By Matt McLeod, Partner, Toronto | Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

Canadian defence is experiencing a generational moment of investment and support. By 2035, direct spending on the Canadian military alone could reach C$163.6 billion, up from C$29.3 billion in 2024–2025. As innovation accelerates and warfare evolves, global defence tech venture capital deal value has reached C$67.4 billion across 726 deals so far in 2026.

However, while the defence technology startup industry in the United States and Europe has expanded significantly since the invasion of Ukraine, Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy, which opened the door to greater defence investment in Canada, was not released until February this year. Prior to this, military-related investment was largely restricted or viewed as undesirable across Canada.

Canada is now moving quickly to build a domestic defence startup ecosystem. BDC has launched a defence platform of up to C$6 billion, and the Defence Industrial Strategy aims to direct 70% of defence acquisitions to Canadian firms. There is no shortage of record-breaking raises being announced.

Founders who run a disciplined process can still raise capital. Here is how I would approach a pre-seed or seed round from a legal perspective.

1. Fix the foundation before you pitch

Given the sensitivity of the material and the extensiveness of regulation in the space, investors in defence and deep tech spend more time on structural due diligence than most founders expect. Before your first meeting, ensure that:

• IP is in the company. Every founder and contractor should have signed an intellectual property assignment, which is an agreement that ensures all of the intellectual property is owned by the company, rather than its individuals. If the technology originated at a university, former employer or government lab, confirm in writing who owns it.

• Founder vesting is in place. Vesting is the process by which employee ownership of shares is earned over time, rather than all at once. Typically, vesting is time-based or milestone-based, but in emerging companies, the time-based approach is most common. A four-year vesting period, with no shares vesting during the first year, is a common baseline. Investors will ask about it.

• CCPC status is protected. Canadian-controlled private corporation status unlocks the enhanced Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) credit (35% refundable on up to C$6 million of qualifying expenditures for most CCPCs). Foreign-investor control or a U.S. flip can affect that status, and some grant programs require a Canadian entity. Get advice before restructuring. While incorporating in a US jurisdiction can be favourable for many industries, in defence it can make a Canadian company less attractive to purchasers, given the push for sovereignty.

• There is one clean data room. This should contain all corporate records, a capitalization table, IP assignments, key contracts and a simple financial model.

2. Choose your instrument and model the dilution

At pre-seed, most founders raise capital through a simple agreement for future equity (SAFE) or a convertible note. A SAFE allows for a straightforward legal process as you defer the valuation of a company to a later date – SAFEs are also designed to be founder-friendly, keeping founders in the driver’s seat. A convertible note is a debt instrument, which is generally more attractive to investors in early-stage companies, but the debt can convert to equity, making it more attractive to founders.

At seed, a lead investor will often push for a priced round of preferred shares. Whichever you use, the important terms are the valuation cap, any discount and how several instruments stack. Three uncapped or loosely capped notes can dilute your ownership far more than the headline numbers suggest. These numbers are important as they are the basis for how much ownership founders retain.

As a rule of thumb, plan to sell roughly 10–20% at pre-seed and 15–25% at seed, and reserve an option pool of about 10% for early hires. Build the cap table for both rounds before signing anything.

3. Build a targeted investor list

A scattershot list wastes months. Build five buckets and rank within each by evidence of defence or dual-use investing:

• Specialist and defence-focused funds, such as BDC StrongNorth, Frostbite, NordSpace and ONE9.

• Generalist early-stage funds with hard-tech appetite, such as Garage, Golden Ventures, Northside Ventures, Ripple and Panache.

• Angel networks are often more open to defence at the earliest stage.

• Accelerators are programs designed to help early-stage companies grow rapidly. These programs provide services, dilutive and non-dilutive funding, and other resources to help companies scale quickly.

• Foreign dual-use funds can broaden the pool of available capital. Shopify’s Harley Finkelstein has urged founders to raise capital from anywhere once they are ready, and Dominion Dynamics’ Eliot Pence stresses bringing Canadian institutional capital in early. The best rounds usually do both. While keeping a higher percentage of Canadian ownership has advantages, getting the funding you need outweighs them.

Funds typically specialize in a specific company size, so focus on groups that traditionally finance companies at your stage, and match the cheque size to your round.

A fund whose typical cheque is far above or below what you need is not a fit, regardless of its reputation. ONE9’s Glenn Cowan encourages founders to raise the amount their company needs at its particular stage of growth, rather than aiming for a metric generated by the hype cycle. Raising too much money can be a risk that some companies bump into – this can lead to overspending, your strategy being pulled in unintended directions, more dilution than is necessary and other inefficiencies that could drag your company down.

4. Stack non-dilutive capital alongside equity

Dilution is the process of giving ownership in your company for benefits, including funding or services. Non-dilutive funding both extends runway and signals technical credibility to investors. Canada is comparatively strong in this area. Consider:

• Innovative Solutions Canada commonly provides up to C$150,000 in Phase 1 and up to C$1 million in Phase 2, with the company generally keeping its IP.

• Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) provides competitive funding for defence research and development, with phased awards up to C$6.75 million.

• National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program, SR&ED and Mitacs offer advisory and project funding, tax credits and university-linked research support.

• NATO Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) provides an initial €100,000 award for selected dual-use companies.

Some programs reimburse costs after you spend them, rather than in advance of the initiative, and are tied to specific calls for proposals, so check which are open before you build them into your runway.

5. Be ready for defence-specific diligence

Expect these questions from investors, and from the Department of National Defence as a customer:

• Controlled goods and export controls. If you handle controlled technology, you may need Controlled Goods Program registration, and export permits may apply. U.S.-origin technology can bring International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) into the picture.

• Foreign ownership. The Investment Canada Act’s national security review can apply to foreign investments, including minority stakes. Vet every investor’s ownership and links before term sheets, and be careful with board seats and information rights.

• Security clearances. Facility and personnel clearances are generally sponsored through a government contract. Security clearances can take months from start to finish, so plan the timing instead of assuming you can get them on demand.

• Contract terms. Know who owns IP developed under government agreements and what restrictions follow. These agreements can be confusing, so it’s important to ensure you understand who retains ownership, licenses and use of the IP in question.

6. Stay inside securities law

There are comprehensive legal requirements when raising funds. The majority of emerging companies will look for an exemption to the prospectus requirement, without which raising money can be incredibly expensive and time-consuming. Raise under a prospectus exemption, most commonly the accredited investor or private issuer exemption. In most provinces, you must file a report of exempt distribution (Form 45-106F1) within 10 days of closing. Avoid broadcasting the round publicly. If U.S. investors participate, ensure that a U.S. exemption is also available. Taking investors who do not qualify can create rescission rights down the road.

7. Run a tight, time-boxed process

Momentum matters. Compress meetings into a few weeks so investors see competing interest, and target 18 to 24 months of runway—or longer if you are building hardware. There is the added benefit of allowing founders to get back to focusing on building their product if timelines are compressed.

Pre-launch checklist

Raising a first round in defence and deep tech is as much about preparation as persuasion. Founders who arrive with a clean structure, realistic terms and a clear understanding of regulatory risk typically close faster and on better terms, meaning less dilution and more ownership, and more capital to build with.

About the Author

Matt is a Partner in the Blakes Defence group. His practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, venture capital and corporate law, with a particular emphasis on the defence sector. Drawing on his background in technology and engineering, he advises emerging, high-growth and established companies on strategic transactions, investments and corporate matters.

For more information, please contact Matt or any other member of the Blakes Defence group.

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

As one of Canada’s leading business law firms, Blakes advises companies across the defence ecosystem through a multidisciplinary team that combines legal excellence with firsthand military and government experience.

This article provides general information only and is not legal advice. Investor mandates, program terms and regulatory requirements change; confirm current details with each organization and consult counsel before relying on this guide.

Subscribe now

Subscribe now

A Canadian quantum computing company, founded by an Australian who failed film school twice, raised over C$800M and is listed on both the TSX and NASDAQ.

Xanadu, founded in Toronto in 2016 by CEO Christian Weedbrook, is the first pure-play photonic quantum hardware company to go public. The company is building a computer that operates using particles of light instead of electrons.
16 years ago, Christian moved to Canada. Now, the Canadian government is investing $195m through the Strategic Response Fund in Project OPTIMISM, the largest investment in quantum manufacturing in Canadian history.

“Our goal is to be based here in Canada and build something on the global stage.”

Xanadu bets that quantum computing will be a bigger revolution than artificial intelligence. Quantum computers can solve certain problems that would take a conventional computer millions of years, with potential use cases ranging from new life-saving drugs to designing new materials.
Governments are investing significantly to stay ahead of the curve; the U.S. Department of War recently announced $350 million in Quantum Computing Initiatives.
Q-Day (quantum day), the date when quantum computers can hack the internet, could arrive as early as the 2030s.

Christian’s path into the industry was unusual. He pursued film before mathematics and physics, researched quantum computing at MIT and UofT, and eventually brought his scientific work together with his interest in business biographies.
The company is now working toward a large-scale quantum computer which Xanadu expects to be ready by 2029.

“I don’t see any difference between writing and directing a movie and starting a startup.”

I spoke with Christian about what quantum computers can do today, why Xanadu is building with light, the path to commercialization, raising capital, and why he chose to build here.

What is Xanadu building, and why does it matter for Canada?

“Xanadu is building a large-scale quantum computer. Quantum computers are something that will be up there with the early days of the internet and the promise of the internet, along with digital computing.
It’s something that’s really going to revolutionize the world, and it’s really key and important that we’ve been doing all this in Canada.”

Advertisement — Marconi Technologies

The Canadian Explorers is proud to be supported by its Founding Lead Partner, Marconi Technologies.

Marconi Technologies – headquartered in Quebec – develops and manufactures advanced, dual-use communications systems across the full tactical spectrum, from line-of-sight tactical radios to beyond-line-of-sight troposcatter and satellite communications to empower decision and enable autonomy.

For someone non-technical, what is quantum computing?

“We get asked a lot what a quantum computer is, and I always like to answer with one of our own quantum computers that we built. It was called Borealis, and Borealis went head-to-head with the world’s fastest supercomputer at the time.

Basically, we gave it a very difficult math problem that would take a long time. We said, let’s go head-to-head. The world’s fastest supercomputer took seven million years—well, would have taken seven million years—for this problem, and Borealis solved it in two minutes.
That’s the sort of breathtaking ability that a quantum computer is capable of: taking things that are pretty much intractable down to a couple of minutes. That’s for a math problem that was very hard.

Over the coming years, our goal is to do that for things in pharmaceuticals, so drug discovery; material design—think next-generation batteries, next-generation solar cells; AI; finance; and logistics.”

Where is quantum computing right now, and what’s holding it back?

“Where we are now, at Xanadu and other places around the world, we all have smaller quantum computers. Things that demonstrate difficult math problems being solved, things that can show scalability, as Xanadu showed with our Aurora quantum computer.
But overall, it’s not providing the ultimate goal, which is this value of incredible speedups in pharmaceuticals, drug discovery and material design—the things I mentioned. That is due around 2029, and that’s what we’re aiming for.

The ultimate vision is to take these smaller quantum computers that we have now, make them even better, more performant, and have many of them, but connect them together using fibre optics. Effectively, you’ve got a large-scale quantum computer or a quantum data centre.”

How does Xanadu differ from competitors?

“You can build a quantum computer out of two things, broadly speaking: either light, so think photons, which is what we’re doing; or matter, so think electrons. A lot of folks are doing the electronic-based approach, and we’re using a photonic one. As long as you can access certain quantum properties of the photon or the electron, you can build a quantum computer.

The pros and cons—we all have them. We like to take our chances with our pros; they’re pretty awesome. Scalability is already being solved and demonstrated through Xanadu’s Aurora computer. You can network together as many quantum computers as you want. No one in the world has shown that apart from us.

The ability to work pretty easily with large-scale manufacturing and large-scale foundries is a big benefit. Also, the ability to use what we believe is far less cooling than anyone else. In fact, our qubits, gates and measurements are all at room temperature, with no cryogenics and no laser cooling. A lot of benefits there.
Our biggest challenge is loss. When photons don’t make it from start to finish, there’s a loss happening, a loss of information. That’s something that error correction, more and more foundry runs, and perfecting that process will help us overcome.”

What are the defence and national-security implications for Canada?

“In terms of the defence aspect, the biggest application is really the hacking of the internet. That’s what a quantum computer can do. That’s obviously not an application we’re going after, but that’s the biggest threat.

That’s why defence and governments are really interested in a quantum computer. They need to get ahead of this technology. They need to understand its strengths and weaknesses. That’s really what’s driven the quantum computing field from the early ‘90s onwards. That’s why countries and nation-states are really desperate to crack the code of building a large-scale quantum computer.”

The Government of Canada recently invested $195 million in Project OPTIMISM. What is it, and why is the government supporting it?

“Great support from the Canadian government. We’re really happy and work well with them. I mentioned the large-scale quantum computer is the ultimate vision, the ultimate goal. To get there, you need to be able to manufacture all the parts and manufacture them at scale.

You can think of Inception (the facility) as being that. It’s a 160,000-square-foot facility. It’s beautiful when you go in there. There’s nothing there, but it’s kind of awe-inspiring to see the space and think about what we’re going to do there.

We do all the chip designs here in Toronto. We send them off to different foundries around the world. The foundries send these chips back to us. What Inception will be doing is testing and measuring the chips, packaging the chips, working on some of the cryogenics, and also heterogeneous integration, where essentially you put two different types of chips together.
Inception is a key aspect of achieving our vision of a large-scale quantum computer.”

Why vertically integrate, rather than buy?

“We would love to buy and have less work for ourselves. I think that would make a lot of sense. But a lot of the stuff that we’re doing, no one’s ever done before.
For certain things, like the foundries that we work with, buying off-the-shelf fibre optics and lasers, that’s already been done. The stuff we can buy, we do. But there are other things where we can really speed up the process by doing it ourselves. It is a race, and the faster we can do things through things like Inception, the better it will be for achieving our goals.”

Have a friend or colleague interested in the startups and technologies shaping Canada’s most critical industries? Share this interview with them or your team.

Share

How much have you raised in total, and would you change anything if you started over?

“I wouldn’t change anything. One of the big things I think about is, would we change going public? It’s been six months, and so far it’s been the right decision. The access to capital is far larger on the public markets than the private markets, so that’s really enticing for us.

In terms of how much we’ve raised, privately we raised US$250 million. That doesn’t include around US$40 million from the Canadian and U.S. governments. There’s that side of it. Since we went public, our gross amount of money raised from going public was US$302 million.”

How does Xanadu generate revenue today, and how do you expect the business model to operate once you scale up?

“It’s a good question. We do have revenue today. I think what we say is it’s around single-digit millions. Our main focus is not revenue. It’s really partnerships and advancing our hardware roadmap. They’re the two key things, because if this plays out the way we think, and others think, it will, the real revenue is once you have this large-scale quantum computer.

Our revenue model at that point has four things we’ll be pursuing. Cloud access: kind of like a cloud-compute infrastructure, quantum computing as a service. You can access our advanced compute over the cloud.
Another one is potentially selling individual quantum computers or server racks to customers for data and sovereign needs.
Then licensing. If people create a new drug or a new material or something from using our compute, we’re going to charge a lot for that. That’s great. But we also want to patent things that they may productize afterwards, so we can get some licensing fees as well.

The fourth one we’re always thinking about is the monetization of our PennyLane software, which is one of the most widely used software offerings anywhere in the world. PennyLane is open source. It’s got a great following, but in the future we may think about monetizing that as well.”

Will quantum create a big step up in artificial intelligence?

“TBD on that. The jury’s out. We don’t know. We think that’s going to be the case, but honestly, understandably, everything these days is about AI. Rather than looking at how those go together, we think we’re the next big thing after AI: quantum.

There will surely be a point where people are saying, What’s your quantum strategy? How are you leveraging quantum computers? We see it as separate, as something bigger.
Having said that, AI and, say, LLMs have been incredibly important to us in building a quantum computer so far. It speeds things up, optimizes things, and it’s been an incredibly useful tool for us.”

You’ve spoken about failing film school twice. How did you end up in quantum?

“I’ve always been following my curiosity, what interests me and what I’m okay at, trying to find that overlap.

After failing film school and trying a ton of other things, I went back to school, back to university, majoring in math. I was okay at math at school, so I thought I’d give it a go at university. I was really enjoying the applied version of math, and even more applied physics, because you had the math and also the physical understanding and intuition that was needed to really learn what was happening.
I went further down the applied route. I was interested in applying physics to things like secure code, so quantum cryptography, and then finally quantum computing as well. I did a PhD in quantum computing, all the while not knowing what was coming up next, just following the things I was interested in and enthusiastic about.

After that, I went to MIT as a postdoc, and then the University of Toronto as a postdoc, and continued to study and contribute to the field of photonic quantum computing. That’s how it came about.
I decided in 2016 to put my longstanding love of entrepreneurship and reading business books and biographies together with my knowledge of quantum computing. I thought, I wonder if I could commercialize the research field of photonic quantum computing that I was a part of? It just went from there.”

Does your film background or outside perspective give you an advantage?

“I think so, and I hope so. I don’t see any difference between writing and directing a movie and starting a startup.

The outcome is different. You’ve got a movie, then you’ve got a product of whatever the company is selling—in our case, a quantum computer.
You start with an idea, as both a founder and a film director would. The idea for a film would be that you’ve written a script, for instance. The idea for a company—in my case, I wrote a white paper detailing what I’d like to do if I got money.

The next step for both is to get money, get investors, and get people behind you. Hire people to bring the ideas to fruition. There are so many similarities between the two that it seems like ultimately kind of the same thing for me.”

You were born in Australia but decided to build Xanadu in Canada. Why here?

“The why is quite simple and just personal. I loved Toronto when I first came here. I thought it was a great city, and it’s a great country. There are similarities to Australia, so getting used to this country was much easier.
Thankfully, since I’ve been here and since starting Xanadu, much more funding has become available. There have also been a lot of incubators for startups and founders to help them. The Canadian government, from our side, has been such a champion for quantum and has been helping us a lot.

All of those things come together to make it a great place to live and also build something.”

Over the next 12 months—what should people look out for?

“Everything for us is really about hardware milestones. That’s key. Specifically, loss reduction—that’s really the biggest challenge for us, as I mentioned.
Continually seeing our loss go down. We’re on track for that. That’s the key metric to look out for.”

If everything goes right, what do you want Xanadu and the world to look like?

“What would be fantastic is for large-scale quantum computers to exist. They’re helping people, creating drugs that would have taken many decades to create, but much faster. They’ve sped up the whole drug process cycle significantly. New materials, new batteries, new everything that we hadn’t thought of being created.

When people talk about AGI, I think you really need the digital world plus the analog world. That’s maybe the best way to describe nature and reality. That’s what quantum physics offers: both the analog or continuous nature, along with the discrete or bits nature. That’s fantastical. Maybe AGI is only possible with quantum ultimately, or something like quantum. That’s the future that I hope happens.”

What other Canadian national-interest startups are worth watching?

“In the quantum space, there are two other great ones: Photonic and Nord Quantique. They’re doing some great stuff.

There are many in Canada, and I’m seeing more and more founders reach out to me. If there’s anything I can help with, I’m always happy to do that. I think the future looks bright for entrepreneurship here in Canada.”

Which entrepreneurs or historical figures do you look up to most? Do you have a favourite biography?

“I love two that I continually reread: the Elon Musk one by Walter Isaacson—I think that’s an amazing story—and The Snowball, about Warren Buffett.

There are a lot of books out there that extract the characteristics of successful people. They’ve been around for 100 years or more, probably. They all have the same characteristics. They have a great attitude, a positive attitude. They’re optimistic. They work hard. They work relentlessly. They don’t give up. They’re persistent.

There’s no magic. There’s really no magic. Those characteristics have been around for many, many years now. The hard part is living them every day.

A lot of the folks I read about have achieved what they’ve achieved because they’ve just been at it, one step in front of the other, continuously. It just builds up over time.”

Building something in Canada? I want to hear about it. contact@ethanmarcoux.com

Subscribe now

Subscribe now

After 13 years in the Canadian Armed Forces, Michael Nelson, a 4th-generation veteran, left to solve the data problem he couldn’t work on in uniform.

As modern technologies like artificial intelligence continue to change how work gets done, militaries around the world still struggle with old ways of doing things. Data is often segmented and communicated manually, through voice and data entry. When a sensor sees something the next system cannot use, soldiers need to share the data themselves. This is not scalable.
If Canada wants to modernize its military, then it needs to connect its data into a common operating picture.

“It’s manual. It’s humans on keyboards and radios working to constantly integrate sensors into networks and into Command and Control software. […] We cannot keep up with the pace of change in the modern battlespace.”

TACTIQL, an Ottawa-based startup founded in 2022, helps military users gain a decision-making advantage. The company makes sensor data usable across military systems and is building edge-computing hardware to support software where communications are unreliable.

The core product is FULCRUM, a software platform that processes data from both legacy and emerging sensors into a format that other systems can understand. This allows systems from different manufacturers and countries to work together, reducing the need for bespoke one-to-one integrations.
For Canada, systems like FULCRUM are essential to provide interoperability internally and with international allies.

TACTIQL works with the Army, Navy, Joint Forces, RCMP, and NATO, and is supporting operations such as the Canadian-led multinational brigade in Latvia.

The startup is bootstrapped, veteran-led, and part of the cockroach club, defining itself as “hard to kill,” alongside ANVIL and H2 Analytics. TACTIQL existed before the Canadian defence hype, is not chasing venture capital, and plans to survive long after. Its advantage is its empathy and credibility with the operator.

“Do not try to use the news and social media to guide where your technology should go. Let the customer guide you.”

I spoke with Mike about continuing to serve as a veteran founder, connecting military systems, understanding what customers actually need, and building a Canadian defence company beyond the hype.

What is TACTIQL building, and why does it matter for Canada?

“The core of TACTIQL’s value proposition is our ability to ingest data and not just translate it into interoperable formats, but enrich it with the metadata and the context required to enable interoperability across systems. That reduces the need for bespoke one-to-one integrations between sensors and networks and all the different software that sits on that network.

Why does that matter to Canada? Canada operates almost exclusively within a coalition environment. We don’t have the scope and scale of some of our allies, first and foremost being the Americans. Therefore, it’s absolutely essential that our Army, for example, can work with our allies in NATO seamlessly. Digital interoperability is a critical enabler of that.
Our software helps enable that interoperability internal to the Canadian Armed Forces, including within the Canadian Army, across the joint forces, such as between the Canadian Navy, the Army, the Air Force, the Special Forces, as well as between the Canadian Armed Forces and our allies.”

Advertisement — Marconi Technologies

The Canadian Explorers is proud to be supported by its Founding Lead Partner, Marconi Technologies.

Marconi Technologies – headquartered in Quebec – develops and manufactures advanced, dual-use communications systems across the full tactical spectrum, from line-of-sight tactical radios to beyond-line-of-sight troposcatter and satellite communications to empower decision and enable autonomy.

Was there a moment when you realized you had to create TACTIQL?

“TACTIQL was not a concept while I was in uniform. I had concluded that there were problems that existed within the military that needed to be solved, but I was not positioned to help solve them from where I was. The only way to solve those problems was by working outside of the military, in industry.

I didn’t see anybody else in industry addressing these problems in the way that I believed they needed to be solved. It was a bit of a journey between serving in uniform and the concept of TACTIQL as a software company. But the problems which we set out to solve were consistent throughout that process.”

What does it mean for you to keep building for the people who are serving?

“Everything. When I was a kid, in my mind there was no other option for me but to serve. I imagined my career being in the military. The only way that I could justify to myself leaving the military was through continuing to serve. TACTIQL has given me that opportunity.
I often say this: now I feel like I’m serving just as much, if not more, than I did when I was in uniform. Now I actually have the opportunity to seek out and better understand the problems that I experienced—and that people like me experience while serving—and actually do something about them. In uniform, that wasn’t part of my job description. Now I can choose what problems I work to solve.”

Could you describe the data problem you are solving? What does it look like in the military today?

“The reality is that it’s fairly complex. Frankly, it’s a lot easier to understand things like aircraft and tanks and warships, and even AI, than it is to understand data. But to try to simplify it down to its basics, it’s ultimately an Internet of Things type problem.
You have this wide variety of sensors across modalities: electro-optical and infrared, radar, RF, acoustic, etc. All these sensors generate data in different formats and qualities. No two sensors, even within the same modality, generate data in the same way.

When there’s this variety of data that’s being generated in the battlespace, it makes it really hard to integrate this complexity into our command-and-control ecosystem. You can’t design command-and-control software, such as a battle or combat management system, to be able to ingest the data from every unique sensor. It’s just way too much systems integration work. It’s manual. It’s humans on keyboards working to constantly integrate sensors into networks and into software. Each one requires bespoke point-to-point integration. It does not scale, and we cannot keep up with the pace of change in the modern battlespace.

The crux of what we do is that our software enables us to take all this data from this wide variety of IoT sensors deployed across the battlespace, both legacy and emerging. We condition or normalize that data into compliance with military and commercial standards so that it can be ingested by all the different command-and-control software, mission applications, artificial intelligence technologies, etc., that we need to enable decision superiority in the modern battlespace.”

Where are the Canadian Armed Forces now in digitization? How much of the work is still manual?

“Most of it, frankly. This is one of the things that I really enjoy about the work that we do: the complexity.

The reality now is that the large majority of data is moved by voice or manual data entry. Very little data actually moves digitally in the form of bits and bytes, like metadata that’s attached to a stream that moves across networks and into the software ecosystem.”

What is your product lineup, and how does everything work together?

“The core of what TACTIQL does is our software platform, which is called FULCRUM. Through the deployment of that software to the Canadian Armed Forces, we continue to come across problems that they’re experiencing. One of those key problems that we found and believed we could influence was the availability of edge compute.

Traditionally, what is sold by industry or promoted by industry is enterprise, server-like architectures and cloud. But there’s a real gap and a real need for edge compute. Our military has always operated and will continue to operate in an environment which is contested. It’s disrupted; there’s limited bandwidth; there’s an enemy who has a vote and can use jamming and cyberattacks and other means to disrupt our ability to effectively move data. When we’re reliant on moving all that data across networks into server infrastructure or the cloud, it creates a vulnerability.

What we wanted to do was ensure that Canada and its allies had the ability to access edge compute, something that could be integrated as part of a soldier’s system, or into the back of a vehicle, or attached to a sensor. We knew that it must be designed to host not just our software, but the other software that is critical to enabling them at the tactical edge; it had to be open. It must also have built-in connectivity or the ability to connect to different means of communication, such as mesh radios, LTE/5G, SATCOM, etc.

That was the initial concept behind the product that we’ve built in partnership with STL Engineering. It is currently being tested by the Canadian Army. LISRD, which stands for Light Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Distribution, is an edge-compute platform optimized for size, weight, and power (SWaP). We have both a GPU-focused and a CPU-focused variant, with the GPU-focused variant being for geospatial and AI workflows, while the CPU-focused variant is best positioned for legacy workflows. It integrates directly into the soldier system or can plug into all those legacy systems and essentially run a range of applications, including software from other providers. The aim is to enable tactical units to operate in contested environments where you don’t necessarily have reliable connectivity to server infrastructure or the cloud.”

Which customers are you receiving the most interest from? Can you give examples of where you’ve been deployed?

“We’re currently working very closely with the Army, Navy, and Joint Forces, as well as the RCMP. We’ve spent some time recently working with the U.S. Army and increasingly so with NATO.”

Have a friend or colleague interested in the startups and technologies shaping Canada’s most critical industries? Share this interview with them or your team.

Share

What advantages does being a veteran-led company give TACTIQL?

“I think it’s empathy. Empathy and credibility would be the two key words.

From an empathy perspective, it’s really challenging to understand the problems that the military is facing. There’s a lot of noise, right? A lot of that noise is being perpetuated by industry and media. You have to be able to navigate through that noise and get access to the end customers, and frankly do root-cause analysis. The problem that’s communicated is rarely the problem that actually needs to be solved. Oftentimes what’s being communicated are the symptoms, not necessarily the source of the problem itself.
That empathy helps you bracket in on the target and identify what that root cause is, so you can actually scope out a problem that you can design a piece of software or hardware for.

On the other side of that, and it’s related to empathy, is the credibility side. Coming into this from the veteran perspective, there’s already a certain level of empathy that’s built in, right? I lived some of it. I didn’t live all of it. Most people experienced a lot more than I did. But we’ve got about eight veterans on our team now, most of whom, if not all of whom, worked with the Army and our Special Forces. Their perspectives, as well as their ability to connect with end users, are critical.”

How have you financed TACTIQL so far? Are you looking to raise capital?

“We’re bootstrapped, and deliberately so. We want to ensure that the needs of the military are first and foremost our business objective. Financing is an enabler for us to deliver our value proposition and sustain the ability to continue to deliver value to the Canadian military and our allies.
Luckily, we’ve been able to finance getting the company going through non-dilutive funding, government grants and contributions, IRAP, as well as programs like NATO DIANA. I’m a big fan of these programs.
About 14 months into the company, we got our first sale, and we’ve been able to sustain the company since then through sales. By staying bootstrapped, we can keep our focus very clearly on the customer and addressing their needs.

Are we open to taking on dilutive capital such as venture capital? Open to it if the need is clear and if there’s alignment on the mission. I’m not willing to sacrifice our purpose or our customer focus for investor interests that aren’t aligned with our mission. I want to help keep TACTIQL sovereign by building a Canadian company, which includes Canadian IP, Canadian jobs, paying Canadian taxes, etc. Frankly, there aren’t a lot of exit options that allow us to achieve that in Canada.”

What should a young technical founder know before starting a deep-tech or defence startup in Canada?

“It’s way harder than you think. Way more downs than there are ups, and the downs are a lot more painful than most people think. You have to be patient. You have to be consistent. You have to have grit. To persevere. It takes time. There are no quick wins in this space.

Don’t get caught up in the noise. Focus on the root cause of the problem and keep laser-focused on it. Always be validating it. Always be solving for it. Always be testing your solution relative to it.

Do not try to use the news and social media to guide where your technology should go. Let the customer guide you. So long as you maintain that customer focus and your persistence, that’s going to give you your greatest likelihood of success.”

What is one other Canadian national-interest startup worth watching?

“I’m going to name two, if that’s okay. Massive fans of ANVIL and H2 Analytics. These are great companies led by great people that, like TACTIQL, were in it on defence before defence tech was cool. They have a very similar focus on the mission. I believe that their hearts are in the right place, and that’s really important to me.”

Why do you build in Canada?

“My heart’s here. For me, it’s super simple. Most people look at these things through a business lens. But for me, it truly is about service.
Canada’s my home. It’s my country. I believe in what we represent as a nation. I take great pride in our country. I’m a fourth-generation veteran. There’s no other option for me. I’m all in. This is it. There’s no other path.

I feel blessed that this is my only path, because I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else or being as passionate about anything else as I am about waking up every day and grinding it out in support of the Canadian Armed Forces and our country.”

If you’re building something in Canada, I want to hear about it. contact@ethanmarcoux.com

Subscribe now

Subscribe now

Explorer Jobs — October 2026

The Canadian Explorers is the voice for founders operating in Canada’s most critical industries. Canadian defence and deep-tech startups are now hiring faster than ever. Build with the nation’s most ambitious founders and technologies here.

The roles below emphasize internships, co-ops, and early career opportunities, alongside more experienced listings. For more information on the listed companies, I included interviews that I have posted with the founders on The Canadian Explorers.

Explorer Jobs is highlighting openings across 24 of Canada’s most ambitious companies. See each posting for full details.

Canadian startup opportunities

ANVIL

Ottawa defence-software company helping military, public-safety and national-security teams turn operational data into decisions.

• Product Owner — Ontario · 3+ years · $110,000–135,000

• Systems Engineer (Forward Deployed) — Ottawa, ON · 4+ years · $140,000–180,000 total compensation

• Product Manager — Canada · 5+ years · $140,000–165,000

See more openings · Explorer Spotlight

Podcast: The Founder Who Refused to Quit | Samuel Witherspoon, ANVIL (July 14, 2026)

Advertisement — Marconi Technologies

The Canadian Explorers is proud to be supported by its Founding Lead Partner, Marconi Technologies.

Marconi Technologies – headquartered in Quebec – develops and manufactures advanced, dual-use communications systems across the full tactical spectrum, from line-of-sight tactical radios to beyond-line-of-sight troposcatter and satellite communications to empower decision and enable autonomy.

ARA Robotics

Montréal-based company building drones and flight-control systems for defence, security and industrial applications.

• Electrical Engineer — Montréal, QC · 2–4 years

• Directeur(rice) Ventes et Marketing (Sales and Marketing Director) — Montréal, QC · 15+ years

AVSS

Canadian drone-safety company manufacturing parachute-recovery and guided-delivery systems for commercial and defence operators.

• Technician - Electronics Prototyping, Testing, Drone Repair — Carp / Ottawa, ON · 2+ years · $55,000–65,000/year

• Administrative Coordinator — Carp, ON · 3+ years · $55,000/year

• Inventory Coordinator — Carp, ON · 3–4 years · $60,000/year

See more openings · Explorer Spotlight

Canada Rocket Company

Develops a medium-lift orbital launch vehicle and rocket-engine test infrastructure.

• Strategy & Operations Co-op - Winter 2027 — Toronto, ON · Current student; prior co-op · 4, 8 or 12 months · $25–30/hour (undergraduate); $30–40/hour (graduate)

• Test Engineer — Toronto, ON

• Mechanical Engineer/Designer (Structures) — Toronto, ON

See more openings · Explorer Spotlight

Canadian Strategic Missions Corporation (CSMC)

Canadian space-and-defence company developing portable nuclear microreactors, space systems and other strategic deep technology.

• Engineering Intern (Labs) — Waterloo, ON · 4th-year undergraduate/graduate student

• Manufacturing Engineer — Waterloo, ON · 5+ years

• Marketing & Communication Manager — Toronto, ON · 4+ years

See more openings · Explorer Spotlight

Daedal Systems

Toronto fusion deep-tech company building the diagnostic infrastructure needed to industrialize plasma measurement and control.

• Mechanical Design Engineer — Toronto, ON · 3–5 years · $90,000–130,000/year

• Diagnostic Physicist — Toronto, ON · Master’s or equivalent · $120,000–180,000/year

• Director, Business Development — Toronto, ON · $130,000–180,000/year

See more openings

Live: Daedal Systems Raises US$4M to Build Measurement Systems for Fusion Energy 🇨🇦 (September 28, 2026)

Dominion Dynamics

Canadian defence prime building autonomous systems and ruggedized sensing and software for Arctic and allied operations.

• Vehicle Management System Engineer — Ottawa or Toronto, ON · 5+ years

• Autonomy Engineer — Ottawa or Toronto, ON

• Mechanical Engineer – Thermal Design — Ottawa, ON · 4–7 years

See more openings · Explorer Spotlight

Galaxia

Halifax company building intelligent satellites, onboard computing systems and orbital software.

• Electrical Engineering Co-Op — Halifax, NS · Engineering student; 2 years of coursework · May 2027; 8–16 months

• Communications & Digital Marketing Co-Op — Halifax, NS · Communications, marketing or journalism student

• Vehicle Technician — Halifax, NS · Technical diploma/degree

See more openings

H2 Analytics

Ottawa defence-technology company building synthetic-intelligence and simulation tools for military and national-security training.

• Financial Controller — Ottawa, ON · CPA; 5–10+ years · $100,000–130,000/year

Horizon Aircraft

Ontario aerospace company developing the Cavorite hybrid-electric VTOL aircraft.

• Engineer – Mass Properties — Montréal, QC · 3+ years

• Engineer – Thermal Analysis — Montréal, QC · 3+ years

• People Operations Generalist — Toronto / Kawartha, ON · 3+ years

See more openings · Explorer Spotlight

Kepler Communications

Toronto space company building and operating optical data-relay satellites for real-time communications in orbit.

• Embedded Software Engineering Intern (January 2027) (4 months) — Toronto, ON · Canadian post-secondary student returning to studies · $29.75–39/hour

• Hardware Test Engineer - Contract 3+ Months — Toronto, ON · 4+ years · $50–88/hour

• Senior Embedded Software Designer — Toronto, ON · 6+ years · $159,288–209,288

See more openings

Kraken Robotics

Builds subsea sensing, robotics and battery systems for ocean and defence applications.

• Production Assembler — Dartmouth, NS · 1+ years

• Intermediate Electrical Technologist — Dartmouth, NS · Technical diploma; 4+ years

• Intermediate Electrical Engineer — Dartmouth, NS · 4+ years

See more openings

Lastwall

Lastwall builds identity-centric, quantum-resilient cybersecurity for defence, government and critical infrastructure.

• Infrastructure Engineer 2 — Canada · 5+ years

• Lead Infrastructure Engineer — Canada · 7+ years

• Senior Infrastructure Engineer — Canada · 7+ years

See more openings · Explorer Spotlight

Marconi

Montreal company building resilient tactical communications, sovereign encryption and AI-enabled systems for Canada and allied forces.

• Designer, Modem - Algorithms — Montréal, QC

• Specialist, Marketing & Communication — Montréal, QC · 3–5 years

• Sovereign Cryptography Product Line Manager — Montréal, QC · 10+ years

See more openings · Read our interview

Nord Quantique

Develops superconducting quantum processors with built-in quantum error correction.

• Microwave PCB Designer — Sherbrooke, QC · $81,500–95,000

• R&D Electrical & Electronics Technician — Sherbrooke, QC · Technical diploma; 3+ years · $75,000–87,000

• Associate Quantum Hardware Physicist – L1 — Sherbrooke, QC · PhD, or master’s + 2 years · $105,000–122,000

See more openings

NordSpace

Develops Canadian launch vehicles, spaceports, satellites and space robotics.

• Launch Systems Engineering Intern — Markham, ON · Engineering student; 3rd year+ preferred · 8-month term preferred

• Space Systems Engineering Intern — Markham, ON · Engineering student; 3rd year+ preferred · 8-month term preferred

• Additive Manufacturing Technician — Markham, ON · Tech I: 0–3 years · $50,000–85,000/year

See more openings · Explorer Spotlight

North Vector Dynamics

Calgary defence-technology company building the CM-70 counter-drone interceptor.

• Embedded Linux Engineer — Calgary, AB

• Information Technology Manager — Calgary, AB · 3–5 years

• Project Manager — Calgary, AB · 4+ years

See more openings

Podcast: Paul Ziadé: The Future of Canada’s Air Defence (May 6, 2026)

OSCP

Montréal photonics startup building inertial navigation sensors for drones, robots and vehicles operating without GPS.

• Sales, Export and IT Administrator — Montréal, QC · 2+ years

• Photonics Engineer — Montréal, QC · 1–4 years or equivalent graduate lab experience

• Software Engineer, Applications — Montréal, QC · 3+ years

See more openings

Photonic

Vancouver-headquartered quantum-computing scaleup building optically linked silicon spin-qubit systems and quantum networks.

• Photonic Test Engineer — Coquitlam, BC · Master’s/PhD + 3+ years · $97,300–133,800/year

• Quantum Engineer (Qubit System Performance) — Coquitlam, BC · Master’s/PhD + 2+ years · $119,000–163,000/year

• Senior Foundry Integration Engineer — Canada · Master’s/PhD + 3+ years · $117,000–161,000/year

See more openings

Promise Robotics

Canadian physical-AI company using robotics and advanced manufacturing to build housing components at factory scale.

• Robotics Software Developer — Calgary, AB · Early-career

• Production Framer — Calgary, AB · 2+ years

• Junior Estimator — Edmonton, AB

See more openings

Reaction Dynamics

Develops hybrid rockets for launching small commercial and defence satellites.

• Fluid Systems Intern (Winter 2027) — Longueuil, QC · 4–16 months

• Mechanical Engineering Intern – Structures (Winter 2027) — Longueuil, QC · Engineering undergraduate · 4, 8 or 12 months

• Electrical GSE Intern (Winter 2027) — Longueuil, QC · Electrical/mechatronics engineering student · 4–8 months

Explorer Spotlight

Skyward Wildfire Technologies

Vancouver company predicting lightning-driven wildfire risk and developing targeted interventions intended to prevent high-risk ignitions.

• Business Development Associate — Vancouver, BC · $80,000–110,000/year base + bonus

• Technical Product Manager — Vancouver, BC; exceptional candidates elsewhere in Canada considered

Wuxly

Canadian advanced-textile and soft-goods manufacturer serving defence, government and commercial customers.

• Warehouse + Logistics Coordinator — Mississauga, ON · 2+ years

• Sample Sewer — Mississauga, ON · Part-time or full-time · 3+ years

• Product Developer — Mississauga, ON · 4–8 years

See more openings

Xanadu

Toronto company building photonic quantum computers and quantum-computing software.

• Photonics Lab Technician - Measurement (Afternoon Shift) — Toronto, ON · 2+ years · $80,000–100,000

• Cybersecurity Engineer — Toronto, ON · 1–2 years · $80,000–100,000

• Xanadu Residency Program — Toronto, ON · Undergraduate/graduate students · 16 weeks

See more openings

Hiring? Send Canadian roles to contact@ethanmarcoux.com.

Know someone who wants to build in Canada’s most critical industries? Share this list with them.

Share

Disclosure: Marconi Technologies is The Canadian Explorers’ Founding Lead Partner, and AVSS is a Supporting Partner. Both appear as employers on this list.

Subscribe now

Remote coastal operations often rely on diesel generators or fixed electrical infrastructure that can be slow and expensive to upgrade. Meiz Majdoub Jr. spent 26 years as a naval engineering officer in the Royal Canadian Navy and founded the Navy’s technology management program. He is now building to address the critical gaps that he saw during his service.

Mostar Labs, founded in 2022, is a Victoria, B.C.-based company building the infrastructure to power vehicles, enable operations and provide domain awareness in the ocean.

“We’re the goalie of maritime domain awareness.”

Mostar is building the Lilypad, a floating modular energy platform that can be towed and, depending on its configuration, generate clean energy through solar panels, wave generators and wind turbines. The Lilypad stores and manages this power to charge vessels, support remote operations and carry onboard sensors. It is designed to deploy as a standalone unit, or scale flexibly ‘like LEGO’ depending on demand.

“If you can launch a boat at a boat ramp, that is how fast it is. Your queue at the boat ramp is probably longer than the actual deployment itself.”

The same Lilypad platform that can provide energy can also be fitted as a stationary maritime “picket.” The floating device can be positioned near strategic locations to provide persistent sensing and maritime awareness. Uncrewed platforms such as the Lilypad are necessary for countries like Canada to monitor and protect the world’s longest coastline.

The company already has three platforms in the water, is leading a project supported by Canada’s Ocean Supercluster, and is delivering projects supported by Innovate BC and COAST.
Mostar Labs aims to deploy the Lilypad not just in Canada but worldwide for counter-drug operations and border security.

Mostar has been bootstrapped since its 2022 inception and is looking to raise capital for the first time in mid-October. The team plans to test on the water as much as possible and to scale manufacturing to 50 units per month. I spoke with Meiz about how his Navy experience led to Mostar Labs, manufacturing, financing, maritime surveillance, and what the Lilypad can power.

“I found it difficult as a veteran to watch from the sidelines. I wanted to contribute where I could.”

What is Mostar Labs building, and why does it matter for Canada?

“Mostar Labs is building a floating energy platform. It matters for Canada because of electrification at the edge. New ports are being electrified, and we’re just not ready yet.

We’re almost infrastructure-less: a floating barge. Beyond that, you can add sensors to it. We’re developing floating pickets where we can see and hear. We’re the goalie of maritime domain awareness.”

Advertisement — Marconi Technologies

The Canadian Explorers is proud to be supported by its Founding Lead Partner, Marconi Technologies.

How does the Lilypad work?

“It depends on the variant. Right now, we have four different variants, sized for different use cases. For a medium-sized marina, we have the Lilypad 200, which is 200 kilowatt-hours. That one does orchestration. We take slow power coming in from the marina, store it and discharge it as fast as we can.

We also have an off-grid power configuration for a project to power a lighthouse. With that, we use vertical-axis wind turbines, solar panels and wave-energy generators. All three combined provide enough power that we can recharge the battery in probably a day and a half to two days, and discharge as appropriate. Every use case is unique, though. Every lighthouse or mountaintop has different power needs.

Then we have a much larger one we’re calling the Whale. It has roughly the footprint of a sea container and is sized in the several-hundred-kilowatt-hour class. We’re still characterizing how much load it can take.
We also have the Lilypad 100, which is half of a 200, so 100 kilowatt-hours, but it breaks apart like Lego. That one is meant for small harbours, and it can be towed.”

What led you to start Mostar?

“I saw a lot of critical gaps during my service, and they kept coming up over and over again. I started off consulting. It became apparent that we had the contacts, we knew how to do procurement, and this was a logical progression. As a naval engineer, I wanted to get back into it. I found it difficult as a veteran to watch from the sidelines. I wanted to contribute where I could.

We had a previous project testing electric vessels, including prototypes and outboard motors, and it was going to take too long to charge them. We went to marinas, but nobody would let us install fast DC chargers. The problem wasn’t at the jetty itself. It was all the electrical infrastructure that would have to be upgraded, and it was becoming cost-prohibitive. With Lilypad, you go to the boat ramp, put it over the side, connect it to the pedestals, and you’re ready to go. To us, it was an immediate need.

Beyond that, I’d spent my career in maritime domain awareness, doing missions in the Arctic and counter-narcotics, so JIATF South. Every time we were out, especially on JIATF South, we wouldn’t see any tracks. The moment we left, intelligence would show us a number of tracks coming. So we knew pickets were necessary. I also knew uncrewed surface vessels were part of the solution, but you’re wasting too much energy moving around when you already know where people are going.”

What is a maritime picket?

“A picket is a spot you’re surveilling and guarding. It could be the mouth of a harbour, a strategic choke point, or even the harbour itself where you have limited power. We’re providing additional maritime domain awareness. It’s a spot you claim and hold. The goalie has a box and doesn’t typically leave it. That’s our mantra. Other companies are doing USVs (unmanned surface vessels). That’s not what we’re tackling. We’re safeguarding a particular spot.
When I wrote my second dissertation, it was called Distributed Effects. That was in 2014, and it was about exactly this: pushing the boundaries and going beyond them.”

How quickly can the platform be deployed or moved?

“The current design has a towing speed of 10 knots. You tie it to your tow vessel and tow it just like any barge.

We planned for our first deployment to take all morning. We were done within five minutes, and I said, ‘Lunch, everybody?’ We laughed about how fast it was. If you can launch a boat at a boat ramp, that’s how fast it is. Your queue at the boat ramp is probably longer than the actual deployment itself, especially around Vancouver during fishing season.”

Is Lilypad meant to replace diesel?

“It’s very much complementary to diesel. Wherever there is diesel, we can help tremendously. When you orchestrate it, meaning you run the generator at 80 percent load, store the energy in a battery and then discharge it, we save about 33 percent on fuel alone. We don’t see ourselves fully replacing diesel. It depends on the load. For people who already have diesel infrastructure, we can save that money right off the top just by managing the power.

We used to deal with this on warships all the time. Our diesel generators would be running at 20 or 30 percent, and we’d have to decoke them. Carbon residue would build up, and you’d have to run them hard to burn it off. That’s essentially what we’re doing. It’s also scalable. Tell us the energy you need, and we can scale to it. On top of that, the energy coming from renewables is free.

We have another project with a company which uses massive wave-energy generators. In that case, we’re acting as a rectifier and transformer. We’re not always generating power ourselves. Sometimes we’re managing somebody else’s power. They provide dirty DC; we clean it up. It’s a use-case-by-use-case basis. The more people we talk to, the more they ask, ‘Could you solve this problem for us?’”

Have a friend or colleague interested in the startups and technologies shaping Canada’s most critical industries? Share this interview with them or your team.

Share

Where are you seeing the strongest demand?

“We’ve invited operators to come and see what we’re doing, and they give us a laundry list: ‘Could it do this? Could it do that?’ A lot of people are chasing the Arctic, and that’s fantastic, but we’re not an Arctic planet. We’re an ocean planet. We think about archipelagos. If you can prove it in British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest, you’ve pretty much proven it for most of the planet.
Think about Japan, the South China Sea, the Philippines and the Caribbean for counter-drug operations. Wherever there’s a group of islands, we can have these platforms nested together, supporting border security and maritime domain awareness.

In many ways, we’re a lot cheaper than navies. I think back in the day we were looking at about $100,000 a day to deploy a warship, fully up, with the full complement and air detachment. We’re a fraction of that per day, and we’re persistent. That’s our mantra. You’d pay back a Lilypad in days, not years, for that persistence. For the mission sets, what we used to call ‘vignettes’ in the Navy, we’re pursuing easily at least 20 of those.”

What does a Lilypad cost, and what is the business model?

“It depends on who it’s for and what you put into it. It’s like asking how much a laptop costs. How much RAM did you put in? Does it have a 4K screen? All those elements matter.
One of our go-to-market plans is to self-finance, get as many out as possible and charge a subscription, almost treating our assets like Starlink. The subscription model for the maritime domain awareness piece is far more interesting to us than being an OEM. We go out and do repair-by-replacement ourselves.

Power-as-a-service is also very interesting to us. The electric-vessel market is still early, which is why the near-term demand is power orchestration: harbours, light stations and anywhere diesel is running inefficiently. We probably have one of the largest electric vessel fleets on Vancouver Island, if not the Pacific Northwest. We know we’ll be first with our chargers and vessels. Even learning the dos and don’ts of charging electric vessels, we’re going to be one of the most knowledgeable companies doing it. The platform is up and running. We have three nodes deployed, we’re getting rich data, and the system keeps learning.”

How does it operate in poor weather or cold conditions?

“It really depends on how many sensors you have on board. On a full Lilypad 200 with a sensor suite running, you have months of standby even if the sun doesn’t shine and there’s no wind. Right now, on the platforms in the water, harvest is outpacing load, so we sit at 100 percent most of the time. That leaves a lot of margin for heavier sensor suites, and we’re learning from every one of them.

For the Arctic, without giving away too much of our proprietary approach, we have batteries that can withstand −40°C. They’re deployed right now, not in the Arctic, but we’re doing full-draw testing, and the deployment has gone fantastically. Our next goal is an Arctic deployment if we land a project.
We have an eligible Innovative Solutions Canada opportunity meant for the Arctic, and that’s the one we would deploy. It’s ready to go. We also have enough electronics on board to keep everything running and warm. From a cold start, we can go to −40°C.”

What stage is the Lilypad at, and how quickly can you manufacture it?

“Right now, the Lilypad 200 in its marina configuration is at TRL (Technology Readiness Level) 7. Manufacturing-wise, we can produce two per month with our current process. Our additive manufacturing line, which we’ve fully modelled, takes us to about 15 per month, and the target is 50. Getting there takes a capital injection.

The good news about the big banks talking about dual-use is that it creates an opportunity to finance the assets we need to meet demand.”

How has Mostar been financed so far?

“In the beginning, what you could call our pre-seed, I was consulting. That made a good amount of revenue, and every dollar was reinvested into the company. Then we started hiring engineers and said, ‘We’re going to launch our own product.’ SR&ED helped a lot, frankly. Beyond that, I injected some of my own capital, and then we started getting projects.
Canada’s Ocean Supercluster was one, but you have to come with your own investment. I wouldn’t call that a paying customer right now, other than the fact that there were adopters involved. Victoria International Marina, the superyacht marina, was one of them. We also have two Innovate BC projects.

We were sunsetting a number of consulting projects as well. All of that together was bringing in revenue. Then we got NRC (National Research Council of Canada) IRAP (Industrial Research Assistance Program) dual-use support at the same time, which was quite helpful and kept the development going.”

Are you looking to raise more capital?

“We’ve been bootstrapped since the beginning, since 2022, and we’ve decided it’s time to raise capital. Starting in mid-October, we’re going to do a capital raise. That lines up with a trade mission to Los Angeles through Black Tech Express. We were selected for the mission, and it’s part of LA Tech Week.

We’re going to follow the blueprint of a couple of other defence startups here in Canada that, fortunately or unfortunately, had to go beyond our borders to try to secure capital. We’re hoping to close by Q1 2027 and then execute. It might be a blended approach, because the banks seem very favourable to lending against assets.”

What has been the biggest thing holding Mostar back?

“Until recently, it was focus. I just hired a director of engineering. He started in early September, and he has the depth of experience we needed. You can’t be the visionary and the disciplined integrator at the same time. There are so many things and so many verticals we can chase, so it is about focus.

We’re working on our engineering processes, our documentation, everything. It’s going from a scrappy startup to really cleaning things up and being rigorous in our execution. I am who I am. I can create things, but having somebody by your side who can bring them to market and commercialize them much more cleanly is the key for us right now.”

What do the next 12 months look like?

“The focus is on our pilots. We have three in the water, and we want to learn as much as we can from them and get user feedback. It would be a big step to lock in an Innovative Solutions Canada project. Beyond that, we want to start being in every small harbour. After the federal government’s small craft harbours commitment this spring, we thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great for us to be there?’ We’ve filed a family of patent applications now, so we feel comfortable that we’ve protected our position on some of this work, specifically how you scale the Lilypads.

We also want to introduce the platform into other markets, such as the Caribbean. We feel we have a very unique solution for JIATF South, because we know where people want to go. We want to keep building our data lake. We’re training our algorithm, which is proprietary to us. We’re sending drones towards Lilypad from every angle and teaching it.
I think our biggest differentiator is that, unlike companies that may be a bit landlocked, we’re on the water. It takes us 10 minutes to reach the water, and we have a maritime operations team. So the next 12 months are about being on the water as much as we can and running these platforms hard.

On the technology side, it’s about honing our manufacturing techniques. Two per month isn’t going to do it for the scale we want. We want to be easily at 50 per month. We know how to do it. It’s about de-risking those elements.”

What does Mostar look like in the long term?

“If we were Dell computers, we’d want to help build the ecosystem of peripherals. Whenever we see a promising new technology, we want to integrate it and go out and acquire it. We’re the platform that can help others as well.

In 20 years, it wouldn’t be so much about a physical moat anymore. We would be an angel company, helping other companies get where we’ve had to get through revenue and partnerships. It’s not a co-op. This is still a business. But we know how hard bootstrapping is, and getting a little bit of revenue is, in my view, the key to getting out there. If somebody comes up with something groundbreaking, say an underwater acoustic modem they’re tinkering with in a lab, we want to provide the platform that lets them keep testing and refining it. That’s where we want to be.
Selfishly, I’d love to see some of our initial employees branch out on their own in five or ten years with technologies we’ve created here. I’d say, ‘Go forth, do it yourself, go run it, and come back to the hive when you’ve got something working.’”

Which other startups or technologies are worth watching?

“I feel a lot of people are preparing for the last war and following the crowd. Perhaps drones are it; I could be wrong, and you can quote me and say, ‘Meiz, you were totally wrong.’ But I feel it’s a known known now, and there’s something else we’re missing.

I’d watch anybody working in quantum. When somebody starts working with it from a radar or sensing perspective, or decrypting things and turning the lights off, we’re going to be in trouble. At that point, it doesn’t matter how many little drones you have flying in the air. I don’t want to jump on that bandwagon prematurely either, but Canada is probably going to have a quantum moment.

One company I would watch is Teleidoscope. It’s American, LA-based, and founded by a Canadian. He’s coming back and establishing a footprint in Vancouver.”

Why build in Canada?

“I’ll speak specifically about Victoria. It’s such a beautiful place that it’s easy for us to attract talent. The talent isn’t prohibitively expensive, and you have highly educated, motivated people with a nice balance in their lives. Everything is close by for us.

The tax incentives have been fantastic lately. This isn’t a political spin, but I think the government is serious now. Now is the time to leverage that, but we have to step up and prove it. SR&ED has been fantastic support.

I think the market may not be here quite yet, which is to our detriment. We almost have to build here and export, which I think is the message we’re getting from the government anyway. That’s okay. When I see what people are raising down south, I think, ‘That’s ridiculous.’ If I had that amount of capital right now, we would move dramatically faster. I don’t think it’s that expensive to build something beautiful.”

If you’re building something in Canada, I want to hear about it. contact@ethanmarcoux.com

Subscribe now

Subscribe now

At a moment when the status quo means moving to the United States, I have had the opportunity to speak with the founders building Canada’s most impactful technologies. According to Leaders Fund, only about 32% of Canadian-led high-potential startups founded in 2024 were headquartered in Canada. In an environment with strict regulation, risk aversion, and a lack of ambition, speed, and capital, keeping a company in Canada has required bravery, leadership and purpose. Yet, these same traits are what make a founder, or an explorer, great.

In 2026, there is a whiff that Canada may finally rise from this seemingly inevitable fate, and that the moment to build has arrived. Whether it is Canada’s international reputation, export opportunities, non-dilutive capital, or a chance to build something larger than yourself, every founder has a different reason for staying.

In nearly every interview on The Canadian Explorers, I ask, “Why build in Canada?” because for a long time, building in Canada has not been the obvious choice. To answer why some of the world’s most critical technologies are being built in the North, I compiled selected responses from 17 of Canada’s modern explorers.

For any founder deciding whether to stay or to move, these responses make the case for building in Canada.

“I think Canada is the best place to live and the best place to raise a family. There’s a joie de vivre. There’s an energy in this country and a culture that is - especially in Montreal, my favourite city in the whole world. I think you can build world-class companies from here.” — Harley Finkelstein, President of Shopify

Advertisement — Marconi Technologies

The Canadian Explorers is proud to be supported by its Founding Lead Partner, Marconi Technologies.

Why are you building in Canada?

Why are you building in Canada?

Why build in Canada?

Why build in Canada?

Why build in Canada?

On building capacity for Canada.

Why build in Canada?

Why build in Canada?

Why build in Canada?

Why build in Canada?

What should a Canadian founder do if they want to remain in Canada but are struggling to raise capital?

What is the number one advantage Canada has compared to other countries, and why build in Canada?

Why build in Canada?

Can Canada’s historic brain drain become a competitive advantage?

On competing globally from Canada.

On showing what can be built in Canada.

How do you view Canada’s position globally?

Know a founder deciding where to build? Share this with them.

Share

Subscribe now

The Canadian government aims to build the industrial capacity to produce millions of drones over the next two years. In March 2026, Amazon reported that drones struck two AWS facilities in the UAE, and another was damaged in a nearby strike in Bahrain. Meanwhile, reported drone incidents near UK defence sites more than doubled between 2024 and 2025.
As global drone production continues to rise, so does the threat to civilian populations, defence sites and critical infrastructure. Operators need to understand, track, and respond to the threats in their airspace.

“We just need to be the best in the world.”

AirMatrix, founded in Toronto in 2016, is building Libra, the operating system for sovereign airspace. The hardware-agnostic command-and-control platform combines data from radar, radio-frequency sensors and cameras into a single intelligence layer, helping governments track and assess aerial activity in real time and coordinate mitigation.

AirMatrix is one of the few companies authorized to grant drone operators access to controlled US airspace. It is the only Canadian company able to provide this service, which around 40 different government agencies now use.
These customers then came to AirMatrix with a bigger problem: identifying non-compliant aircraft. Its Canadian customers now include the Department of National Defence and the Province of Ontario.

“Our job is to innovate on technology. We’re not going to innovate on procurement.”

The strategy has been to specialize in a difficult domain, build alongside users, and grow from deployments and revenue. With fewer than 20 people, AirMatrix has raised less than $10M and grown to millions in ARR.
The company is looking to expand its deployments in the United States, the Middle East and Europe while growing its Canadian business. These deployments will help protect defence sites, major events and critical infrastructure, including airports, borders, prisons and data centres.

“We’re at a stage of the industry where a rising tide lifts all boats. I’d rather be part of building a bigger pie than cutting up more slices.”

The ambition is for a Canadian-built sensor fusion layer to become part of the global infrastructure that allies use to understand and protect their airspace. AirMatrix is looking to partner with interceptor companies and integrate solutions to provide one button that can handle it all.

I spoke with Bashir about the move from drone traffic management to defence, building alongside government users, and why Canadian companies should aim to be the best in the world.

“Is it getting easier to build? Yes. Is it easy enough? No.”

What is AirMatrix building?

“AirMatrix is building the operating system for sovereign airspace. Today, what we’ve already built is a world-class command-and-control platform for sensor fusion and persistent airspace awareness.”

Advertisement — Marconi Technologies

The Canadian Explorers is proud to be supported by its Founding Lead Partner, Marconi Technologies.

Can you explain your product lineup and how everything works together?

“Our main product is Libra, which is a command-and-control platform that integrates into various pieces of hardware to give operators an understanding of what’s really happening in their airspace, in critical infrastructure, civil government and the military. It covers identification and classification through to authorized mitigation, while keeping the operator in control, all on one platform.
We’re also one of the few companies allowed to grant access to restricted airspace across the U.S., the only Canadian company allowed to do that.”

Why do government and defence users need integration and a unified picture?

“Customers are always adding more sensors. They’re always adding more hardware. What ends up happening is you get a lot of chaos and a lot of screens yelling at you. You have a radar yelling at you. You have an RF sensor yelling at you. But where do you look first? When? What do you trust more? All of that is chaotic, and that’s a software problem that we’ve solved for.”

Is the hardware off the shelf, or do you build it yourselves?

“It’s off the shelf insofar as our customers are concerned. We’re partners with companies like Leonardo and Boeing, larger primes, as well as some lesser-known companies that are up and coming on the mitigation side: the interceptor side, the PTZ (pan, tilt, and zoom) side, cameras, infrared, RF (Radio Frequency) sensing, that type of stuff.
The whole gamut around situational awareness, whether it’s your CCTV cameras all the way to the most expensive radars, we integrate it all.”

AirMatrix began with drone traffic management. What led you toward airspace security and defence?

“When you get the licence from the FAA to grant access to restricted airspace for commercial drone users, you end up getting a lot of government users that need access to that airspace. We had about 40 different government agencies using the software.
A few of them came forward with a much larger problem around non-compliant aircraft in the airspace. We had done so much machine-learning modelling on granting access as quickly as possible that, by connecting our models into their hardware and existing systems, we could give them a much better picture of what’s a friendly drone and what’s a foe drone, and a level of accuracy that gave them the confidence to act when there was an intruder.

It was a very natural progression. We were building hardware back in college for drone deliveries, and we had to start mapping out airspace. We actually built out multi-drone control software in the open-source world that ended up finding applications in Ukraine. We didn’t get paid for that, though. We thought we were just doing it so people could deliver beer a little bit faster to frat houses on campus.
As we’ve packed on the deployments, granted more access to restricted airspace and got more customers, we feel confident saying we’re building the operating system for sovereign airspace. And not just in Canada, but in countries around the world.”

How does the non-kinetic mitigation work?

“The platform is designed to identify and respond to the full spectrum of drone activity. When we talk about integrating mitigation, we’ve already tested and proven the non-kinetic layer. Where we go next is kinetic. We believe the next layer or level of cyber is actually kinetic.
At the endpoint level, we’re pushing the frontier to coordinate the full response chain, from identification and classification through to authorized mitigation, while keeping the operator in control and giving decision-makers the ability to prioritize and allocate assets effectively and efficiently.”

For kinetic mitigation, are you looking to partner with other counter-UAS companies?

“Absolutely. Our sensor-fusion layer is where we specialize, and it's crucial. They need it too. If I’ve got an interceptor plugged into one sensing platform, the drone’s actual latitude and longitude usually differ from where you think it is.
To have proper mitigation (where you’re not missing the target, not hitting something you’re not supposed to, and not wasting resources), they need Libra.

We’ve found a lot of cool companies in the early stages, as well as later stages, that really want to see their customers not get sucked into vendor lock-in, because they know the next product they bring to market is going to be better. We believe it will be too. Whether it’s interceptor systems or something even more kinetic than that, we’ve got the button that can handle it all.

I think we’re at a stage of the industry where a rising tide lifts all boats. I’d rather be part of building a bigger pie than cutting up more slices.
If we look at where the counter-UAS industry is headed, it’s going to continue to grow at a rapid rate. That goes from the federal level through provincial, state and municipal guidance on enforcement and mitigation tools, and where governments want their own data sources and their own source of truth.”

Which government users have you operated with? How has this changed what AirMatrix is building?

“We’ve got more than 40 different government agencies that use our software to get access to restricted airspace across the United States. We have more than five public-safety agencies that use our software for counter-UAS as well, as a single source of truth and a data feed that’s necessary for them.
In Canada, DND is a customer of ours, as is the Province of Ontario. We’ve got a few municipalities that are customers as well. It’s continuing to grow, and I’m happy to see that procurement is starting to speed up, not at the pace of innovation, per se, but at least coming up to par with where the problem really needs focus.

The learning for me has been that our job is to innovate on technology. We’re not going to innovate on procurement, per se. It’s really important to have multiple irons in the fire and to be diversified in terms of who your customers are: to have enough going on internationally to bring you more credibility in Canada, while at the same time proving out wins in Canada that you can export abroad.”

What have you learned about turning testing into procurement?

“It’ll always take longer than you think. That’s the number one learning, honestly. It’ll always take longer than you think.
You really have to have a thick stomach lining for government procurement. It’s built for large primes that can dump a lot of money into R&D for years just to show the government a product, which they will then test. After sufficient testing, they put it into procurement for a real program and build around that. It’s important to be honest and focused when you build a product to sell to the government. Find a niche you can really focus on and be the best at.”

Where are you seeing the most demand?

“The most demand we’ve seen is from public safety, as well as military and defence, with critical infrastructure third.
Civilian use cases will continue to grow because critical infrastructure is being looked at as a soft target in a military context today, where data centres are getting blown up in the Middle East. That’s another area of big interest for us. We’re partnered with Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI), the PIF-owned national defence company. We’re also plugged in with a few different defence primes in the Middle East. We’re expanding deployments there.

There’s a lot that needs to continue to happen. The civilian side will continue to grow immensely, but we’re at the early stage of people realizing how big a problem this really is. They know they have a problem. Even with platforms like Dedrone and others, which are all great, it’s like playing whack-a-mole. You need a unified picture, specifically as it pertains to low-level airspace, to give you the efficiency and confidence to perform at a mission level.”

How have you financed AirMatrix, and are you planning to raise more?

“We’re quite selective about the investors we want on our cap table who can bring value, specifically through partners and customers in that ecosystem.
We’ve raised less than $10 million to date and grown to millions in ARR, with a significant near-term pipeline. We’re going to raise some more money, but we’re very, very focused on what we’re going to do with that money and where it will take us.

We’ll also continue doing what we do: getting our co-founding team and top engineers on planes, demoing the platform, showing customers their airspace environment in a way they’ve never seen before, giving them the product and then moving into procurement.”

How do you view Canada’s position globally?

“Canada has a halo effect by virtue of its standing with our allies and in the world today. Is it getting easier to build? Yes. Is it easy enough? No.
There’s still a lot of work to be done, right? I think that’s really about mentality. There’s this whole thing right now about differentiating ourselves from the U.S., and I don't think that’s the best way to look at it. We just need to be the best in the world.

To do that, we need this sort of maniacal focus and energy toward building the best companies we can, and helping other Canadian companies do that as well, to give Canada the best shot. Governments come and go. Parties come and go. Prime ministers come and go. The programs of record and the companies supporting those programs will stay.”

Can you envision Canada becoming a global innovation hub?

“I think it already is from an R&D perspective. Look at the schools my co-founding team and I came out of: the University of Toronto and Waterloo. They produce some of the best founders in the world. There’s still a gap in the early stages in really enabling Canadian founders to think big. I think we’re changing that by virtue of doing what I’ve done. I’ve had to go to the U.S. in many instances, and our first customers who really got Canada excited were American.
I still view us as a joint market, and that’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

What advice would you give a Canadian defence or deep-tech founder starting now?

“Focus on the customer and the end user of your platform, or whatever technology you’re building. Then focus on the people who can actually make a yes-or-no decision about the budget around that product. Just make them happy continuously and be relentless in that effort.”

What are AirMatrix’s plans for the next 12 months? What would you want it to be in 20 years if everything goes right?

“Over the next 12 months, we want to secure more sovereign deployments outside Canada while continuing to grow the Canadian business, specifically looking at the U.S., the Middle East and Europe, and continuing to grow our profitability. We’ve fallen in love with that.
I think it’s important because, as Prime Minister Carney said a couple of weeks ago when he was talking about Canada in general, we’re at a place fiscally and financially where the moves we’re making now are very important. When everyone starts looking at who’s got their house in order, and Canada’s got its house in order, it’s going to be really important. You don’t get to do it again afterward. You don’t get to do take-backsies. I view the market we’re in similarly.

In 20 years, I want us to be the platform, the company that actually built out that operating system for sovereign airspace in a safe, efficient and economical manner around the world.”

What is one other Canadian national-interest startup worth watching?

“I’d probably say Dominion Dynamics.”

Anything else?

“AirMatrix is deploying sovereignty as a service. I encourage all your readers to check out our website. If you, your customers or your partners are interested in working with us, we’re happy to do that.

If anyone wants advice, you can always shoot me an email: bashir@airmatrix.ai. I respond pretty quickly.”

https://airmatrix.ai/

If you’re building something in Canada, I want to hear about it. contact@ethanmarcoux.com

Share The Canadian Explorers

Materials of Attrition

By Stuart Lodge, CEO and co-founder of Lodge Systems

Canada has 369 million hectares of forest, about 9% of all the forest on Earth. Our forests have built critical defence systems before. In the last war fought on wood, Canadian foresters cut 70% of the timber the Western Allies used.

Wood then left military use, for reasons that were sound at the time. But those are now outdated. The conflicts in Iran and Ukraine are rooted in cost and attrition. Canada has the world’s longest coastline and the second-largest landmass to defend. Its least examined advantage is the one covering it.

Advertisement — Marconi Technologies

The Canadian Explorers is proud to be supported by its Founding Lead Partner, Marconi Technologies.

Sea

In the 1700s, Royal Navy surveyors walked the forests of New England searching for the white pines. They marked the tallest with three hatchet strokes cut into the bark. This mark was the King’s Broad Arrow, meaning the tree now belonged to the British Navy.

A sailing warship needed a mast made from one tall, straight trunk, sometimes over 100 feet, able to carry full sail through a storm. Few trees grow that way. Eastern white pine does, and the best of it grew in North America. A single-stick American mast was stronger than one pieced together from smaller Baltic timber, and navies knew the difference. Britain lost the American colonies in 1783. Napoleon closed the Baltic in 1806. The fleet turned to the forests it had left in New Brunswick and Quebec.

When Captain Cook reached Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island in 1778 with ships that needed repair, the forest of Canada’s West gave his men fir spars for a new mast. Word spread. Within years the coast was known among European powers for its timber, and George Vancouver, sailing the same waters in the 1790s, judged it among the finest wood anywhere. The tree that mattered here was the Douglas fir.

Wood was the most important military technology of the age. It decided how far and how fast a fleet could move, and Canada grew the best of it.

Forest

In November 1916, with Britain short of timber, Canada raised a military unit made of loggers. The Canadian Forestry Corps grew to about 35,000 men. By the Armistice, it had 60 companies working in France and 41 in Britain, cutting 70% of the timber the Western Allies used: trench props, railway ties, duckboards, aerodrome huts, everything that an army stands on.
Canada did not ship logs to Europe. It shipped loggers, saws and portable mills, and cut in the forests behind the front.

Air

De Havilland built a wooden plane in 1940, the Mosquito. It turned out to be among the fastest and most useful aircraft of the Second World War. For a period, nothing in the sky could catch it. It flew photo reconnaissance, night fighting and precision bombing.

The airframe was spruce and birch, light and quick to shape. Building it from wood saved aluminum and freed metalworkers for other aircraft. The fuselage was formed in two halves over concrete moulds, birch plywood around a balsa core, with the wiring and control runs integrated before the halves were bonded together.
It also meant the work could be spread across industries that had never built an aircraft. In Canada, the fuselages came from General Motors, the Cockshutt Plow Company, the Otis-Fensom Elevator Company and the Canadian Power Boat Company. Massey-Harris built the wings and trucked them across Toronto to Downsview, where de Havilland ran a moving assembly line that reached nearly 60 aircraft a month by 1945. More than 1,000 were built in Canada, out of 7,781 worldwide.

Wood was not a leftover from a simpler time. With aluminum rationed, Hughes Aircraft built the H-4 Hercules out of birch. The flying boat had a 320-foot wingspan, the largest of any aircraft flown at the time. It was mocked as the Spruce Goose. The Soviet Union, also short of aluminum, built much of its fighter force from birch treated with resin. In each case, engineers chose wood because it was light, strong for its weight, and available in quantity when the alternative was not.

Why wood lost

Then wood went out of military use, and the reasons were real.
Riveted aluminum carried loads that glued wood could not. It held up in heat and damp that made wooden airframes fail. When jet engines arrived, and aircraft flew faster, the loads went well past what wood could take. Aluminum, and later carbon fibre, were the right materials for the aircraft that followed, and they still are.

That logic held for the wars we expected to fight. For 50 years, military strength has meant a small number of expensive, complicated machines, flown by crews and kept in service for decades. Steel, aluminum and carbon fibre are correct for those. Nothing that follows changes it, and that includes what we build. Wood is not for million-dollar systems, and it will not give you the complex surfaces of an aircraft like the F-35.

The war of cost

The fighting in Ukraine and Iran runs on something else. Much of it is small, cheap uncrewed aircraft, built and launched in very large numbers. In the first days of September, Kuwait and Bahrain activated their air defences against incoming Iranian drones, after Iran fired missiles at United States bases in Jordan.
A Shahed-136 is a one-way attack drone. It flies to a target and detonates, and it costs somewhere between US$20,000 and US$50,000; the Center for Strategic and International Studies uses US$35,000 as a deliberately high figure. The missiles fired to stop one cost between US$1 million and US$4 million each, with a Patriot at the top of that range.

The intercept is the cheaper half of the problem. The expensive half is what the ones that get through do when they land. Ukrainian military intelligence estimated that Russia spent US$325 million on its February 3, 2026 attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, involving 71 missiles and 450 drones.
The wider damage from the war is mounting. The World Bank, the United Nations and the European Commission put Ukraine’s direct war damage at US$176 billion in February 2025 and over US$195 billion by the end of that year. Damaged and destroyed energy assets rose about 21% over the same twelve months. Rebuilding the energy sector alone is now estimated to cost nearly US$91 billion.

It runs the other way as well. In the first five months of 2026, Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces reported striking 174 Russian air-defence assets, including missile systems, radars and electronic warfare equipment, with losses they value at more than US$5.4 billion.
You can win every intercept and still lose the war.
Volume follows from price. Ukraine’s commander-in-chief says Russia is producing around 400 Shahed-type drones a day and plans to reach 1,000. Ukraine built 3,000 to 5,000 FPV drones in 2022 and about 3 million in 2025, with current capacity put at 8–10 million a year. It is a manufacturing contest, and it is being won on cost per unit.

Both sides returned to simple materials to get there. Some of Ukraine’s long-range attack drones are now milled from plywood sheets of the kind furniture factories already stock, built without skilled labour, and treated as expendable.
That is not crude, but it is limited, and it is a limit we run into ourselves. A flat sheet will not give you an aerodynamic surface, and it will not reduce assembly times. Moulding does both.

The advanced materials perform much worse on cost per unit. Steel is heavy. Carbon fibre is expensive, slow to lay up, and more than half the world’s production capacity now sits in China; the largest single producer, Jilin Chemical Fibre, has approximately 74,000 tonnes of annual production capacity.

What changed about wood

While wood was out of service, there were two major shifts: the wood and the machines that manufacture it.
Wood is no longer just a plank. Engineered timber is layered and bonded under pressure, and the newest wood fibre products hold their shape in heat and moisture, which was the exact failure that ended wood’s military career. Timber of this kind carries roughly twice the load of steel for the same weight.

The machines had a bigger impact. The only way to work wood used to be by hand, which meant every piece came out a little different and nothing was truly consistent. It is now cut on the same computer-controlled equipment used for metal, to the same tolerances, from a digital model that predicts how the finished part will carry load before anything is made. The skill sits in the file rather than in the hands of the person at the bench. That is where most of our work goes, and it is why a part can be copied, sent to another shop, and run the same way again.
Aerospace carbon fibre runs tens of times the price of aircraft-grade wood by weight. A worker laying it up by hand places about 1 kg of material per hour; the automated machines that replace them run at 300 kg/h, and cost more than most manufacturers are willing to spend. Wood cuts quickly on machines that already sit in shops across the country.

Wood also affects radar visibility. Radar works mostly on size and shape. A large flat surface angled at the transmitter returns a strong signal; a small one does not. What the object is made of decides how much of that signal survives. Metal conducts, so it reflects almost everything that reaches it. Carbon fibre conducts too, which is why it shows up better than plastic or foam. Wood does not conduct, so a wooden airframe can return less than the same shape built from metal or carbon fibre. None of this hides an aircraft. Shape and size still decide most of the return. But unlike metal or carbon fibre, wood doesn't add to it.

What Canada does with its own

Canada tends to export the raw materials and buy back the value. It is the largest single supplier of crude oil to the United States, and in 2025 it still imported more refined petroleum products than it sold. Wood runs the same way. British Columbia shipped 2.75 million cubic metres of unprocessed logs in 2024, and in February of this year the province made shipping them cheaper still, cutting the fee it charges exporters for skipping domestic processing.

The mills, meanwhile, keep closing. Forty-four sawmills in British Columbia have shut permanently since 2005. Since 2023, at least 21 B.C. lumber mills have closed permanently or indefinitely. Statistics Canada counts more than 40,000 forest-sector jobs lost in the province since the early 1990s. The industry supported over 200,000 direct and indirect jobs in 2001 and supports about half that today. In 2025, British Columbia lost the Crofton pulp mill, the West Fraser sawmill at 100 Mile House and the Drax pellet mill at Williams Lake.
Some of that is already fixable. Our material is grown in renewable British Columbia forests and bought from businesses owned and operated here. What we make from it cannot be bought off a shelf or produced on standard machinery, which is exactly the kind of work the country is currently exporting.

The buyer

Reversing that needs someone at home buying the finished part. On 23 July 2026, the federal government launched the Defence Drone Initiative, a procurement route for Canadian uncrewed systems led jointly by National Defence and the Defence Investment Agency. Uncrewed systems are one of 10 sovereign capabilities named in the Defence Industrial Strategy. Of the six priorities in the first phase, two are low-cost tactical ISR drones and low-cost counter-drone interceptors. Behind it sits Canada’s NATO commitment to spend 5% of GDP by 2035: 3.5% on core defence and a further 1.5% on defence-related infrastructure and security.

Low cost, at volume, from a supply chain Canada controls. Lodge Systems is working on that in Vancouver. We are building the processes, physical and digital, to bring the current generation of wood fibre products into uncrewed aircraft: how the material is formed, how parts are designed and modelled, and how they are produced repeatably at rate. The aircraft are already flying, in test with commercial and government partners.

None of this replaces steel, aluminum or carbon fibre. Those do jobs wood cannot, and the exquisite systems will go on being built from them. Wood is for the other category: the things needed in large numbers, at low cost, and expendable. That category is now more important than ever.

Twice, the wood to fight a war came out of Canadian forests. Those forests are still standing.

About the Author

Stuart Lodge co-founded Lodge Systems, a Vancouver manufacturing-technology company building sovereign structural components for uncrewed systems from Canadian materials. He came from timber and robotic fabrication, and lives in British Columbia.

Lodge Systems is a Canadian manufacturing-technology company based in Vancouver, British Columbia. It builds sovereign structural components for uncrewed aircraft, made to be light, strong, and produced at scale from sovereign materials.

Sources

Canada’s forest endowment:
How much forest does Canada have? Natural Resources Canada.

A look at Canada’s lumber industry in 2024, Statistics Canada.

Masts, the Broad Arrow, and eastern timber.

Broad Arrow Policy, Wikipedia.

The King’s Broad Arrow and Eastern White Pine, NELMA.

The Royal Navy’s War on Trees, Legion Magazine.

Cook, Nootka Sound, and West Coast spars.

The Evolution of West Coast Logging, Legion Magazine.

Cook, Captain James, BC Genesis, University of Victoria.

Nootka Sound, The Canadian Encyclopedia.

The Canadian Forestry Corps.

Canadian Forestry Corps, Wikipedia.

FPAC Remembers the Canadian Forestry Corps, Forest Products Association of Canada.

The Mosquito, the Hercules, and Soviet wooden fighters.

de Havilland Mosquito, Wikipedia.

Mosquito Aircraft Production at Downsview, Community Stories.

Hughes H-4 Hercules, Wikipedia.

Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-3, Wikipedia.

Drone cost and the intercept exchange.

Iran targets U.S. allies in Gulf after overnight attacks, Associated Press.

Calculating the Cost-Effectiveness of Russia’s Drone Strikes, CSIS.

HESA Shahed 136, Wikipedia.

The Shahed Model: Cost Asymmetry and the Transformation of Air Warfare, BISI.

Damage caused, and the cost of a single wave.

Updated Ukraine Recovery and Reconstruction Needs Assessment (RDNA5), World Bank, Government of Ukraine, European Commission and United Nations, 23 February 2026.

Ukraine: $588 billion recovery cost over the next 10 years, UN News.

Mass attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure cost Russia almost $325 million, Ukrainian intelligence says, Kyiv Independent.

Ukraine’s 2026 drone campaign hit 174 Russian air defence systems, costing Moscow $5.4B so far, United24 Media.

Production volume.

How Ukraine Became a Drone Superpower, Just Security.

Russia plans to use up to 1,000 attack drones against Ukraine every day, Ukrainska Pravda.

Ukraine’s Scythe Drone Is All About Striking Far Away As Cheaply As Possible, The War Zone.

Carbon fibre supply and cost.

An outlook on China’s carbon fiber market, CompositesWorld.

Jilin Chemical Fiber Group Leads Global Carbon Fiber Production.

Carbon Fibre in an Automated Manufacturing World, Machine Design.

Engineered timber and radar.

Laminated Veneer Lumber, StructureCraft.

Low signature UAVs: radar cross section analysis, simulation and characterisation, Springer.

Raw-log exports, mill closures and forestry employment.

BC Quietly Cuts Penalty for Exporting Unprocessed Logs, The Tyee.

Mill closures pile up as BC harvest lags behind allowable cut, Business in Vancouver.

B.C. forestry industry is dealing with death by a thousand cuts, Business in Vancouver.

Crude oil exports and refined product imports.

Market Snapshot: Overview of 2025 Canada-US energy trade, Canada Energy Regulator.

Canada’s refined petroleum product imports rose in 2025, Canada Energy Regulator.

The Defence Drone Initiative and the NATO commitment.

Government of Canada launches Defence Drone Initiative, National Defence.

Defence investment and NATO’s 5% commitment, NATO.

Fiscal Implications of Meeting NATO’s 5% Commitment, Parliamentary Budget Officer.

“SpaceX is built for mass; we are built for speed.” — Bachar Elzein, CEO and Founder, Reaction Dynamics

Nearly 20% of Canada’s economy depends on space systems. Yet, Canada cannot launch satellites into orbit from domestic soil. It is the only G7 country without sovereign launch capabilities. This leaves our economy and security in the hands of foreign partners, primarily the United States and SpaceX.
Reaction Dynamics is one of three companies chosen by the Department of National Defence’s Launch the North program to develop Canadian sovereign launch capabilities. Its competitive advantage is speed, ease of transport and storability, targeting a responsive-launch capability in just a few hours.
“Future projections suggest that the global space economy may grow to as much as $2 trillion by 2040.”

“I don’t need a heavy launch spaceport to launch from. I can launch from a forest.”

Aurora is the company’s pathfinder and first orbital launch vehicle, a two-stage rocket designed to deliver 250 kg to sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) or 200 kg to low Earth orbit (LEO). Unlike rockets that use cryogenic propellants, Aurora uses storable propellants, reducing the need for launch infrastructure.
Aurora is designed to be transported fully fueled in shipping containers by truck, rail, air, or sea, and stored for up to five years ready to launch. The rocket can then be deployed without the permanent launch sites that traditional rockets require. The target launch price is approximately $10,000 to $15,000 per kilogram.

The plan is to leverage this pathfinder as a qualification platform for its medium-lift vehicle to carry larger loads to orbit; more information is expected in the coming months.

“Once you can reach orbit, the world is your oyster.”

The startup aims to help Canada and its allies replenish and reconstitute constellations, restore communications, and deploy new capabilities without waiting for foreign launches. The team believes that space infrastructure and its disruption can determine a conflict before a bullet is ever fired.
Responsive launch can also support space manufacturing and time-sensitive biological or pharmaceutical payloads.

Alongside launch capabilities, Reaction Dynamics is building Hermes, a satellite propulsion system that manoeuvres satellites quickly in orbit. This platform gives operators greater flexibility to reposition satellites and safely deorbit them at the end of their missions.

“No modern army can fight without its space assets.”

Reaction Dynamics has received an initial C$8.3-million award through Launch the North, has completed Phases 1 and 2 of NATO DIANA, and has secured its first contracted revenue with a Direct-to-Phase-2 SBIR contract under the U.S. Space Force’s Tactically Responsive Space program. The startup has now raised nearly C$50 million in capital, and says that the value of its letters of intent is now in the billions. Interest is coming from large allied-country space companies, including operators that are producing hundreds of spacecraft and serving the U.S. Space Force.
Orbital launch for the Aurora is targeted for Q4 2028.

“You are not necessarily missing anything by building in Canada. Canada is a great place to start a company. It is difficult, but starting a company is never easy.”

“Talk to your customers early and do not give a fuck about what your VC tells you.”

I spoke with Bachar Elzein, the CEO and Founder of Reaction Dynamics, about rapid launch, satellite warfare, Canadian capital, and why this country must build a company that can compete with SpaceX.
He wants Canada to become the launch partner of choice for its allies.

“Canada was starved of defence support for a long time. We survived the past decade through tremendous sacrifice and effort. Other deep-tech and defence companies could have existed but do not because the support was not there.”

Jesse Mikelberg, Reaction Dynamics’ Director of Business Development & Strategy, also contributed to the conversation.

What is Reaction Dynamics building, and why does it matter for Canada?

“We are building storable, containerized rocket systems with orbital-launch capabilities. Think of it as: SpaceX is built for mass; we are built for speed. This technology can apply to light-lift all the way up to medium lift.
Nearly 20% of the Canadian economy depends on space infrastructure or space-based assets, yet we do not have a way to reach orbit on our own. All Canadian satellites or Canadian assets are launched on foreign or allied rockets. That highlights how vulnerable we are as a country.”

Advertisement — Marconi Technologies

The Canadian Explorers is proud to be supported by its Founding Lead Partner, Marconi Technologies.

Could you walk me through the product lineup for someone without a rocketry background?

“We are working on Aurora, which is our first orbital rocket. It is poised to fly in Q4 2028. That rocket will serve multiple purposes. First and foremost, it will validate our ability to reach orbit. It will also demonstrate our concept of operations, specifically responsiveness, short lead times and the fact that we are using storable propellants. Nothing beats an orbital launch to demonstrate that.
Second, we have Hermes, an in-space propulsion system for satellites derived from our hydrogen-peroxide-based propellant. Those satellites can be propelled by high-test peroxide (HTP), a concentrated form of hydrogen peroxide, which decomposes through a catalyst into superheated steam and oxygen to create thrust.
Last but not least, we have a medium-lift vehicle that we will talk about more in the next few months.”

What does Hermes do that alternatives cannot?

“Hermes is chemical propulsion, so it can impart a change in velocity on a satellite much faster than the electrical propulsion that is typically used.
Electrical propulsion is characterized by a very high specific impulse, which means you can get more overall velocity change for the same mass of propellant. However, that change in velocity happens over a long time. If you want to manoeuvre your satellite quickly or change its altitude quickly, chemical propulsion is key.
Most existing monopropellant propulsion has been based on hydrazine, which is very toxic. Our alternative has a very similar density impulse, but it is not toxic. We benefit from the advantages that we like with hydrazine without having to deal with the toxicity.”

Could you contrast Reaction Dynamics with the other Launch the North companies? Can all three survive in the Canadian market?

“My wish is that everybody finds a way to serve a segment of the market. Launch is capital-intensive, highly competitive and heavily regulated. The margins are not great. It is a very tough business.
The companies that survive will be the ones that can be polarizing. In an ideal world, every customer would have a very cheap launch with very short lead times that is extremely precise, can deliver all their satellites and gives them control over their destination and schedule. But it is never like that. You are always making compromises. There will be a market for the cheapest launch. If you are building a rocket that can be the cheapest, you have a market. If you are building an extremely precise rocket that can reach a very specific orbit or can offer a dedicated launch, there is a market for you. If you are none of those things, it will be difficult.

I genuinely hope all three companies survive. I talk to Hugh (Canada Rocket Company) and Rahul (NordSpace) almost every week. We are competitors, but we also help one another where we can because we all want the same thing: to provide launch to this country. Reaction Dynamics has advocated for launch sovereignty for almost 10 years. It is exciting that we now have friends carrying the same message and adding weight to the importance of launch.
Every rocket is defined first and foremost by the propellants it uses. If you use LOX methane, you will build a very different rocket than if you use LOX kerosene. Those technical choices define the vehicle, whether you like it or not. Each has advantages and disadvantages.
That is the key distinguishing feature. Every company has strong engineers and believes it has an edge, which is appropriate. This is a tough business. But the selection of propellants defines the technical toolbox you have. How you leverage the advantages of that toolbox is what will make the difference.”

What capabilities are unlocked by storable propellants, particularly for shipping and storage?

“You have to emphasize storability and storable propellants. Cryogenic propellants have advantages, notably when it comes to specific impulse, but they also add constraints to the concept of operations. A rocket using cryogenic propellants will never be able to launch from a remote area or a forward-deployed base without heavy launch infrastructure. If you do not have that infrastructure, the rocket cannot operate.

Those are problems we do not have with storable propellants. I do not need a week to fuel my rocket. I can launch fuel-ready. I do not need to chill down my engine. When you deal with liquid oxygen, liquid methane or anything cryogenic, the propellants are boiling off continuously. We do not have to deal with that. We do not have to vent, and we do not have valves freezing.
We lose a little specific impulse, which we knew and understood. However, we are dealing with very dense propellants, so density impulse compensates for much of that. With the right design decisions and architecture, we can still carry a significant payload. At the end of the day, customers do not care whether you are burning liquid oxygen with kerosene, hydrogen or methane. They care about the result: the vehicle’s features, characteristics and price.
If a rocket is expensive, you cannot compete on price. If it takes too long to manufacture, you cannot compete on lead time. If you do not have fine-tuned precision in thrust-vector control, you cannot compete on precision. If you can reduce complexity without compromising reliability, customers can benefit from a convenient, dedicated launch at a reasonable price. That is exactly what we are doing.”

What does responsive launch mean? How fast can a rocket go from storage to launch, and where can Aurora launch from?

“We are targeting 72 hours for Launch the North. Will that be the standard service? I would not say that, but it could become a specialized service for some defence customers. We could likely bring that timeline down significantly. It is feasible.
I also do not need a heavy launch spaceport to launch from. I can launch from a forest. The rocket and its propellants can be carried. The rocket, at the light-lift scale, is containerized. We only need a safe place to launch and a way to track the rocket, which can be delivered through multiple means.
For replenishment and reconstitution, these are important advantages. Applying the same approach to rockets carrying four to six tonnes or more could enable us to launch larger payloads from remote locations that are well positioned to reach particular orbits. With less dependence on cryogenic infrastructure, launch location becomes a strategic advantage, giving commercial and government customers more options to reach the orbits they need, when they need them.
Jesse led an interesting customer study a couple of years ago to understand what customers could unlock with responsive launch. It opened our eyes. Some companies work with biological assets for medical or pharmaceutical research. They need to launch quickly because they are dealing with live material and need a short lead time.
Other companies need a certain number of satellites operating in orbit. We are speaking with companies that have a high attrition rate and need to replenish frequently. You do not always know which satellite you will lose, which orbit it will be in or which inclination it will use. Some companies launch spare satellites, while others cannot afford to do that or face technical constraints that make it impossible. Responsive launch is not merely an incremental improvement for them. It is a paradigm change. We learned what customers want while developing smaller rockets, and we are now applying those lessons to medium lift.

No customer has complained about a shorter, faster and more convenient service when it does not compromise reliability or price. Nobody has told us they want to pay more or wait two years to launch. Satellite companies will find new ways to use a service once it is available. If a company can integrate a satellite with a rocket in days instead of months, it will operate differently. We are excited to see how customers use capabilities that current launch solutions cannot offer because they do not combine responsiveness, short lead times and pricing.”

How do you view the future of war in space?

“No modern army can fight without its space assets. All modern armies rely on space assets and infrastructure. If you can disrupt those assets, the war can be won before a single bullet is fired. As a country, Canada missed the age of the aircraft carrier, but it is not too late for us to have assets in orbit that protect us. There is nothing you will launch to orbit that will be more expensive than the cost of war on Earth. Anything you launch into orbit will be cheaper than fighting a war on Earth. If space assets allow you to pre-empt, avoid or deter an adversary from waging war on your country, that is exactly what you seek. But if we cannot reach orbit on our own, what can we do? Access to orbit is a key defence priority. In an ideal world, we would never have wars, but that is not the world we are in.”

Reaction Dynamics has publicly reported C$340 million in letters of intent. What is the business model and how much will launch cost?

Jesse Mikelberg: “We now far exceed the number that is posted online. We’ve collected several billion dollars worth of LOIs and MOUs. The customers showing the most interest are not necessarily domiciled in Canada. They include some of the largest and most successful international space companies in allied countries. They can identify ways our service will, in turn, change the services they provide to their customers for the better.
I cannot name those customers at this time. They include operators producing hundreds of spacecraft, serving the U.S. Space Force, running major operations and having raised hundreds of millions of dollars. These are credible operators that want a service that is relatively cost-effective but, more importantly, delivers assets where they need to be, when they need to be, with as few pain points as possible. They want rapid integration, rapid deployment and a fast solution to maintain or enhance constellation assets. It is easy to think of our assets as products, but in reality we provide a service: consistent and safe access to orbit on very fast timelines.”

Bachar Elzein: “The target price per kilogram, as we speak, is roughly $10,000 to $15,000.”

How can Canada back more moonshots like Reaction Dynamics?

“We need time. The right decisions have been made to foster companies like ours and our competitors. But you cannot invest capital into the ecosystem and expect to reach orbit, build fighter jets and build everything in-house overnight. It takes time. We are not asking for 20 years; it takes a couple of years. I think the government has done what could be expected from a government looking to support its defence ecosystem, at both the federal and provincial levels. We are fortunate to be in Quebec. The province has done a lot for us.
Private investors now have to follow. We are seeing more traction than in the past, but it is easy for me to say that investors must take more risks. What we need is to show that taking risks pays. We need to show that companies in Canada can succeed. We talk about Shopify a lot. Shopify was 10 years ago. We should have a company in Canada that can compete with SpaceX. We should have a company in Canada that can compete with Anduril or Palantir.

When investors see that the people who committed to those companies were rewarded, it will become more compelling for others to follow. Canada was starved of defence support for a long time. We survived the past decade through tremendous sacrifice and effort. Other deep-tech and defence companies could have existed but do not because the support was not there, and they may not have shown the same staying power.
Canadian success stories will make it easier for investors to commit in the future. I hope and believe that Reaction Dynamics’ success will make it easier for the companies coming after us. In a couple of years, we can show that we can reach orbit here, ITAR-free, with Canadian solutions, Canadian engineering, Canadian ingenuity and engineers trained at Canadian universities.
Defence is not an end case; it is leverage. The phone I am using relies on technology that was initially developed for defence. We do not see the warfighter and the farmer as different. Both are key stakeholders. When you think of defence as leverage, defence is the economy. The industrial base is the economy.

From our perspective, the government has provided what we need. There are still issues such as pathways to procurement, but those are known and are being addressed. The larger step is with private investors. Successful Canadian companies will build a more compelling case for defence investment.”

Jesse Mikelberg: “For the first time in my professional history, we are seeing government funding move at the pace of, or faster than, private capital.”

What have you learned from building Reaction Dynamics, and what advice would you give to a young Canadian deep-tech founder?

“You do not build a company to be understood necessarily. Your most important frame of reference should be your customers. They will guide you through their problems and pain points. If customers like what you are building, that is what matters. Money will come. Investors will come. You also have to build a great team. Building an exceptional team is one of the most important things you can do.
It is not easy. If building a company were easy, everybody would be an entrepreneur. It has to be difficult because you are creating something that does not exist. You have to fight many forces to put something into a market where you compete against infinite capital and infinite talent. Those forces are designed to ward off fragile ideas, business cases and business models that are not robust. It takes a fight, and that is okay. Talk to your customers early and do not give a fuck about what your VC tells you. That is really it.”

What do the next 12 months look like, and if everything works, what does Reaction Dynamics become over the next 20 years?

“In 20 years, I hope Canada becomes the launch partner of choice for our allies because of our geographic position and our reliability as a partner. I hope Reaction Dynamics spearheads that by bringing a new paradigm to launch: on-demand, responsive, affordable, strategic and reusable. Access to orbit will be key if Canada wants to benefit from the two-trillion-dollar economy everybody talks about. Once you can reach orbit, the world is your oyster. If you want to integrate vertically, you can.
What we have always been about is guided propulsion: giving customers the ability to move something from one orbit to another, from one place to another or from one area to another. Will that expand into a more vertically integrated business? Maybe, maybe not. We will see.

For now, we are absolutely focused on reaching orbit by Q4 2028. We have many ideas about what happens after that, but we are not committing to them because much can change.
I want Reaction Dynamics to change the launch paradigm and, just as importantly, become a success story that Canadians can look to and say: we can do this here. We can build quantum computers here. We can build world-leading AI companies here. We can launch from here. You are not necessarily missing anything by building in Canada. Canada is a great place to start a company. It is difficult, but starting a company is never easy.”

Jesse Mikelberg: “I like the 20-year vision of becoming the launch provider of choice for our allies because it goes beyond Reaction Dynamics. It is not only because we have built a great rocket or provide a great service. It is because Canada becomes the incredible environment we all need it to be, with the regulator, the Department of National Defence, the government, Transport Canada and the Canadian Space Agency, all working together and investing in the ecosystem the right way. Our architecture must work in unison with a much larger ecosystem that is coming together. Everybody feels there is a moment in time for Canada, and many of us are stepping up.”

If you’re building something in Canada, I want to hear about it. contact@ethanmarcoux.com

Share The Canadian Explorers

“This is not a game for tourists.” — Josh Ogden, Co-Founder and CEO of AVSS

Drones are quickly changing the way humans live. According to some estimates, over 90 percent of frontline Russian casualties in the Russo-Ukrainian war are from drone attacks. Meanwhile, companies are expanding drone-delivery services across the United States. Walmart and Amazon already deliver consumer goods in select markets, while Uber Eats has announced plans to launch drone-based food delivery.
In Canada, startups such as FireSwarm Solutions use heavy-lift drones to fight wildfires; ENVGO, Pelagos, and Open Ocean Robotics are developing autonomous marine vehicles, while Sentinel R&D is manufacturing drones at scale for the modern battlefield. As robotics and automation continue to advance, demand is rising for the scalability and cost advantages that unmanned systems can provide. Humanity’s reach is being extended.

“AVSS is building sovereign robotic solutions from the ground up.”

Aerial Vehicle Safety Solutions (AVSS) is a Canadian drone company founded in New Brunswick in 2017 by Josh Ogden (CEO) and Josh Boudreau (CTO). They believe that Canadian sovereignty requires owning the full stack of production and intellectual property, rather than licensing or reselling foreign systems.
The company found success building drone safety components, such as parachute recovery and flight termination systems, to help commercial drones operate safely over people. The team is now expanding into new product lines, including the Precision Avalanche Management System, which uses SnowDart hardware for avalanche control; guided delivery systems; and the Flying Beehive, an air-launched system that can release multiple drones in flight. AVSS develops its own components and retains its IP and manufacturing knowledge in-house, reducing its exposure to global supply-chain disruptions. The company says that it can now compete with and beat Chinese and American competitors on price, regulatory compliance and capability.

“As a Canadian, and especially as a Maritimer, sometimes you lack the confidence to make that big leap, and you’re told to play only in your small sandbox.”

AVSS’s philosophy is that hardware takes time, and money is not a substitute. The company has watched competitors raise more money than it did and then fail. There is no way to skip the harsh reality of the slow and gruelling physical engineering required to build great products.
Since 2017, AVSS has raised only $2.2 million, with its last financing round completed in 2022. Over the past year, the company has grown from 15 to 55 employees, funded by revenue. It has manufactured more than 2,000 systems across its commercial and dual-use product lines year to date, with approximately 75% of its commercial revenue coming from international markets.

“If you only started when the Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS) was announced, you’re already three years behind.”

I spoke with Josh Ogden, Co-Founder and CEO of AVSS, about building Canada’s drone stack, procurement and what Canadian self-reliance requires.

“A Canadian company can compete and can win in the robotic space, but you have to build from the ground up, and you’ve got to put your time in.”

What is AVSS building, and why does it matter for Canada?

“AVSS is building sovereign robotic solutions from the ground up, making sure we source copper, steel and other materials and that they are made by Canadians, with no licensing and no reselling foreign goods.
It matters for Canada because of the economic impact and the fundamentals of manufacturing versus reselling versus licensing. When profits stay in Canada, more tax dollars are generated, more jobs are created, and Canada becomes more prosperous.

When you resell somebody else’s goods, you make less gross margin, maybe 10%, 15% or 20%. When you license, you pay a fee to a foreign entity. That eats into your operating costs, whether it is 10% of every unit sold or a large down payment for access to the technology. When you manufacture from the ground up, you spend the money on R&D and build a knowledge set. That can allow you to generate gross margins of 40% to 70%, maybe 80% if you are very good at building hardware and components. It keeps dollars here, and it keeps knowledge here.
Some people want to make quick money by licensing and reselling other people’s goods because they do not want the risk or the effort of three years of R&D. But when their supply chain is disrupted by a pandemic, conflict or China banning products in the drone sector, the person using the tool no longer knows how to fix it. They do not know what chip is inside or how it was designed for modification. Designing and building here provides economic benefits and a protective mechanism in a future conflict.”

Advertisement — Marconi Technologies

The Canadian Explorers is proud to be supported by its Founding Lead Partner, Marconi Technologies.

When did AVSS decide to expand into defence?

“AVSS did not start with the intention of entering defence. AVSS entered robotics through drone safety systems. It evolved into guided systems because it was our own problem.
Four or five years ago, we looked around and realized we were working with the top drone manufacturers in the world. We supply their safety devices. We do not only sell hardware; we work through regulatory approvals with the FAA, CASA in Australia and authorities in other countries. We have a unique perspective because we see products before they are fully baked. We work with manufacturers’ engineering teams, give feedback and tell them when a structure is not strong enough. We realized we were competent and capable. Today, we are shipping nearly 100 units a week around the world to export markets because we built that competency.

As a Canadian, and especially as a Maritimer, sometimes you lack the confidence to make that big leap. You are told to play only in your small sandbox. Based on experience and a proven record, we felt we could do more. A couple of years ago, AVSS decided we were going to be the default robotic-component supplier for the Canadian Armed Forces. We could build components and solutions that others could use, just like our parachutes, and take them to export markets. Manufacturers that do not need our safety devices may still need Canadian-made motors, electronic speed controllers and cameras.
In August, at the Area X.O./CJFC event in Killaloe, we were among a select group of Canadian manufacturers demonstrating our products, and we publicly displayed a number of these products for the first time. Normally, we are cautious about what we show while it is under development. ‘Fake it till you make it’ is a terrible strategy in this industry. We felt the time was right because we had spent years developing them and could supply them.

The timing aligns with the Defence Industrial Strategy, but we were implementing these plans before it was fashionable and before the strategy was announced. If you only started when the Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS) was announced, you are already three years behind. ‘One child takes about nine months to develop, but nine women cannot have a baby in one month.’ That is the problem with engineering speed. People think that if they keep adding engineers, they will solve the problem faster. It does not work that way. I’ve tried it many times. It doesn’t work. I stopped because it’s stupid. A team of 50 engineers will not necessarily build one product faster than a team of eight. It takes the time it takes, the testing it takes, the repetitions it takes and the crashes it takes. AVSS is almost 10 years old. To play at this moment, you had to prepare in the past. From 2020 to 2025, we built 14 products. In 2026, we built 14 products. We’ve doubled our product suites because we’ve been building all these capabilities.”

Could you walk me through the product lineup, and explain how everything fits together?

“We can break it down into components, integrated systems and full solutions.

Components are the ground-up pieces that many companies buy from other suppliers: motors, batteries and thermal cores, for example. We are taking on the work of building components from the ground up so the platforms we design for specific use cases can be cost-competitive. When companies only buy from other people, they add bloat instead of becoming efficient in manufacturing and design. Our component line will be available to allied countries that want Canadian-made components. Those are the enabling technologies. We are the only Canadian company working directly with the engineering teams of the world’s top drone manufacturers.

In the Canadian market, we are also building integrated and full solutions. Integrated systems include our parachute systems, drop systems and avalanche-mitigation system. Full solutions include Flying Beehive, the training drones within Beehive and the AROD system. The AROD system is a one-way rocket drone designed for avalanche management at Rogers Pass; it is not necessarily an interceptor drone. It is designed for one-way missions in a specific use case.”

What operations become possible through AVSS’s drone safety and avalanche-management systems?

“The parachutes have already changed what is possible. Parachutes are now a smaller share of our business, but they are sold around the world and enable flight over people. We sell to police departments, engineering services and drone-delivery companies that fly missions over people. Imagine inspecting a bridge in downtown Vancouver. The government says a single point of failure cannot result in a certain type of injury, so you need a backup device. Our thesis began in 2017, and the product reached the market in 2020. We wake up to sales; it is a predictable business that continues to grow. Today, we are the number-one seller of commercial-drone parachutes to the largest manufacturers. The line is growing, but it is becoming a smaller percentage of the business as we expand into components and integrated systems.

PAMS is the Precision Avalanche Management System. It is designed to drop different sizes of explosives from drones for avalanche mitigation. It is a purpose-built product with product-market fit, and it also gives us baseline technology for kinetic delivery and initiation systems. We were the first company in Canada to receive government approval to drop explosives from drones. We have also held import and export licences for three or four years because of the original parachute business. That paperwork took roughly three or four years. We worked with Parks Canada, Transport Canada, Natural Resources Canada and National Defence on the avalanche product. People are now presenting at conferences about how they use it. It will not replace every existing tool, but it can augment operations, and this is how we used it in Jasper.”

What is the Flying Beehive, and what makes launching multiple FPV drones from another aircraft valuable?

“Flying Beehive is an air-launched effect. It has been proven and is going through procurement for additional contracts so it can be implemented in new use cases.
The goal is to air-launch first-person-view (FPV) drones, address the 100-kilometre kill-zone problem and build solutions around different aircraft, whether a helicopter or another drone. We have shown that we can launch drones and gliders, release multiple drones in flight and use timed delays. The technical problem has been demonstrated; the next step is the Canadian Armed Forces incorporating it into missions.”

Is drone delivery possible in Canada?

“One thing you have to remember with any repetitive robotic-delivery use case is that you have to be mindful of our environmental conditions compared with California. Autonomous vehicles have accumulated many miles in places such as Las Vegas and California partly because the climate is more favourable.

Drone delivery will come to Canada. I expect Victoria or Vancouver to see it first because of the climate. Under current regulations, backyard drone delivery is probably another four or five years away, but rural delivery can come sooner. Canada introduced lower-risk beyond-visual-line-of-sight rules last November, and lower risk is defined partly by population density. We will see long-range rural deliveries before backyard delivery.”

What do “Product of Canada” and “Made in Canada” mean, and can Canadian companies compete on price?

“‘Product of Canada’ generally means 98% or more of direct production or manufacturing costs are Canadian and the last substantial transformation occurred here, like maple syrup or steel. ‘Made in Canada’ uses a 51% threshold; it is also about the final transformation and where the material is sourced. There are nuances, including textiles, but it is fundamentally a cost calculation. The problem is that entrepreneurs sometimes find what I would call unethical, creative ways to game the calculation. A company can import a foreign product from Alibaba, add a 50% margin or a small amount of labour and then try to present it as Canadian-made. Being a Canadian company also does not mean the product is Canadian. A Canadian company can buy maple syrup from Vermont and resell it; the syrup was still made in the United States.

To me, “Made in Canada” comes down to three questions: Where are your profits? Where is the product made? Where does your IP reside? It should be a trifecta: more than 51% Canadian materials and labour, profits and taxes staying in Canada, and intellectual property staying in Canada, so the knowledge is growing. The legal definition does not include all this.

On price, Canadian companies can compete if they build their products themselves. I do it right now. I am beating Chinese competitors on compliance and regulatory approvals, and on price point. You can compete with the Chinese; we beat the Americans out of the parachute market. We spent two years redesigning the electronics, certifying and testing them. That stack can now be reused across multiple products. A Canadian company can compete and win in robotics, but it must build from the ground up and put in the time. We have been doing this for a decade now; I tried the shortcuts. Thank God for our CTO, who said, ‘No, we are not going to use off-the-shelf flight controllers to control our parachutes because of the cost, supply-chain risk and form factor. Let us take two years to redesign the entire electronic stack ourselves, go through certification and testing, and then we will have something we can use across multiple products.’ That decision during COVID gave us the foundation to build 14 products in a year.”

How did AVSS fund its development?

“Pure luck. No, historically, we have only raised $2.2 million, so we have only eaten what we have caught. We grew the company from revenue, which creates discipline.
We grew from 15 to 55 employees in a year, but we stayed at 15 for about five years while building the technology suite. Our whole team was technical except three of us for five years. Twelve people were engineers and technicians. The supply-chain manager, my vice-president and I handled marketing, sales, HR, recruitment and everything else. We had to grow sustainably, so we developed a survival instinct rather than relying on other people’s money.

We are now open to raising money to scale because we are ready and have product-market fit across multiple products. We are an outlier in the robotics industry. A lot of companies that raised large amounts between 2015 and 2020 are now out of business because they did not grow sustainably and raised too much. We beat competitors that have raised $30 million and $10 million; both are no longer doing parachutes, and that’s just an example of having conviction, discipline and not rushing.
In software, a bug can be fixed with an overnight update. Hardware does not get that luxury. When we ship, we do not want customers calling because something failed. We have been around for 10 years; we only have a part-time customer support person, because that’s how few calls we get. We built a product that just works. We sell safety devices; they have to work. Imagine grabbing a fire extinguisher and wondering whether it will work today.”

What is working in Canada’s defence-drone procurement, and what still needs to be fixed?

“We are in a government-build stage. Existing programs such as Innovative Solutions Canada have supported 20 or 30 drone companies over the years that are scaling up. If you want to know who has been working in drones, look at companies that completed ISC innovation challenges and the smaller group eligible for additional prototype sales. Those programs need to be properly funded and executed. Public Services and Procurement Canada needs more resources and procurement officers to accelerate the work. The new initiatives require an “ask me in a year” answer. There are many: MINERVA, the drone marketplace and other procurements. Right now they are at the application stage. The proof comes when contracts are awarded, and companies get to deliver.”

What do the next 12 months look like for AVSS?

“Execution. That is the goal.
We are going from shipping more than 2,000 units to more than 7,000 units, and eventually to 20,000 units across different drone components and products. We are beyond the invention stage for the products we are scaling. We continue to invest heavily in R&D; it is a never-ending machine. The main focus is ramping up production. We have tripled the production team and put the infrastructure and equipment in place. Last year was our year of building. This year is our year of execution. Then we will build again for the next level of scale.”

What is one Canadian national-interest startup worth watching?

“AVSS, of course. But we’re not a startup. We’ve been around.

It is not about the startups. It’s about those who have been around. Pay attention to the 10 or 15 Canadian drone companies that have been here for more than 10 years and ground through the period when there was no money. They will be here while there is money, and they will still be here when the money dries up in five years.

Focus on the companies that have been building and delivering into National Defence, oil and gas, and policing. Some do not get the same attention because they are not in Ottawa or part of the startup hype cycle, but they are executing.”

What advice would you give to a founder starting in this space?

“Be patient and be decisive. If you want to play in this space, go for it, but do not rush it. Money helps you acquire resources, but money alone will not build products.
Anyone coming into this space needs to know that this is not a game for tourists. It is for people willing to spend more than 10 years. I hate the Silicon Valley mentality of building a company, selling it after three years, then doing another. Nothing gets built in hardware in three years.

Build a 10-year plan. If you want to play in dual-use technology, defence or robotics, make a 10-year commitment with your co-founders. Do it one contract at a time. Find product-market fit, then raise. We need more sustainable businesses with a long-term view.”

If you’re building something in Canada, I want to hear about it. contact@ethanmarcoux.com

Share The Canadian Explorers

Canada is the only G7 country remaining without sovereign access to space. If Canada wishes to launch a satellite, it must rely on a foreign partner (primarily the United States). This concern has led the Canadian government to list space as a key sovereign capability in the Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS).
Budget 2025 committed $182.6 million over three years to the Department of National Defence (DND) to establish sovereign launch capability, including a $105-million multi-year grant program supporting Canadian-designed launch vehicles and related technologies.

“Demand is going to be almost 300x over the next 10 years.” — Hugh Kolias, Founder and CEO of Canada Rocket Company

Canada Rocket Company sees this moment as an opportunity to develop a sovereign and globally competitive medium-lift launch capability from Canadian soil. The mission is to make Canada a launch provider for the world’s middle powers. CRC emerged from stealth in January 2026 and has since raised $22.5 million in total capital, assembling a team of 32 from companies including SpaceX, Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, ArianeGroup and Tesla. It has recently begun planning a 500,000-square-foot manufacturing facility.

“Once you own the rails to space, you really have this call option on the business.”

The team is concentrating on the R-2, a reusable Falcon 9-class medium-lift rocket powered by liquid oxygen and methane. The vehicle targets a payload of 12,500 kilograms to sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). Canada Rocket Company believes medium lift represents a much larger global opportunity than the crowded small-launch market. Capital is the immediate bottleneck. Canada Rocket Company estimates that it needs roughly eight years and $500 million to develop this capability.

“At the end of the day, it is more of a capital problem than it is a technical or engineering problem.”

Hugh Kolias is the CEO and founder of Canada Rocket Company. He previously sold Yuhu in 2022, a multifamily-property SaaS platform, and is now returning to the space ambitions that brought him into engineering in the first place. Hugh believes that by demonstrating intense ambition from Canada, he can build a talent advantage and turn Canadian brain drain into brain gain.

“I would love to see a Canadian launch vehicle take a Canadian lander that goes to the Moon and helps build out lunar permanence.”

In Explorer Spotlight #14, I spoke with Hugh about why CRC is moving directly toward medium lift, what it takes to finance a Canadian rocket company, lunar permanence, dreaming big, and how an ambitious mission can reverse Canada’s brain drain.

“The more ambitious you are, the more people will match that ambition.”

What is Canada Rocket Company building, and why does it matter for Canada?

“Canada Rocket Company is building a Falcon 9-class launch vehicle for Canada. That matters from a sovereignty perspective: Canada and its allies need access to space. It also matters from an economic perspective. It represents over half a billion dollars in investment and more than 1,000 jobs, all in engineering and advanced manufacturing. It is a dual-track benefit for the nation.”

Advertisement — Marconi Technologies

The Canadian Explorers is proud to be supported by its Founding Lead Partner, Marconi Technologies.

You built and sold a SaaS company, Yuhu. Can you explain what it was, and how different it is from building a Canadian space company?

“Yuhu was a multifamily SaaS platform before AI was a thing. We provided an end-to-end service, essentially tip-to-tail, from prospects and leasing through to residents within apartment buildings. We were the operational layer behind the scenes: processing payments and helping sign leases. We had over 200,000 apartment units across Canada. Building a rocket company is similar, but different.

The similarity is that it’s all about building a team: happy people build happy rockets, and it was the same on the software side. It’s about attracting the best people globally. The obvious difference is that this is highly capital-intensive: about half a billion dollars over eight to ten years. With SaaS and software, in theory, you just need a couple of people in a garage or, at this point, Claude, which you can leverage on the engineering and development side. Ultimately, it’s about building an MVP (minimum viable product). For us, our minimum viable product is building a vehicle that can get to orbit and can service both the national and commercial needs. That’s why we’re building a Falcon 9-class vehicle, capable of carrying roughly 12,500 kilograms to sun-synchronous orbit. It is very similar in thrust class and size to Falcon 9. As SpaceX retires Falcon 9 in favour of Starship, there is a huge global opportunity to fill that void. Outside the US, there aren’t any credible replacements at the moment. Most of them are expendable and large government programs. It is a huge opportunity for Canada, not only to address its sovereignty needs, but to build the next Shopify, except providing rides to space.”

What makes this moment right for Canada Rocket Company?

“At first, the whole world assumed launch costs would go down to, Elon says, $10 per kilogram or something wild. But interestingly enough, in the last six to 12 months, the opposite has been happening: demand is going to be almost 300x over the next 10 years. This demand is partly from orbital data centers, but a lot is from sovereign constellation sets from countries and the lunar missions over the next decade; I think it’s like 70 or 80 launches that are estimated.
All of that demand, combined with underinvestment in launch, has created this perfect storm: there’s a massive commercial need for vehicles of this size. No one’s been investing in them over the last 10 years because everyone thought light-lift or smaller vehicles would be complementary to SpaceX.

But it turns out those business models don’t really work, and don’t work from a venture-scale perspective, because your operating costs are effectively the same across both vehicles; the amount of mass that you can take directly relates to how much revenue you generate per vehicle. And it becomes very difficult to create a venture-sized or venture-scale outcome. Then you couple that with the sovereignty movement of decoupling from the US and essentially focusing on that middle-powers initiative. You have these two tailwinds pushing in the same direction. When I saw everything coming together, I thought: who doesn’t want to build rockets? This was like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Doing it in Canada is almost unheard of. Canada is actually the place to build this because we’ll effectively be the first company in a nation that really wants this capability. Therefore, there are a lot of advantages in terms of accelerating legislation.

We got temporary foreign worker permits accelerated for us as well. That is important because no one in Canada has built a launch vehicle before. We have to bring in that expertise and use it to train Canadians over the next decade. So we really couldn’t have built this anywhere else. It’s like a big, audacious, hairy thing to go after. Everything fell into place. Now that everyone’s talking about orbital data centers, it turbocharges the need for launch globally. And it’s just really cool to be able to do that in Canada, where historically, we have been okay with partnering with NASA or the US or the European Space Agency. We’re still partnering with them, don’t get me wrong, but this has opened up the ability to pursue something ambitious.”

What is CRC’s product lineup?

“We’ve simplified our roadmap. We’re really just focusing on the R-2; we’ve upsized that vehicle. When we first looked at the idea, we thought 6,000 kilograms to orbit was the right number. That seems to be the sweet spot where there’s decent constellation activity, because you don’t want to compete with a Falcon 9; you want to be complementary. The average utilization of a Falcon 9 fairing is about 3,000 to 4,000 kilograms, but that is mainly because it’s also volume-limited. We’re making sure our vehicle is wide enough to accommodate other payload requirements to utilize our mass capabilities further. We’re going to start with and end with the R-2. Simplicity is really important.

You need roughly half a billion dollars to get a medium-lift vehicle to orbit. That’s where we have high confidence, given the tailwinds globally, in terms of this being a massive market opportunity, but also within the Canadian ecosystem. There are a lot of initiatives at the federal and provincial levels, as well as within the venture ecosystem, supporting something like this. Six months ago, I think it would have been absolutely impossible.

We haven’t publicly announced it, but internally, we’re focused on that medium lift design, because that’s what the government wants. That’s what we strongly believe is required to make this venture investable, and all of our engineers agree. We’ve spoken with 150-plus engineers around the world who have worked on orbital launch programs, and every single one has said to build the end product that you want to use and don’t waste your time with the suborbital or smaller vehicles, because you’re not de-risking as much as you think you are. At the end of the day, it’s more of a capital problem than it is a technical or engineering problem.”

Why skip light lift?

“As we talked with more engineers globally, and as we saw the needs shift: when we started, data centres in space were being discussed, but they were not a major focal area, and SpaceX had not yet announced that they were bringing down the cadence of Falcon 9 flights, eventually retiring it and stopping rideshare flights. The market also dramatically shifted over the last six months, which made building a Falcon 9 equivalent vehicle make sense, not just in the Canadian context, because the Canadian market likely isn’t large enough to sustain a singular provider.

You’ve got to go international if you want to grow a massive company; Shopify is a great example of that. We have such a huge opportunity, both because we’re politically stable and because people love trading with Canada. So if we can provide and be the de facto service for the middle powers, we’ll also get overflow from the US. As much as people talk about us tussling, at the end of the day, there are going to be substantial market needs based on the growth rate of payloads, constellations, and lunar missions. There’s not enough launch capacity globally. A lot of payload operators don’t really care where you’re situated, as long as you have the product, you’ve got the reliability, you’ve got the scheduling or the cadence, and your economics make sense. The world needs a Falcon 9 equivalent. We’re going to build in reusability and leverage customer-driven, customer-purchased flights to work on the reusability components. That lowers the balance-sheet risk and allows us to bring in a world-class team that has seen it and done it before. Then we execute, which is what we’ve been doing for only seven months. We’ve raised $22.5 million and built a team of 30; most are relocating internationally and have worked on global launch programs.”

What is the difference between light, medium, heavy and super-heavy launch?

“To use a transportation analogy, you’ve got your Uber parcel point-to-point delivery. Then you’ve got maybe a semi-truck, and then you’ve got a cargo plane. That would be the delta between light, medium and heavy lift. Then super heavy would be massive; it’s like a skyscraper that’s going to space. So really, it’s all about finding what fits the market. As an example, Telesat Lightspeed: each of the satellite buses is plus or minus, let’s just say, 800 kilograms. So a light-lift vehicle capable of carrying 1,000 kilograms could take one Telesat Lightspeed satellite bus up at a time. But that’s really inefficient because you’re going to spend more dollars per kilogram or per satellite, and it’s going to take you years to send up 150, or however large their constellation set is. It would be like Apple shipping iPhones using small cars and small boats around the world, shipping one iPhone at a time versus taking large pallets and sending them to distribution centers.

Economies of scale, obviously, come in through here. That’s why you must size the vehicle correctly so you can take as much of that constellation and stack it up into space. The world has also diverged from singular, bespoke, really large school bus-sized satellites to smaller satellites which are closer to Earth, and now there are groupings of satellites. Depending on the constellation, they vary in terms of number of satellites. But to make and participate in the larger end of the market and market opportunity, which is all these constellation sets, you need a vehicle that’s large enough to take a meaningful amount of that constellation into space.

The closest light-lift example would be Rocket Lab Electron. It’s maybe like 10% of the commercial market, if that. And it just doesn’t justify the capital expense that you’d be putting into the vehicle because most constellation providers and a lot of what Canada has put up in the past require a much larger vehicle.

How does CRC plan to finance a $500 million rocket program?

“It’s a lot, but it’s also not a lot. 500 million dollars over a five- to 10-year time frame is not a ton of money in relation to a lot of other projects that get funded. We see a 50-50 split essentially: 50 percent government, 50 percent private investment. On the government side, we’re also looking for anchor contracts and modelling that approach after NASA’s COTS program because contracts provide financial visibility and help de-risk the riskiest part of the project: the first few launches, one or two of which are likely to fail. If those launches are funded and the development program has a backstop similar to what NASA provided through COTS, it helps de-risk that development phase. Other global launch programs have also had anchor contracts for their first few launches. That’s what we’re working with the government on. Then, ideally, we could fund this whole thing with Canadian capital, and if there’s ever an opportunity to do that, that’s right now.

But we are a bit of an odd duck in the venture world because we’re seven months old. You need $500 million, most of that upfront. We want to build a 500,000-square-foot facility and break ground in the next few months. That’s $100 million to $200 million right there. There is also a test site that we want to develop, and we have announcements coming in the next couple of weeks. There’s a significant investment on that front as well, and you need to do that now if you want to be able to have the launch vehicle in a plus or minus eight-year timeframe. This is unique because Canada does not have that infrastructure but is also committing to sovereign launch. Whereas you look at Europe and the U.S., they have that infrastructure that you can go out and lease; it’s ready to go.

But this is the fun part of starting any company: starting something from nothing. What I found is the more ambitious you are, the more people will match that ambition. The government has been fantastic and incredibly helpful. We would not be able to do any of what we’re doing without the support of the Department of National Defence and other areas of the government. And then, of course, on the private investment side, a year ago, people would have laughed if someone said, hey, someone’s going to raise $22.5 million in seven months, bringing 30 of the top rocket scientists and engineers to Toronto. Everyone would have thought you were nuts. We’re just going to 10x that ambition and keep going. Now’s the time to try it, and it gets easier as you get the snowball moving.”

Can Canada’s historic brain drain become a competitive advantage?

“We are definitely seeing that. There are a lot of Canadians across many of the top tech and engineering companies. We’ve brought nine folks and their families home, and if it’s not them, their partner is Canadian, and we brought them home that way. We’re very excited to be part of the brain gain now. I think the biggest thing is they’re attracted to the ambition, and they’re attracted to the mission. They understand that it’s important for the country. Everyone eventually wants to put their roots back in Canada. But they have not ever really had the opportunity, whether it’s pay, opportunity, or the mission, that you’re actually working on. Ambition attracts ambition. If you want to attract the top Canadian engineers who have been away from the country for 10-plus years, you’re not going to bring them back if you’re building just another AI company or just another defence company. It’s got to be incredibly ambitious, where they’re like, wow, I want to move my family. There is a lot of friction in uprooting everything and coming to Canada for a seven-month-old company pursuing this ambitious goal of building launch capability for Canada.

It also attracts international talent. Most of our team is from Europe, Australia or the US. They also see it as an opportunity to do something for the first time in a country that’s never done it before. There’s an element of making history and helping another country or an ally build the capabilities that they need. It’s been equally exciting to see the excitement of folks who want to come to Canada and do something like this.

We’re directly contributing to Canada’s sovereignty. We’re directly contributing to our ability to be a great trading partner with Europe, Asia, and our allies. And at the same time, we’re building this launch vehicle in a country that’s never done it before. You can attract some very special people. That creates the foundation of bringing in more folks and more experience, and it just becomes this flywheel. Then all of a sudden Canada’s got one of the preeminent aerospace clusters of talent, and it all stems from one crazy and ambitious goal, backed by execution and financials.”

What do the next 12 months look like? What do you want CRC and Canada to look like in 20 years?

“In the next 12 months, we’ll have an engine component hot fire. We’ll be close, but not quite there, to having an integrated engine without the turbopump. We’ll have broken ground for our 500,000-square-foot facility to bring that online. We’ll hopefully have completed phase one and maybe phase two of our engine test site, which we’ll announce the location of and details in a couple of weeks here.
A year from now, we’ll probably be 60 to 70 people. Over the next eight years, the goal is to get this vehicle to orbit, prove the capability, build relationships with our trading partners and commercial companies, and become the service provider for middle powers.

In 20 years, I would love to see a Canadian launch vehicle take a Canadian lander that goes to the Moon and helps build out lunar permanence. Seeing that level of ambition matched at the space agency and really participating in those mission sets, that would be fantastic. Then, obviously, once past the Moon, Mars, etc., building that muscle and ecosystem in Canada would be amazing. The midterm goal is not just to advance science and exploration, but to build a world-renowned talent base and a globally recognized company. You see people wearing NASA t-shirts all around the world. We can have people wearing Canada Rocket Company because they see the level of ambition we’ve been able to accomplish and to inspire the next generation of engineers, technicians, and mechanics. It’s important to think beyond just borders, but using and leveraging Canada as a base and exporting not just products, but hopes and dreams.”

What is one other Canadian national-interest startup that you think is worth watching?

“Dominion Dynamics. Obviously, what Eliot and the team are doing is fantastic. North Vector, too. I know you said one, but then Kepler, not just because Mina’s on our advisory board, but because what they’re building, the Internet of space, is super ambitious.”

If you’re building something in Canada, I want to hear about it. contact@ethanmarcoux.com

Share The Canadian Explorers

“Power is the great enabler.” — Daniel Sax, CEO & Founder, Canadian Strategic Missions Corporation

Canadian Strategic Missions Corporation (CSMC) is a Waterloo-based company founded in 2020 that is developing portable nuclear microreactors and infrastructure for the Arctic and Space. This includes quantum sensing systems for locating critical resources and LunaPure, a water purification system for the Moon. CSMC sees both Arctic and lunar systems as synergistic; they both share similar design pressures: remote, thermally harsh, logistically constrained, and highly sensitive to mass.

“We are here to build national, critical, and strategic technology for Canada, and to compete globally.”

Power is the base layer for developing Arctic infrastructure, sovereignty, mining, defence, and economic development. CSMC’s Low Enriched Uranium Nuclear Reactor (LEUNR) is being developed as a factory-built, transportable nuclear reactor the size of a shipping container. A factory could build tens to hundreds per year, and the reactor can be deployed in a modular and scalable fashion, with the potential for multiple units per site.

“We need to move at the speed of relevance.”

The immediate competitor to LEUNR is diesel shipments. These are costly, difficult to transport and not scalable, requiring delivery every summer. CSMC is seeking to place a small reactor in the Arctic that does not require refuelling for five to ten years. The company has built an unfueled version of the reactor and is targeting a demonstration in 2028 and deployment in the Arctic in 2029 or 2030. Canada does not currently enrich uranium, so CSMC expects to rely on allied suppliers in the United States or Europe.

“Diesel cannot scale right now. We cannot bring more diesel up.”

CSMC was selected for the NATO DIANA 2026 cohort and has been active in both private and public capital. It has raised multiple rounds of angel and venture capital and is working on more. In July 2026, FedDev Ontario announced a $4.5-million investment in CSMC to advance its micro-nuclear power technology for the Arctic. Earlier in the year, CSMC won the Aqualunar Challenge, led by the Canadian Space Agency in partnership with Impact Canada, and received $400,000 to advance LunaPure.

“We need to make this the most competitive place to do business. Period. Full stop.”

I spoke with Daniel Sax, founder and CEO of Canadian Strategic Missions Corporation, about portable nuclear power, Arctic sovereignty, lunar infrastructure, financing strategic deep tech, and building in Canada.

“It does not make me want to run. It makes me want to build.”

What is CSMC building, and why does it matter for Canada?

“CSMC is a space and defence company building nuclear reactors for remote and extreme environments. We are looking to replace diesel generators in the Arctic. Canada is constrained in its ability to build new infrastructure in the Arctic, and there is no baseload energy solution.
CSMC is building a microreactor, a nuclear reactor that is very small and capable of being transported into the Arctic, to replace diesel generators and power Canada’s sovereign posture in the North, as well as its economic desires up there.”

You began as the Canadian Space Mining Corporation. How has Canadian Strategic Missions Corporation changed?

“I don’t know that the company’s mission ever really changed, to be honest. When I look back at what we started out doing with the Canadian Space Mining Corporation, it was always dual-use technologies for space and Earth. There was always this tie between our need to build long-term capabilities in space that could power lunar settlements, the technical gaps required to do that, and finding a synergy with our needs on Earth today. That spanned both the civil side and the defence side.
Our first product to come out of that was really nuclear power. That is where our microreactor work stemmed from. As we grew our portfolio between nuclear and quantum, the question always came back to what it had to do with space mining. Reflecting on that, I don’t think space mining was the right descriptor.

The Canadian Strategic Missions Corporation is, in many ways, what we always were. It is just a better crystallization of that ethos: building key technologies core to national strategic objectives.”

Advertisement — Marconi Technologies

The Canadian Explorers is proud to welcome Marconi Technologies as its Founding Lead Partner.

You are working on nuclear reactors, quantum sensors, and a lunar water system. How do these technologies work together?

“You are always opportunistic and looking at the evolution of landscapes and opportunity sets as they come about. We see a lot of opportunities in both space and defence that could make sense if they fit with our synergistic mandate.
They are all long-term, base-layer infrastructure. When we began working on lunar water, it was clear that you had to mine it, process it, and purify it. That is our water piece. The quantum sensor was how you identified that water, so you are moving another layer down the infrastructure stack. If you go all the way to the base, you need nuclear power to power all these things.
That is how we see them as related. They are core pieces of the infrastructure stack, but no company, whether on the Moon or on Earth, is going to own every piece. We have focused on areas where we thought we could be competitive, where we have been competitive, and where we saw an opportunity.”

What is the LEUNR microreactor, and how does it differ from alternatives?

“There are a number of alternatives in the energy space: wind, solar, hydropower, batteries, and other core technologies. Some of these spaces are very dogmatic about it being either all this or all that, and that all other technologies are terrible. We are not part of that philosophy. We see all of these functioning within a grid environment in the right weighting based on your location, what is physically available, the infrastructure, demand, and other conditions.

Micro-nuclear reactors are really just very small nuclear reactors, no different from what powers the grid today in many places, only a very small version. We are all familiar with CANDUs, the large reactors. If you look at an SMR, the SMRs are only slightly smaller than a large reactor but with significantly less output. The BWRX-300 being built at Darlington is a 300-megawatt reactor versus a reactor closer to a gigawatt, but it takes up about 75% of the footprint of a large reactor. It is trying to compete for grid electricity in an area with significantly less demand, with the promise that it can be built cheaper, but it is not actually small and not modular.
Microreactors are about building something transportable that can be moved and potentially factory-built, where you build a number of them off a line. That is what we are building toward with LEUNR: a shipping-container-sized nuclear reactor deployable in several forms out of a factory, where we could build tens to hundreds a year and deploy them in a modular fashion. We could scale up a site with reactor, reactor, reactor, reactor.

Nuclear is the baseload. Unless you have hydropower available, there is no baseload power option. You either have an unstable grid with solar, wind, and battery backups, which present challenges of their own, or you are burning gas or diesel. We are competing against gas and diesel, which are unsustainable, logistically challenging, and have a number of logistical weak points for militaries. Right now, Canada flies diesel into the Arctic. The military brings diesel into the Arctic every summer. That is a whole military operation throughout the year: barging it and then flying it on military aircraft to the 300 communities in the Arctic, most of which do not have roads. We are seeking to put a very small reactor in these places so that you can bring it up and it does not require refuelling for five or ten years. You no longer have the carbon output, and you have a more reliable power source.”

How would the reactors be shipped?

“We are somewhat agnostic. We are making them compact enough to be transportable on a military aircraft, but it depends on the location and what options are available. Boat, freight, car, or truck are all possible depending on the location. I think our main architecture would be to fly them on a military aircraft.”

What stage is the reactor at today?

“We have built an unfueled version of the reactor. We are pushing things through the design and engineering process. We are working toward a fuelled demonstrator, or criticality demonstration, in 2028, with a deployment into the Arctic in 2029 or 2030.
Before demonstrating it in the Arctic, we will likely demonstrate it through a pilot project in the South. That is what we are working toward right now.”

What can one reactor power?

“We would see one reactor as a minimum viable product: enough to get a minimum town or base loaded. Some bases may require a handful of units. As we think about Canada’s needs, it is anything from forward operating bases and remote sensor sites to large ports and other pieces of infrastructure over time.”

Does Canada have the fuel supply it needs?

“It is a challenge for Canada. Microreactors require enriched uranium because of their compactness, and Canada is not enriching uranium right now.
There are partners around the world conducting enrichment activity from whom we can procure and are in talks with. Some of those partners are in the United States, which presents one set of challenges. Some are in Europe, which presents another set of challenges. There is also enrichment capacity in Russia, which is not a viable option for the foreseeable future.”

By replacing diesel in the Arctic, what new capabilities are unlocked?

“Diesel cannot scale right now. We cannot bring more diesel up. Full stop. From an economic-development perspective, we are capped. If we need to scale, we need to do so with nuclear. The question is how.
We believe we have the safest, most secure, and most mature solution domestically and within NATO outside the United States. Our goal is to scale into Canada, power all of the infrastructure in the Arctic, get to a scale where we are powering, let’s say, 300 communities with nuclear reactors, and then scale across NATO and allied countries looking for non-US options.”

Do you see the Arctic becoming a larger part of the Canadian economy through scalable power?

“For sure. If you look at the money the Canadian government is allocating to Arctic infrastructure, that will drive opportunity. As it brings roads, ports, and more connectivity through fibre and satellites into the North, it will create more opportunities.
Right now, Indigenous communities in the North are economically constrained. They are constrained by a lack of connectivity, logistics, and power. You cannot build a factory if you cannot power it or bring the materials up there. These things are inextricably linked.

Power is the great enabler. We need to provide a safe, secure, reliable, and scalable power source for Canada’s Arctic to drive economic activity. It provides opportunities for Indigenous communities and others that are not there right now.
If we think about reconciliation, the real reconciliation is having the ability to pursue economic development. I think Indigenous communities see that as a path forward. They want jobs. They want to build their own jobs, not just be handed a job, but build their own businesses. Without power, that is impossible.”

What makes operating in the Arctic and on the Moon similar or different? How much would an Arctic reactor need to be adapted for the Moon?

“Originally, we adapted a Moon reactor for the Arctic. There are challenges in the thermal environment, remoteness, and connectivity, and both are fundamentally mass-limited markets.
In the Arctic, there are a limited number of logistical options. On the Moon, there are even fewer, and you are paying per kilogram. Launch is effectively a cost per kilogram. We see these environments as synergistic because they provide design constraints that help us be creative and innovative in our solutions. Our team is fantastic at that.”

CSMC has secured substantial non-dilutive capital. What have you learned about what governments are willing to back?

“Hopefully I have learned something along the way. Governments are willing to back things that fit what they believe are critical gaps, both domestically and internationally; companies that can deliver on time and on budget; and projects that drive economic and social opportunities beyond themselves. Government funding, non-dilutive funding, and contracts do not become easier. They remain hard. It is a challenge for anyone to go out and win them. We have been a mixture of lucky and successful in winning these things, with really bold ideas, a ton of hard work, and a little bit of creativity.”

How do you view private and venture capital compared with government funding?

“They are both necessary. Private capital is always necessary. If you can bootstrap a business all the way, that is great, but it is hard to do in deep tech. You need both government and healthy, functioning capital markets. There is talk of free markets and the invisible hand. In deep tech, you are competing against companies and countries that have the full backing of government. There is no even playing field.
You have multiple facets: government support; government as an end user and customer; and private and public capital markets. You can have no government support but fully healthy capital markets, both public and private, where the cost of capital is low, and there is a great deal of available capital. If you have less of that, you need more government support if you want to compete globally.

Both are necessary. We are always talking to capital, raising capital, and looking for the right partners. We have raised a couple of rounds of angel and venture capital and are working on more. It would be good to see more capital flowing through the Canadian VC system, which has been fairly dysfunctional over the last couple of years. I think everyone is waiting for the first shoe to drop in these spaces.”

What is the biggest lesson you have learned from founding CSMC, and what advice would you give to a founder building a deep-tech startup today?

“In many ways, it all comes back to people. Whether they are in government, on the investor side, on the team, or partners, people are important. How you treat people is always important. Finding the right people is important. You will find people who are philosophically aligned. The hard thing is finding out who is and is not. It is never an easy process.

My recommendation to a deep-tech founder is to find something that matters to you. This is hard. It is harder than doing other things. You need to be doing something that matters to you, but you also should not fall in love with your idea. You need the right level of conviction in the idea, the ability to hear feedback and product-market feedback when appropriate, and the ability to ignore that feedback and follow your instincts at other times. There is no right answer. It is always a risk weighting, but trying to maintain objectivity about your own business is important.”

What do the next 12 months look like for CSMC?

“We are building and growing. The last year has been incredibly busy. It has felt almost nonstop. Apart from a couple of personal vacation days, I feel like I have not taken a breath. The next year will be much the same. That means engineering, driving business development, hiring the best people, and growing the team. We have tripled since the start of the year in terms of scale and revenue.

We will be working through challenging markets: business development, an innovation-resistant nuclear industry in Canada, and the machinations of government as it tries to adapt to moving faster. All of these will be challenges, along with capital markets and marketing. It is a really exciting time at the company. We have added four amazing people in the last two weeks and are trying to add another 15 to 20 people this summer. I am very excited about what we are building.”

What drives you to create such an ambitious company? How can Canada move faster and think bigger?

“Looking back at my career, I was always attracted to these things. Part of that may be that I have one or two screws loose. I did a master’s degree in real estate and was always attracted to really big, complex projects. I look at nuclear and its scale, and everyone says it takes forever. Nuclear is so long. How will you do that?
I started my career working on real estate development in Calgary. I am on the board of a project that is still going on all these years later. The scale and timeline of real estate align quite well with the scale and timeline of doing things at a national and strategic level. To me, the timeline and scale are not a challenge.

How we do more of this in Canada is a fundamental question. Things are moving in the right direction, but we need to move faster. We need to move at the speed of relevance. We are good at patting ourselves on the back and saying, “We are moving fast now.” Are we moving at the same speed as our international competitors? If not, then we need to get to work. We need to figure out how to move faster, reduce regulatory barriers, get out of our own way, and have conviction in ourselves, especially on the capital-market side. That is a huge missing factor.
We need to make this the most competitive place to do business. Period. Full stop. Not simply better than we were. We fell off. We got lazy. We got complacent. Small improvements are not going to make the difference. We need wholesale change across policy, government, the way government does business, the way it approaches the private sector, the way it works with the private sector, and the way it champions the private sector.”

Why build in Canada?

“This is home. I love this country. I think it is the greatest country in the world, and this is where I want to build. I spent a lot of time living and going to school in the United States. Canada is a fantastic place. The ethos here is incredible. It is challenging to build here. It is more challenging than it is in some other places, but we have a fantastic ecosystem and an amazing country.
There is a need for people to build more at this moment. The sentiment can be quite negative right now. You speak to your friends, and they want to leave Canada. They think the economy is shit, tax rates are high, public safety is low, or their car gets broken into. We are all hearing these things in our friend groups. It does not make me want to run. It makes me want to build, and to build the best Canada we can. When the going gets tough, the tough get tougher.

That is why we show up at CSMC every day. That is why the team is motivated by the strategic mission. We are here to build national, critical, and strategic technology for Canada, and to compete globally.”

What is one other Canadian national-interest startup you are watching?

“There are so many good ones. I am a big fan of Paul Ziadé at North Vector Dynamics. He is very sharp, very motivated, a real driver, and a good friend. I think it is a great company, and they will do great things.
I am watching the launch companies. Between the three of them, they come from very different angles. It is a key capability for Canada. There are also many great quantum companies, and there is what Eliot Pence is trying to build at Dominion Dynamics.

But if I had to pick one, I’d pick Paul.”

If you’re building something in Canada, I want to hear about it. contact@ethanmarcoux.com

Share The Canadian Explorers

Canada needs to monitor its northern territory effectively. This is what Dominion Dynamics is solving. The company was founded in Ottawa on the 81st anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 2025. Just over a year later, it raised C$139 million in the largest Series A in Canadian defence history and the second-largest defence Series A globally. Dominion is positioning itself as the next Canadian defence prime and is moving fast.

“We’re building the operating system for pan-domain command and control.”

Dominion is focused on two core systems. AuraNet combines sensor, communications and operational data across domains into a common operating picture. In February 2026, during Operation NANOOK-NUNALIVUT, Dominion deployed AuraNet alongside the Canadian Rangers for eight weeks, travelling 5,200 kilometres through the High Arctic. The second core system being developed is Dominion Scout, an Autonomous Collaborative Platform (ACP). Dominion Scout is an uncrewed aircraft specifically designed to operate alongside fighter jets in the harsh conditions of the Arctic.

On August 14, 2026, Dominion announced its ACP Advisory Board and shared a progress report on Dominion Scout.

“We need dozens of Canadian defence companies to exist for us to be successful.”

Dominion recently moved into a 25,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Kanata. The next year will involve hiring hundreds of people, finding additional real estate, building prototypes and continuing to earn the trust of military operators. The Canadian buyer can be slow and bureaucratic, with major defence procurements taking an average of 16 years. Since Dominion’s Series A, however, contracting has accelerated. The company has now secured three government contracts across two services.

“Can you go from $50,000 to $5 million to $50 million in the course of 12 months? If you can’t do that, then we haven’t solved the contracting problem.”

Founder and CEO Eliot Pence led global growth at Anduril from 2018 to 2022 and is co-chair of the Alliance of Canadian Defence Companies. I spoke with him about turning private capital into military capability, building a Canadian defence prime and whether Canada can move quickly enough to become Dominion’s first major customer.

“It’s important that Canada demonstrate that it believes in itself.”

What is Dominion Dynamics building, and why does it matter for Canada?

“We’re building the operating system for pan-domain command and control. It matters for Canada because we have the largest territory per capita of any country in the world. And we need technology that can compress what’s called the kill chain, so the sensor-to-shooter bridge.”

Could you walk me through your core product lineup, and the expected revenue model?

“We’re focused on two things. One is called AuraNet, and another is called Dominion Scout. AuraNet is our command-and-control software. What that allows you to do is, as the term suggests, command and control autonomous systems across domains, from seabed to space. Dominion Scout is a physical capability. It’s a drone that can sense, interdict or kinetically defeat any threats to the Dominion (to Canada). We are essentially a defence contractor, so we work on behalf of governments. We are focused on the Canadian government. Our revenue is dependent on the government trusting us and giving us projects to work on.”

Where is Dominion Scout today, and what will it be able to do that existing alternatives cannot?

“Today, we’re building an advanced simulation environment to support the government’s options analysis. At its core is a physics-based engine that allows us to model real-world threat scenarios, test different technologies against them, and determine which combinations are most effective. That gives the government a much clearer picture of what capabilities it needs to address specific threats.

We are building the team for Dominion Scout. Benoit Breault, formerly of Wisk and Bombardier, has joined as our SVP of Aerospace Engineering and leads Dominion Scout. There’s no alternative right now being built for the Arctic. Most collaborative combat aircraft are focused on a very specific mission set, which is really the South China Sea and Indo-PACOM. What we are able to offer is something that is unique and specific to the Arctic threat context. I would say the differentiation that we bring is really the focus on the Arctic and the distances, ranges and problem sets specific to the Arctic.”

Dominion has been forward deploying into the Arctic. What has this taught you, what was unexpected, and what have you changed with Dominion’s approach?

“The Arctic is unlike any operating environment on Earth. Many of the technologies that defence primes and neoprimes have perfected don’t work in the Arctic for a variety of reasons. Communications are challenging. The ability to power assets is extremely challenging. Things that you take for granted, like the stability of the ground: the Arctic is basically permafrost, and permafrost changes from season to season and then year to year. The electromagnetic disturbances because of the aurora borealis are unique and different. The fact that the sun sort of sits on the horizon is problematic for sensors. Telemetry and basic data are much more challenging than anybody, I think, assumes. Obviously, logistics and the cost of getting things up and down are really hard, so you’ve got to be pretty precise in how you architect things.

I’m not sure we’ve learned anything that we didn’t know, other than what I’ve just said. The reason we’re building in the Arctic is that we know it’s hard, and that was the moat. A lot of what we’ve learned has been confirmation of what we knew, which is: it’s different, it’s hard, and that’s the opportunity.”

You’ve said there is a 50% chance that Dominion’s first contract comes from the US. How long can companies like yours wait for Canada to start buying?

“We can’t wait. I’m obviously very focused on Canada. It’s why I’m here. I just moved my family up this weekend. But we’re a business, and businesses go to where they are wanted and needed.”

Canada launched the Defence Drone Initiative. What does this change for Canadian startups like yours?

“I do think it’s headed in the right direction, for sure. The intent is there. The challenge is less about whether the intent is there. It’s whether we can do the things necessary to execute on that intent. For the drone initiative, it’s essentially like a verified-vendor list, which is good and fine. The next thing is contracting. I’d love to see more evidence that we want to do in-year contracting that is assessed on a week-by-week basis, not on a month- or year-by-year basis, and that contracting offers a ramp to larger contracts. Can you go from $50,000 to $5 million to $50 million in the course of 12 months? If you can’t do that, then we haven’t solved the contracting problem.”

A substantial portion of your Series A came from foreign investors. Should more Canadian defence founders look abroad for capital?

“I’d say one thing. We have been intentional from pre-seed to Series A about both seeking and getting commitments from Canadian investors. That will continue to be the most important thing that we do. It’s important that Canada demonstrate that it believes in itself. The vast majority of the equity is still held by Canadian investors and the executive team of Dominion. That being said, the problems Canada has, and the problems that we are seeking to solve, are relevant for international investors. We were intentional in getting what we believe to be the best international investors in our space: Valor and Atreides, Bessemer, Lakestar and Expeditions from the European side. That cap table, I think, is the best diversified cap table of any defence-tech startup in history. It’s reflected in the amount that we raised, which I think is the most of any Canadian defence company at our stage. Arguably, if not the most, then the best diversified cap table of any defence-tech startup globally.

I think maybe Helsing had a slightly higher Series A, but the cap-table construction was one major investor, Daniel Ek. I don’t know if that necessarily is better or worse, but it is what it is. For Canadians, it’s really important that Canadians back Canadians. When people ask me, ‘How do we get foreign investors involved in our company?’ I push them back to Canadian investors and tell them to focus on bringing in the pension funds. One of the things that I think we did really well was make sure that Canadian institutional capital came in early because, ultimately, for us to succeed, we’re going to need to have growth capital. Canada has some of the best institutional investors in the world.”

Are you looking to raise more capital?

“We’ll obviously do more capital raising. For us to do what we need to do, we need more capital, probably $500 million to $1 billion to build out the platform that we’re looking to build out. Is it right away? No. But we want to be opportunistic and intelligent in how we engage with capital markets, for sure.”

You personally were debanked. How common is this for Canadian defence founders? Is it still happening?

“It’s still happening. We’ve been debanked twice. I think the banks still don’t know what to do about defence. I don’t think they have the expertise. I think, generally speaking, they’re thinking about the wrong things. We need a new bank that is just focused on defence and resilience. I’m an investor in a bank called Erebor in the US. I think we need the same sort of thing in Canada. I’m not convinced the banks will figure out in time how to finance the sector or its entrepreneurs.”

Do you see this as a representation of the culture we have in Canada?

“I think it’s a representation of culture. I think it’s a representation of history. I think it’s a representation of regulation. I think it’s a representation of everything.”

Dominion has discussed partnerships, acquisitions and acquihires. What are you looking to acquire or partner with?

“The first critical partnership criterion is alignment on going big. We’re in this to change the country. I’ve been pretty consistent on this message: I want to change the trajectory of this country. To do that, you have to have ambition, vision and clarity about what it’s going to take. That’s a big focus for us when we look at and assess teams. The second is complementarity. Are we bringing something to the table that is unique and different from what they’re bringing? The third is more practical. From an M&A perspective: do they have contract vehicles? Do they have a relationship that is built on trust? Are they respected? Is the integration going to be straightforward?”

What advice would you give a young Canadian technologist considering starting a defence company?

“We need dozens of Canadian defence companies to exist for us to be successful. The most important thing, if they can do it, is to build what they know and then get it deployed with a user. Find a way to get it into the hands of a user, ideally an active user, and have them co-develop with you. If you can get the user to co-develop with you, that’s 80% of the problem.”

Which founder, company or historical figure has most influenced how you are building Dominion?

“It’s probably some composite of the people who built companies like Canadair, Bombardier, the Hudson’s Bay Company, Avro and de Havilland. What I admire about them is that they were willing to take real risks and invest in capabilities before it was obvious there would be a market for them. They had conviction in what they were building and were prepared to put a lot behind it. That’s the kind of approach I’m trying to bring to this business.”

What is the number one advantage Canada has compared to other countries, and why build in Canada?

“We have the technical expertise. We have the capital here. And we now have the demand signal. When you’re looking to invest in defence, you need those three things. You need the capital markets to exist. You need the demand signal, which clearly exists. And we have the technical talent. One gap is: can the government figure out a way to execute on a procurement timeline, and can it trust its own private sector to do the same?”

What do the next 12 months look like for Dominion?

“We’re going to be hiring hundreds of people. We’re going to look for more real estate somewhere in the country: Quebec, British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Halifax, Nova Scotia. We’re going to build prototypes. We’re going to continue to build the trust of the user. A lot of what we’re doing right now is going to be building the foundations for execution, because that’s what comes next.”

If you’re building something in Canada, I want to hear about it. contact@ethanmarcoux.com

Share The Canadian Explorers

The financial environment for startups in Canada is not ideal. It is a big reason why Canadian founders have consistently moved south of the border. In 2025, Leaders Fund found that only 32.4% of high-potential Canadian-led startups launched in 2024 were still headquartered in Canada. In Q1 of 2026, Canadian Venture Capital (VC) saw the lowest deal count of any quarter since 2017 (though it is starting to show signs of life). All while American (and global) venture capital is on pace to reach all-time highs. Anduril is reportedly in talks to raise a new round at a valuation of roughly US$100 billion.
Canada is falling behind in one of the greatest opportunities of this generation. The Canadian economy is being transformed through its largest defence buildup since World War II. Assuming Canada reaches its 5% of GDP commitment by 2035, annual defence spending would reach $230 billion, nearly 13 times its 2015 level. Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy aims to raise the share of defence acquisitions awarded to Canadian firms to 70% over the next decade.

The Canadian defence industry has been hit particularly hard. Until December 2025, the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) had restricted some of the VCs it backed from investing in companies that made or sold military-related products. BDC is Canada’s largest venture investor and most active LP. As of the end of 2023, BDC was a limited partner in private independent VC funds representing 62% of the capital actively investing in Canada. Furthermore, defence technology has long been considered taboo and avoided by many firms across the country.

Since Canada's Defence Industrial Strategy was released, BDC has launched a defence platform of up to C$6 billion across financing, venture investment, advisory services and ecosystem support. Yet, Canadian private capital generally remains wary, whether due to risk aversion, SaaS-focused models, procurement cycles or long timelines. The capital gap remains.

On June 30, Dominion Dynamics raised C$139 million for its Series A, marking the largest-ever Series A round in Canadian defence history (and second-largest in the world). More companies from this new generation of Canadian deep-tech startups are expected to follow.

While Dominion has been focused and intentional about raising Canadian capital, a large chunk of this round still came from foreign investors. When I spoke to Harley Finkelstein, the President of Shopify, Canada's largest technology company, he told Canadian founders to start raising capital internationally. While Canadian ownership is important, sometimes Canadian investment is not possible. In venture, foreign investors took part in 56 percent of later-stage rounds, up from 30 percent a year earlier.

“That is the lens we have to remove from the Canadian ecosystem: ‘I’m here; I must raise from local people.’ If you’re in Oshawa or Trois-Rivieres or Calgary, and the product or business is ready for funding so you can grow it, go and try to raise from anywhere in the world. Every venture capital firm today is geographically agnostic.”

I believe this opportunity for innovation is the greatest Canada has had in a generation, both from a sovereignty perspective and through Canada's brand as an exporter. It would be a missed opportunity for investors not to get involved in this moment. This includes banks, successful Canadian entrepreneurs (who may have left Canada to build), and Canadian pension funds, which were once significant sources of capital for domestic venture funds. CPP Investments invested 74% domestically in 2005; today it is 12%. In a recent conversation, Dominion Dynamics founder and CEO Eliot Pence told me:

“For Canadians, it’s really important that Canadians back Canadians. When people ask me, ‘How do we get foreign investors involved in our company?’ I push them back to Canadian investors and tell them to focus on bringing in the pension funds. One of the things that I think we did really well was make sure that Canadian institutional capital came in early because, ultimately, for us to succeed, we’re going to need to have growth capital. Canada has some of the best institutional investors in the world.”

Investment in Canada should not be made simply for political reasons, but because it can be profitable. There is no simpler mantra in investing than "buy low, sell high" or "buy when there's blood in the streets." Yet, Canada tends to be extremely risk-averse. This creates an opportunity for those who are willing to take that risk. First movers have the opportunity to become a dominant force in an industry. If investors wait for the perfect timing, it will be too late. To compete with international companies, we need international cheque sizes and to operate with the speed and boldness that can compete globally with American, Chinese, and European firms.

There is very limited defence/deep tech capital in Canada. This is something I want to be more involved with. But if Canadian founders want to create generational companies, they must meet the world where it is. Many of the founders I speak to do not know where to look for capital. So I made a list of the firms actively investing in Canadian defence and frontier technologies.

Deep Checks is a resource suggested by the CEO & Co-founder of North Vector Dynamics, Paul Ziadé. By uploading a pitch deck, it matches deep-tech founders with VCs.

This guide focuses on defence, aerospace, space, autonomy, energy, advanced manufacturing, and other capital-intensive frontier technologies.

View the full list below:

This article includes:

1. Canadian Venture and Strategic Capital

2. Government and Non-Dilutive Capital

3. Foreign Venture and Strategic Capital in Canada

4. Accelerators, Testbeds and Strategic Programs

5. Canadian Angel Networks

Updated August 2026. Investment mandates, cheque sizes and program requirements can change; founders should verify current terms directly with each organization. Inclusion does not imply endorsement.

Canadian Venture and Strategic Capital

Many Canadian financiers publicly appear positive toward Canadian defence and frontier technology. However, few have acted on the opportunity. The firms below have already made direct investments in companies operating in defence, dual-use technology, space, autonomy, quantum security, or other strategically relevant frontier sectors. Although many of these were unusual investments for the firm, a past investment represents a strong signal.

Business Development Bank of Canada

Headquarters: Montréal, Quebec, Canada

Relevant investments: Dominion Dynamics, Landing Zones Canada, Lastwall, Canada Rocket Company, Irréversible

Stage: Seed to Growth

Lead: Yes

Focus: Canadian defence, dual-use technology, deep tech, security, sovereign capability and seed-stage technology

Typical initial cheque: StrongNorth: C$1 million to C$20 million; other BDC vehicles vary

Note: Dominion Dynamics is listed as a general BDC investment. Landing Zones Canada, Photonic and Lastwall were backed through StrongNorth. Canada Rocket Company and Irréversible were backed through other BDC Capital vehicles under the Defence Platform. StrongNorth is a C$300-million fund. BDC’s broader Defence Platform can mobilize up to C$6 billion across financing, investment and advisory services. BDC also maintains other relevant funds, such as the C$100-million Seed Venture Fund.

Carvalho Capital

Headquarters: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Relevant investments: Mission Control, Wyvern

Stage: Pre-seed

Lead: No

Focus: Dual-use systems: defence tech, autonomy, ISR, and infrastructure security. Core space economy enablers: propulsion, energy, edge compute, robotics. Founders with technical depth, geopolitical literacy, and long time horizons. Companies building critical capabilities for sovereign nations and off-world logistics

Typical initial cheque: C$25,000 to C$250,000

Cold Capital

Headquarters: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Relevant investments: Canada Rocket Company

Stage: Seed

Lead: No

Focus: Not publicly disclosed

Typical initial cheque: Not publicly disclosed

Deloitte Ventures Canada

Headquarters: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Relevant investments: Dominion Dynamics

Stage: Seed to Series C

Lead: No

Focus: Emerging technology aligned with Deloitte’s clients and services

Typical initial cheque: C$2 million to C$10 million

Feld Ventures

Headquarters: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Relevant investments: North Vector Dynamics

Stage: Early-stage

Lead: No

Focus: Early capital for category-defining founders. AI, defence, fintech, and frontier systems

Typical initial cheque: C$750,000 to C$3 million+

Frostbite Capital

Headquarters: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Relevant investments: Dominion Dynamics, Building Bloc Systems, North Vector Dynamics, Lastwall, Irréversible, Palitronica

Stage: Pre-seed to Seed

Lead: No

Focus: Canadian defence, national security, Arctic capability, secure networks, AI and deep technology

Typical initial cheque: Not publicly disclosed

Garage Capital

Headquarters: Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Relevant investments: Dominion Dynamics, Canada Rocket Company, Canadian Strategic Missions Corporation, Kepler Communications, North Vector Dynamics

Stage: Pre-seed to Seed

Lead: Yes

Focus: Earliest-stage Canadian and Y Combinator companies

Typical initial cheque: C$250,000 to C$1 million

Georgian

Headquarters: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Relevant investments: Dominion Dynamics

Stage: Series B to Series D

Lead: Yes

Focus: High-growth B2B technology companies across the AI stack

Typical initial cheque: US$25 million to US$50 million

Note: Georgian normally invests from Series B to Series D; Dominion was a Pathfinder exception.

Golden Ventures

Headquarters: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Relevant investments: Dominion Dynamics, Xanadu

Stage: Pre-seed to Seed

Lead: Yes

Focus: North American technology companies at the earliest stages

Typical initial cheque: US$500,000 to US$2.5 million

NordSpace Ventures

Headquarters: Markham, Ontario, Canada

Relevant investments: Wyvern, North Vector Dynamics, Greypoint Industries

Stage: Not publicly disclosed

Lead: No

Focus: Canadian space, defence and dual-use technology

Typical initial cheque: Not publicly disclosed

Northside Ventures

Headquarters: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Relevant investments: Canada Rocket Company, North Vector Dynamics

Stage: Pre-seed

Lead: No

Focus: Vertical AI, AI infrastructure, frontier tech

Typical initial cheque: US$500,000

Note: Where is the White Space for Canadian Defence Founders? — Northside Ventures

OMERS Ventures

Headquarters: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Relevant investments: Dominion Dynamics

Stage: Series A to Series C

Lead: Yes

Focus: Technology companies capable of reaching institutional scale

Typical initial cheque: US$5 million to US$25 million

ONE9

Headquarters: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Relevant investments: North Vector Dynamics

Stage: Seed to Growth

Lead: No

Focus: National security, defence, dual-use technology, cyber and critical infrastructure

Typical initial cheque: Not publicly disclosed

Panache Ventures

Headquarters: Montréal, Quebec, Canada

Relevant investments: Canada Rocket Company, Nord Quantique

Stage: Pre-seed to Seed

Lead: Yes

Focus: Broad Canadian early-stage technology

Typical initial cheque: Up to C$1.5 million

Quantacet

Headquarters: Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada

Relevant investments: Irréversible, Nord Quantique

Stage: Pre-seed to Seed

Lead: Yes

Focus: Quantum technology and enabling technologies across the quantum value chain

Typical initial cheque: C$300,000 to C$1 million

Ripple Ventures

Headquarters: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Relevant investments: Canada Rocket Company, North Vector Dynamics, Daedal Systems

Stage: Pre-seed

Lead: Yes

Focus: Advanced technologies in critical industries, including aerospace and defence, AI infrastructure, AI and science, energy and natural resources, and software transforming legacy industries. Canadian and US startups selling globally.

Typical initial cheque: US$250,000 to US$1 million

Note: On August 17, 2026, Ripple Ventures announced Fund IV, targeting founders “developing sovereign capabilities with frontier technologies.”

RISC Capital

Headquarters: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Relevant investments: Skygauge Robotics

Stage: Pre-seed to Seed

Lead: Yes

Focus: Deep tech startups in Canada

Typical initial cheque: C$250,000 to C$400,000

Tidal Venture Partners

Headquarters: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Relevant investments: Undisclosed

Stage: Pre-seed to Seed

Lead: Yes

Focus: Industry-generalist technology companies in Atlantic Canada. Its planned Sovereign Technologies Fund targets defence, cybersecurity, quantum, AI, autonomous systems and digital governance

Typical initial cheque: C$200,000 to C$400,000

Two Small Fish Ventures

Headquarters: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Relevant investments: ENVGO

Stage: Pre-seed to Seed

Lead: Yes

Focus: Vertical AI, physical AI, AI infrastructure, advanced computing hardware, and smart energy

Typical initial cheque: US$1 million to US$3 million

Vanedge Capital

Headquarters: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Relevant investments: North Vector Dynamics, AquaEye, Nucleon

Stage: Early-stage

Lead: Yes

Focus: Hard Tech, AI & Analytics

Typical initial cheque: C$1 million to C$15 million

Honourable Mentions (Regional)

Accelerate Fund

Headquarters: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Relevant investments: Wyvern

Stage: Pre-seed to Seed

Lead: Yes

Focus: Leading tech startups that are private, incorporated, and have a head office and more than 50% of employees located in Alberta. B2B technology companies with proven product demand

Typical initial cheque: C$250,000

Note: Requires matching dollars from angel or private co-investors.

British Columbia Investment Management Corporation

Headquarters: Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Relevant investments: Dominion Dynamics

Stage: Series B to Growth

Lead: Yes

Focus: Enterprise software and cloud infrastructure; defence technology; and disruptive technology, including AI, quantum, automation and robotics

Typical initial cheque: Not publicly disclosed

New Brunswick Innovation Foundation

Headquarters: Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada

Relevant investments: Lastwall, AVSS

Stage: Pre-seed to Seed

Lead: Yes

Focus: New Brunswick-based innovation and technology companies

Typical initial cheque: C$25,000 to C$1 million

Note: NBIF’s C$1.5-million investment in Lastwall was its largest single investment to date

University of Alberta Innovation Fund

Headquarters: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Relevant investments: Wyvern

Stage: Pre-seed to Seed

Lead: No

Focus: Companies with a University of Alberta connection. AI, health, energy and agriculture

Typical initial cheque: Not publicly disclosed

Government and Non-Dilutive Capital

Canada is comparatively strong in non-dilutive support. This capital can preserve founder ownership, create relationships with government customers and help technical companies survive long development and procurement cycles. It is not always fast, and many programs reimburse costs after they are incurred.

Canada’s Ocean Supercluster (OSC)

Type: Collaborative ocean-technology project funding

Eligibility: Canadian consortia developing and commercializing an eligible ocean solution; projects must include at least two industry-investing organizations and directly include or benefit at least one Canadian SME

Support: Reimbursement of up to 40% of eligible project costs for projects worth at least C$1 million; minimum OSC contribution of C$400,000

Timing: Continuous intake; projects must end by October 31, 2027

Requirements: At least 75% of the industry match must be cash, no participant may provide more than 80% of the match, participants must initially pay project costs, funded organizations must join the cluster and sign a project agreement, and 12.75% of the reimbursement is redirected to ecosystem-building activities

Canadian Space Agency Space Technology Development Program (STDP)

Type: Space-technology contracts and non-repayable contributions

Eligibility: Canadian organizations developing technologies that fit an active Canadian Space Agency call

Support: Varies by call. One 2026 small-business call offered up to C$350,000 and up to 75% government support

Timing: Call-specific and milestone-based

Requirements: The applicant must fund the remaining project cost and meet the technical readiness, ownership and reporting rules of the call

Note: The earlier AO closed March 13, 2026. AO 10.1, 10.2 and 10.3 are open in the 2026 cycle. This is not standing funding; verify which calls are live before relying on it.

CanExport SMEs

Type: Export-development contribution

Eligibility: Canadian small and medium-sized businesses that generally have C$300,000 to C$100 million in annual revenue and at least three full-time employees

Support: C$10,000 to C$50,000 toward a C$20,000 to C$100,000 export-development project, generally covering 50% of eligible costs for 2026-27

Timing: Annual intake and project period set by the program

Requirements: A defined new international market, eligible sales-development activities and applicant cost sharing

Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS)

Type: Defence R&D contracts, contributions, contests, sandboxes and test programs

Eligibility: Varies by challenge; generally Canadian innovators, companies, researchers and consortia addressing a published Department of National Defence problem

Support: Competitive Projects can provide phased support up to C$6.75 million; other mechanisms and award amounts vary by challenge

Timing: Milestone-based and challenge-specific

Requirements: Must respond to an active challenge and satisfy its technical, security, contracting and reporting requirements

Innovative Solutions Canada (ISED ISC)

Type: Challenge-based R&D funding and pre-commercial procurement

Eligibility: Generally, Canadian for-profit companies with 499 or fewer employees; individual challenges may impose additional Canadian ownership, workforce or R&D requirements

Support: Phase 1 commonly provides up to C$150,000 over six months, with some challenges allowing C$300,000. Phase 2 commonly provides up to C$1 million over two years, with some challenges allowing C$2 million. The Testing stream generally permits contracts up to C$1.1 million, or C$2.3 million for military innovations

Timing: Challenge-specific; the Testing stream begins when a department selects a late pre-commercial technology to buy and test

Requirements: Must respond to an open challenge or Testing stream opportunity; the company normally retains the intellectual property it develops

Mitacs

Type: Industry-academic R&D support

Eligibility: Canadian companies working with an eligible university researcher, student or postdoctoral fellow

Support: A standard four- to six-month Accelerate unit combines a C$7,500 partner contribution with a C$15,000 research award. The Defence and Security call supports projects for up to two years and 30 units; a master’s or PhD unit is C$20,000 with a C$10,000 company contribution, while a postdoctoral unit is C$25,000 with a C$12,500 company contribution

Timing: Four months to two years, depending on project structure. The Defence and Security call closes August 17, 2026, with decisions in late 2026 and projects starting in early 2027

Requirements: Academic partner, research plan, company contribution and eligible research personnel

Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen)

Type: Advanced-manufacturing project funding

Eligibility: Canadian manufacturers and technology companies responding to an active NGen funding opportunity; eligibility varies by program

Support: Program-specific. The currently open Industrial AI Readiness Program reimburses up to C$15,000; larger collaborative funding calls open periodically

Timing: Program-specific; Industrial AI Readiness applications are assessed first-come, first-served until funding is exhausted

Requirements: Current applicants must be incorporated Canadian manufacturers with fewer than 500 employees, be NRC IRAP eligible, obtain an Industrial Technology Advisor reference, select an eligible AI service provider and complete a readiness assessment, implementation plan and final report

NorthX Climate Tech (formerly CICE)

Type: Non-dilutive climate hard-tech project funding

Eligibility: Canadian companies advancing TRL 4-9 greenhouse-gas reduction or removal technology with a clear commercialization path; preference is given to projects with the greatest impact in British Columbia

Support: Average grant of C$600,000, covering up to 50% of eligible project costs through milestone-based reimbursement

Timing: Continuous intake; EOI decisions within 30 days, detailed proposals due within 30 days if invited, and funding decisions targeted within 60-90 days of a detailed proposal

Requirements: Applicants must fund the remaining project costs, begin within six months of signing and finish within the earlier of two years or June 30, 2029; standalone studies, research projects, software and digital solutions are ineligible

NRC Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP)

Type: Non-repayable project contribution and technical advisory support

Eligibility: Incorporated, for-profit Canadian companies with up to 500 full-time employees that are developing and commercializing innovative technology with a plausible benefit to Canada

Support: Project-specific; no universal public maximum. Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy allocated C$244 million to a Defence Industry Assist stream delivered through NRC IRAP

Timing: Project-specific

Requirements: The project and contribution are developed with an Industrial Technology Advisor; applicants must show technical, commercial and management capability

NSERC Alliance Advantage

Type: University-industry research grant

Eligibility: Canadian university researchers working with eligible partner organizations; the academic researcher applies

Support: More than C$20,000 up to C$1 million per year for one to five years; NSERC can provide two dollars for each dollar contributed by recognized partner organizations

Timing: One to five years

Requirements: Academic-led application, partner contribution and a defined research program with economic or societal benefit

Regional Defence Investment Initiative (RDII)

Type: Interest-free repayable contribution delivered through regional development agencies

Eligibility: Canadian businesses undertaking projects that increase defence production, commercialization, supply-chain participation or related industrial capacity; regional rules apply

Support: Businesses can normally request C$125,000 to C$10 million, covering up to 75% of eligible project costs

Timing: Project-based; repayment normally begins one year after project completion. Intake status varies by region

Requirements: Incremental and measurable outcomes, applicant cost sharing and a credible project plan

Note: Intake and minimum amounts vary regionally. Southern Ontario paused intake on April 17, 2026. PacifiCan is accepting commercial project applications between April 1, 2026 and March 31, 2028. Check each agency directly before assuming a region is open.

Regional Development Agencies (RDAs)

Type: Grants, non-repayable contributions and repayable contributions

Eligibility: Companies undertaking eligible regional commercialization, manufacturing, productivity or market-expansion projects

Support: Varies across the seven agencies — FedDev Ontario, FedNor, PacifiCan, PrairiesCan, Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions and CanNor

Timing: Program- and region-specific

Requirements: Regional economic benefit, eligible costs, matching capital and measurable project outcomes

Scientific Research and Experimental Development Tax Incentive Program (SR&ED)

Type: Federal tax credit

Eligibility: Canadian companies conducting eligible experimental development or scientific research

Support: Base federal rate of 15%; most eligible Canadian-controlled private corporations can receive 35% on up to C$6 million of qualified annual expenditure for tax years beginning after December 15, 2024; excess expenditure is generally eligible at 15%

Timing: Claimed after the company’s tax year

Requirements: Evidence of technological uncertainty, systematic investigation and eligible expenditures; refundability and provincial credits vary

Foreign Venture and Strategic Capital

As Canada becomes a stronger international player, it is also becoming a destination for foreign investors. Its geography, allied relationships and demand for sovereign capability create a distinct competitive advantage. Canada is the first non-European country to join SAFE and is in technical negotiations to join the NATO Innovation Fund. European, American and Asian investors have already begun investing in Canadian defence and frontier-technology companies, often more aggressively than Canadian investors.

Afore Capital

Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States

Relevant investments: Dominion Dynamics

Stage: Pre-seed

Lead: Yes

Focus: Early-stage software companies across industries

Typical initial cheque: US$500,000 to US$2 million+

AIN Ventures

Headquarters: New York, New York, United States

Relevant investments: North Vector Dynamics

Stage: Pre-seed to Seed

Lead: Yes

Focus: The intersection of deep-tech and dual-use; Aerospace, space, life sciences, resiliency, AI/ML, defence, cyber and national security

Typical initial cheque: US$50,000 to US$1 million

Atreides Management, LP

Headquarters: Boston, Massachusetts, US

Relevant investments: Dominion Dynamics

Stage: Not publicly disclosed

Lead: Yes

Focus: Technology and consumer companies across public and private markets

Typical initial cheque: Not publicly disclosed

Bessemer Venture Partners

Headquarters: Redwood City, California, United States

Relevant investments: Dominion Dynamics, Xanadu

Stage: Pre-seed to Growth

Lead: Yes

Focus: AI & ML, Biotech, Cloud, Consumer, Cybersecurity, Crypto, Data, Deep tech & Defence, Developer, Fintech, Healthcare, Marketplaces, Vertical software

Typical initial cheque: US$3 million to US$100 million+

Canaan Partners

Headquarters: Menlo Park, California, United States

Relevant investments: Kepler Communications

Stage: Seed to Series B

Lead: Yes

Focus: Enterprise, consumer, deep-tech, frontier, fintech, and healthcare technology

Typical initial cheque: US$1 million to US$20 million

Class 5 Global

Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States

Relevant investments: North Vector Dynamics

Stage: Pre-seed to Series A

Lead: Yes

Focus: High-growth technology companies across emerging markets

Typical initial cheque: US$500,000 to US$3 million

Costanoa Ventures

Headquarters: Palo Alto, California, United States

Relevant investments: Kepler Communications

Stage: Seed to Series A

Lead: Yes

Focus: Applied AI, data infrastructure, cybersecurity, fintech and national security

Typical initial cheque: US$2 million to US$5 million

Draper Associates

Headquarters: San Mateo, California, United States

Relevant investments: Reaction Dynamics, Xanadu

Stage: Pre-seed to Series A

Lead: Yes

Focus: Industry-agnostic; Frontier technologies that will define the next century, such as AI, robotics & automation, crypto & blockchain, healthcare & biotech, aerospace & space, unconventional ideas

Typical initial cheque: Flexible; US$500,000 to US$5 million

Drone Fund

Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan

Relevant investments: AVSS, SkyX Systems Corp.

Stage: Seed to Series B

Lead: Yes

Focus: Drones, air mobility, robotics and related infrastructure

Typical initial cheque: US$1 million to US$5 million

Expeditions

Headquarters: Warsaw, Poland

Relevant investments: Dominion Dynamics

Stage: Early-stage

Lead: Yes

Focus: European security, defence, resilience and deep technology. Including cybersecurity, intelligence, autonomy, AI, quantum, privacy, communications solutions and space

Typical initial cheque: €1 million to €25 million

Forum Ventures

Headquarters: New York, New York, United States

Relevant investments: Sentinel R&D

Stage: Pre-seed to Seed

Lead: Yes

Focus: Agentic AI, vertical AI, healthcare, fintech, supply chain and frontier technology

Typical initial cheque: Varies by program; US$250,000 to US$1 million through its pre-seed fund

Industrious Ventures

Headquarters: Denver, Colorado, United States

Relevant investments: Volta Space Technologies

Stage: Seed to Series D, primarily Seed and Series A

Lead: Yes

Focus: Aerospace, national security, autonomy, robotics, manufacturing, supply chains and logistics

Typical initial cheque: US$100,000 to US$5 million, with a reported sweet spot around US$1.5 million

JDY Capital

Headquarters: New York, New York, United States

Relevant investments: Dominion Dynamics

Stage: Early-stage and private investments

Lead: No

Focus: Aerospace, defence, space energy, deep tech and real estate

Typical initial cheque: Not publicly disclosed

Lakestar

Headquarters: Zurich, Switzerland

Relevant investments: Dominion Dynamics

Stage: Seed to Growth

Lead: Yes

Focus: European software, resilience, defence fintech, deep tech and frontier technology

Typical initial cheque: €500,000 to €50 million

MaC Venture Capital

Headquarters: Los Angeles, California, United States

Relevant investments: Wyvern, Volta

Stage: Seed

Lead: Yes

Focus: Frontier technology, financial innovation, enterprise solutions and consumer products

Typical initial cheque: US$1 million to US$4 million

Side Door Ventures

Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States

Relevant investments: Dominion Dynamics

Stage: Pre-seed to Growth

Lead: No

Focus: Deep tech, space, defence, robotics, climate and unconventional markets

Typical initial cheque: Up to US$500,000 through its Seed Fund; up to US$5 million through its Opportunity Fund

Silent Ventures

Headquarters: Dallas, Texas, United States

Relevant investments: Dominion Dynamics

Stage: Early-stage

Lead: Yes

Focus: Aerospace, defence, national security and deep technology

Typical initial cheque: US$1.5 million to US$3 million

Squadra Ventures

Headquarters: Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Relevant investments: Wyvern

Stage: Pre-seed to Series A

Lead: Yes

Focus: Cyber, defence, national security and dual-use technology

Typical initial cheque: US$1 million to US$4 million

Tech Horizons

Headquarters: Prague, Czechia

Relevant investments: North Vector Dynamics

Stage: Seed to Series A

Lead: Yes

Focus: Across NATO and allied countries—security, defence and resilience. With a focus on dual-use and deep tech. AI, cybersecurity, automation, robotics, logistics, mobility, energy, biotech, medtech, advanced computing, systems for critical infrastructure management and protection – including the application of radars, ground and aerial drones, lasers, and sophisticated sensors. Both software- and hardware-enabled products

Typical initial cheque: €300,000 to €3 million

Tofino Capital

Headquarters: Washington, D.C., United States

Relevant investments: Irréversible

Stage: Pre-seed to Seed

Lead: Yes

Focus: Technology companies serving emerging and frontier markets; Fintech, logistics, digital commerce marketplaces, and frontier technology.

Typical initial cheque: US$50,000 to US$500,000

Note: Tofino Capital was founded by Eliot Pence, the CEO and Co-founder of Dominion Dynamics

Uncork Capital

Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States

Relevant investments: Wyvern

Stage: Seed

Lead: Yes

Focus: Companies using AI and emerging technologies to create leverage, unlock scale, and push industries forward. B2B applications, developer tooling, infrastructure & security, Consumer & marketplaces, Frontier tech/hardware

Typical initial cheque: US$3 million to US$5 million

Unpopular Ventures

Headquarters: Miami, Florida, United States

Relevant investments: Wyvern, Volta Space Technologies

Stage: Pre-seed to Series A

Lead: Yes

Focus: Sector-agnostic technology companies pursuing non-consensus ideas, overlooked markets, underestimated industries or difficult technical challenges

Typical initial cheque: US$25,000 to US$1 million

Valor Equity Partners

Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois, United States

Relevant investments: Dominion Dynamics

Stage: Seed to Growth

Lead: Yes

Focus: Technology and technology-enabled companies; small early-stage investments used to build relationships before possible growth-stage investment

Typical initial cheque: US$10 million to US$30 million

Accelerators, Testbeds and Strategic Programs

These organizations offer combinations of funding, mentorship, testing infrastructure, strategic partnerships, government access, operational feedback and industry connections. Participation does not guarantee investment or procurement.

Aerospace Accelerator Program

Headquarters: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Type: Aerospace accelerator operated through Innovate Calgary’s Aerospace Innovation Hub

For: Early-stage aerospace startups led by a full-time technical founder who can reside in Calgary and maintain a company presence at the Aerospace Innovation Hub. The company must have been incorporated in Alberta or nationally less than two years ago, or have raised no more than C$500,000 in dilutive funding. No University of Calgary affiliation is required

Funding: Up to C$200,000 in non-dilutive funding, including founder salary support

Duration: Two years

Value: Technical infrastructure, expert support, business training, intellectual-property support and access to the Aerospace Innovation Hub

Area X.O

Headquarters: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Type: Controlled testbed and commercialization facility operated by Invest Ottawa

For: Companies developing autonomous vehicles, drones, communications, smart mobility and defence systems

Funding: No universal standing cash award

Duration: Project-specific

Value: Controlled testing infrastructure, demonstrations, technical validation and customer engagement

Calian VENTURES

Headquarters: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Type: Corporate defence innovation and systems-integration program

For: Mature Canadian small and medium-sized companies with proven technology relevant to defence, public safety, space, cyber or mission-critical systems

Funding: Case-specific; Calian announced a C$100-million strategic initiative, not a ring-fenced third-party venture fund

Duration: Partnership-specific

Value: Co-development, systems integration, validation, customer access and support scaling sovereign capabilities

Centre for Ocean Ventures & Entrepreneurship (COVE)

Headquarters: Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada

Type: Marine technology accelerator, testbed and industry hub

For: Marine and dual-use companies seeking mentorship, infrastructure, demonstrations, customer access and international networks

Funding: No universal standing cash award

Duration: Program-specific

Value: Waterfront infrastructure, marine testing, industry connections and defence-market support; COVE also hosts the pilot Maritime Defence Innovation Secure Hub

Creative Destruction Lab (CDL)

Headquarters: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Type: Equity-free accelerator and mentorship program

For: Dual-use companies addressing operational needs in defence, national security or critical-infrastructure protection; the Defence stream emphasizes TRL 4–7

Funding: No guaranteed cash investment

Duration: Nine months

Value: Mentorship, objective setting, investor access and commercialization discipline

NATO Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA)

Headquarters: London, England, United Kingdom

Type: Allied defence accelerator and test-centre network

For: Dual-use companies incorporated in eligible NATO countries and responding to an active challenge

Funding: €100,000 contractual award for the initial six-month accelerator; selected companies can receive up to an additional €300,000 through the Mission Track

Duration: Six months initially, with a possible six-month Mission Track

Value: NATO mentorship, allied market access and access to more than 200 test centres

Vimy Forge

Headquarters: Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada

Type: National defence and security innovation accelerator

For: Early-stage Canadian small and medium-sized companies developing defence, national-security and dual-use technologies

Funding: No direct cash award publicly specified; no equity taken, and participants receive significant in-kind support. ACOA’s C$997,000 investment funds the accelerator, not participant companies

Duration: 12-week sprints, including a five-day in-person focus week; the current program runs from March 2026 to March 2027

Value: Mentorship, operational feedback, interpretation of defence requirements, validation and deployment pathways, investor connections and engagement with military, government and industry stakeholders

Canadian Angel Networks

Angel investors are high-net-worth individuals who invest their own personal capital in startups. As such, these investors are typically more open to early-stage investments in deep-tech, defence, and frontier technologies. Many Canadian national interest startups have raised rounds where a majority of their capital comes from angels.

Angel One Investor Network

Headquarters: Burlington, Ontario, Canada

Focus: High-growth companies, with particular access to founders in Southern Ontario

Anges Québec

Headquarters: Montréal, Quebec, Canada

Focus: Technology, deep tech, clean tech, medical devices and biotechnology. The company is generally headquartered in Quebec or raises alongside an angel group outside Quebec

Capital Angel Network

Headquarters: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Focus: Canadian technology companies across sectors

Golden Triangle Angel Network

Headquarters: Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Focus: High-growth technology companies connected to the Waterloo Region ecosystem

Keiretsu Forum Canada

Headquarters: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Focus: Sector-agnostic companies presented to individual accredited investors

VANTEC Angel Network

Headquarters: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Focus: British Columbia-based technology companies

York Angel Investors

Headquarters: Markham, Ontario, Canada

Focus: High-growth technology companies across sectors

Expected Soon

Defence, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB)

Status: Canada is leading the initiative. On July 7, 2026, the leaders of Canada, Albania, Belgium, Greece, Latvia, Luxembourg, Romania, Türkiye and Ukraine declared their shared intention to establish the bank, with operations targeted as early as 2027

Type: Proposed multilateral defence-finance institution that will be headquartered in Canada, with a European hub in Luxembourg

Focus: Expanding access to capital, reducing financing costs and increasing defence industrial capacity across member countries by leveraging a strong credit foundation

NATO Innovation Fund (NIF)

Status: Canada is in technical negotiations regarding participation; it is not currently an open Canadian founder program.

Type: A standalone venture capital fund backed by 24 NATO allies, deploying €1 billion+ in deep tech

Focus: Defence, security, resilience and enabling deep technologies

If you know a fund, program, accelerator or Canadian angel network that belongs here, leave a comment on this article.

Leave a comment

Research Acknowledgements

Thanks to Melaniia Volkodav, Naomi Walch, Lucas Chan, Chris Crowell, Chris Magazzeni, Darren Thomson, Chloé Archambault, Matej Luhový, JJ MacLean, and Samuel Burrell for confirming information about their respective firms.

Thank you as well to Kath Intson (Sentinel R&D), Matthew Lombardi (The Icebreaker and ONE9), Paul Ziadé (North Vector Dynamics), Hugh Kolias (Canada Rocket Company) and Melanie Bitner (FireSwarm Solutions) for their perspectives.

Wyvern is an Edmonton-based space intelligence company which launched the world’s first commercial hyperspectral satellites in 2023. While traditional satellites can provide an image of what a target looks like (shape, size, and colour), Wyvern’s hyperspectral satellites can reveal what the target is made of (material and chemical signature). This allows Wyvern to detect camouflage and provide operators with more information for decision-making. Hyperspectral imagery can detect what is invisible to the human eye.

The company was founded in 2018 by Chris Robson, Kristen Cote, Kurtis Broda, and Callie Lissinna, and now serves industries including agriculture, defence & national security, forestry, energy, ESG, and mining. The use cases can range from detecting methane leaks and monitoring wildfire damage to identifying threats in military environments. Its primary defence application is ship identification, distinguishing vessels that disable their transponders, obscure their identities or operate secretly.

“Space is a war domain. And if we can’t deploy assets there, then we’re vulnerable.”

In Winter 2022, Wyvern participated in the world’s largest startup accelerator, Y Combinator (YC) (which briefly removed Canada from its list of approved incorporation locations earlier this year). In 2022, Wyvern used that momentum to raise capital from American investors while remaining headquartered in Canada. More Canadian-founded defence-tech startups have since joined YC, including Greypoint Industries in the Summer 2026 batch.
As Canada undertakes its largest increase in defence spending since the Second World War, Wyvern represents a successful example of a Canadian company maintaining its roots. It has done so despite explicit pressure from investors to relocate to the United States.

“There’s no reason why you can’t raise capital in the United States and stay in Canada. That’s what we did.”

Wyvern’s Dragonette constellation began launching in 2023. The company is now selling data and intelligence services in defence and agriculture. NASA selected Wyvern in June for its Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition program, allowing authorized U.S. government users to purchase its archived data and task its satellites. BetaKit reported that Wyvern is the first pre-Series A company admitted to the program and the second Canadian-headquartered participant after GHGSat. In February, NordSpace Ventures, the investment arm of Canadian launch company NordSpace, announced a strategic investment in Wyvern, opening a pathway toward future Canadian launches and closer partnership.

“There’s never been a better time to be a space company in Canada.”

I spoke with the CEO and co-founder of Wyvern, Chris Robson, about identifying deceptive vessels from space, selling into Five Eyes markets, resisting pressure to relocate to the United States, Canada’s launch vulnerability and why Canadian founders can raise American capital without leaving the country.

“The only way you can do that is by building here and trying to build the future you want to see.”

What is Wyvern building, and why does it matter for Canada?

“Wyvern is building space-intelligence infrastructure, particularly focused on very-high-resolution hyperspectral and other intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. Right now, Canada relies on foreign governments and foreign assets for its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. We really only have the RADARSAT Constellation Mission for synthetic-aperture radar, but it’s very limited. When I say limited, let’s imagine that you’re trying to help Ukraine, you’re a soldier in the field, or you’re looking at what’s going on in Iran. Synthetic-aperture radar will tell you the shape of something; that something is there. What we’re doing, high-resolution hyperspectral imagery, will tell you what something is, because we can detect, identify and measure the chemical and material makeup. Some good examples are that we’re able to uniquely identify ships, measure nitrogen in a crop, and tell you the species and subspecies of a tree. These are all really important for Canada’s defence and security, but also its economic success. We’ve got the largest coastline in the world. We’re a huge nation, and we don’t have the capability to monitor or measure it as thoroughly and as regularly as we need to. There’s no Canadian capability that exists.

The other reason why we exist is that our technology allows us to launch things that are much smaller and much cheaper than if you launched a regular telescope. We have this technology called deployable optics. That means we can launch on Canadian sovereign launch vehicles without having to rely on somebody like SpaceX, Blue Origin or some of the other launch-vehicle providers.”

Which markets are showing the most demand?

“Defence and intelligence, and agriculture.”

What capabilities are you unlocking for those industries?

“Right now, the biggest capability we’re unlocking for defence and intelligence is ship identification. There are tons of dark ships in the world. They skirt international sanctions and operate in a clandestine fashion. Deception is the way modern warfare is waged these days. Hyperspectral sees through deception. We can identify a ship based on the fingerprint it makes in light. That’s what hyperspectral allows you to do. You could have a ship that says, ‘I’m X.’ With our hyperspectral imager, we can say, ‘No, that’s not X. They’re lying to you. This is Y.’ That’s the biggest capability we’re providing to defence and intelligence right now.

For agriculture, the data is primarily being used for fertilizer and input identification in the crop to increase crop yield. That’s the biggest application at the moment.”

What are the alternatives to hyperspectral imagery, and when do they work better or worse?

“The closest alternative to a hyperspectral satellite, aside from a hyperspectral drone or airplane, is either laboratory tests or a multispectral satellite. Multispectral satellites are limited because they can tell you that something is there, but they can’t necessarily tell you what something is. If you look at a camouflaged tank with a multispectral satellite versus a hyperspectral satellite, one will tell you it’s there, and the other will just see a forest.

Laboratory tests are expensive and not scalable. You have to be in the field. If you’re looking at something over denied airspace or in a place where you’re not welcome, then you can’t gather the data.”

Which customers are you selling to, and what is your revenue model?

“I can’t name specific customers, but I can tell you that we’re working with a number of governments and militaries in the Five Eyes. We’ve got two types of pricing structures. We’ve got subscriptions for our intelligence services, things like ship identification, where we charge an annual subscription. We also have a usage-based model for our data sales. You buy data and pay for the data you purchase. That’s it.”

Do you see Canada’s position in the world as an advantage when exporting to allies?

“It is. We’ve got really great relationships with a lot of countries outside the United States, while at the same time being able to export into the United States in a way that other countries can’t.”

NASA selected Wyvern for its Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition program. What does that mean?

“First, we’re the only pre-Series A company I know that has been selected for it. It’s difficult to get into. You have to have functioning satellites and data coming down from space. It took us about a year. It allows us to sell to NASA and all other parts of the U.S. government. They can buy our data, task our satellites and buy our archive.”

You joined Y Combinator in 2022. How did you remain Canadian, and what advice would you give another Canadian founder considering Y Combinator?

“When we started Wyvern, we wanted to build a Canadian space ecosystem, particularly in Alberta. We didn’t want to live in the United States or anywhere else. We wanted to live and work here. We love Canada. It’s interesting to see things play out this way because it fits well into the reasons why we wanted to do it in the first place. We always get asked whether we’re moving to the United States, or told by investors that we should. We’ve also had some say that, if we wanted a term sheet, we would have to have plans to do so. We’ve managed to avoid it.

Part of the reason with YC in 2022 is that it was during COVID and was still a remote batch. I suspect the urge to move would have been a lot higher had we gone there and worked in the United States. There are good reasons for that. The United States has better mechanisms to buy services from its startups, support its industry and grow its deep tech than Canada does. They’ve also got more access to investment. We managed to stay here partly because it was remote, but also because that’s how we started Wyvern. We wanted to stay here.”

What should a Canadian founder do if they want to remain in Canada but are struggling to raise capital?

“There’s no reason why you can’t raise capital in the United States and stay in Canada. That’s what we did. The great majority of our investors are from the United States. That’s just a normal part of international business. I would encourage Canadian founders to look at the advantages of staying in Canada. There are a lot, including access to talent that is often overlooked and far more capable, and living in a place with a much better cost of living.

The people who work for Wyvern can have much better lives because the cost of living here is so much cheaper than in San Francisco. You can actually buy a house here. You don’t have to live in a studio apartment while also getting paid $400,000 a year. There are a lot of advantages to living in Canada, and there’s no reason why you can’t raise money internationally. I don’t think the Canadian investment market is yet at the place where it will support the sort of scale we need from our startups, but it is catching up.”

Canada is the only G7 country without sovereign launch capability. What risk does that create?

“It’s always been a risk. The risk for Wyvern is that we lose access to launch capability because it’s in somebody else’s country. Whether there’s an emergency, market pressure, or unique advantages placed on launch companies that we won’t get access to because they’re foreign launch companies, those are all real concerns.

It is a risk for Wyvern. From a commercial perspective, it’s definitely not as big a risk as it is to Canada from a security perspective. We need to be able to launch our own satellites without relying on foreign launch. Space is a war domain. And if we can’t deploy assets there, then we’re vulnerable.”

What does NordSpace’s strategic investment unlock?

“It opens up a number of partnership opportunities for NordSpace and us. It allows us to work more closely together to build future missions and potentially launch with NordSpace. That’s one of the big reasons why we did it. We’re really interested in NordSpace’s capabilities, and we’d love to launch with them. Wyvern is definitely looking more toward Canadian suppliers. We would like to get to a point where the entire satellite supply chain could be sovereign. Partnering with NordSpace is one of the steps we took to get there.”

What advice would you give someone starting a Canadian space company today?

“It’s going to be hard. It’s going to be tough. You’re going to be at a slight disadvantage, but it’s worth it because you’re doing something for a greater purpose. You’re doing something that’s hard. There are also advantages to starting in Canada that people often overlook. You become far more tenacious. You become far better at operating and building something. Because of that, you can also scale something really huge. You get subjected to pressures that others don’t, and that pressure transforms you and your company. Canada’s defence and security posture is changing. It’s opening up a ton of opportunities, and now is the time to get involved. That directly impacts space. There is so much Canada wants to do with space right now. There’s never been a better time to be a space company in Canada.”

What do the next 12 months look like for Wyvern?

“We’ve got another satellite going up in February. We’ve got other plans in motion for our next generation of satellites that I’m hoping we’ll be able to announce soon. We’ve got expansion plans in progress as well. The biggest thing for us is rolling out our ship-identification product more fully, publicly and to other customers in other countries.”

What is one other Canadian national-interest startup worth watching?

“NordSpace. I’m not saying that just because they invested in us, but because they’re genuinely different from most other Canadian startups in how they do things, what their plans are and their tenacity. That’s definitely one I would be watching.”

Why build in Canada?

“I love Canada. I want to live and work here. I want my children to grow up here, and I want to see Canada become stronger. The only way you can do that is by building here and trying to build the future you want to see.”

If you’re building something in Canada, I want to hear about it. contact@ethanmarcoux.com

Share The Canadian Explorers

Leave a comment

The Author: Nikhil Malhotra, CEO and co-founder of New Frontier Robotics

New Frontier Robotics is a startup located in Guelph, Ontario. We are building Mercury, an adaptive mobile manipulator designed to operate within the harsh environments of mining, manufacturing and defence.
The ultimate multiplier for human reach, aptitude and productivity lies in AI-powered robotics.

Canada lacks sovereign capability in physical AI. Our mission is to make Canada a world leader in physical AI, not only at the research level but also in industrial adoption. With the recent interest in developing our Northern Frontier, it is time to discuss what this could look like.

The Canadian Frontier

Distant and unforgiving, a fitting description for both space and the Canadian Arctic. Surprisingly, the Kármán line is only 100 km above Toronto, while Iqaluit is 2,300 km away. But you can still reach the people of Iqaluit without a rocket, and a region this important should be taken care of. It is not. In 2007 we announced an Arctic naval facility at Nanisivik, and this spring (after spending C$110 million) we quietly shelved it without ever fully opening it.¹ A head of lettuce in a fly-in community costs nine dollars,² and while the territory’s existing homes remain overcrowded, the average wait for public housing exceeds five years.³ These problems are driven by the harshness of the Arctic, forcing a hard minimum capability for any solution to work. Today, for the first time, that capability exists: portable compute, capable AI and robots that work.
A world-class city in the Arctic is feasible. But do we have the ambition to build it? What does it mean for the people who already call the North home? What would it provide for a country that says it wants to defend the Arctic?

Iqaluit, February 10, 2036

On a windy February morning, alpenglow-lit clouds cover the sky. The snow blows over the desolate icy desert. The engines roar as a windowless cargo plane drops out of the clouds towards a clean runway. In a nearby control tower, an operator watches the plane land and confirms a good landing at her station computer. She looks up at a lone LED panel near the runway, which displays “-42°C”, then walks to the coffee machine while her two colleagues are nearby reviewing the weather forecast. While the hot coffee pours, the hangar opens, and the plane enters. Inside, a dozen robots move out to meet the plane. The airframe is inspected, a fuel line is coupled, and pallets are pulled out of the cargo bay and onto a conveyor. As quickly as the plane was emptied, it is filled with pallets for its return trip. The plane leaves the hangar just as smoothly as it entered, and it is back on the runway, taking to the sky. The only sound outside is the wind and engines.

In the freight hall next door, automated systems break the pallets apart and re-sort them onto small trucks. These routes are programmed using real-time manifests that confirm the contents of the pallets after they have been broken down. The day shift crew watches from a warm mezzanine. Their job is managing the exceptions. Trucks will fill up and leave as they are needed. The crew will finish their shift without lifting a box.

One of the trucks reaches an intersection where the light died overnight. Nothing about it is sudden. The fault was tracked the moment it happened; the intersection has been running as an all-way stop since every vehicle in town was notified; a robot is already out with the replacement. The truck waits its turn behind a pickup and rolls through.

Its first stop is the farm, cut into the rock on the north side; its shell is built for the cold. Inside, it is warm, bright, and busy. Gantry-mounted robot arms move trays up and down the ten vertically stacked shelves of peppers and strawberries. The researcher in a lab space barely looks up. She has spent the last six months working on a new strain of plant that is more flavorful, more nutritious and requires fewer resources. The robots run the harvest so she can focus on her experiments. The farm doesn’t have a storefront, just a terminal to an underground corridor. People in town order online. At the terminal, delivery robots are filled with produce and head out to their destination around town.

The corridor runs beneath the whole town, wide and lit, warm enough for shirtsleeves. Outside it is -40 degrees Celsius, a temperature so cold that any exposed skin is subject to frostbite in 5 to 10 minutes.⁴ People walk to work; kids walk to school. Neighbours stop and talk. A pharmacist takes a sealed tote at her service door and hands a prescription across the counter. The cold side and the warm side of the town never meet.

At the edge of town, the truck pulls into a charging bay off the reactor line. The reactor is licensed, staffed, guarded, with a control room crewed around the clock. The on-site robots are on standby with predefined protocols if anything goes wrong. The reactor is what lights the farm, keeps the corridors warm and charges everything. Diesel still arrives for the backup gensets, kept in a few drums, tested, rarely burned.

At the depot, a repair robot has taken itself out of rotation. A week ago, it flagged a servo in its arm drawing more current than it should, weeks from failing, but reported early. A technician has it open on the bench. They swap the servo, run the arm through its range twice, and mark the robot fit for duty in the system. Once online, the robot goes back to its charging station on its own. The dead traffic light from the morning sits on the same bench, with a cracked lens and a burnt driver board. In twenty minutes, the light is repaired and placed on the shelf. The maintenance backlogs stopped growing years ago.

On an empty lot, a new block of houses is being built. Robots cut the foundation, ignoring weather that would end a normal human-operated season. The same crew that could only pour concrete in July can now run the job year-round, from a heated portable at the edge of the lot. The waiting list for a home lasts a season, not half a decade.

Two hundred kilometres out, a fleet of robots is working on a caribou survey, reading collars, servicing trail cameras, counting and moving on without crowding the herd. The biologists are in town, reviewing the latest observational data sets. Farther out, a robot stands a storm-flattened weather pole back up and swaps its dead sensor. Back at the weather station, an operator sees the sensor pole come online and marks the work completed on their console.

By late afternoon, another cargo plane has arrived and left. The tower counts them: the freight, the mail, the medevac that leaves the moment it is needed. The lights hold steady under the snow. The town eats what it grows and fixes what it owns. It reaches as far as its robots can go. The people carry the judgment. The robots do the rest.

This city is not the Arctic of today, but the gap is smaller than it looks. The pace of technological development has pushed autonomous robotics out of science fiction and into reality. Driverless four hundred-ton trucks already haul ore around the clock through Fort McMurray winters.⁵ A cargo plane has already flown with nobody aboard, and the first paid uncrewed routes are expected this year.⁶ Reactors sized for a single town are entering licensing.⁷ A community in Nunavut has been growing strawberries through the polar night since 2019.⁸ None of it is finished, but every piece of that city is already running somewhere. We can close the gap, and we are building the robotics to make it happen.

The people in the North are the supply chain, the repair crew, and the fallback system all at once. They are paying for it: infants are hospitalized for lung infections at the highest rates ever recorded in the world, driven by overcrowded housing.⁹ Meanwhile, children and teenagers in the North die at five times the rate of their southern peers.¹⁰

We talk a mean game about defending the North. Land cannot be defended if the people on that land are not thriving. Other nations, like China, are eyeing the Arctic waters. Our path requires a strong population and infrastructure that can support it. The hard places are where technology matters most. Prosperity comes not from doing the easy things, but the hard ones. Canada is already building the robotic arm for the Moon’s Gateway station.¹¹ If we can build for the Moon, we can build a city in our own Arctic.

Nikhil Malhotra

Nikhil Malhotra graduated from the University of Waterloo Mechatronics Engineering program, worked in the automotive industry, helped launch an assembly line for portable respirators during the COVID pandemic, and programmed in Canadian biotech. He cofounded New Frontier Robotics, whose first product is Mercury, an adaptive mobile manipulator designed for autonomous task execution. Mercury is being built in the lab today. The bet is that the technical ecosystem is finally ready to push advanced robotics into industry.

New Frontier Robotics is pre-seed and building toward its first field pilots. If you’re an investor, an operator with a hard, cold job that needs automating, or someone who lives the northern reality this essay describes, Nikhil wants to hear from you: nikhil@nfrobotics.ca

If you are a founder building frontier technology for Canada and would like to publish an essay or opinion in The Canadian Explorers, contact me at contact@ethanmarcoux.com.

Sources

1. Nanisivik Naval Facility: announced 2007; $110.2 M spent; moved to non-operational caretaker status in May 2026 without reaching full operation. Department of National Defence and BNN Bloomberg.

2. Northern food prices: CBC News and National Observer.

3. Nunavut public-housing waitlist, 3,700+ applicants, average wait five-plus years: Nunatsiaq News and CBC News on the Auditor General’s report. Overcrowding and hidden homelessness: CBC News and Gov’t survey highlights hidden homelessness in Nunavut

4. Exposed skin can freeze in 5 to 10 minutes at wind chill values of minus 40 and below: Environment and Climate Change Canada wind chill index.

5. Driverless 400-ton haul trucks operating around the clock near Fort McMurray: Suncor and International Mining.

6. Cargo plane flown with nobody aboard (2023) and paid uncrewed routes expected: Alliance for Aviation Across America and National Defense Magazine.

7. Town-scale reactors entering licensing: Westinghouse eVinci microreactor targeted for Saskatchewan and Canada’s first grid-scale SMR under construction at Darlington.

8. Naurvik growing station, Gjoa Haven, Nunavut, producing through the polar night since 2019: Canadian Space Agency and The Globe and Mail.

9. Inuit infants hospitalized for severe respiratory infection at the highest rates reported in the world; overcrowded housing raises admissions: Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto and The Conversation.

10. Children and teenagers in Inuit Nunangat die at five times the rate of the rest of Canada; injuries are the leading cause: Statistics Canada study and Pediatrics & Child Health.

11. Canadarm3, Canada’s contribution to the Lunar Gateway outpost at the Moon: Canadarm and Gateway.

The global space economy is projected to reach $1.8 trillion by 2035, up from $630 billion in 2023.

In 1962, Canada became the third country in the world to design and build its own satellite. Yet after more than six decades in space, Canada is the only G7 country without domestic space-launch capability. We are still dependent on foreign partners for access to orbit, primarily SpaceX. The question is, what if one day they shut it down?

On August 5th, Rahul sent an update: “As of this week, SpaceX has actually shut down bookings past 2028. We are not able to manifest our next set of satellites, and the industry is entering panic mode.”

“One day, it hit me that the US does not need somebody like me.”

Rahul Goel is the CEO and Founder of NordSpace, building Canada’s national pathway to space. Founded in 2022 in Markham, Ontario, NordSpace is creating Canada’s first end-to-end space-missions company. This includes rocket engines, launch vehicles, satellites, lunar robotics, its own Atlantic Spaceport Complex, an investment arm, and more.

In March 2026, NordSpace was selected as one of three Phase 1 winners in the Department of National Defence’s Launch the North program, receiving $8.33 million alongside Reaction Dynamics and Canada Rocket Company. The three-round competition has $105 million in planned funding and targets initial Canadian light-lift launch capability by 2028.

“It’s my home. It’s not really a question for me. I don’t know where else I would build. I thought once about building in the United States, and it just didn’t feel like home. This is all I know. I care about my country, and I want it to be successful.”

NordSpace is not Rahul’s first successful company. In 2014, he founded PheedLoop, a SaaS company focused on enterprise-grade event-management software. He intended from the very beginning to leverage this success to finance his own Canadian space company. PheedLoop remains bootstrapped and now employs more than 50 people. Rahul has used that success to help build out NordSpace’s 60,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Markham while developing Tundra, an orbital launch vehicle being optimized to carry 1,100 kilograms to low-Earth orbit.

Space is challenging. Anything worth doing is challenging.

Canada was once a world leader in space. Rahul wants us to lead again. The ambition extends beyond launching rockets. One in four STEM graduates from Waterloo, U of T, and UBC are leaving Canada, including 66% of software engineering grads. It is time to recognize that great talent does not aspire to mundane goals. Canada has spent decades helping other nations reach space. Now it has to build its own way there.

“We need to make permanent the ability to tolerate risk and invest in high-scale, high-impact ideas, founders, and companies.”

I spoke with Rahul about why Canada lost its ability to reach orbit independently, the business behind NordSpace, what makes its launch architecture different, and why he came home to build it here.

“We’ll have two ground stations set up that haven’t been announced yet. One is in the Arctic. We’re very excited about it, and it provides a unique opportunity for Canada and the world.”

“While all other animals are prone, and fix their gaze upon the earth, he gave to man an uplifted face, and bade him stand erect and raise his eyes to the stars.”