By March 31, 2025

Are you going to Web Summit Vancouver?

Canada delegation at Web Summit 2018
Plus: Québec overhauls innovation tax credits, Ontario called to prioritize provincial procurement.

That ticking clock you hear in the back of your mind is 2025 preparing to strike Q2. Prepare accordingly.

For Team BetaKit, Q2 means the true start of conference season. We’ll be hard at work crisscrossing the nation to attend tech events of all shapes and sizes in the name of innovation and socialization. 

The preparation is intense. Travel-sized liquid containers have been purchased. Air Miles discounts have been applied. Comfy shoes: secured.

New on the travel agenda this year is Web Summit Vancouver, rolling into the 604 area code for the first time under a different name (RIP Collision).

To best prepare, BetaKit wants to hear from you: the topics and speakers you’re interested in, recommendations for those visiting the Best Coast for the first time, whether or not you plan to attend, etc.

Anonymized insights from the (quick and easy to complete!) survey will inform forthcoming BetaKit content. Vancouver nightlife tips will be enjoyed by the attending BetaKit team.

We hope to see you there!

Take BetaKit’s Web Summit Vancouver survey

Douglas Soltys
Editor-in-chief

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TOP STORIES OF THE WEEK

SRTX founder and CEO Katherine Homuth to step down amid fundraising push and tariff threat

SRTX founder and CEO Katherine Homuth will step down from her role at the Montréal-based textile manufacturing and material innovation company as it publicly courts external funding and battles tariff-related uncertainty.

Homuth confirmed to BetaKit that SRTX signed a term sheet for a funding round, which was shared with employees and shareholders this week. She said she would step down as part of the deal’s closure, calling it “the right decision for me and the business at this time.”

Lightspeed to expand and revamp sales team as part of revised go-to-market effort

At its Capital Markets Day investor presentation this week, executives for Lightspeed Commerce detailed how the company will invest in a sales-led go-to-market strategy as part of its business transformation plan to focus on its “growth engines.”

CEO Dax Dasilva said Lightspeed plans to expand its sales team to more than 150 reps across its North American retail and European hospitality businesses, though the sales strategy will manifest slightly differently between the two.

Dasilva also addressed investor concerns about its recently scaled back revenue outlook, which the company reduced from an approximate 20-percent to an 18-percent increase year-over-year. Dasilva said it reflected a “softness” in same-store sales across North America and Europe, as well as small business optimism, which has led to fewer new businesses and cautious investing from established ones.

Seventy-five Ontario CEOs sign open letter calling on Premier Doug Ford to prioritize homegrown innovation

Seventy-five Ontario-based CEOs have signed a new open letter asking Ontario Premier Doug Ford to implement a laundry list of innovation and economic policy ideas within the first 100 days of his new majority mandate to “reclaim control over [Ontario’s] economic destiny.”

The open letter positions Ontario in “economic crisis,” as the province has taken centre stage in the trade war between Canada and the United States, its biggest international trading partner. 

The letter argues that provincial economic policy has prioritized short-term foreign direct investment over long-term domestic wealth creation and that, without a deliberate shift in economic strategy, the province risks “further erosion of its competitiveness, sovereignty, and long-term prosperity.”

Québec budget overhauls innovation tax credits, earmarks millions for tariff impacts

The 2025-26 Québec budget tabled by Finance Minister Éric Girard contains a slew of new initiatives in response to Canada’s trade war with the United States while addressing longstanding provincial complaints regarding direct investment and tax credit supports.

The budget, which marks a record deficit for the province, introduced changes to Québec’s innovation tax credit system and revived an early-stage investment program with fresh funding. The government also committed $900 million in direct aid to businesses and over $600 million to mitigate the economic impacts of US tariffs.

Canadian Quantum Commitments 

This year has seen Canadian quantum computing companies claim breakthrough after breakthrough, and this week was no different. New partnerships and developments continue to work towards an accelerated timeline for the theoretical field. 

  • Québec-based non-profit tech accelerator Numana announced a strategic partnership with Finnish telecom giant Nokia and United States-based tech company Honeywell to help develop secure communication technologies designed to be compatible with quantum computing.
  • Toronto quantum computing firm Xanadu is collaborating with materials giant Corning to create the “low-loss” networking needed to scale quantum computers, according to the companies.
  • University of Ottawa researchers claim they have discovered new ways to control atoms that could both broaden physics knowledge and have practical applications for medicine and quantum computing.

US deep tech VC Celesta Capital adds BDC alum Charles Lespérance as Canadian partner

Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Celesta Capital has grown its ranks, hiring former BDC Capital partner Charles Lespérance as its first partner based in Canada, where he will work out of Montréal to help Celesta source deals, make investments, and raise money.

With Lespérance’s help, Celesta hopes to expand its presence in Canada. Lespérance said he offers an established deal sourcing and co-investment network, expertise in complementary areas like quantum, mining, and oil and gas, and “extensive financial restructuring experience.”

Vooban hiring up to 25 AI roles in Ontario as it welcomes surge in enterprise AI adoption

Québec City-based artificial intelligence (AI) solutions company Vooban is expanding into Ontario and growing its team as it looks to ride a wave of interest in AI integration.

To fill its new Toronto office, Vooban plans to hire for 20 to 25 roles, including sales architects, cloud solution architects, and account executives, before the end of 2025. Vooban now finds itself well-placed to capitalize on an increasing number of Canadian companies adopting AI solutions as they look to boost productivity in an uncertain economic environment.

Basetwo emerges from CIX Summit 2025 as Canada’s representative for the Startup World Cup

Toronto-based AI manufacturing startup Basetwo took a major prize at Elevate’s 2025 CIX Summit and will represent Canada at the Startup World Cup this October.

Basetwo was among the 24 CIX Startup Award recipients recognized at the event, held this week at the Design Exchange in Toronto. Basetwo will be among the regional winners from around the world convening in Silicon Valley to give a four-minute pitch to Startup World Cup judges and investors for a chance at a $1-million USD investment.

FEATURE STORIES FROM OUR PARTNERS

Weekly Canadian Deals & Dollars

  • VAN – Styx Intelligence secures $2.7M for cybersecurity platform
  • VAN – Addy becomes exempt market dealer following $100K fine
  • CGY – Movement51 appoints Emily Smiley as executive director
  • EDM – Nanoprecise closes Series C to fuel geographic expansion
  • KW – Descartes acquires American firm 3Gtms for $164.4M
  • KW – KA Imaging to provide spectral X-ray detector in space mission
  • SHB – BioAlert raises $2.5M for water quality monitoring tech
  • STJ – CoLab Software expedites AI development with $5.6M partner contribution

The BetaKit Podcast — Canadian foodtech has a scale-up problem

“By the time these companies are ready for B and C [rounds], their cap tables are super clean, too. So it doesn’t really make sense that we’re not putting money into them.”

In a time of global uncertainty, a new report by the Canadian Food Innovation Network (CFIN) shows that Canada lags other countries in foodtech funding, relying too much on public funding. CEO Dana McCauley joins to discuss the report, how CFIN’s 6,500 members are navigating tariffs, and why it’s important that Canada invests in the tech that feeds us.

Take The BetaKit Quiz – This week: Trump’s group chat, Knix makes a splash, Lightspeed slows its roll

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 March 28, 2025.

Feature image courtesy of Web Summit via Flickr.

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