as board chair when he returned to the CEO job in February 2024. Pichette also oversaw Lightspeed’s strategic review committee as it fielded interest from potential buyers earlier this year. The company eventually settled on staying public.

“Patrick’s disciplined leadership, strategic guidance, and trusted partnership have been instrumental in shaping the company’s evolution, and Rob’s insights and commitment have strengthened our governance during a pivotal period of growth,” Dasilva said in a statement.

Feature image of Sameer Samat and Odilon Almeida’s LinkedIn profile photos edited by Alex Riehl for BetaKit.

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Attabotics’ story ends with asset sale to Kentucky engineering firm 25 Sep 10:50 AM (26 days ago)

Calgary-based warehouse robotics startup Attabotics has sold its remaining assets to family-owned Lafayette Systems.

The asset purchase agreement comes months after Attabotics shut down, terminated nearly 200 employees, and filed for creditor protection amid cash flow challenges.

Attabotics’ revenue surged to $11.4 million in 2022, then plunged to $3 million in 2024 amid market turbulence.

Lafayette will acquire “substantially all of Attabotics’ assets, including all intellectual property, equipment, and inventory” as part of the Sept. 17 deal, according to documents filed with the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta. Creditor protection court filings posted online by Attabotics trustee Richter indicate that Lafayette’s bid was the highest of six, but the final purchase price and other bidders were not disclosed.

Lafayette Systems is based in Kentucky, in the United States (US), and was formed last month by husband-and-wife team Bruce and Beth Robbins. They are also co-founders of fellow Kentucky-based company Lafayette Engineering, which was launched in 1989. Lafayette Engineering specializes in the design and installation of controls for automated industrial warehouse conveyor and sorting systems. The company’s clients include Dick’s Sporting Goods and wine and spirits distributor Fedway.

Founded in 2015 by CEO Scott Gravelle, Attabotics aimed to disrupt the massive commerce fulfillment industry by increasing the flexibility and speed of warehouse processes and reducing warehouse needs, allowing retailers to place robot-run fulfillment centres closer to urban areas. The company’s system was inspired by the vertical, 3D structure of ant colonies.

Attabotics replaced the aisles of traditional fulfillment centers with a storage structure and robotic shuttles that more effectively used space. The firm’s tech had been adopted by large retail companies including Canadian Tire, Nordstrom, and Tesco.

Developing and delivering that system required lots of capital, and Attabotics had raised approximately $220 million CAD in total equity funding from a group of high-profile investors, including the Government of Canada, Export Development Canada (EDC), the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, and US industrial manufacturing giant Honeywell—which it reportedly had a chance to sell to for $350 million USD in 2020.

Attabotics shifted to commercialization in 2022 and saw annual revenues surge as high as $11.4 million CAD. But yearly sales fell to $3 million during a “tumultuous” 2024 amid rising interest rates, constrained consumer spending, lower e-commerce demand, global uncertainty, and supply chain disruptions, according to court filings.

Those filings also said the company, which was never profitable, posted growing annual losses that peaked at $49.5 million in 2024. According to The Logic, technical challenges hobbled the tech’s growth and strained relations with customers.

The documents indicate Attabotics’ business began to stabilize between late 2024 and early 2025, and it secured $30 million CAD in new business. However, it says Attabotics’ cash flow challenges spooked investors and stalled its attempt to raise a Series D round, leaving it unable to meet its obligations.

Attabotics’ largest creditor, EDC, served it with a notice in June. Filings state that Attabotics began the shutdown process the following month with assets of almost $32 million CAD and liabilities of more than $73 million.

Feature image courtesy Attabotics.

The post Attabotics’ story ends with asset sale to Kentucky engineering firm first appeared on BetaKit.

NordSpace’s second rocket launch attempt flames out after multiple launchpad fires 25 Sep 10:19 AM (26 days ago)

After another round of unsuccessful launch attempts, NordSpace’s dreams of Canada’s first commercial rocket launch remain temporarily grounded.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.”

The company planned to launch its Taiga rocket this week from the Atlantic Spaceport Complex (ASX) site near St. Lawrence, Nfld., but was unsuccessful due to a slight difference in the quality of its propellants used between tests and the live launch attempt, the company said in a blog post on its website. A new launch date is expected sometime in the “coming weeks.”

The company decided to forgo its second launch window after multiple attempts were halted by minor fires on the launchpad. NordSpace said its propellant issues led to a “fuel-rich scenario” where its engine was burning more fuel than the air it was taking in.

“Personnel, rocket and the launch pad are perfectly safe and secure, and our safety systems operated nominally,” the blog post reads.

Since NordSpace’s manufacturing and testing facilities are in Ontario, it doesn’t have the capacity to make quick, necessary modifications while it’s in the coastal town. The company said it’s still working on developing its permanent presence in Newfoundland to better support future launches, including on-site propellant generation and manufacturing.

“We have learned nearly all the key lessons we hoped to about executing commercial launches in Canada, end-to-end, and could not be more thrilled with the outcome,” the company said. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.”

The attempted launch followed a series of scrubbed attempts in late August, which were thwarted by unsuitable weather conditions and technical setbacks. On Aug. 29, the team was 58 seconds away from flight when a faulty trigger of the rocket’s ignition safety system forced a delay.

CEO Rahul Goel, who founded the company in 2022, said the mishaps were “par for the course” when attempting a rocket launch in unpredictable environmental conditions. The NordSpace team has since worked to improve its processes so it could “launch on a dime” when the conditions are right.

After the failed attempts, Nordspace scored another launch window from Sept. 20 to 27. The Taiga launch had been in the works for over a year, as the company secured approvals from multiple government agencies. Delays persisted, however, including a “pad anomaly” on Tuesday that caused a minor fire requiring cleanup and inspection.

A screenshot of Nordspace’s livestream on Tuesday as its launchpad caught fire, delaying the launch.

NordSpace was featured in BetaKit Most Ambitious for its goal of facilitating Canada’s first commercial space launch. The aerospace company is on a mission to develop space launch vehicles, spaceports, and satellites entirely in Canada. It also wants to bolster Canada’s space mission capacity, which it argues will aid the country’s security and sovereignty.

The company plans to build out ASX’s capacity for future launches, including another sub-orbital trip next year and an orbital launch of the larger Tundra rocket in 2027.

NordSpace isn’t the only Canadian company targeting the stars. Montréal-based Reaction Dynamics is also planning to launch a rocket into orbit from a planned Spaceport Nova Scotia facility in 2028.

Feature image courtesy NordSpace.

The post NordSpace’s second rocket launch attempt flames out after multiple launchpad fires first appeared on BetaKit.

Canada hopes to build a sovereign cloud to counter US dominance. It won’t be easy 25 Sep 5:04 AM (27 days ago)

At the third annual ALL IN conference on artificial intelligence (AI) in Montréal, Canada’s AI minister called digital sovereignty “the most pressing policy and democratic issue of our time.”

“Data is not gold in Fort Knox, where you lock it up. But Canadians need to know the most important definition is that sensitive data is subject to Canadian law.”
Evan Solomon

Minister Evan Solomon has previously said the country is in a “crisis moment” requiring increased support of the tech sector to grow the economy and retain Canadian talent. With the relationship between Canada and the United States (US) fundamentally changed, the federal government is also looking to exert more control over its digital infrastructure, which experts warn is dominated by American tech giants.

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced this month that he plans to build a sovereign cloud through the Major Projects Office. The announcement comes amid larger governmental efforts to fund “sovereign AI” where Canadian companies run data-hosting services rather than rely on US players.

With the government’s announced priorities, tech firms, telecommunications giants, and even US companies are now jumping at the chance to provide “sovereign” services in Canada. But with the entrenchment of American cloud providers and US-owned infrastructure, experts say determining what is “sovereign” is more complex than simply storing data within the country.

Dependence on US providers

The cloud is an online digital infrastructure for applications and data. It powers computations, including AI training and reasoning processes, through servers housed in data centres throughout the world.

US hyperscalers—including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud—provide the majority of the world’s cloud services, including in Canada. They sell cloud services to both the public and private sectors. At the federal level, the shortlist of companies approved to sell cloud services to the government includes seven American companies and just one Canadian company, ThinkOn. On the infrastructure side, American firms own nearly a third of Canada’s 283 data centres.

“It could put you at a meaningful risk if all of your tech and data needs are depending on another country or market.”
Michael Pelosi
Cohere

As part of their offerings for non-US markets, Google, Microsoft, and AWS offer “sovereign” capabilities that promise security and data residency. For example, Google Cloud offers a “data boundary” tailored for Canada that keeps information within the country. It also offers air-gapped solutions for intelligence and defence, keeping data off the internet. Through its accelerator programs, Google offers incentives for up to $350,000 worth of cloud credits for AI-first Canadian startups, as well as support in migrating data over to its cloud.

However, storing data in Canadian data centres doesn’t guarantee data sovereignty, according to experts. Under the US CLOUD Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), there are circumstances where data hosted on servers owned by US companies could be turned over to US law enforcement by request. The Canadian government called FISA a “primary risk to data sovereignty” in a 2020 white paper.

More from ALL IN 2025

Read BetaKit’s full coverage from ALL IN 2025 here.

“Microsoft does not provide any government with direct, unfettered access to customer data,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement to BetaKit. Requests for data are subject to “rigorous review” to ensure they are legally valid and “limited to specific account identifiers.”

A Google Cloud spokesperson told BetaKit in a statement that the company offers “tools and policies that let customers hold their own encryption keys, giving them control over who accesses their data.”

Google and Microsoft both say they maintain strict data privacy protections and would fight for customer privacy in the event of a request from law enforcement. However, Microsoft admitted in a French court this year that it could not guarantee that French citizens’ data would be safe from US agencies without explicit authorization from the French government.

Canadians have raised concerns about data security in the wake of the US administration’s often unpredictable trade policy decisions.

Vass Bednar, managing director of the policy think tank Canadian SHIELD Institute, said the ongoing trade war presents a security gap when foreign companies have control over Canadian cloud services.

“A US big tech firm could be bullied to temporarily turn off cloud for businesses and public services,” Bednar told BetaKit. “It would be like the Rogers outage, but way worse.”

Cohere country manager for Canada, Michael Pelosi, speaks at ALL IN in Montréal. Image courtesy ALL IN.

Cohere’s country manager for Canada, Michael Pelosi, said at Forum Fintech in Montréal that data location is one of the bigger risks for enterprises deploying AI.

“Although we’re big fans of all the tech players, we do think that with the geopolitical climate, or if there’s any additional instability, it could put you at a meaningful risk if all of your tech and data needs are depending on another country or market,” Pelosi said.

Francois Chadwick, Cohere’s chief financial officer, told BetaKit that data sovereignty is “built into” the company’s product, as it allows clients the flexibility to run the application on their premises and retain cloud services they were already using.

“As companies look forward in using AI, this is just going to become more and more of an issue,” Chadwick said. “People are going to start to say, ‘How good do I feel about who could access my data?’”

“Sovereignty not solitude”

At ALL IN, Solomon stressed that building more Canadian infrastructure would be key to digital sovereignty—by his definition, Canadian control over data that is “free from coercion.”

“Data is not gold in Fort Knox, where you lock it up,” Solomon said. “But Canadians need to know the most important definition is that sensitive data is subject to Canadian law. That’s a core principle that we’re rolling out.”

In response to a question from BetaKit, Solomon said the government is working on three models of data hosting: highly secure (for government use), a publicly available model, and a hybrid model. The type of data considered “key sensitive data” could include personal data about Canadians, such as health and financial information.

As for concerns about privacy infringement from the US through the CLOUD Act, Solomon told reporters that the government is exploring “genuine solutions” with Canadian companies and Canadian hardware.

Evan Solomon (right), Aidan Gomez (centre), and others on stage at ALL IN 2025.

Canada’s sovereign cloud project follows its Sovereign AI Compute Strategy, a $2-billion project that aims to build domestic data centres and help Canadian companies access computing power to run AI models. At the same time, the federal government said it would forward a new “Buy Canadian” policy to prioritize procurement from Canadian suppliers.

Determining the sovereignty of AI infrastructure is a complex task, according to Niraj Bhargava, co-founder and CEO of Ottawa-based NuEnergy.ai. The AI consultancy has developed a sovereignty assessment framework—a set of criteria for measuring sovereignty across the tech stack and the AI life cycle (from training to running AI models).

“We can’t kid ourselves [that] we’re suddenly going to have a Canadian stack.”
Niraj Bhargava
NuEnergy.ai

The assessment framework also looks to measure the percentage of Canadian ownership of a stack, which might have a different level of importance, depending on the data.

“If we wanted to have a purely sovereign stack, that’s a huge investment,” Bhargava said. “We can’t kid ourselves [that] we’re suddenly going to have a Canadian stack. So how do we make sure we’re intelligent about any dependencies and mitigate any risks?”

The federal government has not yet indicated what a Canadian sovereign cloud initiative might cost, with Bednar noting “the math is complex.” The EuroStack Initiative, run by a group of European tech companies, hopes to deploy a fully capable continental tech stack for €300 billion over the next 10 years. US trade groups have put the cost closer to €5 trillion, larger than the GDP of Europe’s largest economy, Germany.

Through the compute strategy, the federal government has already pledged $240 million to Cohere for compute. The company will be one of the tenants in a Cambridge, Ont. data centre called Ascent TOR1, a former BlackBerry building, according to the Waterloo Region Record. However, there is US involvement in the project. The three American owners—Ascent, Related Digital, and TowerBrook Capital Partners—received a $450-million loan from the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, while US-based CoreWeave was tapped to run the facility.

Meanwhile, two of the nation’s largest telecoms have joined forces with tech companies to build networks of “sovereign AI” data centres. Telus teamed up with software firm OpenText, while Bell and Cohere struck their own deal. These partnerships allow telecom companies to rent out space in their data centres to tech companies, who can use them to run AI models.

According to a Bell AI Fabric spokesperson, this project ensures that “both the infrastructure and data remain under Canadian jurisdiction, free from foreign government oversight.”

Telus also just opened Canada’s “first sovereign AI factory” in Rimouski, Que., which the company claims provides fully Canadian compute and cloud services. Hesham Fahmy, chief information officer at Telus, told BetaKit that its ownership of all parts of the “AI factory,” including fibre connectivity, ensures that the data it hosts is secure from US encroachment.

However, both of the sovereign AI networks are buying hardware from American firms. Telus has partnered with Nvidia to use its AI-friendly processing power, and Bell has partnered with US firm Groq for the hardware in its new data centres in BC.

As the Canadian government assembles a task force to develop an updated AI strategy, data infrastructure is top of mind for domestic companies. French company OVHCloud, a non-US cloud provider, said it is “actively engaging” with the government on the sovereign cloud project. Cohere’s Chadwick said he believes more Canadian companies could step up to provide these services.

“There’s a number of us going together to talk with the government in Canada to fix some of these issues,” Chadwick said.

Feature image courtesy ALL IN.

The post Canada hopes to build a sovereign cloud to counter US dominance. It won’t be easy first appeared on BetaKit.

Telegraph Ventures secures $35 million to back enterprise AI startups in Québec 25 Sep 4:40 AM (27 days ago)

A spinoff of European venture firm Telegraph Hill Capital has set up a new early-stage fund in Québec to back local AI startups.

Telegraph Ventures announced its fund launch alongside nearly $35 million in a first close of financing from the Québec government through Investissement Québec, Teralys Capital, Inovia Capital, and more than 40 entrepreneurs and family offices. The fund plans to reach $40 million before the end of the year.

“We need more optionality for founders. We need more competition between VCs.”
Etienne Mérineau
Telegraph Ventures

General partner Étienne Mérineau will manage the fund from Québec, with support from Telegraph Hill’s partners Luis Gutierrez Roy and Varun Dalal in Barcelona. The partners plan to build on previous successes in the region: investments in Montréal-based startups Chronogolf and Quotemachine ended in acquisitions by local point-of-service and e-commerce firm Lightspeed. Though Telegraph Ventures is an independent entity, the European firm will share in the returns.

Gutierrez Roy attributed the success Telegraph Hill has felt in Québec to “the quality and global ambitions of entrepreneurs and the collaborative nature of the VC community.”

With the backing from Québec’s public sector, Telegraph Ventures is also hoping to fill a gap in pre-seed and seed funding for tech startups. Nationally, the landscape for early-stage capital has been bleak: a recent report from the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA) found a 16-percent drop in dollars invested and a 28-percent drop in deals at these stages compared to the year before.

Mérineau said he experienced difficulties raising funds in Québec firsthand, even before the VC market slowed down after 2022. He founded conversational AI startup Heyday, which was later acquired by social media tech company Hootsuite in 2021 for $60 million.

“We need more optionality for founders,” Mérineau said. “We need more competition between VCs.”

The generalist fund is targeting startups building “useful” AI tools for businesses. Despite AI startups receiving a greater share of VC investments in Canada, experts have warned of a growing bubble and research showing AI pilot projects yielding poor productivity results

Mérineau said he’s interested in companies that don’t see AI as a “shiny object.” Rather, he’s looking for startups focused on a specific vertical, whose product improves over time as it collects more client data.

“That’s where I think these companies can become more defensible, because go-to-market [strategy] and distribution will become the moat,” Mérineau said.

Given Telegraph Ventures’ limited partner (LP) base, most of the capital will be earmarked for Québec companies, though Mérineau said he’s open to backing Québec founders who move elsewhere. “Telegraph will help Québec founders scale faster and smarter with a global mindset,” said Teralys Capital principal Beatrice Couture. Teralys invests in funds as an LP with support from the federal government through the Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative, Québec pension fund La Caisse, and other institutional investors.

Mérineau said Telegraph plans to invest in roughly 30 companies at pre-seed and seed stages, with cheque sizes of half a million up to $750,000, and reserves for follow-on rounds. He intends for Telegraph to lead and price rounds—something that Mérineau and other VCs agree is missing in the ecosystem.

Telegraph Ventures fundraised over the past year and a half, a particularly tough time for Canadian emerging managers as LPs dealt with lower liquidity and invested infrequently in funds with less experience. Inovia Capital invested through its Discovery Fund, which targets first-time fund managers.

“Discovery has sought out funds we felt could catalyze Quebec’s pre-seed market,” said Marianne Dubois, manager of Inovia’s Discovery Fund. “We believe that the combination of Luis’s experience with Etienne’s on-the-ground operator network…will do just that.”

Feature image courtesy Telegraph Ventures.

The post Telegraph Ventures secures $35 million to back enterprise AI startups in Québec first appeared on BetaKit.

This Canadian entrepreneur put QuickBooks on the Intuit platform to the test 25 Sep 3:00 AM (27 days ago)

There are few things I hate more than being pulled out of a flow state.

As an entrepreneur running several businesses, I’m constantly forced to context switch. And yes, I’m one of those people with an infinite number of browser tabs open, and proud of it. I know exactly why each one is open and in what order. Organized chaos. IYKYK.

But sometimes that chaos gets the best of me. And I know I’m not alone.

“I’m excited to get my hands on the tool and use it as a single place to grow and run my business.”

I juggle multiple roles. I’m a self-employed fractional marketing lead, men’s stylist, freelance writer, and educator, and keeping it all together means relying on a patchwork of online tools that rarely work in sync. Sometimes I’ll forget to follow up with a styling client or realize weeks later that I never sent an invoice for a workshop. When there’s never enough time, things slip through the cracks.

So, when Intuit asked me to check out the reimagined QuickBooks on the Intuit platform, now available in Canada, I was excited to see how this might make my life easier.

Already today, 10 million small and mid-market businesses worldwide are served on the Intuit platform. And Intuit, which is also the maker of products like Mailchimp and TurboTax, has been quietly working on a more powerful version of QuickBooks to bring together workflows, time-saving automation, and deeper insights all in one place for business customers.

For small businesses, that means less context switching, fewer browser tabs, and digital teammates to handle repetitive work. Sounds like just what I need.

The interface

QuickBooks on the Intuit platform - Interface — Image provided by Intuit.

I got a chance to see the new platform in action, and my first impression was that the new user interface is modern and organized. I wanted to explore every tab to discover its true capability. But I’ll be honest, there’s a lot there. At first, I felt intimidated by the idea of learning yet another system.

But the redesigned navigation stands out. The menu has been restructured to make it easy to find what I need to do quickly. There’s also a business feed that recommends tasks to help improve efficiency. That means I don’t have to adopt every feature on day one, and the platform can scale with me. But it also won’t let me forget to onboard the tools that could make me more productive.

The integrations

QuickBooks on the Intuit platform - Integrations — Image provided by Intuit.

As they were innovating and building out their platform capabilities. Intuit surveyed small business owners and found they use between seven and 25 tools to manage their day-to-day operations.

I got curious and counted mine. I use 16 tools. Between accounting, data analytics, and marketing, it adds up fast. Even cutting that down by half would free up so much brain space.

In the new QuickBooks, all the essentials, like Accounting, Expenses & Bills, a new Customer Hub, live under “My Apps” in the left-hand navigation. There are also integrations with Mailchimp, and other tools, which means I don’t have to jump between logins or learn QuickBooks-branded versions of software I already use. I can keep my workflows the same, just in one central place.

The agents

The model I tried is just the beta, but Intuit isn’t stopping there. Over the coming months, Intuit’s AI-driven expert platform powering QuickBooks will also roll out AI Agents, leveraging agentic AI. Think of these less like chatbots and more like virtual assistants that learn and get smarter as you work with them.

There will be agents available for accounting, finance, customer, and project management. They’ll handle things like automatically categorizing transactions and analyzing financial data for forecasting, essentially doing the work for you.

The customer journey

One feature I’m especially excited about is customer lifecycle management. Until recently, my styling business focused mostly on new clients. But this summer, I started seeing repeat customers, and I’ve been looking for a tool that helps manage my sales leads and customer relationships. Most CRM platforms are too expensive or too feature-heavy for the size of my business, so I’ve been tracking most of my business manually.

But the new QuickBooks capability, Customer Hub, allows me to follow leads from initial consultation all the way to getting paid, while also helping me identify repeat customers. Right now, I can create estimates and collect reviews. But soon, I’ll also be able to schedule appointments, sign contracts directly in the platform, and use the Customer AI Agent to identify, qualify, and convert leads.

Being able to keep track of my clients, automate follow-ups, and bill them all in one place would be a game-changer. Not only would I be able to keep track of the day-to-day, but having all the data connected would help me make future business decisions a lot quicker.

I’m excited to get my hands on the tool and use it as a single place to grow and run my business. Until now, “we” has meant me wearing every hat. With everything in one place and, soon, the help of AI Agents, it’ll feel more like a team effort.

PRESENTED BY

QuickBooks on the Intuit platform in beta is now available. Learn more here.

This information is intended to outline our general product direction, but represents no obligation and should not be relied on in making a purchasing decision. Additional terms, conditions and fees may apply with certain features and functionality. Eligibility criteria may apply. Product offers, features, functionality are subject to change without notice.

Feature image courtesy Jacqueline Loganathan via Instagram.

The post This Canadian entrepreneur put QuickBooks on the Intuit platform to the test first appeared on BetaKit.

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