Dominion Dynamics lands $139 million in Canada’s largest defence-tech Series A

Ottawa-based defence tech company Dominion Dynamics raised $139 million CAD in Series A financing, led by Georgian with participation from Valor Equity Partners, OMERS Ventures, and others. The round, Canada's largest defence-tech Series A, will advance Dominion's mission to modernize Arctic surveillance using AI and autonomous systems. The investment reflects growing Canadian and NATO interest in building domestic defence capabilities amid geopolitical tensions.

Six months after closing a major seed round https://betakit.com/dominion-dynamics-raises-21-million-to-build-canadas-defence-neoprime/ , Ottawa-based defence tech company Dominion Dynamics https://www.defendthedominion.com/ has secured $139 million CAD $100 million USD in Series A financing to advance its mission to become Canada’s first line of defence in the Arctic https://betakit.com/cold-front/ . Dominion’s all-equity, all-primary capital Series A was led by existing backer Georgian, with participation from new investors Valor Equity Partners, Valor Atreides AI Fund, Expeditions, Lakestar, OMERS Ventures, BDC Capital’s Strong North Fund, Deloitte Ventures, Royal Bank of Canada, and JDY Capital. The majority Canadian round also saw follow-on support from British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, Bessemer Venture Partners, Garage Capital, Golden Ventures, and Silent Ventures. “It would be misplaced hubris for me to assume that this is really just about Dominion.”Eliot Pence, Dominion Dynamics In an interview with BetaKit , Dominion founder and CEO Eliot Pence said the round—which appears to mark Canada’s largest-ever defence tech Series A—reflects not only what Dominion has already been able to accomplish in such a short time, but also the larger shift that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has been calling for as the country executes an about-face https://betakit.com/the-year-canadian-tech-embraced-defence/ on defence. After decades of lower spending relative to its allies, rising geopolitical tensions have spurred the federal government to invest heavily https://betakit.com/budget2025-hints-at-full-scope-of-federal-governments-defence-agenda/ in building up Canada’s domestic capacity https://betakit.com/feds-6-6-billion-defence-industrial-strategy-takes-aim-at-building-a-robust-canadian-defence-sector/ to defend itself and to reduce its reliance https://betakit.com/the-world-has-changed-canadas-new-defence-industrial-strategy-aims-to-reduce-us-dependency/ on the United States US . “It would be misplaced hubris for me to assume that this is really just about Dominion,” Pence said. “It’s about a moment in time.” Dominion has set its sights on modernizing Arctic surveillance. Its vision spans a software platform, a network of sensors, drones, and other vehicles designed to autonomously collect, communicate, and analyze Arctic data in real time to spot threats and eventually anticipate them using AI. The goal is to use these components together to help Canada monitor, and thus defend its share of the Arctic—something Pence said the country presently struggles to do given its especially harsh, sprawling terrain, and lack of soldiers per capita. Pence said the strong support this round from large Canadian institutional investors signals the opportunity https://betakit.com/dominion-dynamics-ceo-thinks-defence-is-a-generational-opportunity-for-canadian-entrepreneurs/ they see in defence going forward. He is also heartened by the buy-in it demonstrates from defence-focused investors from across the US and Europe, who could help support its eventual expansion into both markets. “What this cap table really reflects now is a true best of the best from the NATO Alliance, and that’s exactly what we’re hoping for,” Pence said, noting that Dominion ultimately aims to build “a truly pan-NATO defence neoprime.” In an interview with BetaKit , Georgian lead investor Margaret Wu said the financing “signals that the global investment community sees the opportunity in Canada” and a chance to fuel the development of “more sovereign players for NATO.” RELATED: Dominion Dynamics aims to become Canada’s first line of defence in the Arctic At the moment, Canada lacks a large domestic firm capable of delivering most of what its military needs. In industry parlance, these companies are referred to as defence primes. While traditional primes—like US-based Lockheed Martin—are huge, hardware-heavy, vertically integrated companies with long track records of delivering major defensive systems and programs through government contracts, “neoprimes” are smaller, typically product-led, software-first newcomers that take on greater risk by self-financing the development of solutions with private capital before obtaining such contracts. Dominion is modelling itself after American neoprimes like Anduril, where Pence previously spent four years leading global growth. Since launching https://betakit.com/dominion-dynamics-secures-4-million-to-modernize-arctic-surveillance/ in June 2025, Dominion has raised a total of $169 million CAD to date, including $21 million https://betakit.com/dominion-dynamics-raises-21-million-to-build-canadas-defence-neoprime/ in seed funding earlier this year. “Defence is not a cheap business,” Pence said. This is especially true when, like Dominion and other neoprimes, you’re building defence tech before obtaining government contracts. Pence said this round enables the startup to “build at the scale and speed the moment demands,” and gives Dominion the kind of balance sheet that will ensure the feds take it seriously. RELATED: Dominion Dynamics raises $21 million to build Canada’s “defence neoprime” The company plans to put the bulk of this funding towards continuing to develop and deploy its tech, from research and development to manufacturing and putting its products to work with the military over extended periods of time. Dominion’s primary focus at the moment is on scaling its Arctic surveillance network and drone systems. Dominion also intends to grow its 50-person team to more than 100—including via potential acqui-hires—and open offices in both the US, where it plans to establish a subsidiary, and Europe by the end of 2026. The crux of Dominion’s work over the past six months has been taking its flagship AuraNet platform “from an idea to deployment,” self-financing its buildout and getting it into the hands https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/we-deployed-auranet-high-arctic-heres-what-learned-working-f5gvf/ of the Canadian Armed Forces CAF in the High Arctic as part of an annual exercise for feedback and refinement. During Operation Nanook-Nunalivit, between February and April, the Canadian Rangers leveraged Dominion’s software and sensors to aid their mission tracking, planning, and real-time communications. “Velocity is the capability that we’ve proven out the most,” Pence said, noting that investors were drawn to the startup’s “capacity to build things that matter” and the speed at which it has been able to get them into the hands of end users. The company has also recruited CAF veterans, top engineering talent from Bombardier, Google, Rheinmetall, Rivian, and Tesla, committed $50 million to building an autonomous “ wingman https://betakit.com/dominion-dynamics-says-it-will-invest-50-million-to-build-a-sovereign-autonomous-wingman/ ,” moved into a 25,000 square-foot manufacturing facility in Kanata, and opened a Toronto office. Perhaps most importantly, Pence has quickly established relationships within the Government of Canada and Department of Defence, its initial target customer, including by landing a spot https://betakit.com/canadas-new-us-economic-advisory-committee-draws-backlash-from-tech-leaders/ on Carney’s advisory committee on Canada-US economic relations, Wu said. “What you’re trying to get is pulled into rooms that matter,” Pence said. Wu said that Pence has managed to do the same with other defence tech startups across the ecosystem through his work standing up and co-leading new industry trade association the Alliance of Canadian Defence Companies https://betakit.com/new-trade-association-aims-to-give-domestic-smbs-a-shot-in-canadas-defence-renaissance/ —work she expects will support Dominion’s goal of becoming a systems integrator. Wu said Carney’s “big” verbal commitments on defence and the federal government’s early work to translate them into action, coupled with the pace at which Dominion has moved and the hiring ability Pence has demonstrated since Georgian led its seed round in January, gave the firm the confidence to double down through its Series A. A recent BDC and Icebreaker report https://betakit.com/smaller-businesses-are-struggling-to-breach-canadas-defence-sector-report/ found that smaller businesses are still struggling to break into Canada’s defence sector. The success of Dominion and its peers will depend upon the feds’ ability to revamp their approach to procurement. While Pence is happy with the progress he has seen to date from the Government of Canada, he acknowledged there is still much work required to bring firms like his into the fold. Feature image courtesy Dominion Dynamics.