Since the onset of a Canada-US trade war, Canadians have doubled down on buying local, and Canadian tech has been no exception.
Ecosystem players have spearheaded a crop of tariff-response initiatives designed to promote products from fellow Canadian startups, track the impact of tariffs on supply chains, and encourage consumers to buy domestically made products.
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ByCanada.Tech, a new “coast-to-coast startup directory” has emerged as the most comprehensive database of Canadian tech companies so far. The website was founded by Derek Jouppi, founder and CEO of Advite.ai, with the goal of providing Canadian alternatives to well-known American tech products.
ByCanada.Tech allows users to search for Canadian alternatives to well-known American tech products.
Jouppi took to LinkedIn last week to crowdsource data from Canadian startups. The site says it now lists over 7,000 companies.
The website allows users to search for Canadian alternatives to well-known American tech products, such as Toronto-based HOVR instead of Lyft and Winnipeg-based Bold Commerce instead of Stripe.
Jouppi told BetaKit that the threat of tariffs motivated him to create the project, but that “Canadians deserve to know how to source local [and] support our entrepreneurs through any economic period.”
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Beyond Jouppi’s initiative, several Canadian tech leaders have shouted out fellow Canadian business-to-business products. One such example is Ian Paterson, CEO of Plurilock, who listed FinTech companies that his company “trusts to get the job done,” including Float, Plooto, Certn, and Vault.
“As a Canadian company, we know the power of homegrown innovation,” Paterson wrote. “We choose the tech that keeps us moving fast and operating efficiently, built by the companies who truly understand how we work.”
Other organic posts have listed Canadian tech alternatives. Mhairi Petrovic, founder of Vancouver-based Out-Smarts Marketing, shouted out Thinkific and Jane App. Siamak Sartipi, founder and CEO of Waterloo-based portfolii, listed Igloo Software as an alternative to Slack or Microsoft Teams.
Tracking the tariff threat
US President Donald Trump signed an order to impose 25-percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports yesterday, which would stack on top of the blanket 25-percent tariffs on virtually all Canadian goods the President is threatening to levy in early March.
Multiple tools are now available for Canadian businesses to calculate the impact of tariffs on their supply chains.
The Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), Export Development Canada (EDC), and the Trade Commissioner Service jointly launched the Canada Tariff Finder, a tool that allows businesses to see what tariffs apply to an import or export product. It also allows users to compare similar products or source countries.
The tool only provides customs and duty information for countries that have a free trade agreement with Canada.
The Business Data Lab’s Canada-US Trade Tracker, associated with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, provides up-to-date data on the value of cross-border trade across sectors and by geographic region.
For example, users can identify the largest exports from each Canadian province to the US and top trading partners by state.
Scan to buy Canadian
The Buy Beaver app, previously known as IsItFromCanada.ca, launched on Feb. 6 as a grocery-scanning community platform to encourage users to buy locally.
With a smartphone or desktop app, users can scan the barcode on grocery items and obtain a score out of five for how “Canadian” the product is based on where it was produced and its parent company. The data is crowdsourced and relies on users inputting product information.
“Think of it as a community-driven platform where users like you help identify truly Canadian products,” the website reads.
Founded by two Montréal-based entrepreneurs, Buy Beaver is currently free but says it may introduce premium features eventually.
“After hearing people voice concerns about rising tariffs, I wanted to help them make truly informed decisions,” co-founder Christopher Dip said in a statement. “We believe every purchase can be a vote for Canadian businesses.”
The Buy Beaver team said that it has reached over 10,000 users so far.
Feature image courtesy Buy Beaver.