When global investors arrive in Toronto on Monday, ahead of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Canada Investment Summit, Carney will be pitching them on several Canadian tech projects.
The summit, which will bring 100 global investors to rub shoulders with Canadian politicians and business leaders, aims to spur more than $1 trillion CAD in investment in Canada over the next five years. A 66-page “pitchbook” obtained by BetaKit shows a list of 167 projects (and their associated price tags and financing objectives) for investors to peruse.
The document’s introduction says it “highlights projects seeking financing and strategic partnerships today, while also providing early visibility into future investment opportunities.” In an email to BetaKit, the Prime Minister’s Office said it did not share a prospectus with the media, and that it appears the pitchbook was leaked.
Alongside infrastructure projects like oil pipelines, carbon removal projects, transportation infrastructure, and mining developments, the prospectus includes several projects to support the technology sector, from a large-scale quantum computer to a commercial spaceport.
Here are some highlights of what tech Canada will be selling to global investors next week, according to the pitchbook:
Digital technology
- Canadian Photonic Fabrication: The federal government recently announced it was opening up Ottawa’s Canadian Photonics Fabrication Centre to commercial investment. The pitchbook lists the semiconductor chip foundry as seeking “access to private capital” under a “new ownership model.”
- Canada Sovereign Systems Centre: A proposed advanced manufacturing and research and development centre in Ottawa focused on “Canadian-controlled data, autonomous defence and dual-use technologies,” seeking roughly $427 million USD ($591 million CAD).
- Project Optimism: Toronto quantum company Xanadu, which was featured in BetaKit Most Ambitious, is seeking public equity investment for its $1.3-billion advanced photonics research, development, and manufacturing hub in Etobicoke, Ont.
Data centres
- AHI AI Hub of Innovation: A data centre and “behind-the-meter” power project in central Alberta that could scale from 300 megawatts to one gigawatt of power, currently under construction. Developer Havenz Smart Communities is looking for equity, strategic investors, and anchor partners.
- Alto Northern Alberta Projects: Three “AI-ready” data centre campuses in Northern Alberta that could provide up to two gigawatts of capacity, looking for financing and strategic partners.
- Spruce Lake Data Centre Hub: Calgary-based Beacon Data Centers is looking for financing for the construction of an AI data centre hub in New Brunswick with up to 365 megawatts of capacity.
- Redcliff AI Data Center Campus: Data centre developer BW Velora is seeking equity and debt for a $14.5-billion build of an eventual 1.2-gigawatt data centre campus near Medicine Hat, Alta.
- The Grande Prairie Project: Another BW Velora project, still in the permitting phase, is looking for $2.4 billion to finance the repurposing of an industrial site into an AI data centre campus.
- Project Wheatland: Calgary-based data centre developer StratGrid is looking to build an AI data centre campus in Wheatland County, Alta., starting with 240 megawatts of power but scaling past one gigawatt.
Advanced manufacturing
- Canobi Distributed Food Resilience Network: Farm equipment supplier Canobi wants equity, project financing, and partnerships worth up to $220 million USD for a platform to support food security for remote communities.
- Project Kardium: BC medical device maker Kardium is seeking $250 million in equity and non-dilutive funding to scale up manufacturing of its cardiac mapping and ablation devices.
- Spaceport Nova Scotia: Halifax-based Maritime Launch Services is looking to raise equity investment and other financing for its orbital launch facility in Canso, NS, as Canada looks to build sovereign launch capacity.
- Project Vanguard: BC quantum company Photonic, which was featured in BetaKit Most Ambitious, is seeking $500 million CAD in financing for what would be Canada’s first quantum semiconductor manufacturing facility in Vancouver.
- Telesat Lightspeed Leo Constellation: Aerospace company Telesat is offering a minority equity stake in the company, or its Lightspeed low-Earth orbit satellite network, which is valued at $5.2 billion USD. This follows a federal contract to expand the satellite fleet.
- Deployable Optics for Trusted, Sovereign ISR: Edmonton-based spacetech company and BetaKit Most Ambitious honouree Wyvern is looking for equity, strategic partnerships, and government co-investment for its optical satellites for hyperspectral Earth observations, worth a total of $230 million CAD.
Power and utilities
- Micro-Modular Reactor Platform: The Canadian Strategic Missions Corporation (CSMC), which was featured in BetaKit Most Ambitious, is seeking capital and project partners to support its mini nuclear reactors to provide power for remote communities, mining projects, and other uses.
Clean energy
- Deep Sky One: Montréal-based cleantech company Deep Sky is looking for equity, construction debt, and investors to finance its direct air carbon capture facility in Alberta. Price tag: $328 million USD.
- Northern Spruce Project: BC-based Svante Technologies plans to build a bioenergy with carbon capture and storage development in Alberta, and is looking for long-term equity investment. Price tag: between $420 million and $500 million CAD
Feature image courtesy Mark Carney via LinkedIn.