The Government of Canada has repeatedly indicated it intends to name and build up technology champions by providing significant amounts of funding to leading firms in areas of national interest and signing agreements to adopt their tech. But Shelby Austin, co-founder and CEO of Arteria AI, is worried about what that approach could leave on the table.
The news: Austin shared her perspective during a panel hosted by All In Talks on Thursday during Toronto Tech Week. The conversation, which was moderated by BetaKit editor-in-chief Douglas Soltys, highlighted local AI builders, including Arteria, a post-Series B, Toronto-based Deloitte spinout that sells agentic AI to large financial institutions globally. Prior to the event, Austin told BetaKit that a strategy to choose champions is awesome—if you are one of the chosen few.
From the source: Austin said on the panel that we would do well to encourage more Canadians to start companies, amid declining entrepreneurship and founders fleeing south. “My personal view is we need to widen our aperture and back anyone that’s showing promise here,” she added. “Let’s let the market decide who’s going to be successful.”
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Following the thread: Austin is not alone in this perspective. Many Canadian tech leaders, including Clio co-founder and CEO Jack Newton, have recently expressed reservations about the government picking winners, rather than investors. But, others, such as Samdesk founder and CEO James Neufeld and Inovia Capital partner Patrick Pichette, have suggested that throwing government resources behind fewer companies is a solid strategy. Speaking on stage at BetaKit: Most Ambitious earlier this week, Canadian AI minister Evan Solomon said that at this point, he is far more concerned about creating “more unicorns” than more monopolies.
Final thought: The tension between building up homegrown companies and supporting a broader competitive ecosystem is a balance the feds will need to carefully weigh in Canada’s forthcoming AI strategy, which is finally slated to drop next week.
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Feature image courtesy All In. Photo by Melanie Olmstead.