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Canadian Tech in 100 Words

Gemini Spark Lands in Canada

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Google is bringing Gemini Spark, its 24/7 personal AI agent, to Canada for eligible Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers. The experimental tool is designed to complete multi-step tasks across a user’s digital life under their direction, moving Gemini beyond chat toward proactive, agentic assistance.

Spark can work through the Gemini web app, mobile app, and macOS app, helping with planning, research, organization, and follow-through while connected to Google’s broader product ecosystem. The Canadian rollout follows Google I/O, where the company framed Spark as part of Gemini’s next evolution from conversational assistant to always-available digital collaborator for everyday productivity tool.

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Wealthsimple Posts Biggest Quarter

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Wealthsimple reported $17 billion in net flows in the second quarter, its largest quarter ever, as assets under administration nearly doubled year over year. The Toronto fintech says growth was driven by demand for chequing and spending products, not only investing.

The update follows a product push into household finance, business chequing, kids and teens accounts, authorized trading, spending insights, and monthly rewards. Wealthsimple ended the first quarter with $124.8 billion in assets and 3.4 million clients, including one in five Canadians aged 18 to 40 using at least one product, according to the company nationally.

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KPMG Canada Deepens OpenAI Push

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KPMG Canada has formed a strategic alliance with OpenAI to help Canadian organizations move from AI pilots to enterprise-wide deployment. The firm has been named an OpenAI Elite Partner, the highest tier in OpenAI’s Partner Network, and will combine OpenAI technology with KPMG’s transformation, governance, and risk management expertise.

KPMG says it has already enabled more than 3,000 Canadian employees with ChatGPT Enterprise and is using Codex in Deal Advisory to review transaction documents and financial data faster. The alliance also includes cybersecurity work through OpenAI’s Daybreak Cyber Partner Program, targeting secure, responsible AI adoption across public and private sectors.

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Terminal Raises $20M to Connect Truck Data

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Toronto startup Terminal has raised a Series A round led by Battery Ventures, with participation from existing backers Y Combinator and Wayfinder Ventures, plus Intact’s private capital arm and truck dealer Penske.

The 17-person company unifies data from trucks, including dashcam footage, GPS coordinates, dashboard warnings, and 325 connected data sources, so insurers, financial firms, and service providers can use it more easily. Terminal says the funding will help meet partner demand. CEO Raghav Midha plans to double headcount this year. The company is betting commercial vehicle data can support fraud prevention, insurance pricing, and more efficient fleet services nationwide.

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New York Fintech Ramp Opens Canadian Finance Hub

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New York fintech Ramp has launched its finance platform in Canada and is opening a downtown Toronto office to support local customers. The Canadian offering combines corporate cards, payments, expense management, tax automation, approvals, reimbursements, bill payments, and accounting workflows.

Businesses can issue Canadian-dollar physical and virtual cards alongside U.S.-dollar virtual cards, while Ramp’s software captures GST, HST, PST, and QST information from receipts. The company says more than 70,000 organizations use its platform, powering over $200 billion in purchases annually. Canadian Ramp cards are issued by Peoples Trust Company, and Quebec and Saskatchewan businesses are not yet eligible today.

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Liquid Interactive Lets Anyone Make Visual-First Interactive Experiences With AI

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Liquid Interactive has launched from Canadian AI venture studio AXL with $700,000 CAD in pre-seed funding and a bet that AI’s next interface will be interactive, not text-based. Co-founded by Sasha Ivanov and Ben Pearman, the company began inside AXL after the pair built Maple Scan, an iOS app with 130,000 downloads.

Its first product, Liquid Photos, turns iPhone camera rolls into visual experiences users can swipe through, pull apart, question, share online, or export as video. Early demos have topped one million views, while Liquid Studio will bring the technology to brands, agencies, and creative teams.

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TravelAI Revives Sonder Brand

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Vancouver-based TravelAI has acquired the Sonder brand and relaunched Sonder.com as a curated guide to design-led urban accommodations. Through parent UpNext Ventures, TravelAI bought the Sonder word mark, more than 50 global trademark registrations, and over 70 domain names through the court-supervised bankruptcy of Sonder Canada and Hospitalité Sonder Canada.

The deal excludes Sonder’s former operating business, properties, leases, inventory, and employees. Instead, Sonder.com now features homes, boutique hotels, and urban stays from partners including Booking.com, Expedia, and Vrbo. TravelAI says the brand will pair with its AI personalization technology and network of 530-plus travel brands worldwide at global scale.

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Shakepay Joins Payment Rails

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Montreal-based Shakepay has joined Interac e-Transfer as a Participant, giving the bitcoin-focused financial app more direct access to one of Canada’s core payment rails. The move follows Interac’s broader expansion of network access to regulated payment service providers, after similar steps by Wealthsimple, Neo Financial, and KOHO.

For Shakepay, participation supports faster product development, more control over money movement, and a deeper role in everyday Canadian payments beyond crypto trading. The company, founded in 2015, has grown to more than 1.3 million registered accounts and already offers direct deposit, bill payments, e-transfers, and bitcoin rewards to users nationwide today onward.

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ChatFeatured Raises for AI Search

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Toronto-based ChatFeatured has raised US$2 million in an oversubscribed pre-seed round to build an autonomous AI search agent for marketing teams. The financing was led by Storytime Capital, with participation from Garage Capital and BY Venture Partners.

Founded in January 2026 by Farris Nasr and Nithiiyan Skhanthan, ChatFeatured helps companies improve visibility inside AI-generated answers by analyzing cited sources, identifying competitor gaps, creating content strategies, publishing content, and tracking lift across AI search platforms. The company says it already serves customers in five countries and is growing more than 40 percent month over month while expanding team and product development.

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Rogers Scores With World Cup Traffic

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Rogers says its 5G+ network carried 510 terabytes of wireless data as Canada hosted soccer’s biggest event, equal to uploading 102 million photos. The company invested $27 million in Toronto and Vancouver network upgrades ahead of 13 World Cup matches, covering stadiums, watch parties, fan zones, hotels, airports, transit hubs, and other high-traffic areas.

In Toronto, the work included an enhanced in-stadium wireless system equivalent to adding 16 downtown cell towers, additional 5G+ spectrum, and temporary Cells on Wheels and Cells on Light Facilities. Rogers says the upgrades delivered faster speeds, lower latency, more capacity, and lasting local benefits nationwide.

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