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Canadian Tech in 100 Words

RBC Backs Canadian Scaleups

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RBC is launching a $1.4 billion initiative to back Canadian technology companies with global potential, anchored by the new RBCx Growth Fund I. The bank will invest up to $416 million and focus on late-stage companies in enterprise software, health tech, frontier tech, energy and climate tech, and agtech.

RBC says the fund will pair equity capital with commercialization, advisory, partnership, and expansion support. The goal is to help more Canadian startups scale at home instead of relying on foreign-led growth rounds, where RBC says Canada has historically lagged the U.S. in domestic investor leadership and ownership.

Want to know more? Check out the source code here.

DCPayments Takes E-Transfer to Checkout

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DCPayments has become the first company in Canada to bring Interac e-Transfer Business Request Money directly to online checkout for merchants. The launch lets shoppers authorize payments from their bank account in real time, while merchants receive confirmation before fulfilling orders. DCPayments says the product can lower transaction costs, reduce chargeback risk, and offer an alternative to cards for ecommerce.

The company, part of Digital Commerce Group, already provides access to Interac e-Transfer, EFT, Visa Direct, and Mastercard Send. The launch adds another account-based payment option as Canadian checkout evolves beyond traditional card rails for businesses and consumers nationwide today.

Want to know more? Check out the source code on Fintech.ca.

Neo Narrows Its Focus

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Calgary-based Neo Financial has cut staff as the fintech sharpens its focus after years of rapid expansion. In a LinkedIn post, CEO and co-founder Andrew Chau said the company made difficult changes to simplify the business, increase accountability, and concentrate on the opportunities where Neo can have the greatest impact.

The move follows a busy year that included a $68.5 million raise, a $150 million credit-card securitization with BMO, and direct participation in Interac e-Transfer. Founded in 2019, Neo has raised more than $650 million while building products across credit, savings, mortgages, payments, and embedded finance nationally at scale today.

Want to know more? Check out the source code on Calgary.tech.

Elevate Returns With Sovereign Focus

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Elevate Festival returns to Toronto September 22 to 24 for its ninth year, marking the growth of Canada’s homegrown tech and innovation gathering into a national platform.

This year’s lineup includes Kyle Lowry, Cohere Canada’s Michael Pelosi, Xanadu founder Christian Weedbrook, Clio founder Jack Newton, Borrowell co-founder Eva Wong, Dominion Dynamics CEO Eliot Pence, Reddit communications chief Adam Collins, DuckDuckGo product chief Beah Burger-Lenehan, and ElevenLabs CEO Mati Staniszewski.

Programming will focus on AI, fintech, autonomous vehicles, stablecoins, cybersecurity, and Canada’s sovereign technology future, including a new Sovereign Growth track developed with DMZ and BDC for founders, investors, and operators.

Want to know more? Check out the source code here.

Nextdoor Bets on Local Trust

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Nextdoor is rolling out product improvements in Canada, the U.S., and the U.K. to make local business discovery more trusted and useful. The neighbourhood network says business recommendations already represent nearly 30 percent of platform content, reflecting demand for word-of-mouth referrals from verified neighbours

New features include Local Faves, a dedicated hub ranking nearby businesses by neighbour endorsements, easier-to-browse Business Pages, and annual Fave Award voting. Nextdoor is also redesigning free Business Pages with cover photos, neighbour comments, and simpler contact tools, positioning itself against anonymous reviews, paid rankings, and fake online credibility for small businesses.

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Wealthsimple Tallies Banking’s Hidden Costs

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Wealthsimple is using a national print campaign to make Canadian banking fees more visible, offering a line-by-line tally of monthly charges, transaction limits, foreign-exchange markups, ATM fees, overdraft costs, investment fees, and transfer penalties.

In a Fintech.ca interview, Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer Paul Teshima said the goal is to show how small, recurring costs can erode savings and pressure competitors toward clearer pricing. The campaign lands as Wealthsimple pushes deeper into everyday finance, with $17 billion in second-quarter net flows and chequing account openings surpassing investing accounts for the first time, reinforcing its challenge to large traditional Canadian banks.

Want to know more? Check out the source code on Fintech.ca.

Kardium Scales Heart-Tech Manufacturing

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Burnaby-based Kardium is investing $125 million to expand manufacturing of its Globe Pulsed Field System, a heart-treatment technology for atrial fibrillation. Ottawa will contribute up to $31.25 million through the Strategic Response Fund, supporting a major cleanroom expansion in British Columbia.

The project is expected to boost annual production capacity from 500 units to 30,000, while creating and maintaining 1,000 highly skilled jobs and keeping intellectual property in Canada. Kardium says the expansion will help bring its system to more physicians and patients worldwide after securing key regulatory approvals for the technology earlier this year in North American commercial markets.

Want to know more? Check out the source code on Techcouver.com.

Kepler Turns Space Into Infrastructure

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Toronto-based Kepler Communications has moved its optical data relay network into commercial service, positioning space itself as part of the data-centre stack. The first tranche, launched in January, includes 10 satellites with optical terminals, multi-GPU computing modules, and terabytes of storage.

Kepler says the network supports commercial and government customers globally with low-latency routing, edge processing, and faster delivery of data from Earth observation, defence, surveillance, and space-domain awareness missions. The company has demonstrated space-to-space links, connections to more than 10 optical ground stations, and an optical relay between low Earth orbit and an aircraft, with expansion planned for 2028.

Want to know more? Check out the source code on DataCentre.ca.

Helcim Charts Independent Payments Path

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Calgary-based Helcim has raised $53 million in Series C funding, led by BDC Capital’s Growth Venture Fund, as Canada’s payments sector shifts around it. The round included Curql Collective, Gold House Ventures, and returning backers including Headline, Aquiline, Information Venture Partners, Vesey Ventures, Clocktower Ventures, and Alberta Accelerate Fund.

Helcim has now raised about $100 million since 2022, with its valuation climbing to $250 million. The company says it has surpassed C$150 million in annual recurring revenue, serves more than 22,000 merchants, and is on pace to process nearly $10 billion in annual payments volume.

Want to know more? Check out the source code on Fintech.ca.

OTI Pushes Quantum Materials Forward

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Toronto-based OTI Lumionics and Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology say they have achieved 200-qubit quantum emulation on readily accessible hardware, demonstrating a practical path for materials discovery before fault-tolerant quantum computers arrive. The work used OTI’s iterative Qubit Coupled Cluster algorithm to model complex OLED materials with quantum-level accuracy on classical accelerated computing infrastructure.

OTI says the approach can outperform traditional chemistry methods while avoiding the cost and scarcity of large supercomputing clusters or quantum hardware. For display makers, the milestone could accelerate discovery of next-generation OLED materials used in phones, televisions, wearables, and other advanced electronics products at scale.

Want to know more? Check out the source code here.