Canadian conference SAAS NORTH AI is partnering with Dominion Dynamics and AI company Anvil to launch a new summit for founders and investors interested in defence and dual-use technologies.
**The news: **Taking place on Nov. 5 in Ottawa, DEPLOY is a single-day summit targeting founders and investors interested in entering, or expanding into, the Canadian defence and dual-use market. The conference will focus on what organizers say are the three biggest barriers founders face in the space: what to build, how to get funding, and how to sell.
From the source: “Canada’s defence build-out is real, and a lot of our best founders are quietly asking whether they belong in it,” said David Tyldesley, the co-founder of SAAS NORTH AI. “They haven’t had a straight answer.”
The context: SAAS NORTH AI is Canada’s largest in-person software-as-a-service conference, drawing founders and investors since its founding in 2016. With DEPLOY, organizers are looking to reinforce the idea that defence and dual-use tech are viable pathways for Canada’s software startups. Eliot Pence, the founder of Dominion Dynamics, said the next generation of Canadian defence tech will be built by entrepreneurs, with DEPLOY helping those companies understand the unique requirements of national defence.
The conference is targeting early-stage founders entering the field, as well as companies already active but looking to expand.
**Final thought: **Canada has been undergoing a defence-tech spending boom, marking the country’s largest such investment since World War II. Under the federal Defence Industrial Strategy, the feds have committed more than $6 billion over five years to building defensive capabilities in Canada, which has created a frenzy of interest in defence and dual-use technology. Reporting released by BDC last June shows that of more than 600 small- and medium-sized businesses surveyed, nearly 400 of them were actively looking to enter the defence sector, with many of them stuck in early-stage exploration.
BetaKit’s Prairies reporting is funded in part by YEGAF, a not-for-profit dedicated to amplifying business stories in Alberta.
Feature image courtesy SAAS NORTH.