Earlier this year, Canada’s then-Minister of Innovation François-Philippe Champagne delivered a message to the nation after speaking with business leaders in Montréal.
“C’est un signal d’alarme,” he said. A wake-up call.
“This is about startups reassessing their priorities to make sure that they remain free to innovate.”
Guillaume Gilbert, OVHcloud
The message wasn’t just about tariffs or diplomatic spats. It was about Canada’s dependency on American markets and infrastructure. In 2025, that dependency is being tested.
Among those in the room with Champagne were representatives from OVHcloud, a global cloud provider that’s been operating in Canada since 2012.
For Guillaume Gilbert, who leads communications and public affairs at OVHcloud, the moment crystallized a shift already underway in the startup world.
“Startups are realizing they can’t put all their eggs in one basket,” Gilbert said. “They need providers who are transparent about what they do with your data.”
Startups used to treat cloud infrastructure like plumbing—essential, but invisible. Now it’s strategic.
Rising geopolitical tensions, new data privacy laws, and the growing complexity of international markets are exposing how much founders depend on where their data lives, who can access it, and how fast it can be moved.
“Until now, having diversified cloud providers was a nice-to-have. Now it seems urgent,” said Katya Guez, Startup Program Manager at OVHcloud. “That’s really the echo I’ve been hearing from startups, that this is a priority, because their business is at stake.”
Increasingly, customers, investors, and grant providers are asking companies to explain where their data is and why they’ve chosen a particular provider.
“People used to just accept the terms and conditions and give up control of their data. But now they’re asking more questions, closing accounts they don’t agree with, and doing a bit more due diligence,” Guez added.
According to Brock Rowlands of London, Ont.-based managed service provider Evormore, the conversation around cloud adoption in manufacturing has shifted.
“Six months ago, this was a different conversation,” Rowlands said. At the time, manufacturers were only beginning to explore cloud options and paid little attention to sovereignty concerns.
Today, Rowlands noted, startups like his are more accountable than ever for their cloud choices, and are working to ensure they meet their customers’ expectations to keep data “sovereign, private, and secure.”
That urgency is echoing across Canada’s tech ecosystem, and it’s not just startups asking these questions. OVHcloud is also hearing from Canadian partners like ventureLAB.
Garry Chan, Head of AI Initiatives at ventureLAB, said recent trade tensions with the US have made investment in domestic AI infrastructure an “absolute necessity.”
“Building AI compute in Canada offers a unique opportunity to create a nimble, energy-efficient mix of technology solutions tailored for today’s demands, while capitalizing on Canada’s inherent strengths,” Chan added.
The stakes
Companies are right to be nervous. Canadian investor John Ruffolo recently pointed out that the US Cloud Act gives President Donald Trump the ability to extract data or shut down data centres in the name of national security.
“They do not need to notify the foreign government nor the company whose data is either breached or shut down,” he posted on Linkedin. “China has similar laws.”
Just last month, Microsoft’s top legal officer said the company would take the US government to court to prevent the US government from impacting service or security for its European customers.
Increased regulation is also prompting startups to rethink their use of the cloud.
Laws like Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Bill 25 in Québec impose some of the strictest standards for privacy and data residency.
On the regulatory front, OVHcloud operates under the strictest privacy rules, that cover Canadian and European data protection laws. The company is also immune to the risks of extraterritoriality, which makes it easier for startups to build in one market and sell into another without having to re-architect their stack or privacy terms.
All of this is prompting more long-term thinking when it comes to signing infrastructure contracts.
Many startups begin with whatever cloud solution offers the fastest setup or the biggest incentives, Guez explained, but find themselves locked in and unable to leave when their provider increases prices or when a regulation change warrants it. “Startups need to remain agile and plan for those risks if they want to stay in business longer term,” she added.
This means moving isn’t easy. Closed ecosystems often force startups to rewrite large parts of their code just to switch providers. Some also charge egress fees, which are essentially a penalty for downloading or moving data away.
OVHcloud has built its infrastructure around reversibility, according to Guez. Its architecture avoids proprietary traps and hidden exit fees, which means data can be moved out without penalty. Its tools are open, portable, and designed for interoperability from the start.
That support is landing at the right time. Gilbert said that a sense of urgency is showing up in pitch meetings, procurement forms, and product roadmaps, and OVHcloud suddenly feels like “the popular kid.”
“This is about startups reassessing their priorities to make sure that they remain free to innovate,” he said. “And making sure they have freedom of choice when it comes to the technology they’re using.”
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OVHcloud’s Startup Program starts by offering $14,000 CAD in free credits to early-stage companies, along with one-on-one engineering support to help founders build cloud environments that can scale and adapt. As startups grow, that support can increase step by step, up to $140,000 CAD for more advanced scaleups.
Future-proof your cloud strategy and apply to the OVHcloud Startup Program today.
Feature image courtesy of Unsplash. Photo by Markus Spiske.