Despite the long-standing trend of Canadian founders moving to the United States and declining venture capital investment, investors say the country’s entrepreneurial ambitions have yet to be snuffed out and the challenging conditions — which include U.S. President Donald Trump’s attacks on Canadian businesses and sovereignty — are boosting a cohort of startups focusing on solving hard problems for Canada.
Venture capital investments in Canadian startups plummeted 26 per cent to $2.9 billion in the first half of 2025 compared to a year earlier — the lowest level since 2020 — but investors looking to 2026 are most drawn to companies taking on nation-building in their own ways to change the way we live and work.
That includes companies using generative artificial intelligence to build applications for lawyers, engineers and coders to supercharge productivity and growth; those disrupting and challenging incumbents in banking, logistics and health care; and companies developing technologies of the future, including dual-use technologies such as quantum computing and clean tech.
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