Plus: Canada is launching its own quantum research program that could rival DARPA's initiative.
If you look at the news this week, you might think the acronym for Canada's largest venture capital firm stands for Bank of Defense Cash.
BDC Capital exposed two new venture funds this week: The defense-focused successor to the Deep Tech Venture Fund, and another that for the first time advises and backs businesses selling products to the defense industry.
BDC also said it is open to easing restrictions in the stock filings of the venture capitalists he backs, allowing them to finance companies that make or sell military products.
This comes after the Quebec government agency Investissement Québec lifted his own restrictions about defense funding, and some defense technology founders have spoken in Parliament on this issue. Sentinel General Manager of Research and Development Katheron Intson called government-funded funds to “arbitrarily” block defense companies, arguing it only encourages firms to leave Canada.
With new powers comes more responsibility. General partners are expected to conduct “enhanced due diligence” to ensure these companies are complying with laws and regulations. It's not just general practitioners with new tasks. Canadian companies selling dual-use technologies face their own challenges. “We will really hold their hands,” BDC Capital executive vice president Genevieve Boutilier told me Thursday.
Lifting investment restrictions was a matter of “consistency,” Boutilier said. If the BDC can invest directly in such companies, why not the GPs it funds?
Madison McLauchlan
Reporter, Montreal
From growth to IPO, having an AI product strategy isn't enough, your financial operations need one, too.
Scaling up in Canada is happening quickly, but financial complexity is growing even faster. And entrusting your key financials to generic LLM platforms with flashy demos but untested controls will not pass muster with investors or auditors.
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Queen's University hires Nvidia's Ian Carlin to build Canadian supercomputer
Carlin, who most recently worked as a chief engineer at chip giant Nvidia, joins a growing list of talented researchers who have moved to Canada amid cuts in research funding and attacks on higher education institutions in the United States.
He also has experience working on El Capitan, the world's most powerful supercomputer.
Canada launches its own quantum research program to compete with DARPA's initiative
The federal government has introduced the Canadian Quantum Champions Program as part of an effort to keep promising quantum firms in Canada.
Xanadu, Nord Quantique, Photonic and Anyon Systems are developing “scalable and useful” quantum computers with up to $23 million in initial funding each in the first of three planned phases.
The sugar high for Canadian payments companies ends in 2022. Venture capitalists say another surge is coming
While growth in the payments sector has slowed since 2022, a new report suggests a new wave of companies could be on the horizon thanks to advances in artificial intelligence tools and Canada's long-awaited payments modernization.
Amiral Ventures First Holds $40M to Address 'Lack of Leadership' in Canadian Venture Capital
This week, Amiral held the first close of the $75 million trust fund after nearly three years of fundraising.
Managing partner Frédéric Bastien told BetaKit that he is continually “frustrated by the lack of leadership in the venture capital ecosystem in Canada” and aims to fill that gap almost exclusively through leading rounds.
Shopify Alumni Updates
- Glen Coates, former head of Shopify's core product, was knocked to lead application development in OpenAI.
- After three years as CEO of Coinbase Canada, Lucas Matheson became… latest former Shopify employee join Kaz Nezhatian at Opendoor in San Francisco.
- Former Shopify engineers new funding raised to scale AI search in Turbopuffer.
Startup investigation reveals 50 peer-reviewed articles containing hallucinatory quotes
GPTZero's audit of hallucinations found that 50 papers submitted to the conference included at least one “obvious” AI-generated hallucination.
Each message was reviewed by three to five experts, “most of whom did not notice any fake quotes.” Some citations were written by non-existent authors, misattributed to journals, or had no equivalent match at all.
Canadian Space Mining Corporation plans 'rapid expansion' in 2026 under new name
The rebranding of the Canadian Strategic Mission Corporation reflects a broader focus on mission-critical technologies, as the startup includes two subsidiaries that continue its work in nuclear energy and research and development.
Canada's defense industrial strategy must include technology procurement pathways.
In an article for BetaKit, Matthew Lombardi, co-founder of Canadian defense innovation network The Icebreaker, argues that the federal defense strategy being developed in Ottawa should consider Canadian technology firms as key partners.
🇨🇦 Weekly Canadian Deals, Dollars and More
- CAN – AI Scaling reveals $129 million for 44 new artificial intelligence projects across Canada
- CGY – Geological AI acquires Finnish competitor Lumo Analytics
- CGY – Tetra Trust completes the test stablecoin backed by CAD
- THOR – Ash raises $6 million for financial crime platform
- MTL – National Bank sues Co-founders of Flinks
- QCY – Coveo strikes AI Partnership with the Federal Government
- STJ – CoLab Software joins NVIDIA Starter Program
BetaKit Podcast – Canada's job market sucks for Gen Z
“Can you imagine that a quarter (25 per cent) of Canadians are unsure if they will be employed in the next year? That's a wild statistic.”
Kevin Klieman, President of Canadian Business at Employment Hero, joins to explain why Canada's workforce is underemployed and worried about 2026. He also shares data indicating that Gen Z is doing particularly poorly, before offering tips on how they can make their mark on the modern workforce – with the help of AI.
Take the BetaKit Test: Canadian Quantum Dark Horse, DoorDash Gets Zesty, and Queen Scores Nvidia
Think you're up to date on Canadian technology and innovation news? Time to prove it. Test your knowledge of Canadian tech news with the BetaKit quiz on December 19, 2025.
Image courtesy of BDC.
