In a major portfolio shift, OpenText is offloading its legal document business eDOCS to NetDocuments in a cash deal. The proceeds will go toward debt and refocusing on #AI.

Ottawa promises to be “hawkish” on competition, but regulation is stifling Canadian startups. Licensing hurdles. Ownership limits. Excessive fees: industry leaders say Canada is failing.

Alberta has been an #AI hub for decades. Alex Kearney is building on that legacy with Artificial Agency. She'll be at the Elevate Festival next week talking AI, video games, and "unlocking the future of play."

The BetaKit Quiz features Shopify's partnership with OpenAI, Constellation losing its star, and Canada’s new defence agency Plus: 📽️ Oasis Learning AI's tool for Fortune 500s 🧠 Tailscale's CEO on #AI pressures ⏰ And wait times for Canada's Start-up Visa

Canada’s FinTech sector is urging Ottawa to take bigger swings on key priorities. At the Munk School’s annual The Future event, leaders pointed to open banking, payments, and digital assets.

Canadian FinTech Venn has launched an incorporation product for entrepreneurs in Ontario. It’s similar to competitors like Stripe Atlas and Ownr, but aims to be faster and cheaper.

ICYMI: 🚨 Canada’s start-up Visa now takes longer than a university degree: 53 months. What's clogging the system? Can it be fixed? And why does one expert say the program is "not a real option"? Read our full story to find out:

“Transformational impact” is how Platform Calgary describes Terry Rock’s tenure. Now he’s shifting his influence to Alberta Innovates.

Red tape has slowed Canadian defence deals for years. The feds claim their new Defence Investment Agency will change that by: ➡️ Centralizing procurement review ➡️ Speeding up $100M+ contracts ➡️ Tying spending to domestic industry betakit.com/ottawa-launc...

Tailscale's Avery Pennarun thinks #AI pressures have created a "wild west" for corporate cybersecurity where CISOs must embrace unsafe practices or get fired. He breaks it down on The BetaKit Podcast. Listen now.

Your next corporate trainer could be an AI cartoon avatar 🤖 Oasis Learning Ai says farming corporate training to #AI means customization and speed. Nvidia, Apple, and Cedars-Sinai are already on board. What will employees think?

Estyn Edwards of Punchcard Systems has spent more than a decade working with companies wrestling with their own tech stack because they haven’t moved fast enough. He outlined six rules that help companies modernize their tools without derailing their day-to-day operations.

🚀 Montréal-based biotech Avitia partners with Genoscience to bring rapid liquid biopsy cancer testing to 50+ clinics across Québec. The aim is to decentralize access beyond major cities. 🔬 Read more:

UPDATE: Tiny has completed its move to the TSX. It also has approval for a normal course issuer bid that will let it buy up about five percent of its total common shares in the next 12 months.

1Password’s leadership reshuffle continues: CTO Pedro Canahuati and CRO Julian Teixeira step down just months after CEO transitions.

First Tenstorrent. Then CentML and Untether AI. Now Hyperlume Canadian semiconductor startups keep getting pulled into the U.S. orbit. betakit.com/hyperlume-sn...

ICYMI: Cohere's new CFO, François Chadwick, has a $7B valuation to defend. And, he claims, a different playbook from big #AI players.

Canada’s Start-up Visa wait times have ballooned from 12 months in 2022 to 53 months today. As one critic put it: “As if entrepreneurs will wait a full economic cycle to open a business in Canada.”

ICYMI: US firms own about 1/3 (84 of 283) of CAN data centres. 8 firms are approved to sell cloud services to the feds: 1 is Canadian. Canada is pushing for a sovereign cloud to protect data and #AI future. But US hyperscalers dominate infrastructure.

“It’s never been easier to build, but it’s never been harder to win.” FutureSight Ventures wants to turn company-building from an art into a science by pairing experienced founders with validated ideas.

Shopify merchants to sell directly through OpenAI’s ChatGPT with new partnership

Big news for Canada’s AI ecosystem: Mila is partnering with Hypertec and 5C to launch the Sovereign AI Research Hub in Montréal.

📝 Canada wants H-1B visa castaways but its founders are fleeing 💻 Canada's #AI task force revealed 🇨🇦 Can Canada achieve data sovereignty? Read The BetaKit Newsletter for more. PLUS: Should the feds make @cohere a "lynchpin" of their AI strategy

🚀 Cohere goes on offense. In a market dominated by big names like OpenAI and Anthropic, Cohere is carving space with an enterprise-first play. But its new CFO says it has a "fundamental difference" beyond its enterprise focus that sets it apart.

Constellation Software shares close week down 17 percent after founder and CEO Mark Leonard steps down. $CSU #CDNtech

How good is your #CDNTech knowledge? 💻 Who called out companies' AI strategies at ALL IN? 📱 How did TikTok get under the fur of Canada's privacy watchdogs? 💰 Who's Meta's targeting with its super PAC spending spree? Full BetaKit Quiz is live now.

BREAKING: AI minister Evan Solomon reveals Canada’s AI Task Force Inovia Capital partner Patrick Pichette, Cohere chief AI officer Joelle Pineau, and Build Canada founder Dan Debow are among 26 members tapped to help renew the federal government's AI strategy. #cdntech #cdnpoli

From #AI to #VC, from startups to scaleups, Canada’s innovation story is being written by women. Toast’s Top 25 Women in Tech list shines a light on some of the “incredible women in this country doing really cool shit.” Read the full list now 👇

The BetaKit Quiz this week features Meta’s super PAC, Trump’s talent tariff, and MDA Space going rinkside Plus: 🎤 On-stage moments from ALL IN 2025 📱 New privacy findings on TikTok 🛒 And Gatik grows its grocery game

Minhas' appointment comes shortly after BDC announced its new, $50-million Thrive ETA Fund

Attabotics raised $220 million from big-name backers like BDC and Honeywell. Now, its story ends with an asset sale to Kentucky engineering firm.

🚀 Big move: Head of Google Android Sameer Samat and FinTech veteran Odilon Almeida have joined Lightspeed's board of directors.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.” But after multiple launchpad fires this week, NordSpace's commercial rocket dream is grounded (for now).

🔍 Québec just landed $35M+ to fuel enterprise #AI startups. Telegraph Ventures is leading the charge—with plans to hit $40M.

SRTX confirmed that 92 previously temporary layoffs are now permanent. The move comes after months of tariff pressure and a leadership transition.

Canadian entrepreneur Jacqueline Loganathan put the new QuickBooks on the Intuit platform to the test. Read her first-hand look at how it could change the way small businesses run.

[email protected] says Canada is trying to wrest control of its digital infrastructure from U.S. hyperscalers. But “sovereign” is more than geography: it’s about jurisdiction. #CDNTech leaders have a lot to say.

Lots of talk in #CDNTech about luring H-1B talent. But Canada struggles to keep its own talent at home: 📌 Avg. wage 46% lower 📌 Only 32% of Canadian “high-potential” startups headquartered here 📌 100,000 fewer entrepreneurs today than in 2000 Read our full analysis👇

ICYMI: In the last BetaKit Newsletter: 👉 Nadir Mohamed passes away at 69 👉 Canadian VC pre-seed and seed activity slumps in H1 2025 👉 Som Seif will fight OSC greenwashing allegations Subscribe to stay up-to-date on the biggest stories in #CDNTech.

“Can’t afford to wait.” At Montréal’s ALL IN, @evansolomon.bsky.social announces an accelerated #AI strategy refresh. A cross-country task force will report back in November, with the updated roadmap expected this year.

‘Biobucks’ structure: Variational AI says the Merck deal includes an undisclosed up-front payment, plus full compensation if it hits certain milestones. Merck gets exclusive rights to develop and commercialize any compounds that are discovered. betakit.com/variational-...

Canadian privacy watchdogs say TikTok gathered personal (and potentially sensitive) data from Canadian children at scale. In response, the company will improve age verification and explain data use to youth more clearly.

Middle-mile automation at scale: Loblaw extends Gatik partnership to 50 trucks by 2026. Initial runs will keep safety drivers on board but the aim is to go full driverless as the network matures.

Back for its tenth year, SAAS NORTH will take place in Ottawa Nov. 5-6 and focus on the subject dominating every boardroom: AI. Here’s your first sneak peek of SAAS NORTH 2025.

🚨 BREAKING🚨 Cohere’s valuation just hit $7B USD after a $100M extension to last month’s $500M round. New backers include BDC and Nexxus. Full breakdown: betakit.com/coheres-valu...

“A major milestone” for FluidAI as the company earns access to the world's largest healthcare market. The #CDNTech company says it's now eying a Series B round to fuel its US expansion.

From startup to national player: Nesto folded in CMLS, grew past 1,000 employees, and is now working with big banks to scale mortgages across Canada

🚨 UPDATE🚨: After stepping down as CEO of Goodfood late last month, Jonathan Ferrari has now left the board of directors as well. CFO Roslane Aouameur says Ferrari isn’t being replaced “at the moment.” betakit.com/ceo-of-meal-...

An “un-Canadian” level of ambition: Simple Ventures secures $15M to build Canada-first companies. Backers include Shopify, Knix, Ada—plus TD Innovation Partners, Sun Life, Sobeys.

Beyond the $50M headline, here’s what BDC thinks could be a "game changer": Its Thrive ETA Fund won’t require women entrepreneurs to bring capital of their own to buy businesses. Will this help tip the scales?