If you want to understand where Canadian tech is headed, don’t look at policy. Don’t look at another task force. Look at the companies and founders building here.
Over the past 11 months, I’ve had the privilege of spending time with some of Canada’s most promising tech founders and leaders through C100’s Fellows and Growth programs. These are not hypothetical future winners—they’re already proving it. They are raising capital, hiring senior leaders, launching new products, acquiring companies, expanding globally, and, in many cases, defying the odds from within Canada.
And the odds have been tough.
The macro environment hasn’t been kind to startups anywhere, but Canadian tech founders in particular are still navigating shallower capital markets, a more conservative investor base, and a lingering instinct to validate success only once it’s been exported. Yet this cohort, like those before them, is choosing to build anyway. And they’re doing it with global ambition.
Just look at the data.
Among the 2024 Growth cohort companies:
- 7Gen scaled its EV fleet deployments and signed major partnerships to decarbonize last-mile logistics.
- Arteria AI was named a finalist for the 2025 Banking Tech Awards USA and selected to the global AIFinTech100 list, while launching a new AI research arm and appointing a Chief Science Officer to deepen its innovation in financial services.
- Phoenix closed a $50M Series A in March 2025, led by Valspring Capital with continued support from Y Combinator and venture debt from CIBC Innovation Banking, to expand its operations, team, and ecosystem reach.
- e-Zinc opened a 42,000 sq ft pilot manufacturing facility in Mississauga for developing commercial pilot systems.
- MY01 secured FDA 510(k) clearance along with Breakthrough Device Designation for its perfusion-pressure sensing platform.
- Stan, Uride, Humi, and others made meaningful progress on scaling, product expansion, and talent.
- Rebel raised $18M Series A in September 2024, led by Maveron with participation from Serena Ventures and expanded its recommerce model beyond baby gear into the home essentials vertical.
And the momentum isn’t limited to scale-stage companies.
Founders in our 2024 Fellows cohort—many still pre-Series A—are moving just as fast:
- Friendlier signed major enterprise food service contracts and expanded its reusable packaging footprint across Canada.
- Rootd, one of the most downloaded anxiety apps in the world, added new science-backed tools and crossed a new milestone in user growth.
- Hyper exited stealth with a $6.3M raise to expand its footprint across the US.
- Swap Robotics was recognized as part of SOSV’s Climate Tech 100 and featured in hard-tech startup forums such as TechCrunch Disrupt and BuiltWorlds Top 50 Robotics.
- Numr was selected for the 2025 Google for Startups Accelerator: Canada cohort.
These aren’t outliers. They’re signals.
The next generation of Canadian tech isn’t waiting for better conditions. It’s building through them. These founders are writing a different story—one that’s more global, more product-first, more assertive, and more willing to play for high stakes.
This is why I continue to believe that Canada doesn’t have to lose its best companies to win. But it does have to get more comfortable backing them before they’ve made it. As I’ve written before, that means embracing bigger bets, louder wins, and yes, a little more hubris.
If you still think Canadian tech is risk-averse, you’re not paying attention to the founders I meet every week.
It’s not perfect. There’s still work to do—especially when it comes to matching US levels of growth capital and talent mobility. But the momentum is real.
In fact, it’s measurable.
C100 has now supported over 500 companies. Collectively, they’ve raised more than $15.9 billion, created thousands of jobs, and generated dozens of successful exits. That track record isn’t just an endorsement of good programming—it’s proof that great Canadian companies are being built every day.
And this year’s cohort is already extending that legacy.
We’ll be announcing our next class of founders this September. But if you want to understand where Canadian tech is headed, start by watching the companies already leading the way.
Because the future isn’t hypothetical. It’s already in motion.
