In February last year, the national conversation focused on the potential for artificial intelligence to be Canada’s productivity saviour. But a recent report might slow the AI hype train (for some).
New StatCan data shows Canada’s labour productivity increased just 0.2 percent last quarter. The majority of gains came from goods-producing businesses, while the services industry—a broad tent that includes technology companies—dropped 0.5 percent.
AI adoption has doubled in Canadian businesses over the past year, with companies like Shopify and OpenText recently going “AI-first.” But the productivity benefits have yet to appear in the data. So when will they?
I spoke with Float CEO Rob Khazzam about his company’s new internal “AI Manifesto,” which dictates how it builds products and hires staff with AI in mind. Float hopes to fully automate more transactions on its platform, from 30 to 80 percent, by year’s end. Doing so could save customers upwards of 10,000 hours per month.
Khazzam believes the benefits of these AI-driven optimizations will trickle down and boost productivity for Float’s SMB customers, which he called “the lifeblood of the Canadian economy.” Less time chasing tax receipts means more time for them to drive innovation in their own businesses, continuing the cycle.
“There is absolutely no question in my mind: Canadian companies can leverage this to grow economic prosperity, or we get left behind,” Khazzam said. “That’s the two options ahead, and we know where we’re going to be.”
And the productivity numbers? Khazzam doesn’t put much stock into the data yet. “It takes time, even for early adopters, to determine how and where to start.”
As far as he’s concerned, if Canadian companies continue to innovate on how they deploy talent and automate workflows, productivity will follow. But that’s what we were told last year, too.
Alex Riehl
Staff Writer
Ottawa
Northern Ireland is attracting a growing list of high-profile international tech companies.
Firms such as Fujitsu, SAP, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Nvidia, Rapid7, and Whitehat Security are already operating in Northern Ireland. It’s also home to 35 Canadian businesses, as well as being Europe’s leading location for new software development projects.
So what makes Northern Ireland special? We give companies access to a highly skilled and educated talent pool, excellent infrastructure, cost-effectiveness, a supportive business environment, and much more. All these factors helped us build a glowing international reputation for tech expertise and develop one of the fastest-growing tech sectors in the UK.
If you are interested in expanding your business to Northern Ireland, we can offer tailored overseas expansion guidance, financial incentives, and soft-landing support.
Keen to explore this opportunity? Request more information from our Canadian team.
Michael Yang departs OMERS Ventures as pension fund refocuses on Canada in “strategic shift”
Michael Yang stepped down as the head of OMERS Ventures while the Canadian public pension fund undergoes a “strategic shift” to refocus its investment activity in Canada, BetaKit was first to report this week.
As part of the new strategy, OMERS managing director Saar Pikar is taking on an expanded role as managing director and head of ventures and growth, reporting to the firm’s head of private capital Michael Block, while Ventures partner Laura Lenz has been promoted to managing director.
Yang appears to be the latest in a series of recent notable departures from the venture arm of one of Canada’s largest pension funds.
Lack of M&A and IPOs drives global secondary market to new record
Amid a lack of distributions from initial public offerings and mergers and acquisitions, secondaries have become an increasingly popular means of generating liquidity.
As the market booms, Toronto-based private investment firm Northleaf Capital Partners has raised $908 million CAD for its fourth secondary fund at the perfect time.
Payroll platform Wagepoint appoints Xero North America lead Ben Richmond as president and CEO
Calgary-based payroll software Wagepoint has appointed Xero’s managing director of North America, Ben Richmond, as president and CEO.
Richmond succeeds Bill Hewitt, who has served as Wagepoint’s interim CEO since founding CEO Shrad Rao departed the company this past January. In a statement to BetaKit, Wagepoint COO Neil Carew characterized the leadership switch as a shift from founder-led growth to scale-oriented leadership.
a16z says OpenSesame to Canadian agentic AI startup for its speedrun accelerator
Anthony Azrak and Jai Mansukhani know how to capitalize on coincidences.
When the co-founders of Toronto-based AI startup OpenSesame met a partner from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz at New York Tech Week, they nabbed a spot for its selective accelerator program, a16z speedrun, without ever sending a formal application.
Now they’re pondering if they have to relocate OpenSesame to the United States, despite Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez’s personal recommendation against it.
Former Toronto Raptor Pascal Siakam dishes $50,000 in grants to winners of inaugural EdTech accelerator
NBA champion and former Toronto Raptor Pascal “Spicy P” Siakam teamed up with a panel of judges at the inaugural Siakam EdTech Engine Accelerator’s demo day last week to select three startups going home with a collective $50,000 in grant funding.
Mantle rolls out free cap table management tool for early-stage startups
Toronto-based Carta competitor Mantle, which caters to technology companies, law firms, and limited partners, has launched a free version of its equity management platform for early-stage founders.
With Mantle Starter, the software startup claims to provide entrepreneurs with “professional-grade equity tools at no cost” to help them stay organized, investor-ready, and compliant as they raise early funding and build their teams.
Femtech Canada hopes to bring women’s healthtech to market through its first commercialization program
National women’s health innovation network Femtech Canada has launched the Women’s Health Medical Pathway, its first commercialization program for Canadian women’s health startups.
The program provides admitted startups with $20,000 in commercialization assistance services from physician groups and contract organizations. Due to the limited number of project support available, Femtech Canada says applicants are encouraged to apply before July 30, 2025.
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The BetaKit Podcast – ‘Canada’s edge in applied AI’ with Nvidia and Waabi leaders
“The talent here is incredible, right? When we started faculty, I walk in the class and there’s Jimmy Ba. Every time you guys train a neural network, you’re using his algorithm.”
Sanja Fidler (Nvidia VP of AI research) and Raquel Urtasun (Waabi founder and CEO) sit down with Ada CEO Mike Murchison for a discussion about the frontier of AI and the role Canada might play in bringing it to the physical world. Recorded live at Homecoming during Toronto Tech Week.
Take The BetaKit Quiz – Trump’s AI plan, a16z says OpenSesame, and a Yukon-born startup strikes gold
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 July 25, 2025
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