Ilya Sutskever, Garrett Camp, Michelle Zatlyn, Ivan Zhao. All leading names in Silicon Valley, and all Canadian. They are just a few of the people you’ll find on the Dominion List, a database created by VC Antoine Nivard earlier this year. It catalogues the value generated by Canadians building in the US, value the list implies could have stayed at home: 552 companies, 53 unicorns, that have raised more than $600 billion USD.
While Nivard’s methodology notes that the list isn’t exhaustive—for one, it defines a Canadian connection through citizenship, birthplace, or education—it’s supported by data showing a lack of capital in Canada. BDC called Canada’s early-stage funding gap an “economic sovereignty” issue in May; this month, CCI found Canadian startups too often sell to foreign buyers when it’s time to scale; and CFIN found there’s barely any Canadian capital in foodtech beyond the seed stage.
Nivard, who himself spent time in Montréal before moving to San Francisco, told me he started the database when Y Combinator briefly removed Canada from its list of accepted incorporation countries, stoking outrage about a phenomenon BetaKit has tracked for years.
The discourse hit a fever pitch this week when Jesse Rodgers of Builders Club reshared stats from the list, calling it a “damning” portrait of where Canada underdelivers. Build Canada CEO Lucy Hargreaves called it a “five-alarm fire for policymakers.”
In Nivard’s opinion, the policy conversation shouldn’t focus on how to stop the drain. “Venture outcomes at this scale [are] one of Canada’s great exports, and it should be a point of pride rather than a grievance,” he wrote in an email. Rather, it’s a chance for Canada to uplift ambitious founders who want to move here, and those who want to stay, he said.
Either way, policymakers have reportedly taken note. We’ll be watching to see how the fall budget will aim to keep the next class of those founders here at home.
Madison McLachlan,
Montréal reporter
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Top stories from BetaKit
BDC’s yearly checkup
The Business Development Bank of Canada, the Crown corp that runs Canada’s largest VC firm, reported its fiscal 2026 results this week. Its VC arm saw a net revenue loss of $70.9 million, but net income ultimately grew as the value of its investments rose by more than $400 million.
Vibe-code your hardware
A16z speedrun-backed Toronto startup Blueprint has raised $1.4 million to build the “Lovable for hardware,” helping anyone turn their AI prompts into prototypes. Go ahead, make your own MP3 player.
Moneyball, in Canadian dollars
How did the Blue Jays make the World Series? They spent their capital smartly, according to Graphite Ventures managing director Aaron Bast, who argues in an op-ed for BetaKit that Canada should do the same in its fight against US tariffs.
Smart glasses detector
It’s getting harder to spot smart camera glasses like Ray-Ban Meta. Ottawa-based product designer Marcos Rezende has made a way to detect them with NearLens, giving users a way to know if they’re potentially being discreetly recorded.
Clearco “rescaling”
After layoffs, leadership changes, and a recapitalization in 2023, Toronto FinTech company Clearco now says it’s on track to break even later this year, after it secured $100 million USD in asset-backed debt financing.
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Lessons on early-stage fundraising from Canadian startups that have closed rounds
The MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund provides early-stage Ontario startups with initial seed funding alongside hands-on guidance, networking opportunities, and investor pitch preparation to help them refine their business strategy and raise future capital.
Global AI leaders on the agenda at ALL IN 2026
ALL IN 2026 is Canada’s largest AI conference, serving as a national asset to showcase Canadian talent, attract foreign investment, accelerate global innovation, and build key cross-border partnerships.
Canada’s new R&D rules give deep tech a much-needed break
Boast helps deep tech founders maximize their SR&ED tax credits by assessing eligibility and recovering capital equipment costs, securing the financial runway needed to bring innovations to market.
Deals and dollars
Who cashed in, or out, this week:
- Helcim secured a $53-million Series C as it looks to fill a new vacuum within Canada’s payments infrastructure. (Calgary)
- Peripheral secured another $8.7 million USD to bring spatial intelligence tech to sports. (Toronto)
- Magic Potion Games raised an undisclosed Series A as its Club Penguin successor, Imagine Island, exits beta. (Kelowna)
- NLPatent rebranded to Clerq alongside an agentic AI overhaul of its patent automation platform. (Toronto)
- A16z speedrun-backed Space raised $2.4 million USD to build a more seamless version of Dropbox and Google Drive. (Toronto)
- Brdg secured $850,000 to simplify construction loan management with AI. (Montréal)
- Aerospace software StratosX landed a partnership with Air Transat to help minimize flight disruptions. (Montréal)
- AI market research platform Boundless Discovery secured $2 million USD, the company told BetaKit. (Halifax)
Main character
“Our conviction is that this will become the critical infrastructure layer for all areas of robotics.”
—Ex-Nvidia lab leader Sanja Fidler on world models, the focus of her new startup.
The refresh
What lawn-mowing can teach you about computer science
Can you mow this lawn as efficiently as a machine? The Pudding used this mini-game to collect data on human behaviour to better understand one of the most famous path-planning problems in computer science.
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BetaKit Podcast · Aug 14
“When we talk about sovereignty, we’re talking about strategic capacity. Can you govern yourself with the tools that you have?”
What would happen if, overnight, Canada suddenly lost all access to American tech? Canadian Shield Institute managing director Vass Bednar joins to answer that question before discussing how Canada can bootstrap digital self-reliance in the face of weaponized integration. Listen now ›
1 Direct sync available for supported accounting systems: QuickBooks Online, Xero, NetSuite, Microsoft Business Central, and Sage Intacct.
2 This percentage is an estimate, not a guarantee. More details at ramp.com/canada.
Contributors: Alex Riehl (Ottawa staff writer), Madison McLauchlan (Montréal reporter), Douglas Soltys (editor in chief), Sarah Rieger (managing editor), Trevor Nichols (web editor).
Feature image courtesy Pexels. Photo by Brian Forsyth.