#CDNTech startup Toothpod is trying to reimagine dental care with a chewable tablet that can clean teeth without needing any water. Co-founder and @utoronto.ca alumna Vishar Yaghoubian claims the tablet kills bacteria connected to tooth decay and bad breath.

Canada's division of Coinbase wants blockchain tech to be part of AI minister Evan Solomon's portfolio. Plus: updates on the feds' Stablecoin Act. betakit.com/crypto-advoc...

A high-level Swedish delegation visited Montréal’s Mila this week to deepen #AI research ties. Attendees included Mila's Hugo Larochelle, Québec’s economy minister Christine Fréchette, Cohere chief AI officer Joelle Pineau, and AI safety organization LawZero CEO Sam Ramadori.

What is the economic promise of a Canadian #sovereign cloud? betakit.com/what-is-the-...

NEW from me: Shopify's shuttered Indigenous entrepreneurship program Build Native will relaunch in a new form led by the Centre for Native Nation Builders and Tracy Ridler: betakit.com/shopifys-shu...

Soooo pumped 🚀@sarahcrgr.bsky.social (bluesky gets more emoji energy)

It's official: Canada has lost its measles elimination status because of an outbreak that has persisted for more than 12 months. Country can regain status only if on-going spread is of measles interrupted for more than a year. www.cbc.ca/news/health/... via @cbcnews.ca

Canadian tech policy wonks react to #Budget2025. Also I make my ad read debut.... www.youtube.com/watch?v=39VQ...

#Budget2025 has dropped, promising $1 trillion in new investments over 5 years and a $78.3-billion deficit for 2025-26. Major commitments across #AI and quantum, VC, financial services innovation, and defence. We've got a comprehensive look up now:

A “huge budget for FinTechs,” according to Fintechs Canada’s Adriana Vega:

Grammarly has rebranded to Superhuman, completing its shift to an AI productivity platform betakit.com/grammarly-re...

Toronto-based Wealthsimple, an online investment management service, raised CA$750M co-led by Dragoneer and GIC at a post-money valuation of CA$10B (Josh Scott/BetaKit) Main Link | Techmeme Permalink

The Assumption of the Virgin, by Guido Reni, 1597, 📸 via @RoysEnergy

NEW: Canadian #FinTech leaders told to expect open banking movement in the federal #Budget2025. Some hope for stablecoin, too. betakit.com/canadian-fin...

The planet has entered a ‘new reality’ as it hits its first climate tipping point, landmark report finds ⁦https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/13/climate/tipping-points-coral-reef-ice-amoc

Plans to expand the Port of Montreal threaten an endangered fish found only in Quebec. Advocates for the copper redhorse fear the project — now on Mark Carney's major projects list — will deal a critical blow to a species already on life support. thenarwhal.ca/copper-redho...

What does the future look like for a company like Cohere as Large-language models start to show their limitations? #ElevateFest25 #AI #CDNTech

New Merriam-Webster LLM youtu.be/RvQnl3O0D3c?...

The Stark Reality Ten Years after the Truth and Reconciliation Report thewalrus.ca/trc-introduc... via @thewalrus

New episode of the podcast with @annetheriault.bsky.social! Come sit on a beached whale (that’s what people did for fun in medieval Scotland) and listen to us talk about plucky heroines, actually scary witches, and a little light regicide! pod.link/1753505445/e...

We’re a Canadian business-focused publication, but my talented colleague @madisonmcla.bsky.social has found a way to take that angle and shed a little light on how hostile the US has become for queer people.

A “reverse brain drain” of queer tech talent could be a silver lining for Canada as the US abandons #DEI. #CDNtech

NEW: Some 2SLGBTQIA+ American tech founders are weighing a move to Canada as the US administration targets #DEI programs and large corporations follow suit.

"For now, it's all mushrooms." 4AG Robotics CEO Sean O'Connor told me the BC #AgTech company is on track to reach $7 million in revenue this year as it secures $40 million to expand its fleet of mushroom-harvesting robots. betakit.com/4ag-robotics...

@alexriehl.com digs into AI productivity promises for this week's newsletter 👀

Big @betakit.com scoop on changes at @omersventures.bsky.social. One #CDNtech #VC just told me that the "pensions are all retreating back to Canada." @madisonmcla.bsky.social has a first file with more coming from her and Josh Scott.

A Globe and Mail reporter investigating allegations of political interference in Alberta healthcare has been targeted by an anonymous X account, which posted surreptitiously obtained photographs of her in public settings and described her private movements. www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

Dig Insights acquires OneCliq to beef up market research tools with social media analysis. #CDNtech

"There are lots of parts of creativity that are traumatic, just like building a company." Read my chat with Canadian rockstar (and entrepreneur!) David Usher:

With #quantum chemistry and #AI algorithms, Toronto-based #Xatoms develops technology that rids water of pollutants. The majority-women team has now launched three pilot projects and secured $3 million in funding.

Remember when @mark-carney.bsky.social said the government must deploy #AI at scale? Cohere heeding the call:

As Canada moves to build more energy intensive AI infrastructure, farmers are concerned data centres pose a threat to farmland and water resources. Find out why. #ai #agriculture #cdnpoli theijf.org/datacentres-...

Phoenix pay, ArriveCan, and now, Benefits Delivery Modernization. Beyond their problems, these contracts have each funnelled millions to US tech companies (whether directly, like with IBM, or indirectly through cloud services). Wonder what #CDNtech thinks about this? thewalrus.ca/ottawa-tech-...

Did Gottesman, Kitaev, and Preskill walk so #Xanadu could run? (only quantum nerds will get this one. story in thread!)

#WebSummitVancouver was worth "every penny." Plus: BetaKit repeats as General Excellence winner at SABEW Canada Awards; Jim Balsillie calls on Ottawa to prioritize #stablecoins; Cohere's Ivan Zhang urges customers to focus on ROI; and more Canadian #VC conversations.

A new BDC Capital (@bdc-ca.bsky.social‬) report urges a "collective wake-up call" for domestic #VC investment as CVCA conference Invest Canada kicks off in Calgary. #CDNtech

BetaKit (@betakit.com) bopped around Alberta this week, hitting up Inventures in Calgary and Upper Bound in Edmonton.

More news out of #KW: Velocity Fund II, the first #VC fund with backing from a Canadian university endowment, has secured a first close of $10 million USD of its $25 million USD target.

I spoke with Adrien Côté about his tenure at @uwaterloo.ca's Velocity incubator, and how students are revitalizing the KW ecosystem. “This is the most energy and the most engagement that we’ve had—ever—in Velocity’s history." betakit.com/outgoing-vel...

I've been looking forward to this story since Miles posted about working on it. This is one reason why it's incredibly dangerous and irresponsible to put turn AI on by default in products people use every day www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...

Cleantech company Exterra hopes to open Québec asbestos mitigation plant by 2027. #MTLtech #CDNtech

OpenText is the latest Canadian tech company to make #AI use a baseline expectation for all employees. As part of an expanded optimization plan, it's also cutting 1,600 roles.

Why is cooler shit happening in the Habs-Caps series than the battle of Ontario

In the aftermath of a Liberal victory, #CDNtech leaders are pushing for follow-through on innovation promises. #CDNpoli

Google for Startups is going all-in on #AI, from the focus of its accelerators to a rebrand of its Founder Fridays events.

Yoshua Bengio's fellow Turing Award winner Geoffrey Hinton said big tech companies should pay more for their AI training data at #DiscoveryX in Toronto. #CDNtech

Microsoft's CEO thinks Copilot + AI agents will broaden entrepreneurs' ambition. Nadella’s ambition, of course, is that this generation’s startups continue using Microsoft products and justify its exorbitant investments in AI...read more in my first newsletter for BetaKit.

Canadian founders face rising costs, wasted time ahead of trade war escalation #CDNtech

Is it Canada’s turn for a #DeepSeek moment? @Cohere.com says its latest model offers maximum performance with minimal compute. #CDNtech