As software ate the world, Microsoft grew from a two-person garage project to a global technology leader. Fifty years later, the company is pushing a new software frontier: AI agents.
BetaKit recently visited Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters as part of a campus tour in celebration of the company’s 50th anniversary (travel and accommodation were covered by Microsoft). The resounding message: AI agents will transform work as we know it. Those not on board will be left behind.
Microsoft pitches its AI assistant Copilot as the “UX for AI.” It says startups can use Copilot to create custom agents to automate entrepreneurship, from vibe coding to business plans to product design and testing.
CEO Satya Nadella told assembled media the agentic web lets entrepreneurs widen “the scope and scale of [their] ambition.” Nadella’s ambition, of course, is that this generation’s garage-launched startups continue using Microsoft products and justify the company’s ongoing multi-billion-dollar investment in AI.
But Canadian companies are riding the agentic wave. Cohere embraced agents with its North platform, an enterprise Copilot competitor. Ada offers plug-and-play customer service agents, powered by Microsoft. OpenSesame created a platform to manage AI agents.
Inovia’s Chris Arsenault told BetaKit in November that companies building without AI “will hit a wall.” That doesn’t mean tacking AI onto your product is an instant win. He also warned that 50 percent of AI-enabled companies could fold within the next 18 months.
For those that are left, “the fight will be…how they become a platform, not a product or a feature.”
Madison McLauchlan
Reporter
Consensus 2025: Where Innovation & Ambition Collide
Connect, collaborate, and close deals with 20,000 innovators, investors, and leaders shaping the future of finance and technology.
Visit go.coindesk.com/betakit to sign up and save 20%.
Tariffs vs the world
Canada appears to have escaped the worst of the United States’ (US) latest and most dramatic round of tariffs, which have unsettled the global economy, but the tech sector’s sense of uncertainty hasn’t changed.
- Prime Minister Mark Carney said the US has signalled additional tariffs on so-called strategic sectors, including pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, and indicated Canada would fight back.
- The ongoing uncertainty has had both direct and knock-on effects on Canadian businesses, which have been left to strategize hypotheticals while facing rising costs.
- A number of publicly traded Canadian tech companies, including Shopify and Lightspeed, have been dragged down by the market’s visceral reaction, which spurred one of the worst trading days in decades.
- All the doom and gloom doesn’t mean companies are sitting on their hands. Toronto business-expenses startup Float rolled out a new foreign exchange product aimed at helping business clients convert between currencies more easily and cost effectively as they contend with the trade war fallout.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre promises to defer capital gains taxes if proceeds reinvested in Canada
Conservative Party of Canada Leader Pierre Poilievre has rolled out a proposal to defer capital gains taxes in what he calls a bid to spur domestic investment.
Poilievre said that if elected, the capital gains tax on asset sales, such as of stock or property, would be deferred until after the end of 2026 if the proceeds are reinvested in Canada. Capital gains taxes for those investments in Canadian businesses would be deferred, too, until investors cash out or invest them outside of the country.
Kensington acquires One9 to establish a defence tech VC platform
Toronto asset manager Kensington Capital Partners has acquired the venture capital (VC) business of Ottawa-based One9 to establish its own defence technology VC platform.
In a joint interview with BetaKit, One9 founder and managing partner Glenn Cowan and Kensington senior managing director Rick Nathan said that the two firms decided to join forces to capitalize on a variety of tailwinds poised to benefit the defence tech sector, including increased interest in defence investment in the wake of rising international tensions.
Together, they plan to invest in more defence tech startups and VC funds both in Canada and abroad.
Three Canadian quantum startups selected for US military-backed quantum race program
Toronto-based Xanadu, Vancouver-based Photonic, and Sherbrooke, Que.-based Nord Quantique have all been chosen to participate in the first round of a US military-supported research program aiming to build a usable quantum computer by 2033.
The program is run by a research and development (R&D) agency of the US Department of Defense, with selected companies jockeying for up to $316 million USD ($445 million CAD) in funding if they can show they can develop a fault-tolerant quantum computer that works
Ontario subsidizes Siemens’ new R&D facility after CEOs plead province to prioritize homegrown production
German multinational technology conglomerate Siemens is investing $150 million CAD over five years to establish what it calls a Global AI Manufacturing Technologies R&D Center for Battery Production in Canada.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford called the investment a “vote of confidence” in the province, which supported the investment with $7.2 million through the Invest Ontario Fund. The financial support follows an open letter signed by 75 Ontario CEOs last week that called on Ford to support homegrown innovation by prioritizing provincial resources, including investment vehicles like Invest Ontario, for Ontario-based companies.
Optimism continues in Canadian decentralized finance as DeFi and WonderFi report major gains year-over-year
Two of Canada’s larger decentralized finance (DeFi) companies marked big gains in their 2024 earnings reports this week.
DeFi Technologies reported that its assets under management jumped last year to $1.18 billion CAD, a 132 percent increase over 2023, while fellow Toronto crypto company WonderFi said its revenues more than doubled in 2024 to $62.1 million, an increase of 108 percent. Accordingly, both DeFi Technologies and WonderFi are optimistic about 2025.
Meanwhile, San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Kraken gained a restricted dealer licence from Canadian regulators this week. What Kraken does with that regulatory greenlight will be overseen by its newest leader of Canadian operations, Cynthia Del Pozo. Kraken said Del Pozo will strengthen its regulatory, political, and commercial relationships as it scales its presence across North America.
Weekly Canadian Deals & Dollars 🇨🇦
- VIC – Tiny buys controlling stake in DJ software Serato for $94.5M
- RCH – Former Blue Origin CEO to advise General Fusion
- VAN – Well Health acquires controlling stake of partner Healwell
- VAN – Trulioo taps former Nuvei exec to succeed retiring CEO
- RAY – Family-owned biotech AdvancedAg secures $2M from Raven
- MTL – Vopemed raises $2.29M pre-seed to develop AI-powered surgery visuals
The BetaKit Podcast — Katherine Homuth revisited
“This is worth the pain of attempting to figure out how to do it. But attempting to figure out how to do it required us to basically rethink everything about that traditional outsourcing model.”
Revisiting BetaKit’s January interview with SRTX founder Katherine Homuth about her company’s ambitious goal to modernize Western textile manufacturing in light of recent news that she will step down as CEO contingent on a deal to secure new financing.
The BetaKit Quiz — This week: Trump’s tech pardon, Poilievre’s tax pitch, and a Blue Origin alum bets on future fuel
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 Apr. 4, 2025.
Take BetaKit’s Web Summit Vancouver Survey
Web Summit Vancouver will take place from May 27-30, and BetaKit will be there.
Are you going? Who do you want to see? Which BC companies and tech leaders should be on the radar of those attending? What are your recommendations for the best local restaurants, hangouts, and hotels? Let us know by taking this super quick survey!
We’ll include anonymized insights from our audience as part of forthcoming BetaKit content on Web Summit.
Win $30K at the Uniting the Prairies Pitch Competition — deadline tomorrow!
Prairie tech founders have one last chance to win $30K at the Prize of the Prairies pitch competition — hosted live in Saskatoon at the Uniting the Prairies (UP) tech conference. This is more than just a pitch competition; it’s an opportunity to showcase your startup to 650+ tech ecosystem members, investors, government leaders, and business professionals.
Get unparalleled exposure, connect with exited founders and active investors, and compete for non-dilutive cash to help your business scale! Applicants also have a chance to be featured in the UP25 dealbook, platforming top startups to 80+ attending investors.
Applications close tomorrow! Secure your UP25 ticket now to apply.
Feature image courtesy Microsoft.