Plus: Feds considering Bill C-22 amendments.
What a week!
BetaKit pounded the pavement hard over the last seven days to deliver the award-winning Canadian tech coverage you’ve come to expect from us. In this newsletter, you’ll find not only the major national tech news, but oodles of coverage of Canada’s largest grassroots tech event, Toronto Tech Week.
That coverage, of course, includes both BetaKit Most Ambitious and BetaKit Most Ambitious: Town Hall. Words and video from our Town Hall can be found below, but I wanted to use my little corner of the newsletter to highlight select pieces from the issue:
There is so much more packed into this year’s BetaKit Most Ambitious, so I won’t spoil it all. But I know many of you want a physical copy (or two!) of your own, and I am happy to spoil the solution to that problem: simply drop us an email.
Be bold, Canada. Our moment is now.
Douglas Soltys
Editor-in-chief
At CES 2026, Roborock introduced Saros Rover, a bold demonstration of embodied intelligence, where perception, movement, and real-time decision-making operate as a single integrated system.
Now, that same AI architecture has launched in North America with the Saros 20. The newly available robotic vacuum represents the practical deployment of embodied intelligence in the home — enabling advanced perception, adaptive mobility, and real-time autonomous navigation through an intelligent perception-decision-execution loop. With the Saros 20, embodied AI not as a concept, but as a practical system designed to operate seamlessly in real homes.
Explore how Saros 20 brings embodied intelligence into everyday living.
What you missed at BetaKit Most Ambitious: Town Hall
BetaKit kicked off Toronto Tech Week by packing the TIFF Lightbox with 500 leaders from Canada’s innovation ecosystem to discuss our nation’s autonomy, security, and prosperity.
Tech leaders took the stage at Homecoming
At Toronto Tech Week’s flagship event, Canadian business leaders offered thoughts on how AI will affect the future of business and labour.
- While Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke believes it’s now possible to build a billion-dollar company with one person, he thinks the concept is “bullshit.”
- As Uber invests in autonomous vehicles, the company’s president and COO, Andrew Macdonald, can’t say specifically what its 10.5 million drivers will be doing in 15 years.
- From investor burn books to FaceTiming Serena Williams, the founders of Float, Neo Financial, and Rebel shared the lessons they learned from fundraising efforts.
Talkin’ TTW
As the official media partner of Toronto Tech Week, the BetaKit team captured conversations, announcements, and insights from across the city.
On AI policy:
- The federal AI minister’s parliamentary secretary told attendees at All In Talks that Canada’s long-delayed AI strategy aims to stop IP and value from leaving the country.
- Arteria AI CEO Shelby Austin followed that by saying on stage that she is worried about what Canada is leaving on the table by picking national AI champions.
On AI slop:
- Databricks co-founder Reynold Xin and Ada CEO Mike Murchison argued that recent student backlash against AI “makes sense,” but there’s room for students to reframe their relationship with the tech.
- Award-winning author Ken Liu said that he isn’t afraid of AI slop, but finds the idea of writing with AI “revolting.”
On industry:
- Defence tech founders said they are frustrated with Canada’s approach to “dual-use,” and asserted that Canada needs to reframe its approach.
- Amidst his own battle with OSC, Purpose CEO Som Seif claimed incumbents wield the regulated nature of the financial industry against change.
- Before it was sold to Nvidia, CentML co-founder Gennady Pekhimenko said the startup struggled to find local adopters willing to take a risk.
You can read more about the above and all of BetaKit’s Toronto Tech Week coverage here.
FEATURED STORIES FROM OUR PARTNERS
How to take AI from demo to real-world deployment
Led by Senior Manager Regan Dixon, General Motors is developing next-generation software and centralized computing systems to power global software-defined vehicles at Canada’s largest automotive engineering centre.
“Not a blip”: AI was Canada’s venture market mover in 2025
Osler’s latest Deal Points Report illustrated that artificial intelligence underwent a massive structural shift to become the primary driver of Canada’s venture market in 2025.
Why regulatory rigour is becoming a competitive edge in clinical AI
As AI increasingly integrates into healthcare, Healthcare AI startups like Heidi Health are leveraging this shift by prioritizing clinical safety and data governance from the start. This strategic focus has successfully fueled their regulatory approval and growth within Canada.
Across Canadian tech
The BetaKit Podcast — AI sovereignty & defence tech at BetaKit Most Ambitious: Town Hall
“Everywhere I go, BetaKit is there. They grill me. Every time I say something, I say ‘I wish I didn’t say that’ because BetaKit recorded it.”
Couldn’t attend BetaKit Most Ambitious: Town Hall? Don’t worry. Enjoy our Vantage Points panel on Canadian defence and dual-use tech, featuring leaders from Dominion Dynamics, Sentinel R&D, and Xanadu, followed by a fireside chat with AI Minister Evan Solomon.
Markham leads within Canada’s most concentrated ecosystem of technology, research, talent, capital, and innovation.
Global leaders including AMD, IBM, Qualcomm, Honda, Huawei Technologies, Genova, and GM thrive alongside local pioneers advancing AI, robotics, 3D vision, and renewable technologies.
Whether you’re launching, scaling, or expanding, Markham Economic Development connects businesses to the partners, programs, and opportunities that matter.
Connect with our team to discover how Markham can support your next stage of growth.
BetaKit is the official media partner of Toronto Tech Week.
Feature image courtesy Lilac for BetaKit.
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