This article appears in the 2026 BetaKit Most Ambitious issue. Read more stories of the Canadian tech innovators strengthening our autonomy, security, and prosperity here.
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The first rule of defence is knowing what you’re dealing with. The OODA loop, a military decision-making framework used by the Canadian Armed Forces, begins with observation.
Observation: Canada is huge. It is the second-largest country in the world, with the longest coastline; a massive, frozen, strategic-resource-rich tundra; and domain over sea lanes that are becoming an increasingly important gateway between Asia, North America, and Europe.
After decades of underinvestment in defence, Canada has among the fewest soldiers per capita compared to other highly industrialized nations and NATO allies. This makes monitoring Canada’s sprawling terrain—let alone defending it—especially tough, particularly in the Arctic, where Dominion Dynamics founder and CEO Eliot Pence says Canada struggles to understand and observe foreign activity.
“We have no idea if there are Russian subs sitting on the ocean seabed under the ice.”
Eliot Pence
Dominion Dynamics
Geopolitical tensions are rising. Canada’s relationship with the US, which the country has long depended on for national defence, is now on shaky ground, and Russia and China are encroaching on the Arctic as melting ice opens shorter shipping routes and exposes vast, untapped reserves of oil, gas, and critical minerals. Amid this sea change, ensuring Canada’s sovereign capacity to protect its share of the North has arguably never been more important.
Last year, Canada committed billions of dollars to establish domestic defence champions, which spurred Pence to return to Canada to build one. He aims to make Ottawa-based Dominion “the biggest defence company in Canadian history,” starting with the Arctic, where traditional communications often fail due to harsh environmental conditions.
“I care about Canada,” the Vancouver Island native told BetaKit. “I wanted to do something, and I felt like I could.”
At the moment, Pence says, there is a “gaping hole” in Canada’s defence market: the country lacks a large domestic firm capable of delivering most of what its military needs, either in-house or by integrating products from other companies. In industry parlance, Canada has no true defence prime like US-based Lockheed Martin or RTX (formerly Raytheon).
Traditional primes are huge, hardware-heavy, vertically integrated companies with long track records of delivering major defensive systems and programs through government contracts, while “neoprimes” are smaller, typically product-led, software-first newcomers that take on more risk by building solutions—backed by private or venture capital—before obtaining government contracts.
Modelling itself after American neoprimes like Palmer Luckey-founded Anduril, where Pence previously spent four years leading global growth, Dominion aims to become a neoprime capable of providing Canada with sovereign defence capabilities, going toe to toe with the Lockheed Martins and RTXs of the world.
Pence is betting the future of warfare will be “networked,” involving a system of connected, cheaper, autonomous platforms. Few Canadians have enough experience to deliver on that vision. At Anduril, he was present as the company successfully achieved neoprime status; it’s now on pace to exceed $4 billion in annual sales. Pence is ready to apply that playbook on his home turf.
Ex-Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole, who advises Dominion, believes the aspiring neoprime’s approach could help Canada fill critical gaps “faster than the old system” of traditional procurement, allowing it to potentially “leapfrog” other countries’ defensive capabilities.
It all starts with the Arctic.
Given its extreme geography and low population density, Canada needs a better understanding of what is happening in the North to adequately defend itself. The stakes are high, and time is of the essence. “We have no idea if there are Russian subs sitting on the ocean seabed under the ice,” Pence said.
Dominion is moving fast to build a “digital backbone” for Arctic surveillance, even when soldiers are not around. The startup’s vision spans a software platform, a network of sensors, and drones designed to autonomously collect, communicate, and analyze Arctic data in real time to spot threats and eventually anticipate them using AI.
Dominion has already begun testing its Arctic monitoring system with the help of the Canadian Rangers, following a playbook similar to that of successful US neoprimes in bypassing Canada’s traditionally slow military procurement processes to develop useful tech and build trust before vying for government contracts. The company was able to design and deploy its Echo sensor in just 90 days.
While big-name investors have already bought into Dominion’s mission, Pence knows that executing it will take a lot more money, time, and commitment. The man who grew up camping around BC in a Volkswagen van as the son of hippies before spending a decade as a fixer in Africa is also well aware that progress “rarely looks like a straight line.”
Pence’s fierce patriotism—he launched Dominion on the 81st anniversary of D-Day and recently became the sole tech representative on Canada’s advisory committee for US economic relations—is part of what drives him.
The Dominion CEO also sees an opportunity for the country to reclaim its “lost history” as a defence innovator. Canada has a rich past in defence, including pioneering work developing battleships, drones, fighter jets, submarines, sonar, and protective gear. “We just forgot about it,” he said.
“This country used to be something that I was immensely proud of. For the last two decades, it really hasn’t been,” Pence said last year in response to a question regarding whether Canada lacks a positive vision for its future. “This country was essentially a venture bet by a company, and then we did amazing things for about 100 years. I want us to return to that.”
With a federal government finally committed to defence, a fractious geopolitical landscape, and tech and talent ready to be deployed, Pence says “the moment is now” for Canada to turn the tide.
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Images courtesy Dominion Dynamics. Feature image photography by Jim Welsh.