Last week, I wrote that Alberta tech has energy. Writing you now from the Edmonton airport (with one eye on the Oilers game) after a busy week at Inventures and Upper Bound, I can confirm that I don’t.
Thankfully, reporter Madison McLauchlan was with me and supercharged BetaKit’s coverage. Hours after landing she broke news that Alberta Innovates had promoted interim leader Mike Mahon to permanent CEO. Mahon and board chair Tony Williams gave BetaKit a sneak peek of the provincial agency’s go-foward plan, which it will have to execute next year with a $50 million funding haircut.
Will that impact Calgary’s plans to become Canada’s innovation capital? It’s too soon to tell, but Calgarians told Madison the city needs more nimble institutions and financing able to keep up with the ecosystem’s growth so it can take the next step.
Let’s not leave Edmonton out of the mix. Amii just hosted its largest AI event yet, with local godfather (and recent Turing Award winner) Richard Sutton striking an optimistic tone about the technology’s future compared to his contemporaries in Montréal and Toronto.
Madison will have more on Alberta and AI next week, but it was an impressive output over four days. Get ready for a lot more: BetaKit is taking its next step with a full-time Alberta presence in 2025 to cover the Prairies region.
I wrote last week that BetaKit’s mission is to tell the story of every Canadian tech hub and connect those stories to the national conversation, and I meant it. If you know who I should hire for our Prairies bureau, tell me.
The Oilers have won, so I’m off to Vancouver for Web Summit. Alberta is banging a loud drum right as the Best Coast prepares to showcase its tech ecosystem to the world.
Want to make the most of Web Summit? Read BetaKit’s guide to the right panels, parties, and—most importantly—coffee shops below.
Douglas Soltys
Editor-in-chief
Time’s Ticking: Maximize Your SR&ED Claims by June 30!
Heads up, innovators—your 2023 SR&ED credits are waiting, but not for long. If your fiscal year wrapped up in December, you’ve got until June 30 2025 to secure your refunds from CRA. And trust us, you don’t want to leave money on the table.
Recent changes mean the SR&ED landscape is evolving. Navigating eligibility criteria manually can feel like finding a needle in a haystack. That’s why smart Canadian innovators are turning to AI-powered platforms, like Boast, to simplify claims and pinpoint hidden eligibility with precision.
The best part? Boast doesn’t just help you file, we defends every dollar with audit protection, integrate smoothly with your existing payroll, accounting and project management tools, and ensures you’re getting the full refund you’re entitled to.
Don’t miss out on what you are already owed!
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s mandate letter calls for government to deploy AI “at scale”
Newly elected Prime Minister Mark Carney has published a mandate letter that calls on ministers in his new cabinet to make more use of artificial intelligence just days after appointing Canada’s first cabinet minister with AI explicitly in his job title.
Carney claimed that the government had to boost productivity by “deploying AI at scale” in addition to emphasizing efficient spending and using “scarce” tax dollars to catalyze private investments.
Lagging growth rate knocks Canada out of top four in StartupBlink’s ecosystem rankings
Canada lost the fourth-place position it has held for the past five years in StartupBlink’s latest global startup ecosystem rankings. Its top city, Toronto, nonetheless continues to move up while Calgary vaulted back into the top 100 cities worldwide.
According to the report, the chances of Canada taking the spot back look slim. Canada holds the second-lowest ecosystem growth rate in the top five, and the thirteen countries directly below Canada all grew faster.
Cohere CEO claims AI startup “not far away” from profitability as it snags Dell and SAP partnerships
Cohere struck strategic partnerships this week with two large enterprise players, Dell and SAP, as CEO Aidan Gomez teased in an interview that the AI startup is “very, very close” to profitability.
The duo of partnerships will see German enterprise software maker SAP use Cohere models in its software and make them available through its Business Technology Platform. Texas-based hardware giant Dell is becoming the first provider to deploy Cohere’s AI workspace product, Cohere North, to enterprises on-premises.
Lightspeed surpasses $1 billion USD in revenue in fiscal 2025 but shares conservative outlook
While Montréal-based Lightspeed Commerce largely met expectations and improved its financial profile in its latest earnings report, it also posted a net loss of nearly $576 million in fiscal Q4 as the firm’s weak share price triggered a big goodwill writedown.
Founder Dax Dasilva told BetaKit in an interview that the past year has been about reviewing Lightspeed’s operations and designing a go-forward strategy.
“I think we did some of the low-hanging fruit and had a focus on operational efficiency for [fiscal 2025]… we put a lot of pieces in place for the transformation.”
“Both strategic and patriotic”: Wealthsimple selects Tetra Trust as its first Canadian digital asset custodian
Toronto FinTech company Wealthsimple is adding Calgary’s Tetra Trust as its first Canadian cryptocurrency custodian. Tetra Trust, which is also regulated, will enable Wealthsimple to securely store its customers’ digital assets in Canada. Wealthsimple chief legal officer Blair Wiley called the agreement “both strategic and patriotic.”
In an interview with BetaKit, Tetra Trust CEO Didier Lavallee claimed that most Canadians who hold crypto are very exposed to the US, and argued that this “creates massive consumer and jurisdictional risks.” Lavallee said Tetra Trust has seen an uptick in businesses seeking to reduce their US exposure in recent months.
Canada will provide cooling tech for moon-bound astronauts—if NASA gets the mission off the ground
Toronto-based Berg Chilling Systems has delivered a key cooling system for NASA’s Artemis IV mission—just as the Trump administration proposed a budget grounding the 2028 mission that was expected to land astronauts on the moon.
Company spokeswoman Stephanie Yeung told BetaKit the cooling hardware is “purpose built” for the Mobile Launcher 2 system at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. If the Trump administration’s proposed 2026 budget cancels Artemis IV and related missions, the cooling system “may not be used,” according to Yeung.
Leadership swaps
- Damien Steel has stepped down as CEO of Montréal-based carbon-capture startup Deep Sky, citing “personal reasons,” ahead of the grand opening of its first direct air capture facility. Steel will help transition leadership responsibilities to COO Alex Petre, who is set to take over as CEO.
- Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association CEO Kim Furlong announced that she plans to step down this summer. Furlong has served at the helm since January 2019. She is set to leave during an ongoing identity crisis within Canada’s VC market.
The BetaKit Guide: Web Summit Vancouver
Web Summit is touching down on Canada’s best coast for the very first time.
For British Columbia’s growing tech scene, it’s a moment. More than 300 companies from BC’s thriving tech ecosystem will showcase their products and services at the event. The timing feels right, but four days of panels, parties, and side quests can be a lot.
The BetaKit Guide: Web Summit Vancouver features picks and perspectives from our readers: who to see, where to go, what to skip, and how to navigate the week without missing out (or burning out).
FEATURED STORIES FROM OUR PARTNERS
- Osler’s 2024 Deal Points Report on venture financings reveals a market defined by longer timelines and more selective conviction. Read about the trends that shaped Canadian venture in 2024.
- Many Canadian tech startups don’t know that they qualify for the SR&ED tax credit, and it’s costing them. Read about why Boast believes SR&ED is a growth strategy hiding in plain sight.
🇨🇦 Weekly Canadian Deals, Dollars & More
- VAN – Rival Group to merge with research firm Angus Reid
- EDM – Google grants Amii $5M to help develop AI curricula
- TOR – Keep exits stealth with more than $100M in equity and debt
- TOR – Stablecorp secures capital for CAD-pegged stablecoin
- OTT- Shopify debuts AI-based store designer in latest Edition
- MTL – Novisto raises $37.7M CAD to fuel European expansion
- QC – LeddarTech cuts 95 percent of staff as it races to pay debts
The BetaKit Podcast — Why Faire’s co-founder wants to bring Silicon Valley’s DNA to Canada
“I think every ecosystem is different, but we can learn a lot from Silicon Valley, and we can merge what we have here.”
Faire co-founder and Chief Architect Marcelo Cortes explains his journey from Brazil to Canada, how working in Kitchener-Waterloo connected him to Silicon Valley, and the process of applying the lessons learned there to his company. We also discuss how Faire’s wholesale marketplace for retailers is navigating the trade war, its use of AI, and how it convinced former Uber CTO Thuan Pham to join the company.
Take The BetaKit Quiz – This week: Cohere is close, OpenAI adds Jony Ive, BetaKit has a new bureau
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 May 23, 2025.
Take a peek inside the new Communitech Hub
Communitech is opening its doors to unveil its new space. A newly reimagined space built to spark innovation, connection and growth in the heart of Waterloo Region’s tech ecosystem.
On June 18, founders, partners, and community members are invited to explore the refreshed space. Expect local eats, great conversations and a chance to connect with the people building the future of tech in Waterloo Region.
This is more than a tour. It’s the start of what’s next.
Feature image courtesy Condor Wei via Unsplash.