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Canadian Tech in 100 Words

Waabi Lands Largest Canadian Tech Round

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Toronto-based autonomous vehicle startup Waabi raised US$750 million in all-equity Series C financing, the largest funding round in Canadian tech history. Founder and chief executive Raquel Urtasun said the primary capital accelerates Waabi’s physical AI platform, commercial self-driving trucks, and expansion into robotaxis through an exclusive partnership with Uber.

The round was co-led by Khosla Ventures and G2 Venture Partners, with participation from Nvidia, Porsche, Volvo, Radical Ventures, BDC Capital, Export Development Canada, BlackRock-managed funds, and others. The raise surpasses Canadian megadeals and brings Waabi’s funding to US$1.28 billion globally.

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Calian Puts $100M Into Defence Tech

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Calian is putting real capital behind Canada’s defence-tech ambitions. Its $100 million Calian Ventures platform blends corporate investment, co-development with SMBs, and public funding to accelerate C5ISRT technologies across land, sea, air, space, and cyber.

Launched in late 2025, the program helps companies test, validate, and sell solutions to the Canadian Armed Forces without acting like a traditional accelerator. Defence lead Chris Pogue says sovereign capability needs private capital momentum. With 50 applicants already and plans for national development labs, Calian Ventures arrives as Ottawa and investors intensify focus on domestic defence innovation and procurement reform.

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Prévoir Secures $750K for AI Merchandising

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Calgary-based fashion technology startup Prévoir raised $750,000 in pre-seed financing to expand its computer vision-driven merchandising platform. The round was led by AltaML, an Alberta-based applied AI firm. Prévoir analyzes product images to extract attributes such as colour, silhouette, and material, linking them to sales and inventory performance. Founder Courtney Kos said the software supports human judgment rather than replacing it.

Offered as a $250-per-month Shopify app, Prévoir targets small and mid-sized retailers. The funding will scale infrastructure, product features, and customer support, positioning the company for a potential seed round in 2026.

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Canada Ranks Sixth for Startup Environment

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StartupBlink ranked Canada sixth globally for business conditions for technology startups in its newly released Innovators Business Environment Index. The study assessed 125 countries on how easily companies can launch, operate, and scale. Canada trailed only the United States, Singapore, United Kingdom, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates.

StartupBlink cited strong institutions, digital infrastructure, global mobility, and regulatory conditions. Canada ranked third for rewards and penalties and fourth for ease of operations, while identifying entrepreneur tax burden as an area for improvement. Canada also placed fifth in StartupBlink’s latest ecosystem rankings.

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Ottawa Startup Pluvo Joins a16z Program

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Ottawa-founded Pluvo has been selected for Andreessen Horowitz’s a16z speedrun program, a highly competitive 12-week accelerator for category-defining companies. Chosen from more than 19,000 applicants worldwide, Pluvo ranked in the top 0.4 percent and among a small cohort of Canadian startups accepted.

The company develops decision intelligence software designed to capture contextual reasoning behind organizational choices, moving beyond traditional systems of record. Founded in Ottawa, Pluvo is now co-headquartered in San Francisco to support a U.S.-led go-to-market strategy while retaining its Canadian talent base. The selection underscores growing investor interest in next-generation AI-powered enterprise software.

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BDC Makes First Defence Investments

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Business Development Bank of Canada made its first defence-linked investments, co-leading a $6.2-million seed round in Toronto-based Canada Rocket Company and joining a pre-seed round for Sherbrooke, Que.-based semiconductor startup Irréversible. The Crown corporation also partnered with Creative Destruction Lab on a program for dual-use technologies spanning defence, national security, and critical infrastructure.

In December, BDC unveiled a $4-billion platform, including $3.5 billion for financing and $500 million for investments. Executive vice-president Geneviève Bouthillier said the deals used BDC’s $100-million seed fund. The strategy supports sovereignty-focused national projects across Canada.

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Vention Raises $110M for Automation Push

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Vention has raised US$110 million to scale its AI-powered automation and robotics platform, with backing from Investissement Québec, Desjardins Capital, Fidelity-managed funds in Canada, and NVentures. The financing accelerates Zero-Shot Automation, Vention’s approach promising deployment without integration and first-time-right operation, while funding expansion across Europe.

CEO Etienne Lacroix said manufacturers want intuitive, software-like automation as reshoring accelerates. Vention blends hardware, software, Physical AI, and cloud tools to cut timelines from months to days. Enterprise customers are standardizing on the platform across plants worldwide, at unprecedented global scale.

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Float, Wise, Koho, Paramount, and Brim Join Payments Canada

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Payments Canada admitted five payment service providers—Wise, Float, KOHO, Paramount Commerce, and Brim—advancing fintech access ahead of the Real-Time Rail launch. Enabled by amendments to the Canadian Payments Act, registered PSPs can now join governance shaping national infrastructure. President and CEO Susan E. Hawkins said broader membership boosts competitiveness and innovation.

The additions span consumer finance, cross-border transfers, spend management, and account-based payments. Payments Canada clears over $411 billion daily across ACSS, Lynx, and forthcoming RTR. New members must meet Bank of Canada registration, security, and operational standards requirements today.

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Toronto Tech Week Secures City Partnership

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Toronto Tech Week will return May 25–29, 2026, backed by a new multi-year partnership with the City of Toronto after a breakout inaugural year. In 2025, the community-led event drew more than 15,000 attendees, 500 speakers, and 315 events across 27 neighbourhoods. Mayor Olivia Chow said the agreement signals a long-term commitment to innovation, talent retention, and competitiveness.

Founding sponsors include the City, Shopify, and Google for Startups, with Bell, Osler, Hoskin and Ada supporting. Programming will span panels, demos, hackathons, open houses, and a Homecoming mainstage, citywide experiences planned.

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Y Combinator Ends Direct Canadian Investment

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Y Combinator has stopped investing in startups incorporated in Canada, forcing accepted firms to reincorporate abroad, The Logic reported. Updated deal terms now limit eligibility to the United States, Cayman Islands, or Singapore, requiring structural flips for others. Canada disappeared from YC webpages in November 2025 after backing Canadian companies since 2008.

The accelerator invests US$500,000 for seven percent and draws major venture funds to demo day. Alumni include Vidyard, SRTX, and CoLab. None of winter 2026’s 99 companies list Canada headquarters. YC declined comment as applications close February 9, 2026.

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