Toronto is getting a new tech event this year. You can read about the details here or below.
BetaKit is a proud media partner, and it is great to see local leaders come together to fill the Collision-sized hole in the city’s summer dance card, but there’s bigger news afoot regarding Toronto Tech Week.
That news being the inaugural issue of BetaKit’s Most Ambitious, to be released in digital and print formats, highlighting inspiring tech efforts from across the country. Because BetaKit is filled with ambitious people, we’re also hosting a Most Ambitious evening event and a BetaKit Town Hall during Tech Week.
We’re keeping details pretty close to the vest for now, but I can tell you we’re aiming for a collection that is both credible and distinct. Ambition has long been Canada’s 600-pound beaver in the room, and we’re hoping to forward the conversation in a meaningful way.
Could BetaKit set a positive example for ambition in Canadian tech? Time will tell.
For now, I’m most excited by the prospect of discovering ambitious individuals or organizations across this country I hadn’t known about before.
To aid in that endeavour, I’m deputizing you. Canadian tech’s most ambitious: tell me who and (most importantly) why.
Douglas Soltys
Editor-in-chief
Join the University of Toronto entrepreneurship community on March 6 at 4:00 p.m. ET as Geoffrey Hinton takes the stage. The U of T University Professor Emeritus and 2024 Nobel laureate in Physics will discuss his groundbreaking work in AI and offer invaluable guidance to startups. RSVP for the global livestream or join the waitlist for Toronto’s in-person event.
TOP STORIES OF THE WEEK
BDC Capital targets late-stage tech companies with nearly $1 billion in new fund commitments
In an effort to counter low investment activity in Canada, the venture arm of the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) will inject nearly $1 billion across its Growth Venture Fund and its Growth Equity Partners program.
Victoria-based background-check technology startup Certn and Toronto-based software rollup company Quadshift immediately benefitted from the agency’s topped-up investment vehicles, securing a combined $53 million in funding.
Megadeals kept Canadian VC funding afloat in 2024: report
A new report shows venture capital investments in Canadian tech last year grew slightly compared to 2023, buoyed by later-stage megadeals, while seed-stage funding continued to struggle.
In its year-end market overview, the Canadian Venture Capital Association tracked $7.86 billion CAD invested across 592 deals in 2024, a roughly 10-percent increase in dollar value over the previous year. But without Vancouver-based legaltech firm Clio’s $1.24-billion Series F round, the total amount invested nationwide would have dropped by six percent year-over-year.
Local leaders launch Toronto Tech Week to accelerate city’s ambitions
A new annual Toronto event initiative led by local tech leaders has launched to fill the gap left by Collision’s departure to Vancouver.
Toronto Tech Week will take place from June 23-27 and feature a variety of partner-hosted and community events designed to cement the city’s reputation as a global tech powerhouse.
Led by a new volunteer-run, non-profit organization, Toronto Tech Week has received financial backing from presenting sponsors Shopify, Google Cloud, and the City of Toronto to feature a variety of community-run events, as well as anchor events and experiences.
Kraken Robotics emerges from the deep to take top spot on 2025 TSX Venture 50 list
The TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV) has released the Kraken alongside the 2025 TSX Venture 50, the list highlighting the 50 best-performing companies on the stock exchange last year.
St. John’s, Nfld.-based Kraken Robotics took the top spot this year, sporting a 323-percent share price appreciation and added more than $587 million to its market capitalization last year. The announcement comes alongside the passing of Kraken Robotics founder and former CEO, Karl Kenny, on Feb. 11 at age 64.
Some other technology companies that made the list include Vancouver-based Neptune Digital Assets and Kingston, Ont.’s SPARQ Systems.
FinTech startup Reach sells majority stake to US-based Primus Capital
American private equity firm Primus Capital has acquired a majority stake in Calgary’s Reach, which helps e-commerce and software-as-a-service companies sell globally.
Reach founder and CEO Sam Ranieri confirmed to BetaKit that the transaction was a majority recapitalization, but declined to share how much Primus invested in the FinTech startup or at what valuation.
“It’s just not your kind of standard majority recap in that the buyer was very, very, very much invested in the management team and the crew and where we’re going and where we’re delivering,” Ranieri told BetaKit in an interview.
Black merchants disheartened after Shopify guts another Equitable Commerce program
Black entrepreneurs say they have lost a “lifeline” after Shopify abruptly cut off their access to a support program as part of the company’s dismantling of its Equitable Commerce team.
On Feb. 1, at the start of Black History Month, Shopify locked the official Build Black Slack channel for participating merchants. The change coincides with broad layoffs across Shopify’s Equitable Commerce team, which was responsible for the company’s social impact initiatives.
Former Toronto Raptor Pascal Siakam teams up with DMZ to launch EdTech accelerator
Former Toronto Raptors power forward Pascal Siakam has joined forces with Toronto Metropolitan University’s technology incubator DMZ to jump-start a new accelerator for early-stage EdTech startups.
Founded by PS43 (Siakam’s not-for-profit foundation) and DMZ, the Siakam EdTech Engine is a 12-week virtual accelerator for companies across Canada and the United States that are developing products designed to transform K-12 education.
FEATURED STORIES FROM OUR PARTNERS
- The C100’s Geoff Baum says many startups stumble when expanding into a new market—often by under-resourcing and over-generalizing. The result? Wasted time, burned resources, and not enough traction. Read expert advice on how to expand internationally.
- What happens when Canada’s top tech minds take on real challenges in education? Last week, 250 innovators celebrated Koru’s 5th anniversary and celebrated the finale of a 10-day #hackathon, which tackled pressing issues faced by Ontario schools. Read more about how they put their skills to the test.
Weekly Canadian Deals & Dollars
- VAN – Biotech startup Reverb Therapeutics closes $17M seed round
- TOR – Glassbox emerges from stealth with $1.65M pre-seed round
- OTT – Hyperlume raises $17.8M seed round for data center tech
- OTT – Shopify brings Affirm BNPL partnership to Canada
- SHB – Quantum sector gets $8.1M boost from feds
- HFX – Tribe Network among second round of federal 2SLGBTQI+ Ecosystem Fund recipients
- CTN- New government-backed hub The Foundry launches in PEI
The BetaKit Podcast — How is Canadian tech responding to the trade war?
“Once you’ve cornered that beaver, look out. We are a vicious beast.”
Rob and Douglas review the latest dispatches in Canada’s impending trade war with the United States, specifically how Canadian tech is responding. Did someone poke the beaver and unleash Canada’s quiet patriotism? A 3-2 overtime hockey win points to yes.
Take The BetaKit Quiz – This week: GameStop shorts Canada, Microsoft’s eureka moment, a Raptor returns to Toronto
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 Feb. 21, 2025.
Feature image courtesy Mauricio J Calero for BetaKit.