Plus: Clutch hits $1 billion milestone, Clio opens up the chequebook.
The title of last week’s newsletter contained Cohere co-founder Aidan Gomez’s explicit thoughts on acquisition. One of the punchier statements made in a week filled with stories of Canadian ambition, it was perfect open rate fodder to ensure that you, dear reader, sampled the delicious goods BetaKit was serving.
After some Canada Day reflection, I wonder if “acquisition is failure” wasn’t also a warning.
The same week Gomez made that statement, it was revealed that Canadian AI model optimizer CentML had sold to Nvidia. Nvidia competitor AMD had scooped up the team of Canadian AI inference chipmaker Untether.ai a few weeks prior.
I’m in no position to tell anyone that acquisition is failure (for me, it’s been great). And every entrepreneur is free to make the choices they feel are best for themselves and their company.
But Gomez’s comments also addressed national success and sovereignty, not just personal conviction. Canada contributes so much to the world, he noted, and “we can’t just give it away for free anymore.”
Our new AI minister, Evan Solomon, has been similarly explicit, saying that championing Canadian AI winners and retaining homegrown IP is necessary “to be competitive on the world stage.” Otherwise, we become the “farm system to other countries.”
In this global battle, capital is a recurring theme. Robotics startup Attabotics shut down last week after the company was unable to secure additional funding. AI chipmaker Tenstorrent redomiciled in the US (another Gomez bugaboo) to facilitate $700 million USD in new funding from international investors. Nvidia, one of the most valuable companies in the world, was an early CentML investor.
Vector Institute director of startups and scaleups, Fatima Khamitova, said the CentML acquisition “further demonstrates the thriving AI ecosystem” in Toronto.
But who benefits?
Douglas Soltys
Editor-in-chief

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Clio to acquire Spanish-American legaltech vLex for $1 billion USD
Clio has signed a definitive agreement for its most significant acquisition to date: Miami-based, Barcelona-founded legaltech company vLex for $1-billion USD ($1.37-billion CAD) in a cash-and-stock transaction.
vLex claims to offer the world’s largest legal and regulatory database, combined with an AI-powered search engine and assistant, named Vincent, in one platform.
A Clio spokesperson told BetaKit that the acquisition will fast-track its AI capabilities, and Clio CEO Jack Newton called the acquisition a “watershed moment” for the company and the legal profession.
Canada pulls Digital Services Tax to avoid stalling US trade negotiations
The Canadian government has rescinded its planned Digital Services Tax to continue negotiating a trade deal with the United States after President Donald Trump called off talks over the measure.
The tax would have recouped three percent of the digital services revenue above $20 million that both foreign and domestic large companies receive from Canadians in a given year, hitting technology giants like Amazon, Apple, Google, and Meta.
Cohere looks to capitalize on Montréal’s AI talent with new office
Toronto-based enterprise AI startup Cohere is opening a Montréal office, which it says will serve as a “key hub” for the large-language model developer to draw in talent and strengthen research partnerships.
Cohere currently has seven employees in Montréal and said it plans to triple that number, adding to the 400-plus headcount of the company overall.

Michelle Scarborough out at BDC Capital after eight years leading women-focused funds
Michelle Scarborough is out of her role at BDC Capital, the venture arm of the Business Development Bank of Canada, after eight years leading women-focused investment initiatives.
Scarborough has invested in notable women-led Canadian companies, such as autonomous vehicle startup Waabi, construction tech company Bridgit, and textile manufacturer SRTX. Scarborough’s departure is the latest in a series of leadership changes within this arm of the Crown Corporation.
Robotics startup Attabotics closes down and terminates employees
Calgary-based robotics startup Attabotics has closed its doors and filed a notice of intention to make a proposal under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.
Insolvency filings show Attabotics posted a net loss in three consecutive years, attributed to the company’s inability to generate enough revenue. When the company needed capital to support increasing demand, cash flow concerns kept investors away.
Clutch races past $1 billion in total cars purchased amid record growth
Toronto-based Clutch recently reached an important destination—surpassing $1 billion CAD worth of total vehicles purchased—and according to the online car retailer, it’s going to keep right on driving.
In an interview with BetaKit, Clutch co-founder and COO Stephen Seibel acknowledged that it took Clutch nearly a decade—one that included numerous bumps in the road—to reach the milestone, and claimed that Clutch’s current run rate of buying cars from Canadian consumers puts the scaleup on pace to double that number within the next year.

Toronto tech gets in on the joke at the Tech Roast Show
More than 700 members of Toronto’s tech community packed the Queen Elizabeth Theatre last Thursday to take a break and laugh about the issues they had been discussing all week at the Toronto Tech Week edition of the Socially Inept: Tech Roast Show.
The traveling comedy show revealed nuggets of truth about the state of Canada’s tech job market as it mercilessly mocked a willing audience of founders, tech workers, and those recently laid off.
“It’s a way of feeling seen and laughing at ourselves,” audience member and cloud consultant Jeremy Foran told BetaKit after the show.
The events, speakers, and prizes you’ll find at Startupfest 2025
Startupfest 2025 is fast approaching with new people to meet, new events to attend, and new ways to get to Montréal’s Grand Quay in time for July 9 to 11.
Just like previous iterations of the festival, this year will feature educational talks, workshops, and networking opportunities for startups, investors, and other players from across Canada’s tech ecosystem. Attendees travelling from Toronto also still have a chance to catch a ride to the festivities on the Startup Bus.
FEATURED STORIES FROM OUR PARTNERS
When Rob Ranson’s daughter, a front-line healthcare worker, said she’d been exposed to COVID-19, he sprang into action. By 3:00 a.m., he was designing a new face and head shield, and with support from North Forge Technology Exchange, he built a prototype in just three days.
Soon after, millions of units were ordered by Manitoba’s government. That rapid response launched a new chapter of innovation for his company, Win-Shield Devices, and its latest creation has now attracted NATO’s interest. Read more about the Winnipeg founder who answered a crisis.
🇨🇦 Weekly Canadian Deals, Dollars & More
CAL – Canadian-founded D-Wave completes $400M equity offering
BRN – Kardium secures $340M to launch atrial fibrillation treatment
VAN – UniUni continues expansion with $95.4M Series D round
AB – NRC provides over $21.5M for carbon capture tech
TOR – Nvidia acquires Canadian AI efficiency startup CentML
The BetaKit Podcast – What keeps Bluesky’s head of trust and safety up at night?
“The company fascinates me… because they have such interesting concepts internally. One of them being ‘treat the company as a future adversary,’ which I have never seen anywhere in my career.”
Bluesky’s head of trust and safety is a Canadian working out of Dublin. In town to speak at the BetaKit Town Hall for Toronto Tech Week, Aaron Rodericks first joined The BetaKit Podcast to discuss his journey from government to social media, lessons learned from working at Twitter, and how Bluesky might one day help you find joy online.
Take The BetaKit Quiz – This week: Clio’s mission, Trump’s trade timeout, and Toronto Tech Week’s standout moments
Think you’re on top of Canadian tech and innovation news? Time to prove it. Test your knowledge of Canadian tech news with The BetaKit Quiz for July 4, 2025.
Feature image courtesy CentML.