As Web Summit Vancouver wrapped up the first of three tech conferences planned for the city between now and 2027, three things were clear: the weather was perfect, traffic was nowhere close to as bad as Toronto’s, and the vibes were positive.
A scaled-down version of its predecessor Collision, Web Summit Vancouver featured nearly 16,000 attendees in its inaugural year—less than half of the 38,000 attendee tally that descended on Toronto last year. The reduced scope also meant fewer speakers, investors, and media in attendance, but conference organizers noted the 1,100 exhibiting startups were a record for any first-year Web Summit event.
But the reduced size and scope did not seem to deter the local tech entrepreneurs, investors, and leaders BetaKit spoke to about the event, who expressed excitement about welcoming their peers from across Canada and around the world to Vancouver.
“We are definitely not going to let you down.”
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim
The week’s proceedings kicked off with remarks from Web Summit CEO Paddy Cosgrave, who specifically thanked British Columbia (BC) Minister of Finance Brenda Bailey and Vancouver mayor Ken Sim for their early support in bringing the event to Vancouver.
Speaking alongside Cosgrave, Sim said the city was thrilled to welcome the tech world to the West Coast, and keen to ensure Vancouver takes full advantage of its role as Web Summit host. “Thank you for giving us this opportunity,” he said to Cosgrave. “We are definitely not going to let you down.”
Claiming that “Vancouver is more than just the views,” Sim emphasized the city’s strength in specific tech verticals like augmented reality, artificial intelligence (AI), cleantech, crypto, digital media, and life sciences. The message mirrored some of the programming surrounding the event designed to highlight BC’s capabilities in these areas.
“That’s insane.”
The promise and challenges associated with AI dominated conversations and panels the week. New York University professor emeritus Gary Marcus sounded off on the limitations of large language models on opening night, and Cohere co-founder Ivan Zhang discussed the proof-of-concept fatigue amongst enterprises racing to adopt generative AI the following day.
This year’s content was less celebrity-focused and perhaps more political than usual. Erratic tariff and border policies from the United States (US)—which have upended conferences across Canada and fuelled global macroeconomic uncertainty—hung over this week’s proceedings.
When asked about how all US instability had impacted WSV in a joint press conference with Sim, Cosgrave said, “To put it very bluntly, I think we’re quite fortunate that the event is in Vancouver,” and not the US.
Last year, Destination Vancouver projected that WSV would generate close to $57 million in direct spending and more than $93 million in overall economic impact for BC in its first year.
Asked what success looks like to him during his press conference with Cosgrave, Sim proclaimed that WSV is “already a winner,” asserting, “we’ve already hit our targets.”
Sim floated during that press conference that he hopes to see WSV grow to 40,000 attendees by 2027. He did not respond to an interview request from BetaKit.
When asked about the mayor’s attendee target, Web Summit executive vice-president of Asia-Pacific Casey Lau replied, “That’s insane.” But Lau did say he expects attendance to come closer to 30,000 next year.
Hitting that number will require Web Summit organizers and their supporters to make a few easy fixes. The slightly diminished VC attendance numbers (700, about 8 percent less than last year) could partially be attributed to the event taking place at the same time as the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association’s annual Invest Canada event, luring lots of investors who might have otherwise been at WSV.
Lau hoped next year would see greater engagement from Western Canada and a more involved federal presence (InBC CEO Jill Earthy noted to BetaKit that the lack of a ‘Canada Booth’ at a conference with over 50 trade delegations was a miss). Lau added that local organizations “kind of dropped the ball” on doing more to showcase the surrounding area to international attendees, through charter tours to Kelowna, Victoria, or even Stanley Park.
“ I think there may be some doubters even in our partners here, but I think now we’ve proven that it’s gonna be quite big and they’ll be more prepared next year,” he said.
Lau also mentioned an opportunity for Web Summit Vancouver to connect with the region’s gaming industry, which was music to the ears of Shane Nilsson, co-founder of local game company Coal Car Studio. Close to launching its new virtual reality game Fruit Golf in early access this year, Coal Car was selected as one of 12 studios to represent BC’s creative technology sector at WSV as part of the BC Pavilion showcase.
Speaking with BetaKit, Nilsson said the showcase was a “valuable experience,” but noted Web Summit could do much more to attract and spotlight the province’s creative tech ecosystem.
Worth “every penny”
Vancouver began exploring the idea of luring Collision to the city in 2023 before inking an agreement to establish Web Summit Vancouver last year. That deal includes up to $14.8 million CAD in combined funding from the federal, provincial, and municipal governments over three years, including $1.6 million from the City of Vancouver, $6.6 million from the Government of Canada, and $6.6 million from the Government of BC.
That works out to less per year than the $6.5 million that Collision was receiving annually in Toronto and a far cry from the north of $40 million over three years the conference had once sought to stay in Toronto.
When asked by BetaKit whether she felt the investment was worthwhile, BC minister of jobs, economic development, and innovation Diana Gibson said, “Every penny. The relationships I’ve seen built already, the feedback we’ve heard is that the partnerships are here, the energy’s here.”
“I think it was a big risk for everybody. And actually, it worked.”
Casey Lau
“It’s so important that we’re here in Vancouver showcasing the innovation, the over 12,000 companies here [in BC] that are able to be on the world stage and what our government is doing to be at the table … is a real indicator of that priority,” Gibson said.
“Coming to Vancouver, I thought, was going to be a big challenge,” Lau said. “How are we going to get here? Are we going to be able to hit the numbers? New name .. and new city? I think it was a big risk for everybody. And actually, it worked.”
Certn co-founder and CEO Andrew McLeod agreed. “WSV was an awesome event for the community—really well organized and a fantastic excuse to see everyone,” he told BetaKit. “As a tech community in BC, we need more than ever to find reasons to come together, collaborate, and do business. Events like this are exactly what we need to keep building momentum.”
With files from Aaron Anandji.
Feature image courtesy Sam Barnes/Web Summit via Flickr.