[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-ai-startups-canada-2026":3,"related-ai-startups-canada-2026":326},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"body":7,"canonical":311,"city":312,"date":313,"description":314,"extension":315,"faq":312,"image":316,"meta":317,"navigation":318,"path":319,"seo":320,"slug":321,"stem":322,"tag":323,"updated":324,"__hash__":325},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fai-startups-canada-2026.md","The State of AI Startups Canada 2026: What's Funded, What's Hyped, What's Real","Founder Feast",{"type":8,"value":9,"toc":298},"minimark",[10,14,17,20,25,28,31,40,44,47,50,53,57,60,63,76,80,83,86,125,128,131,135,138,144,150,156,174,178,181,187,193,199,205,209,215,226,232,238,242,245,276,280],[11,12,13],"p",{},"Cohere raised another $500M in early 2025 at a $5.5B valuation. Then it went quiet. Meanwhile, a Toronto solo founder building an AI paralegal tool hit $2M ARR in eleven months with no VC money. That's the AI startups Canada picture in 2026, and the gap between the two stories is where most founders are getting confused.",[11,15,16],{},"The headlines are still dominated by foundation model bets and government AI compute announcements. The actual money being made, and the actual companies getting acquired, are further down the stack. If you're building right now, the question isn't whether AI is a real market. It's whether the specific slice you're chasing has room for a Canadian startup to win.",[11,18,19],{},"Here's what the landscape actually looks like, based on funding data through mid-2026, and where the openings are.",[21,22,24],"h2",{"id":23},"the-funding-picture-concentrated-at-the-top-thin-in-the-middle","The funding picture: concentrated at the top, thin in the middle",[11,26,27],{},"Canadian AI funding in 2025 hit roughly $8.6B according to CVCA data, but half of that went to five companies. Cohere, Waabi, Xanadu, Tenstorrent, and Ada took the lion's share. Below the top tier, Series A and B rounds for AI startups have gotten harder, not easier, despite the hype.",[11,29,30],{},"The pattern is stark. Pre-seed and seed rounds under $3M are actually up 22% year over year. Series A rounds between $8M and $20M dropped 31%. Growth stage is where Canadian AI companies are dying, or getting acquired by US buyers before they hit their stride. It's the same problem Canadian tech has had for a decade, just accelerated by AI economics that reward massive capital concentration.",[11,32,33,34,39],{},"For founders, the read is simple. Raising your first million is easier than it's been in years if you have a real AI wedge. Raising your Series A is harder than it's been in five years unless you have $2M+ in ARR and a defensible position. Plan accordingly. A lot of the ",[35,36,38],"a",{"href":37},"\u002Fblog\u002Fdelaware-flip-canadian-founders","Delaware flip conversations"," happening right now are driven by founders trying to open up US growth capital that their Canadian cap table can't reach.",[21,41,43],{"id":42},"foundation-models-cohere-and-then-what","Foundation models: Cohere, and then what?",[11,45,46],{},"Cohere is Canada's foundation model story, and it's a complicated one. The company has real enterprise revenue, real customers like Oracle and Fujitsu, and a defensible position in the \"sovereign AI\" narrative that governments care about. It's also competing with OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, and a growing pack of Chinese labs, all with more capital.",[11,48,49],{},"For founders, the honest question isn't whether Cohere will succeed. It's whether Canada needs another foundation model company. The answer is almost certainly no. The capex required to train a competitive frontier model is now north of $500M per generation, and rising. That's not a Canadian venture math problem. That's a sovereign wealth fund problem.",[11,51,52],{},"What Canada does have is a cluster of specialized model companies that are working. Waabi on autonomous trucking. RBC Borealis on financial models. Xanadu on quantum-adjacent compute. Deep Genomics on protein and RNA models for drug discovery. These are narrow, defensible, capital-efficient bets. Most Canadian AI founders would be better off looking at that pattern than trying to build \"Canada's Anthropic.\"",[21,54,56],{"id":55},"vector-mila-and-the-spinout-pipeline","Vector, Mila, and the spinout pipeline",[11,58,59],{},"The Vector Institute in Toronto and Mila in Montreal are producing more commercial spinouts in 2026 than at any point since they were founded. Vector alone counts 47 affiliated startups as of Q2 2026, up from 29 in 2024. Mila's number is around 60 if you count loosely.",[11,61,62],{},"The quality is mixed. A lot of these are research-founder companies where the PhD is real but the go-to-market plan is a slide. The ones that are working tend to have three things: a non-technical co-founder who came from enterprise sales, a specific vertical (legal, healthcare, industrial, financial), and an early design partner who's already paying.",[11,64,65,66,70,71,75],{},"If you're a technical founder coming out of these labs, the biggest gap is usually commercial. Finding ",[35,67,69],{"href":68},"\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-to-find-a-cofounder-canada","a co-founder in Canada"," with real go-to-market chops is harder than getting the model to work. That's true whether you're in Toronto, Montreal, or ",[35,72,74],{"href":73},"\u002Fblog\u002Fbc-startup-ecosystem","building out of Vancouver"," where the AI cluster is smaller but growing fast around SFU's computing group and UBC's ML lab.",[21,77,79],{"id":78},"application-layer-where-the-real-money-is-being-made","Application layer: where the real money is being made",[11,81,82],{},"The unsexy truth of AI startups Canada in 2026 is that the application layer is winning. Vertical AI companies with tight ICPs, boring workflows, and unglamorous customers are hitting revenue milestones that foundation model bets can only dream about.",[11,84,85],{},"A few examples worth studying:",[87,88,89,97,103,109,115],"ul",{},[90,91,92,96],"li",{},[93,94,95],"strong",{},"Ada"," (Toronto) is now doing an estimated $150M+ ARR in customer service automation. Founded 2016, only really became an AI company around 2022.",[90,98,99,102],{},[93,100,101],{},"Cohere Health"," (no relation to Cohere) hit $80M ARR building prior authorization AI for US insurers. Built in Toronto and Boston.",[90,104,105,108],{},[93,106,107],{},"Certn"," (Victoria) is quietly building AI-driven background checks and hit profitability in 2025.",[90,110,111,114],{},[93,112,113],{},"Nudge"," (Toronto) closed a $28M Series B in Q1 2026 for AI sales coaching. Real revenue, real retention numbers.",[90,116,117,120,121,124],{},[93,118,119],{},"Clutch"," and ",[93,122,123],{},"Borrowell"," are both using proprietary AI models for underwriting, generating actual margin rather than burning capital.",[11,126,127],{},"The pattern: pick a workflow that costs a business real money, build AI that automates 70% of it, sell to mid-market. Nothing flashy. Just revenue.",[11,129,130],{},"This is where most Canadian AI founders should be playing in 2026. The path from $0 to $10M ARR in vertical AI is more achievable now than it's been at any point, because incumbents are slow and buyers are open. The path from $0 to $10M ARR in horizontal foundation infrastructure is basically closed unless you have $100M in the bank.",[21,132,134],{"id":133},"where-the-real-opportunities-are","Where the real opportunities are",[11,136,137],{},"If you're starting an AI company in Canada in the second half of 2026, three areas are genuinely underserved:",[11,139,140,143],{},[93,141,142],{},"Compliance and regulated industry AI."," Healthcare, legal, financial services, and insurance are all late to AI adoption in Canada, partly because privacy regulations (PIPEDA, provincial health acts, OSFI guidelines) are stricter than in the US. That's an opportunity for Canadian founders who understand the compliance stack. American AI companies keep hitting walls trying to sell into Canadian banks. You won't.",[11,145,146,149],{},[93,147,148],{},"AI for physical industries."," Mining, forestry, agriculture, construction. Canada's actual economy is resource-heavy, and most of it is underautomated. Companies like Novarc (welding automation, Vancouver) and Terramera (agtech, Vancouver) are proving there's real budget here. The competition is thin because most AI founders want to build B2B SaaS for other software companies.",[11,151,152,155],{},[93,153,154],{},"Middle market ops AI."," Companies doing $10M to $500M in revenue don't have the internal AI teams that enterprises have, and they can't wait for consultants. Ops-focused AI tools that plug into ERPs, CRMs, and accounting systems are getting bought at surprising rates.",[11,157,158,159,163,164,168,169,173],{},"If you're looking at where to base yourself, ",[35,160,162],{"href":161},"\u002Fblog\u002Fbuilding-a-startup-in-toronto","Toronto"," still has the deepest AI talent pool and the most active investor community. Vancouver has better cost structure and a growing cluster around applied AI. ",[35,165,167],{"href":166},"\u002Fblog\u002Fkelowna-startup-ecosystem-2026","Kelowna"," is a wildcard, cheap and quiet with a surprising number of AI founders relocating from bigger cities. The ",[35,170,172],{"href":171},"\u002Fblog\u002Fbest-province-canadian-founders","best province debate"," is different for AI than for other sectors.",[21,175,177],{"id":176},"whats-overhyped","What's overhyped",[11,179,180],{},"A few things worth being skeptical about in 2026:",[11,182,183,186],{},[93,184,185],{},"\"Sovereign AI\" as a business model."," Government contracts sound big and often are, but sales cycles are 18-24 months and margins are compressed by procurement. A few companies will win here. Most won't.",[11,188,189,192],{},[93,190,191],{},"AI agent frameworks."," The horizontal agent orchestration market is now the most crowded category in venture, and most of these companies will be commoditized by OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google's native agent tools within 18 months. Build vertical agents, not agent platforms.",[11,194,195,198],{},[93,196,197],{},"Consumer AI apps."," Distribution economics for consumer AI are brutal. CAC is up, retention is down, and the incumbents (Apple, Google, Meta) are pushing native AI features that eat standalone apps for lunch. A few winners will emerge. Most won't be Canadian.",[11,200,201,204],{},[93,202,203],{},"\"AI-native\" services businesses."," A lot of the \"AI consultancy\" and \"AI-first agency\" plays getting funded in 2026 are just services businesses with a tech wrapper. They're profitable, sometimes very profitable, but they're not venture-scale. That's fine, just don't confuse them with software companies.",[21,206,208],{"id":207},"common-questions","Common questions",[11,210,211,214],{},[93,212,213],{},"Is it too late to start an AI company in Canada?","\nNo, but it's too late to start certain kinds. Foundation models, general agent platforms, and consumer AI apps are effectively closed. Vertical AI, compliance AI, industry-specific automation, and AI-enabled services are wide open.",[11,216,217,220,221,225],{},[93,218,219],{},"Should I raise from Canadian or US investors?","\nBoth, if you can. Canadian VCs are better at seed. US VCs are better at Series A and beyond for AI companies. Most successful Canadian AI startups end up with a mixed cap table by Series B. This is worth reading up on if you're thinking through ",[35,222,224],{"href":223},"\u002Fblog\u002Fcanadian-founders-us-investors","pitching US investors",".",[11,227,228,231],{},[93,229,230],{},"Do I need to be in Toronto or Montreal to build an AI startup?","\nNo. Talent is more distributed than it was three years ago, remote hiring in AI is normalized, and the best engineers often prefer smaller cities. That said, the density of AI-specific investors and talent in Toronto is still meaningfully higher than anywhere else in Canada.",[11,233,234,237],{},[93,235,236],{},"What's the biggest mistake AI founders are making in 2026?","\nBuilding for founders and engineers instead of buyers. The AI Twitter conversation is dominated by technical benchmarks and model releases. The actual buyers of AI software are non-technical mid-market operators who want to save time and money. Build for them, not for HackerNews.",[21,239,241],{"id":240},"where-founders-actually-talk-about-this-stuff","Where founders actually talk about this stuff",[11,243,244],{},"Reports and benchmarks only get you so far. Most of what's actually happening in Canadian AI right now, the deals that are closing, the funds that are actively writing, the acquirers sniffing around, that context lives in conversations between founders who are building through it.",[11,246,247,248,253,254,259,260,120,265,270,271,225],{},"That's why we run ",[35,249,6],{"href":250,"rel":251},"https:\u002F\u002Ffounderfeast.com\u002F",[252],"nofollow"," dinners for 5 founders at top restaurants in ",[35,255,258],{"href":256,"rel":257},"https:\u002F\u002Ffounderfeast.com\u002Fvancouver",[252],"Vancouver",", ",[35,261,264],{"href":262,"rel":263},"https:\u002F\u002Ffounderfeast.com\u002Fsan-francisco",[252],"San Francisco",[35,266,269],{"href":267,"rel":268},"https:\u002F\u002Ffounderfeast.com\u002Flos-angeles",[252],"Los Angeles",". No pitching, no panels, just an actual dinner where the AI founder building vertical legal tools ends up next to the healthcare AI founder who just closed a Series A. If you're building in this space and want to compare notes with people who are doing the same, you can ",[35,272,275],{"href":273,"rel":274},"https:\u002F\u002Ffounderfeast.com\u002Fapply",[252],"apply for a seat",[21,277,279],{"id":278},"related-reading","Related reading",[87,281,282,287,292],{},[90,283,284],{},[35,285,286],{"href":223},"Canadian Founders Pitching US Investors",[90,288,289],{},[35,290,291],{"href":37},"The Delaware Flip for Canadian Founders",[90,293,294],{},[35,295,297],{"href":296},"\u002Fblog\u002Ffirst-10-hires-canadian-startup","First 10 Hires for a Canadian Startup",{"title":299,"searchDepth":300,"depth":300,"links":301},"",2,[302,303,304,305,306,307,308,309,310],{"id":23,"depth":300,"text":24},{"id":42,"depth":300,"text":43},{"id":55,"depth":300,"text":56},{"id":78,"depth":300,"text":79},{"id":133,"depth":300,"text":134},{"id":176,"depth":300,"text":177},{"id":207,"depth":300,"text":208},{"id":240,"depth":300,"text":241},{"id":278,"depth":300,"text":279},"https:\u002F\u002Ffounderfeast.com\u002Fblog\u002Fai-startups-canada-2026",null,"2026-08-24","A sober look at AI startups Canada in 2026: funded companies, foundation model bets, Vector and Mila spinouts, and where founders should actually build.","md","auto",{},true,"\u002Fblog\u002Fai-startups-canada-2026",{"title":5,"description":314},"ai-startups-canada-2026","blog\u002Fai-startups-canada-2026","Ecosystem","2026-09-05","ZUpzZamPMxSbwMkczUHswL24i7EdpKlui3yTEH7luy0",[327,574,906],{"id":328,"title":329,"author":6,"body":330,"canonical":565,"city":312,"date":566,"description":567,"extension":315,"faq":312,"image":316,"meta":568,"navigation":318,"path":569,"seo":570,"slug":571,"stem":572,"tag":323,"updated":324,"__hash__":573},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fcanadian-deep-tech-startups-2026.md","Canadian Deep Tech Startups Worth Watching in 2026",{"type":8,"value":331,"toc":554},[332,335,338,341,345,348,351,358,365,369,372,375,382,386,389,392,395,398,402,405,408,411,418,422,425,448,451,459,463,466,469,472,480,482,488,494,504,510,514,517,534,536],[11,333,334],{},"Canada raised roughly $2.1B in deep tech venture funding in 2025, and about 60% of it landed in four verticals: quantum, synthetic biology, climate hardware, and semiconductors. That's a smaller pie than the US, but the concentration matters. When capital clusters, so do talent, exits, and follow-on rounds.",[11,336,337],{},"The interesting part isn't the headline number. It's that Canadian deep tech startups are no longer a Toronto-Waterloo story. Vancouver quietly became the country's quantum capital. Montreal owns AI hardware. Calgary is turning oil-and-gas engineers into carbon capture founders. Halifax is doing ocean tech that nobody in Silicon Valley knows exists yet.",[11,339,340],{},"Here's a grounded look at who's building, where the money is going, and which subsectors are actually producing venture-scale outcomes in 2026.",[21,342,344],{"id":343},"quantum-vancouver-is-the-unlikely-capital","Quantum: Vancouver is the unlikely capital",[11,346,347],{},"D-Wave has been in Burnaby since 1999, but the last three years turned the Lower Mainland into a legitimate quantum cluster. Photonic Inc. raised $140M in 2023 from BCI and Microsoft for silicon spin qubits. 1QBit is quietly profitable doing quantum software for banks. Xanadu, technically Toronto-based, does most of its hardware work with UBC and SFU collaborators.",[11,349,350],{},"The talent pipeline is real. UBC's Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute and TRIUMF pump out physics PhDs who would otherwise end up at IBM Yorktown or Google Santa Barbara. Instead, they're staying. Rent still matters, and a postdoc can afford Mount Pleasant in a way they can't afford Palo Alto.",[11,352,353,354,357],{},"The catch: quantum companies burn cash for a decade before revenue. Photonic has runway through 2027. D-Wave is public and trading at a fraction of its 2021 SPAC price. If you're a founder in this space, you need investors who understand 10-year timelines, which usually means strategics (Microsoft, Nvidia, DARPA-adjacent US agencies) rather than traditional Canadian VC. This is one reason many quantum founders end up doing a ",[35,355,356],{"href":37},"Delaware flip"," before Series B.",[11,359,360,361,364],{},"If you're building here, the ",[35,362,363],{"href":73},"BC startup ecosystem"," has more density in quantum and photonics than anywhere else in the country.",[21,366,368],{"id":367},"synthetic-biology-and-biotech-toronto-and-montreal-split-the-pie","Synthetic biology and biotech: Toronto and Montreal split the pie",[11,370,371],{},"Deep Genomics raised $180M across its life. Ranomics, BenchSci, and Cyclica were all built in Toronto's MaRS orbit. The University of Toronto's Donnelly Centre is the single most productive biotech feeder in Canada, and the AbCellera exit in Vancouver (IPO'd at a $10B market cap, now trading lower but still a real company) proved you can build a billion-dollar biology company in Canada without moving to Boston.",[11,373,374],{},"Montreal has a different flavor. Valence Discovery (acquired by Recursion in 2023 for $47.5M) came out of Mila. Repare Therapeutics went public at $2B. The AI-plus-biology overlap is where Montreal punches above its weight, largely because Yoshua Bengio's shadow reaches into every drug discovery lab in the city.",[11,376,377,378,381],{},"Biotech in Canada has one persistent problem: capital efficiency looks great until you hit Phase II trials, and then you need $200M rounds that Canadian funds can't lead. Almost every biotech founder ends up raising from Boston, SF, or NYC. That's fine, but it means you need to know US investors early. If you haven't started building those relationships, ",[35,379,380],{"href":223},"this piece on Canadian founders and US investors"," is worth reading before your seed round closes.",[21,383,385],{"id":384},"climate-hardware-calgarys-second-act","Climate hardware: Calgary's second act",[11,387,388],{},"The most surprising cluster of 2025-2026 is Calgary. Ten years ago the city's talent pool was 90% oil and gas. Today, that same pool of chemical engineers, geophysicists, and drilling specialists is building carbon capture, geothermal, and hydrogen companies.",[11,390,391],{},"Carbon Upcycling raised $34M to turn CO2 into concrete additives. Eavor is doing closed-loop geothermal with $200M+ in strategic capital from BP and Chevron. Summit Nanotech pulled $50M for direct lithium extraction. These aren't consumer climate plays with marketing budgets. They're heavy-industry startups selling to utilities, cement companies, and mining majors.",[11,393,394],{},"Vancouver has its own climate hardware scene. Svante does carbon capture with $318M raised, including from Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy. General Fusion has spent 20 years on magnetized target fusion and finally has a demonstration plant coming online. Moment Energy repurposes EV batteries for grid storage.",[11,396,397],{},"Climate hardware is capital-intensive, slow, and often the most rewarding for founders who understand physics and manufacturing. It's also the sector where Canadian federal funding (SIF, SDTC, NRC IRAP) actually moves the needle. A $10M SIF grant in climate hardware is the difference between building your pilot plant in Alberta or in Texas.",[21,399,401],{"id":400},"semiconductors-and-hardware-quietly-ottawa-and-montreal","Semiconductors and hardware: quietly, Ottawa and Montreal",[11,403,404],{},"Nobody talks about Canadian semiconductors, but the country has a real chip design community concentrated in Ottawa (Ranovus, Ciena's spinouts, the old Nortel diaspora) and Montreal (Untether AI raised $125M for inference chips before hitting turbulence in 2025).",[11,406,407],{},"Tenstorrent, run by Jim Keller, is technically Toronto-based and now valued at $2.6B after its 2024 round. It's the closest thing Canada has to a hyperscale chip company, and it's hiring aggressively across Toronto and Austin. If Tenstorrent hits, it's the biggest Canadian hardware exit since RIM.",[11,409,410],{},"The subsector that nobody's noticed: photonics and optical networking. Vancouver-based EFFECT Photonics, Ottawa's Ranovus, and Toronto's POET Technologies are all building components that the AI datacenter buildout desperately needs. As GPU clusters scale past 100,000 chips, the bottleneck moves from compute to interconnect. Optical is where that gets solved.",[11,412,413,414,417],{},"For deeper context on how AI infrastructure and hardware intersect, ",[35,415,416],{"href":319},"the state of Canadian AI startups in 2026"," covers the software side of the same story.",[21,419,421],{"id":420},"where-the-exits-are-actually-happening","Where the exits are actually happening",[11,423,424],{},"Venture-scale outcomes in Canadian deep tech from 2020-2026, ranked by exit or last-round valuation:",[87,426,427,430,433,436,439,442,445],{},[90,428,429],{},"AbCellera (Vancouver, biotech): IPO'd at $10B, now $1.5B",[90,431,432],{},"Tenstorrent (Toronto, semiconductors): $2.6B private",[90,434,435],{},"Xanadu (Toronto, quantum): $1B private",[90,437,438],{},"Photonic Inc. (Vancouver, quantum): estimated $500M+",[90,440,441],{},"Repare Therapeutics (Montreal, biotech): $2B IPO, now smaller",[90,443,444],{},"Eavor (Calgary, geothermal): $500M+ private",[90,446,447],{},"Svante (Vancouver, carbon capture): $1B+ private",[11,449,450],{},"The pattern: biotech produces the biggest exits, semiconductors have the most upside per dollar invested, quantum is the longest-duration bet, and climate is where the strategic capital shows up early. If you're picking a subsector to build in, ask yourself which of those timelines matches your appetite.",[11,452,453,454,458],{},"Notice something else: outside of AbCellera, most of these companies eventually took majority US or international capital. Deep tech in Canada gets started here, but the follow-on rounds almost always require crossing the border. This is why ",[35,455,457],{"href":456},"\u002Fblog\u002Fcanadian-founder-c-corp-us-investors","the C-corp question"," matters so much for hardware and biotech founders specifically.",[21,460,462],{"id":461},"what-canadian-deep-tech-founders-are-getting-wrong","What Canadian deep tech founders are getting wrong",[11,464,465],{},"Three patterns come up repeatedly in conversations with technical founders across Vancouver, Toronto, and Kelowna.",[11,467,468],{},"First, they under-invest in commercial hiring. A quantum PhD founder will spend 18 months perfecting their tech stack and then hire their first salesperson six months before Series A. That's backwards. Your first commercial hire should happen the day you have a working prototype, not the day you need to close revenue.",[11,470,471],{},"Second, they treat government funding as the goal instead of the fuel. SIF, SDTC, and IRAP grants are useful, but they're not a business model. Every deep tech founder I talk to who's raised more than $50M in dilutive capital treats grants as a way to extend runway between VC rounds, not as their primary funding strategy.",[11,473,474,475,479],{},"Third, they wait too long to meet other technical founders. Deep tech is lonely. Your investors don't understand your tech, your friends don't understand your timelines, and your team is too small to have peers at your level. Founders who make it to Series B almost always have three or four other founder-friends they text at midnight when the reactor breaks. If you haven't built that bench, start now. ",[35,476,478],{"href":477},"\u002Fblog\u002Ffounder-loneliness-canadian-startups","Founder loneliness"," is real and it's worse in deep tech than anywhere else.",[21,481,208],{"id":207},[11,483,484,487],{},[93,485,486],{},"Is Canadian deep tech actually competitive with the US?","\nIn specific subsectors, yes. Quantum (Vancouver), AI hardware (Toronto), and carbon capture (Calgary\u002FVancouver) are globally competitive. In general-purpose semiconductors and biotech Phase II+, no. Capital depth still matters and the US wins on Series B and later.",[11,489,490,493],{},[93,491,492],{},"Do I need to move to be taken seriously?","\nNo, but you need to travel. Most successful Canadian deep tech founders spend 30-40% of their time in the Bay Area, Boston, or DC building investor and customer relationships. You can keep your team and IP in Canada while doing that.",[11,495,496,499,500,503],{},[93,497,498],{},"What's the best Canadian city to start a deep tech company?","\nIt depends on the subsector. Quantum and climate: Vancouver. AI and semiconductors: Toronto or Montreal. Biotech: Toronto or Vancouver. Energy: Calgary. The ",[35,501,502],{"href":171},"best-province question"," has a longer answer, but for deep tech specifically, proximity to a research university with your specific specialty matters more than tax rates.",[11,505,506,509],{},[93,507,508],{},"How much do I need to raise for a deep tech seed round in Canada?","\n$3-8M is now standard for Canadian deep tech seeds in 2026. That's up from $1.5-3M five years ago. Hardware and biotech skew higher, software-heavy deep tech (quantum algorithms, bio-informatics) can still get away with $2M.",[21,511,513],{"id":512},"where-founders-actually-meet-each-other","Where founders actually meet each other",[11,515,516],{},"Deep tech founders don't get much out of general startup events. The conversations that matter happen when you're sitting next to two other technical founders who are one round ahead or one round behind you, and neither of you has to explain what a qubit or a lipid nanoparticle is.",[11,518,519,520,259,523,120,526,529,530,225],{},"That's what we built Founder Feast for. Five founders, one restaurant, no pitching, Thursday evenings at 7pm in ",[35,521,258],{"href":256,"rel":522},[252],[35,524,264],{"href":262,"rel":525},[252],[35,527,269],{"href":267,"rel":528},[252],". If you're building a Canadian deep tech startup and you want to spend an evening with four other people who actually understand what you're working on, ",[35,531,533],{"href":273,"rel":532},[252],"apply here",[21,535,279],{"id":278},[87,537,538,543,549],{},[90,539,540],{},[35,541,542],{"href":319},"The state of Canadian AI startups in 2026",[90,544,545],{},[35,546,548],{"href":547},"\u002Fblog\u002Fbuilt-in-vancouver-startups-2026","Built in Vancouver: startups to watch in 2026",[90,550,551],{},[35,552,553],{"href":161},"Building a startup in Toronto",{"title":299,"searchDepth":300,"depth":300,"links":555},[556,557,558,559,560,561,562,563,564],{"id":343,"depth":300,"text":344},{"id":367,"depth":300,"text":368},{"id":384,"depth":300,"text":385},{"id":400,"depth":300,"text":401},{"id":420,"depth":300,"text":421},{"id":461,"depth":300,"text":462},{"id":207,"depth":300,"text":208},{"id":512,"depth":300,"text":513},{"id":278,"depth":300,"text":279},"https:\u002F\u002Ffounderfeast.com\u002Fblog\u002Fcanadian-deep-tech-startups-2026","2026-09-04","A grounded look at Canadian deep tech startups across quantum, biotech, climate, and hardware. Who's funded, where they're based, and what's working.",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fcanadian-deep-tech-startups-2026",{"title":329,"description":567},"canadian-deep-tech-startups-2026","blog\u002Fcanadian-deep-tech-startups-2026","-LtDdo6Dnpm_CJ2sRDZerHL5o-ZT_JQBeINTxhAFLa0",{"id":575,"title":576,"author":577,"body":578,"canonical":885,"city":312,"date":886,"description":887,"extension":315,"faq":888,"image":316,"meta":901,"navigation":318,"path":547,"seo":902,"slug":903,"stem":904,"tag":323,"updated":312,"__hash__":905},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fbuilt-in-vancouver-startups-2026.md","Built in Vancouver: 21 Homegrown Startups Defining the City in 2026","Loic Bachellerie",{"type":8,"value":579,"toc":873},[580,589,595,599,625,638,651,655,661,667,673,677,683,689,695,701,705,711,717,721,727,733,739,745,751,755,761,767,771,777,783,789,795,801,805,808,819,826,838,842,859,863,866],[11,581,582,583,588],{},"Vancouver is now the #43 startup ecosystem globally and #2 in Canada, according to ",[35,584,587],{"href":585,"rel":586},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.startupblink.com\u002Ftop-startups\u002Fvancouver-ca",[252],"StartupBlink's 2026 index",", with six unicorns and a top three that has collectively raised more than USD $13.6B. If you want a fast, useful snapshot of what is actually being built here, this is the list: 21 homegrown Vancouver startups, who founded them, what stage they are at, and what they do.",[11,590,591,592,225],{},"We picked companies headquartered or substantially founded in Metro Vancouver, weighted toward those raising, hiring, or shipping in 2025 and 2026. For deeper context on the broader province, see our ",[35,593,594],{"href":73},"BC startup ecosystem breakdown",[21,596,598],{"id":597},"why-vancouver-and-why-now","Why Vancouver, and why now",[11,600,601,602,607,608,613,614,618,619,624],{},"A few numbers to set the table. British Columbia pulled in ",[35,603,606],{"href":604,"rel":605},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.ellty.com\u002Finvestors\u002Fbritish-columbia-investors",[252],"$938 million in venture capital in Q3 2025 alone",". The metro's tech workforce sits at ",[35,609,612],{"href":610,"rel":611},"https:\u002F\u002Fgrowthlist.co\u002Fvancouver-startups\u002F",[252],"nearly 150,000",", the third-largest in Canada. In 2024, Vancouver startups attracted ",[35,615,617],{"href":610,"rel":616},[252],"over $1.4 billion in VC, up 35% year over year",", and by mid-2025 ",[35,620,623],{"href":621,"rel":622},"https:\u002F\u002Fvantechjournal.com\u002Fp\u002Fyour-exclusive-guide-to-vancouver-s-tech-scene-in-2026",[252],"more than 50 funding rounds"," had already closed.",[11,626,627,628,632,633,637],{},"The operating cost gap is still real. Vancouver runs ",[35,629,631],{"href":610,"rel":630},[252],"30 to 40% cheaper than Seattle or San Francisco"," on engineering-heavy teams. Median Series A valuations have climbed from ",[35,634,636],{"href":610,"rel":635},[252],"$15M in 2023 to about $22M in 2025",", signalling that better companies, not just cheap ones, are coming out of the city.",[11,639,640,641,646,647,225],{},"Core sectors: ",[35,642,645],{"href":643,"rel":644},"https:\u002F\u002Ffundraiseinsider.com\u002Fblog\u002Fvancouver-startups\u002F",[252],"CleanTech, BioTech, gaming, FinTech, Web3, and B2B software",". Legacy proof points that Vancouver companies scale globally include ",[35,648,650],{"href":610,"rel":649},[252],"Slack (originally Tiny Speck), Hootsuite, Absolute Software, and Lululemon's digital division",[21,652,654],{"id":653},"deep-tech-and-quantum","Deep tech and quantum",[11,656,657,660],{},[93,658,659],{},"1. Photonic."," Quantum computing. Founded by Dr. Stephanie Simmons, Photonic is building silicon-based photonic qubits and is one of the anchor deep-tech bets in the region.",[11,662,663,666],{},[93,664,665],{},"2. General Fusion."," Fusion energy. Burnaby-based, working on magnetized target fusion, one of the longest-running deep-tech companies in the province.",[11,668,669,672],{},[93,670,671],{},"3. D-Wave."," Quantum annealing. Public, but still Burnaby-headquartered and still a magnet for local quantum talent.",[21,674,676],{"id":675},"ai-and-developer-tools","AI and developer tools",[11,678,679,682],{},[93,680,681],{},"4. LayerZero Labs."," Omnichain interoperability protocol. One of the highest-valued crypto infrastructure companies with Vancouver roots.",[11,684,685,688],{},[93,686,687],{},"5. Dooly."," Sales workflow and AI note-taking for revenue teams. A durable Vancouver SaaS story.",[11,690,691,694],{},[93,692,693],{},"6. Klue."," Competitive intelligence platform for enterprise sales and product marketing teams.",[11,696,697,700],{},[93,698,699],{},"7. Jane Software."," Practice management SaaS for health and wellness clinics. Bootstrapped for years, quietly one of the most-used vertical SaaS tools in North America.",[21,702,704],{"id":703},"fintech-and-payments","Fintech and payments",[11,706,707,710],{},[93,708,709],{},"8. Mogo."," Personal finance and crypto. Public, still shipping.",[11,712,713,716],{},[93,714,715],{},"9. Grow (Grow Technologies)."," Fintech tooling for credit unions and banks.",[21,718,720],{"id":719},"climate-energy-and-mobility","Climate, energy, and mobility",[11,722,723,726],{},[93,724,725],{},"10. Svante."," Carbon capture. Filter-based CO2 capture systems for heavy industry.",[11,728,729,732],{},[93,730,731],{},"11. Moment Energy."," Second-life EV battery storage. Coquitlam-based, taking used EV packs and building commercial energy storage.",[11,734,735,738],{},[93,736,737],{},"12. Damon Motors."," Electric motorcycles. High-performance EV two-wheelers.",[11,740,741,744],{},[93,742,743],{},"13. Ionomr Innovations."," Ion-exchange membranes for green hydrogen and fuel cells.",[11,746,747,750],{},[93,748,749],{},"14. E-One Moli Energy."," Advanced lithium-ion cell manufacturing, one of the few North American cell makers.",[21,752,754],{"id":753},"health-bio-and-life-sciences","Health, bio, and life sciences",[11,756,757,760],{},[93,758,759],{},"15. AbCellera."," Antibody discovery. Public and still one of the anchor biotech employers in the city.",[11,762,763,766],{},[93,764,765],{},"16. Aspect Biosystems."," 3D bioprinting for tissue therapeutics, with a high-profile partnership pipeline.",[21,768,770],{"id":769},"consumer-creator-and-commerce","Consumer, creator, and commerce",[11,772,773,776],{},[93,774,775],{},"17. Thinkific."," Course creation platform for creators and educators. Public, headquartered in Vancouver.",[11,778,779,782],{},[93,780,781],{},"18. Article."," Direct-to-consumer furniture. Digital-first, category-defining brand.",[11,784,785,788],{},[93,786,787],{},"19. Later."," Social media scheduling and creator marketing. Merged with Mavrck, still a core Vancouver software employer.",[11,790,791,794],{},[93,792,793],{},"20. Copperleaf."," Asset investment planning software for utilities and infrastructure operators.",[11,796,797,800],{},[93,798,799],{},"21. Trulioo."," Global identity verification. One of the reliable late-stage private companies in the ecosystem.",[21,802,804],{"id":803},"what-this-list-tells-you-as-a-founder","What this list tells you as a founder",[11,806,807],{},"Three patterns to notice.",[11,809,810,811,814,815,818],{},"First, deep tech is real here. Photonic, General Fusion, D-Wave, Svante, Ionomr, and AbCellera are not weekend projects. They rely on UBC and SFU research pipelines and on patient capital that is comfortable underwriting long timelines. If you are a technical founder considering ",[35,812,813],{"href":161},"Vancouver versus Toronto"," or ",[35,816,817],{"href":171},"choosing a province",", the deep-tech density is a real reason to pick BC.",[11,820,821,822,825],{},"Second, vertical SaaS keeps winning. Jane, Klue, Dooly, Thinkific, Copperleaf, and Later all built durable revenue by owning a narrow workflow. None of them needed a Bay Area zip code to do it, though many of their customers and later-stage investors are American. If that describes your path, our guide on ",[35,823,824],{"href":223},"Canadian founders raising from US investors"," is worth a read.",[11,827,828,829,833,834,225],{},"Third, capital is here but selective. ",[35,830,832],{"href":621,"rel":831},[252],"50-plus rounds by mid-2025"," is a healthy pace, but the median Series A now sits around $22M, which means the bar on traction has moved up. Pre-seed and seed founders should plan runway accordingly. We cover the current bar in ",[35,835,837],{"href":836},"\u002Fblog\u002Fraising-pre-seed-canada-2026","raising pre-seed in Canada 2026",[21,839,841],{"id":840},"the-physical-scene-is-expanding-too","The physical scene is expanding too",[11,843,844,845,849,850,120,854,858],{},"New spaces like ",[35,846,848],{"href":621,"rel":847},[252],"Althra, North House, and COAST Hub in Victoria are opening",", and projects such as Game On (led by Chris Neumann) and The Syndicate are actively trying to \"bend gravity toward Vancouver.\" If you are picking a workspace or a neighbourhood, our ",[35,851,853],{"href":852},"\u002Fblog\u002Fbest-coworking-vancouver-founders-2026","best coworking spaces for Vancouver founders",[35,855,857],{"href":856},"\u002Fblog\u002Fgastown-founders-guide","Gastown founders guide"," go deeper.",[21,860,862],{"id":861},"meet-the-founders-behind-these-companies","Meet the founders behind these companies",[11,864,865],{},"Reading a list is one thing. Sitting across from a founder who is one round ahead of you is another. Founder Feast runs curated dinners in Vancouver with vetted founders across exactly the sectors above: deep tech, vertical SaaS, fintech, climate, and health. Small tables, no pitching, real conversations.",[11,867,868,869,225],{},"If you are building in Vancouver and want to meet the people actually shipping the companies on this list, ",[35,870,872],{"href":871},"\u002Fapply","apply to join a Founder Feast dinner",{"title":299,"searchDepth":300,"depth":300,"links":874},[875,876,877,878,879,880,881,882,883,884],{"id":597,"depth":300,"text":598},{"id":653,"depth":300,"text":654},{"id":675,"depth":300,"text":676},{"id":703,"depth":300,"text":704},{"id":719,"depth":300,"text":720},{"id":753,"depth":300,"text":754},{"id":769,"depth":300,"text":770},{"id":803,"depth":300,"text":804},{"id":840,"depth":300,"text":841},{"id":861,"depth":300,"text":862},"https:\u002F\u002Ffounderfeast.com\u002Fblog\u002Fbuilt-in-vancouver-startups-2026","2026-08-31","A founder's guide to 21 Vancouver-built startups in 2026, with stage, founders, and what they do, plus the ecosystem context behind the list.",[889,892,895,898],{"q":890,"a":891},"How many unicorns does Vancouver have in 2026?","According to StartupBlink's 2026 Global Startup Ecosystem Index, six Vancouver startups have exceeded USD $1 billion in valuation, and the top three have collectively raised more than USD $13.6 billion.",{"q":893,"a":894},"How much venture capital did BC startups raise recently?","British Columbia startups raised $938 million in venture capital in Q3 2025 alone, and Vancouver startups attracted over $1.4 billion across 2024, a 35% year-over-year increase.",{"q":896,"a":897},"Is it cheaper to build a startup in Vancouver than in Seattle or San Francisco?","Yes. Vancouver offers roughly 30 to 40% lower operating costs than Seattle or San Francisco while maintaining comparable engineering talent quality, which is a big reason US-headquartered companies open Canadian offices there.",{"q":899,"a":900},"What sectors is Vancouver strongest in?","The strongest sectors are CleanTech, BioTech, gaming, FinTech, Web3, and B2B software, with notable depth in quantum computing, carbon capture, and vertical SaaS.",{},{"title":576,"description":887},"built-in-vancouver-startups-2026","blog\u002Fbuilt-in-vancouver-startups-2026","Bv3zmI_K9aY9A---WQD-G3ca-6edLpQh4918id0zCWw",{"id":907,"title":908,"author":6,"body":909,"canonical":1093,"city":312,"date":1094,"description":1095,"extension":315,"faq":312,"image":1096,"meta":1097,"navigation":318,"path":73,"seo":1098,"slug":1099,"stem":1100,"tag":323,"updated":324,"__hash__":1101},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fbc-startup-ecosystem.md","BC Startup Ecosystem Guide (2026): Funding, Tax Credits, Talent",{"type":8,"value":910,"toc":1083},[911,914,917,920,924,927,930,933,936,940,943,946,954,957,961,964,967,978,982,985,988,994,998,1001,1007,1013,1023,1027,1030,1033,1036,1039,1043,1046,1049,1065,1067],[11,912,913],{},"British Columbia quietly became the largest venture market in Canada, and most founders outside the province still haven't caught up. In 2025, BC pulled in $2.4 billion CAD in venture capital across 71 deals, capturing roughly 31% of national VC while representing about 16% of deal volume. Translation: the companies being built here are getting bigger checks from more serious investors than anywhere else in the country.",[11,915,916],{},"With 9,400+ tech companies and over 200,000 tech workers, BC is no longer emerging. It's a mature ecosystem with real exits, real capital, and real gaps. If you're building here in 2026, the playbook has changed since Slack sold, and knowing the current version matters.",[11,918,919],{},"Here's what actually works in BC right now, from SR&ED at the new $4.5M ceiling to which accelerators still write checks that matter.",[21,921,923],{"id":922},"the-exits-that-built-the-credibility","The exits that built the credibility",[11,925,926],{},"Any honest conversation about BC starts with the exits, because that's what tells investors this geography produces fundable and acquirable companies.",[11,928,929],{},"Stewart Butterfield grew up in Lund, a fishing village on the Sunshine Coast. He built Flickr (Yahoo bought it for $25M in 2005), then Slack (Salesforce bought it for $28B in 2021). That single trajectory reshaped how Vancouver thinks about ambition.",[11,931,932],{},"Clio, founded by Jack Newton and Rian Gauvreau in 2008, raised its $900M round in 2024 at a $3B valuation and is now tracking toward a public offering conversation in 2026. Hootsuite crossed $400M in revenue before its recapitalization. Thinkific went public on the TSX at $1.25B. Unbounce hit $50M+ in revenue bootstrapped from a Vancouver apartment. Dapper Labs, the team behind NBA Top Shot, still headquarters in Vancouver despite the crypto winter shakeout. STEMCELL Technologies now employs 2,700 people and clears $580M in revenue.",[11,934,935],{},"These aren't lucky one-offs. They're the compounding output of an ecosystem that's been quietly building for 20 years.",[21,937,939],{"id":938},"the-structural-edges-founders-keep-underestimating","The structural edges founders keep underestimating",[11,941,942],{},"The timezone argument matters more than founders admit. Pacific Time puts you in the same working hours as your Silicon Valley investors, customers, and design partners. If you've ever tried to run a Series A process from Toronto with a lead in Menlo Park, you already know what a three-hour delta does to deal velocity.",[11,944,945],{},"BC also sits on the Asia-Pacific corridor. Direct flights to Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore, and Sydney open commercial opportunities that Eastern Canadian founders have to route through LAX to reach.",[11,947,948,949,953],{},"Then there's talent. UBC pulled in $972M in research funding for the 2025-26 cycle. SFU and UVic add another $400M+ combined. The BC PNP Tech pathway now runs weekly draws across 32 eligible occupations with a two-to-three month processing timeline, which is faster than Ontario's equivalent stream. Combined with the ",[35,950,952],{"href":951},"\u002Fblog\u002Fcanada-startup-visa-2026","Canada Startup Visa",", founders here have hiring tools most provinces can't match.",[11,955,956],{},"Compensation still runs 25-35% below Bay Area rates for senior engineers as of Q2 2026. A staff engineer in Vancouver costs around $210K CAD all-in versus $340K USD in San Francisco. That gap extends runway without dropping quality.",[21,958,960],{"id":959},"where-the-money-actually-comes-from","Where the money actually comes from",[11,962,963],{},"The $2.4B raised in 2025 came from a mix of local funds and cross-border capital. The established BC names still writing checks: Yaletown Partners (founded 2002), Vanedge Capital (2010), Rhino Ventures, Version One, and Pender Ventures. Kensington Capital Partners manages the $101M BC Tech Fund, a government-backed vehicle targeting the province.",[11,965,966],{},"At the earliest stages, the accelerators still matter. Launch Academy has supported 6,400+ founders whose companies have collectively raised $2.7B. New Ventures BC has run for 25 years and helped alumni raise over $900M. CDL-Vancouver operates deep tech, climate, and AI streams. For cleantech, Foresight remains Canada's largest accelerator with $2.4B deployed and 30,000+ industry connections. BC led the country in cleantech deal count again in 2025 with 18 transactions.",[11,968,969,970,973,974,977],{},"The gap? Series B and beyond. Most BC companies raising $30M+ rounds still bring in a US lead. If you're planning a growth round, start building those relationships early. Our guide on ",[35,971,972],{"href":223},"Canadian founders and US investors"," walks through the mechanics, and if you're weighing structure changes, the ",[35,975,976],{"href":37},"Delaware flip breakdown"," covers what actually happens.",[21,979,981],{"id":980},"tax-credits-and-grants-that-move-real-dollars","Tax credits and grants that move real dollars",[11,983,984],{},"Canada's SR&ED program is the single most valuable government incentive available to BC startups, and most first-time founders leave money on the table. As of the 2025 federal budget implementation, the refundable credit rate stayed at 35% on qualifying R&D expenditures, but the expenditure ceiling rose to $4.5M for private CCPCs (up from $3M). That change is worth an extra $525K in refundable credits per year for R&D-heavy companies.",[11,986,987],{},"SR&ED stacks with IRAP grants (still writing $50K to $10M+ tickets in 2026) and Innovate BC programs, which relaunched the Ignite fund in early 2026 with $30M earmarked for natural resources and life sciences. A well-structured BC startup can layer these to get 40-60% of R&D costs subsidized in the pre-revenue phase.",[11,989,990,991,225],{},"On the talent side, the BC PNP Tech stream has been permanent since 2021 and processes weekly. If you're hiring internationally and planning around it, factor 10-14 weeks from job offer to work permit, not the six months you'd budget under federal Express Entry alone. For a broader comparison of provincial tradeoffs, see ",[35,992,993],{"href":171},"best province for Canadian founders",[21,995,997],{"id":996},"sectors-where-bc-punches-above-its-weight","Sectors where BC punches above its weight",[11,999,1000],{},"Three verticals are genuinely world-class here, not just regionally strong.",[11,1002,1003,1006],{},[93,1004,1005],{},"Life sciences"," is anchored by UBC's research output and Vancouver's clustering around Great Northern Way. The province has 2,100+ life sciences companies employing 22,000 people. AbCellera's IPO in 2020, STEMCELL's continued growth, and the recent $180M Series C for Notch Therapeutics show the ceiling.",[11,1008,1009,1012],{},[93,1010,1011],{},"Cleantech"," benefits from BC's clean energy grid (98% hydro), a regulatory environment that actually rewards emissions reduction, and Foresight's purpose-built scaling infrastructure. Svante, General Fusion, and Moment Energy all sit in the Lower Mainland.",[11,1014,1015,1018,1019,1022],{},[93,1016,1017],{},"AI and enterprise software"," remain the largest category by deal count. Vancouver's AI cluster around the Vector Institute's western partners and companies like Ada, Later, and Jane has produced steady deal flow. If AI is your space, the ",[35,1020,1021],{"href":319},"2026 Canadian AI startup landscape"," is worth reading before you plan your raise.",[21,1024,1026],{"id":1025},"what-the-ecosystem-still-lacks","What the ecosystem still lacks",[11,1028,1029],{},"No honest read on BC ignores the gaps.",[11,1031,1032],{},"Late-stage capital is thin. The 71 deals that made up 2025's $2.4B were heavily skewed by five rounds over $100M each. Take those out and the median BC Series B looks a lot smaller than the Toronto equivalent. Companies raising growth rounds still fly to New York, Boston, or the Bay.",[11,1034,1035],{},"Housing remains brutal. Vancouver ranks in the top three least-affordable cities globally, which affects both founder quality of life and the ability to recruit senior talent from Toronto or the US. Kelowna and Victoria have absorbed real migration from founders wanting BC's ecosystem without the $2.4M starter home.",[11,1037,1038],{},"The repeat-founder density is still building. San Francisco has a compounding advantage from decades of exits producing angels who become mentors who become investors. BC has that layer now, but it's thinner. The Slack, Hootsuite, and Clio alumni are starting to write checks and take board seats, but the informal knowledge transfer that accelerates a first-time founder still happens slower here than in the Valley.",[21,1040,1042],{"id":1041},"how-founders-actually-break-in","How founders actually break in",[11,1044,1045],{},"The founders who build real networks in BC do it through consistent, deliberate relationship-building, not event attendance. The ecosystem is large enough to have depth but small enough that the same few hundred people show up repeatedly as co-investors, advisors, customers, and hires. Getting into that orbit matters more than any single pitch competition.",[11,1047,1048],{},"Felix Böck started ChopValue in 2016 with $200 and a chopstick recycling idea. He now runs a franchise operation on three continents. His public credit for the scale: Vancouver's willingness to back an unconventional bet. That openness to real differentiation, more than category familiarity, is what BC founder culture actually rewards.",[11,1050,1051,1052,1055,1056,1059,1060,1064],{},"If you're building here and want a seat at the table with founders working through the same problems, ",[35,1053,6],{"href":250,"rel":1054},[252]," runs Thursday dinners at 7pm across ",[35,1057,258],{"href":256,"rel":1058},[252],", Toronto, and Kelowna. Five founders, one restaurant, no pitching. Just the kind of conversation that compounds. ",[35,1061,1063],{"href":273,"rel":1062},[252],"Apply for your first dinner"," and we'll match you with four founders worth your Thursday.",[21,1066,279],{"id":278},[87,1068,1069,1074,1079],{},[90,1070,1071],{},[35,1072,1073],{"href":171},"Best province for Canadian founders",[90,1075,1076],{},[35,1077,1078],{"href":852},"Best coworking spaces in Vancouver for founders",[90,1080,1081],{},[35,1082,857],{"href":856},{"title":299,"searchDepth":300,"depth":300,"links":1084},[1085,1086,1087,1088,1089,1090,1091,1092],{"id":922,"depth":300,"text":923},{"id":938,"depth":300,"text":939},{"id":959,"depth":300,"text":960},{"id":980,"depth":300,"text":981},{"id":996,"depth":300,"text":997},{"id":1025,"depth":300,"text":1026},{"id":1041,"depth":300,"text":1042},{"id":278,"depth":300,"text":279},"https:\u002F\u002Ffounderfeast.com\u002Fblog\u002Fbc-startup-ecosystem","2026-08-28","BC captured 31% of Canadian VC in 2025 with 9,400+ tech companies. Where the funding, tax credits, and talent actually are, from Vancouver to Kelowna.","\u002Fimages\u002Fblog\u002Fbc.jpg",{},{"title":908,"description":1095},"bc-startup-ecosystem","blog\u002Fbc-startup-ecosystem","yiu9f99whxDqniLx6Y6ejcYeYibRw1zSPvSsWlWb6KI"]