Canadian-founded D-Wave Quantum will acquire Quantum Circuits in a $550M USD deal, paying $300M in stock and $250M in cash. The acquisition is expected to close later this month and includes a new R&D centre in New Haven, Connecticut.

MDA Space has signed a contract with the United States’ Missile Defense Agency, which operates through the US Department of War, to potentially help with President Donald Trump’s “Golden Dome” initiative.

Want better tech news in your search results? Google just rolled out its “preferred sources” feature that let's you customize which sources appear first in your search results. Here's a quick guide for adding BetaKit (or any publication you choose) as a preferred source.

Grok’s creation of non-consensual sexual images of women and children has exposed Canada’s legal gaps on deepfakes. @evansolomon.bsky.social’s office says legislation targeting deepfakes and data protection is expected this year. The issue on X remains ongoing.

The Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) is expanding efforts to increase #AI literacy with a new scholarship program aimed at environmental and atmospheric science students.

European startups are increasingly targeting Canada as a gateway into North America. At Horizon Sprint Week in Toronto, founders met investors, industry partners, and customers to support expansion plans.

BC farmers are modernizing operations by integrating robotics, autonomous systems, and precision tools, funded [email protected]’s On-Farm Technology Adoption Program.

📧 The latest BetaKit Newsletter features a #CDNTech Order of Canada appointee and the tech startup casting extras for Canada's favourite shows. PLUS: ✈️ Young Canadian entrepreneurs are leaving 🌏 Start-Up Visa woes 🍁 The Canadians inside the grok and Nvidia deal

“[This is] the right way for AI companies and publishers to do it, instead of suing each other.” Caseway CEO Alistair Vigier says his company and the non-profit CanLII have resolved the major issues in their ongoing copyright case.

[email protected], founded by a former Assent exec Rob Imbeault, has raised a “substantial” pre-seed round to address #AI "amnesia" The round includes backing from Mistral Venture Partners, @GarageCapital, DevCap, and others.

📣 BetaKit’s new Prairies bureau is live! Edmonton reporter Jesse Cole will be our on-the-ground voice leading the storytelling. With over a decade of experience in Canadian media, Jesse brings deep newsroom expertise to our expanding national footprint.

2025 wasn’t just the worst year for total #VC dollars raised since 2016 in Canada ($2.1B), it also had the fewest funds closed since 2018. Emerging managers were hit the hardest, raising a record low $249M. BetaKit's Josh Scott gives a great breakdown of RBC's sobering new report.

What will tech work look like in 2026? From #AI to RTO to "hard conversations," some of #CDNTech's brightest minds share their predictions.

After working on gaming’s biggest titles, Vancouver's Sprung Studios releases a new #AI tool that aims to make player feedback easier to find. betakit.com/sprung-studi...

Email? GPS? Uber? TikTok? How much smart do we really want in our smartphones? Eric Bouchard unveiled The Basic Phone at CES today. It's a repairable, Canadian-made "dumbphone" that aims to strike the right balance between restrictive and functional.

This is a significant raise for one of Canada's top quantum companies, especially now, when VC money is harder to come by. @photonicinc.bsky.social even claims it's poised to raise "a lot more" over the next three months.

Is #AI the tech industry's most prized asset or its weakest link? We got some of the sharpest minds in #CDNTech weigh in with their predictions for what will happen with AI in 2026.

A federal court has ordered Shopify to preserve merchant records well beyond when the company would normally delete them. Its the latest update to a legal spat with the CRA over access to Shopify's merchant data. Full update here:

❓How well do you know the last year in #CDNTech?❓ Our 2025 tech quiz features Blue Origin's celebrity spaceflight and Shopify's market breakthrough. PLUS: 🔗 Xanadu's quantum breakthrough 🏈PixMob at the Super Bowl 🚗Waabi's new Uber alum COO Take the quiz now 👇

🎁We've packed all the big news that broke over the holidays in today's BetaKit Newsletter. 🍁 The Canadian ties to Grok's staggering Nvidia deal 🛬 Canada suspends Start-Up Visa 🏅 Whitney Rockley named to Order of Canada Plus, our complete #CDNtech 2025 series on the defining tech stories of 2025.

"Maybe we will see the robots that we want in our lives in 2026. But be prepared: they will definitely be controlled by people in India with Xbox controllers." In a lighthearted BetaKit Podcast, @trondizzle.bsky.social and @sarahcrgr.bsky.social tackle tech's biggest questions for 2026.

McRock Capital closes $120M CAD Fund III to back Series A and B industrial software startups, its largest fund yet. Caterpillar and Autodesk join as LPs.

The suspension doesn't include a recall, but it does state that it pertains to food that's prohibited from being sold in Canada. betakit.com/canadian-foo...

Clicks Technology got its start making keyboard cases for smartphones, with buttons that give users a taste of the BlackBerry-dominated 2000s. Now the company is releasing its own phone to turn back the clock for a new generation.

Adam Froman writes that Canada’s economic future depends disproportionately on a very small group of companies—scale-ups that have grown beyond the startup stage and need to expand in Canada. betakit.com/why-2026-nee...

ICYMI: BetaKit published a series looking back at Canada's biggest tech stories of 2025, and what they tell us heading into 2026: betakit.com/tag/cdntech2...

This month, Time Magazine named the “Architects of AI” as their persons of the year. Many, especially in Canada, have increasingly begun to question whether the tech those leaders are building is beneficial for us. betakit.com/the-year-ens...

Whitney Rockley, one of Canada’s leading VCs and an advocate for women and marginalized voices in venture capital, has been appointed to the Order of Canada.

After years of delays, Xero Canada VP Mike Cascone explains why the feds’ commitment to "accelerated implementation" of consumer-driven banking represents a massive win for entrepreneurs. betakit.com/canadian-sma...

So many tech platforms have decayed beyond usability. Can we reverse the process? BetaKit is ending the year with a look back at the biggest #CDNtech stories of 2025. Here's @sarahcrgr.bsky.social on the year enshittification became undeniable: bit.ly/4pg0kJq

2025 was the year enshittification became undeniable. For @betakit.com, as part of our series on the biggest tech stories of the year, I wrote about the opportunity we have to build less-shit digital lives: betakit.com/the-year-ens...

There was a time when accepting #payments felt like the easy part for retailers. But commerce is no longer straightforward. Here are three problems Canadian merchants keep naming, and how @MastercardCA built a platform around them. betakit.com/the-pressure...

Groq's (@groq.com) staggering deal with Nvidia has strong Canadian connections, including early cheques from Garage Capital and Chamath Palihapitiya's Social Capital. #CDNtech betakit.com/groqs-stagge...

"The gaps remain glaring. But the direction of travel is different. And behind every data point is a founder who refuses to accept invisibility." Five years after sharing her own journey on BetaKit, Amoye Henry sees progress for Black women founders in Canada. betakit.com/the-black-wo...

Canada suspends Start-Up Visa as feds look to transition to new program. #CDNpoli #CDNtech betakit.com/canada-suspe...

🫧 An AI bubble (that won't pop) 🍎 An Apple that looks... ripe for disruption 🎬 An entertainment industry conceding to Big Tech ... and more! It's the biggest tech stories of 2025, with Decelerator's Rob Kenedi ⤵️ betakit.com/the-biggest-...

Money talks in tech, but so do founders. In 2025, some of Canada’s most influential tech leaders leaned hard into #AI. BetaKit is ending the year with a look back at the biggest #CDNtech stories of 2025. Here's Trevor Nichols on the year every Canadian startup went AI-first: bit.ly/3YGrsGH

“Can you imagine a quarter—25 percent—of Canada isn’t sure if they’ll be employed next year? That is a wild statistic.” Employment Hero's Kevin Kliman joins The BetaKit Podcast to explain why Canada’s workforce is underemployed and anxious about 2026. betakit.com/canadas-job-...

With billions set to flow into the country’s defence industry, Canadian tech is angling for a cut. BetaKit is ending the year with a look back at the biggest #CDNtech stories of 2025. Here's Josh Scott on the year Canadian tech embraced defence. bit.ly/4spMOWK

In 2025, Canada woke up to the possibility of buying and building Canadian. Real change depends on what happens next. Here's @madisonmcla.bsky.social on the year Canada realized it needs sovereign tech: bit.ly/4920aiU

It was a big 2025 for Turbopuffer, capped off with some fresh financing for the company to scale its fast-growing search infrastructure for #AI applications.

The BetaKit Quiz this week features a new supercomputer scientist at Queen's and Canada's quantum "dark horse." Plus: 🍋 DoorDash gets zesty 🏢 A Swede shuns Silicon Valley 💰 Amiral Ventures holds $40m first close Take the quiz now 👇🏼

Since the conversation about Canadian tech talent fleeing south doesn't appear to be dying down, we're re-highlight our story on Internet Backyard's Mai Trinh and her decision to relocate to the US. It's a fascinating look at the tough choices one young person faced as she tried to build something.

ICYMI: Queen’s University wants to build a Canadian supercomputer that can compete on the world stage. It has brought in Ian Karlin, Nvbidia's former principal engineer, to help.

Calgary’s GeologicAI is acquiring fellow mining technology startup Lumo Analytics. The deal will see The Finnish startup's tech and team both join GeologicAI.

CoLab Software is looking to the world’s most valuable company to improve its AI-powered engineering collaboration tool. Last month, CoLab raised $72 million USD in Series C funding as demand soared for its #AI tools.

Have you listened to the latest BetaKit Podcast yet? This week's episode is a doozy, as Michael Healey unpacks the real-life Succession story behind one of Canada's most powerful families. If you don't know the Rogers v. Rogers story, do yourself a favour and check this one out 🍵

ICYMI: Scale AI revealed nearly $129 million in fresh financing across 44 new Canadian applied #AI projects. Among the recipients: AlayaCare, League, FluidAI Medical, MDA Space, Vooban, and others.

Big news out of Montréal's #VC ecosystem: Amiral Ventures’ first fund close clocks in at $40 million, with a mission to fill what it says is a leadership gap in Canadian #VC.

Queens University has recruited US researcher Ian Karlin to co-lead its supercomputing research efforts, alongside its existing technical leader Ryan Grant. Together, the pair hope to help Canada catch up in the global compute race.