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Canadian Tech Weekly #04: Plaid, but for everything else.

Another exciting week in Canada's vibrant tech ecosystem!

Author

Feranmi Akeredolu
April 26, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

🌟 Editor's Note

This edition is packed with standout events and stories straight from the frontlines of innovation.

🗓️ Upcoming Events & Deadlines

YC Summer 2025 Batch

The batch will take place from June to September in San Francisco.

ICSE 2025

Celebrating its 50th anniversary, ICSE is a premier conference in software engineering, featuring over 30 workshops and sessions on AI, robotics, IoT, quantum tech, and more.

  • Event Link

  • Date: April 27-May 3, 2025

  • Location: Ottawa, Ontario

🚀 Deals, Deals, Deals

  • HiringBranch, a Montreal-based HR tech platform, secured $2.5 million CAD in growth financing from CIBC Innovation Banking.

  • FundThrough, a Toronto-based fintech company, acquired Ampla Technologies and raised $25 million in funding to expand its SMB financing platform.

  • Reusables.com, a Vancouver-based provider of a platform for tech-enabled reuse, raised $3.6 million CAD in funding from StandUp Ventures, Amplify Capital and others.

  • 7Gen, a Vancouver-based electric vehicle fleet leasing company, secured $48 million CAD in debt financing from UK-based Zenobē

  • Fluent Ventures, a Canadian-founded, San Francisco-based venture capital firm, launched a $40 million USD early-stage fund to invest in startups.

  • The Government of Ontario announced a $750 million investment in STEM programs to strengthen the local talent pool amid threats of new U.S. tariffs.

  • NiaHealth, a Toronto-based healthtech startup, emerged from stealth mode with $2.5 million CAD in pre-seed funding led by Version One Ventures.

Did You Know? IMAX, the cinema technology, was invented by a group of Canadian filmmakers in Toronto in the 1960s.

🦄 Startup Spotlight

Deck: the Plaid for the rest of the internet

Deck is a Montreal-based startup that’s taking a sledgehammer to the walled gardens of the internet.​

The Backstory: Founded in 2024 by Yves-Gabriel Leboeuf, Frederick Lavoie and Bruno Lambert—who previously built Flinks (acquired by National Bank of Canada for $150 million CAD)—Deck was born out of frustration with the fragmented state of user-permissioned data.

What It Does: Deck's platform automates the collection of user-permissioned data from a wide array of sources, including utility providers, payroll systems, and government portals. By using browser-based agents, Deck can navigate complex websites, extract relevant information, and transform it into structured, usable data.

Funding: Raised a total of $16.5 million USD since its inception. In April 2025, Deck secured a $12 million Series A round led by Infinity Ventures, bringing its total funding to $16.5 million USD. ​

Why It Matters: In an era where data is king, Deck is democratizing access to information that has long been siloed and challenging to retrieve.

🔥 In Case You Missed It…

News Roundup:

  • Shopify offered Mark Carney a job as president in 2020, before he went to Brookfield

  • What the tech sector wants from the federal election as Canada faces 'perfect storm' for foreign takeover

  • University of Waterloo withholds prestigious coding competition results over suspected AI cheating

  • The OSC says looser regulations in the U.S. could lead to Canadian exodus

 📚️ Worth Reading/Watching

  • How To Get The Most Out Of Vibe Coding | Startup School

  • SSEBITDA – A steady-state profit metric for SaaS companies

Till next time,