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Ask HN: What are some cool or underrated tech companies based in Canada?

89 points - 07/08/2025


I'm based in Canada and curious to learn more about interesting or up-and-coming tech companies here — not just the usual big names like Shopify or Lightspeed, but also smaller startups, bootstrapped companies, or niche players doing great work in software, hardware, AI, sustainability, fintech, etc.

  • bnchrch

    07/08/2025

    Heres a few:

    https://layerzero.network/

    https://1password.com/

    https://www.wealthsimple.com/

    https://floatcard.com

    https://www.postgrid.com

    https://www.dapperlabs.com

    https://www.wattpad.com

    https://gusto.com

    https://cohere.com

    https://clear.co/ https://www.clio.com/

      • kimos

        07/09/2025

        Clio is a gem. I know a few great people who Shopify chewed through that ended up there and are happy.

        • allanmacgregor

          07/09/2025

          Gusto is not canadian.

      • loloquwowndueo

        07/08/2025

        HTTPS://transit.app is amazing for public transport routing. Gives you a lot more information than the stock mapping apps. Some of the things they do are pure black magic.

      • jason-at-spare

        07/08/2025

        I work at https://spare.com/

        We make tools for transit agencies to manage paratransit and microtransit services, mainly for people with disabilities but also for campuses and low-density areas. Managing these types of services is a real, hard problem with billions spent every year.

        Our customers include Winnipeg, Oakville, St John, Saskatoon, and Powell River (also Dallas, LA, Austin, more in Japan and Europe), with more coming soon - including driverless vehicles with routing and scheduling powered by us.

        We're Vancouver-based, and we're hiring :)

        • halfdaft

          07/08/2025

          SideFX, makers of VFX software Houdini https://www.sidefx.com/

          And Derivative, makers of video & interactive software Touch Designer https://derivative.ca/

          (Both packages have a shared origin I believe)

          • helsontaveras18

            07/08/2025

            I think we’re pretty cool! https://www.trykeep.com

            • 500isbest

              07/08/2025

              Urbanlogiq: https://urbanlogiq.com/

              Saw their big announcement at Web Summit which stood out: https://urbanlogiq.com/global-foundation-model/

              D-wave also had a presence at Web Summit and also seem to be doing well: https://www.dwavequantum.com/

              • iamjs

                07/08/2025

                We are building some exciting cloud deployment tools at https://defang.io.

                We are making it super easy to manage your deployments through the compose.yaml file you probably already have. The idea is to have a single definition of your application, that you can use locally, and project it into any cloud.

                We're a small team based in Vancouver. If you're in town, reach out and come visit: jordan.stephens@defang.io

                • juliend2

                  07/08/2025

                  https://vention.io :

                  1. Design some machinery online with their 3d modeling tool

                  2. Order the parts

                  3. Assemble your machine and deploy it

                  • propter_hoc

                    07/08/2025

                    https://sabotagestudio.com/ near Quebec City, they made the amazing 2D JRPG Sea of Stars https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_of_Stars

                    Very excellent takeoff of Chrono Trigger or Lufia 2 type SNES games. Truly exceptional.

                    • supportengineer

                      07/08/2025

                      Jobber ( https://www.getjobber.com )

                      • mattbettinson

                        07/08/2025

                        I make https://voicecast.app/ and I’m based in Toronto :P

                        I also work at https://www.getjobber.com/ which is based in Edmonton.

                          • toomuchtodo

                            07/09/2025

                            Voicecast looks awesome. Are you considering a video version?

                            Thanks for commenting, would’ve never found your product otherwise.

                              • mattbettinson

                                07/09/2025

                                As in sending video messages? That would be intriguing! I’d never considered it.

                                No problem! Are you a podcaster?

                                  • toomuchtodo

                                    07/09/2025

                                    Content creator/artist of sorts, interested in engaging with folks in new ways. Your comment was a bit of an aha moment.

                                      • mattbettinson

                                        07/15/2025

                                        Just wanted to say - I've added video messaging to Voicecast after being inspired by your suggestion!

                                          • toomuchtodo

                                            07/22/2025

                                            Thank you! Besides subscribing, I’m happy to send some fiat you way for the time. Let me know how I can do that.

                                        • mattbettinson

                                          07/09/2025

                                          Well, I will be definitely building a video feature, it’s a great suggestion. Let me know if you end up using Voicecast, or have any ideas on how to get the word out!

                          • Nickste

                            07/08/2025

                            Safety (previously PyUp) - https://getsafety.com - software supply chain security. Offices in Vancouver but team is all over Canada. Raised a large seed round from First Round and others.

                            • jonathonlacher

                              07/08/2025

                              https://getmysa.com/ - their bread and butter are line voltage “smart” thermostats.

                              I have a few in my home, they say they’re based in St. John’s.

                              • evo_9

                                07/08/2025

                                Sparx - they make a great high tech home skate sharpener. Me and just about every serious player I know own one:

                                https://sparxhockey.com/

                                  • burningChrome

                                    07/08/2025

                                    These are insanely popular in the US too. And I can verify that most of the guys I play with own one. They say their kids teams travel with four or five so the kids get their skates tuned before every game.

                                    That product was an absolute game changer.

                                • mitthrowaway2

                                  07/08/2025

                                  Here are some worthy ones I know of in Vancouver:

                                  AbCellera (biotech)

                                  General Fusion (fusion energy)

                                  Rapidia (metal 3D printing)

                                  Human in Motion Robotics (exoskeletons)

                                  Grin Technologies (ebike components)

                                  Arca climate technologies (atmospheric CO2 removal via mine tailings)

                                  • wingdroid

                                    07/13/2025

                                    Plug from Ontario:

                                    TenantFit - https://tenantfit.mtxvp.com/

                                    Helping landlords to simplify rental pre-screening process without collecting sensitive information from tenancy candidates.

                                    • justcallmejm

                                      07/08/2025

                                      https://aloe.inc Check out Aloe - the founding team left the Bay Area to found the company in Vancouver to have better access to top international talent. Here's a peek at what we're building: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6M5wSv6pyU

                                      • dchadha

                                        07/08/2025

                                        https://www.magicboard.ai -

                                        We are building MagicBoard which is a smart board that helps kids learn and develop structure in a way that’s interactive, age appropriate and fosters independence.

                                        It comes to life through a dedicated device for kids with no passive content and a parent app that has an AI based assistant for the parent.

                                        • rusticrover

                                          07/11/2025

                                          I've been a https://JMP.chat customer for years and love the service. The whole software stack is free, open source, and self-hostable, and the entity behind it is a Canadian worker-owned co-operative.

                                          • xvaier

                                            07/08/2025

                                            https://flare.io is a cybersecurity platform based in Montréal.

                                            • norrsson

                                              07/09/2025

                                              https://www.landr.com/ has been around for a while with its automated audio mastering service and it's now a one-stop-shop for everything related to music production. There's also really cool stuff coming up in a few months:)

                                              • PeterWhittaker

                                                07/09/2025

                                                Self-serving mention of https://sphyrnasecurity.com/ - we're a bootstrapped cybersecurity company with two main product lines: cross-domain hardware and GRC/IRM software.

                                                • neilcawse

                                                  07/10/2025

                                                  https://www.geotab.com

                                                  • vahid4m

                                                    07/09/2025

                                                    https://www.helcim.com/ and https://www.koho.ca/ come to mind as ell but didn’t see anyone mention them.

                                                    • dacox

                                                      07/08/2025

                                                      Plugging ourselves, Lumen5 based out of Vancouver. I was one of the first hires found trough the HN hiring thread many moons ago. https://lumen5.com/

                                                      • ghssds

                                                        07/09/2025

                                                        Aylo, based in Montreal, operate some of the most popular social media and online video sharing platforms. It also own many renowned movie studios. Probably among the top five users of internet bandwidth in the world

                                                          • greenavocado

                                                            07/09/2025

                                                            Aylo is a Canadian multinational pornographic conglomerate owned by Canadian private equity firm Ethical Capital Partners.

                                                            Ethical Capital Partners is a Canadian private equity firm best known for its acquisition of Aylo, the owner of Pornhub. The company is chaired by businessman Rocco Meliambro

                                                              • red-iron-pine

                                                                07/09/2025

                                                                formerly Manwin

                                                        • rawgabbit

                                                          07/08/2025

                                                          I am customer of Coveo enterprise search. https://www.coveo.com/en/company/about-us

                                                          • henrythe9th

                                                            07/08/2025

                                                            Ruchi (Sr Dir of Eng at Dropbox) and Ashwin (Employee #1 at Rippling) at https://maplebilling.com/ are top notch!

                                                            • mosura

                                                              07/08/2025

                                                              CentML was pretty interesting but just got bought by nvidia.

                                                              Tailscale regularly pops up.

                                                                • mynegation

                                                                  07/08/2025

                                                                  Oh wow, congrats to Gena!

                                                              • sheepybloke

                                                                07/08/2025

                                                                One of the coolest ones in my opinion is Xiphos Systems. Lots of cool space hardware!

                                                                https://xiphos.com/

                                                                • skrhee

                                                                  07/09/2025

                                                                  https://enurgen.com/

                                                                  They work on modeling solar energy projects, great group.

                                                                  • samsullivan

                                                                    07/08/2025

                                                                    Im building https://cardog.app out of Toronto

                                                                    Trying to make car research, buying and ownership easy

                                                                    • GregDavidson

                                                                      07/08/2025

                                                                      My Twiddler comes from Winnipeg -- https://www.mytwiddler.com/

                                                                      • NalNezumi

                                                                        07/09/2025

                                                                        SanctuaryAI https://www.sanctuary.ai/

                                                                        Making humanoid robots for a while

                                                                        • holiveros

                                                                          07/09/2025

                                                                          https://shakepay.com/ - Nice easy to use crypto Fintech

                                                                          • 07/08/2025

                                                                            • er0k

                                                                              07/08/2025

                                                                              sourcebot https://www.sourcebot.dev/

                                                                              • nunez

                                                                                07/09/2025

                                                                                I interviewed at Wrapbook a few years ago and really liked them. They're worth a look! Based out of Toronto, IIRC.

                                                                                • geophph

                                                                                  07/08/2025

                                                                                  Plotly

                                                                                  https://plotly.com/about-us/

                                                                                  • aprdm

                                                                                    07/09/2025

                                                                                    So many great companies, thanks for starting this & people for sharing

                                                                                    • holyroller

                                                                                      07/09/2025

                                                                                      I did come to enjoy Arctic Wolf's approach to Cybersecurity training.

                                                                                      • scubakid

                                                                                        07/08/2025

                                                                                        check out Lunch Money: https://lunchmoney.app/ - they've grown from a solopreneur story to now a small team

                                                                                        • deepspace

                                                                                          07/09/2025

                                                                                          Taiv is a Ycombinator backed company hailing from Winnipeg

                                                                                          • holyroller

                                                                                            07/08/2025

                                                                                            One to stay away from is Mattermost

                                                                                              • abuani

                                                                                                07/08/2025

                                                                                                Why is that? I feel like every other go security vulnerability was reported by a security researcher there, so I assumed they have a decent engineering culture.

                                                                                                  • holyroller

                                                                                                    07/08/2025

                                                                                                    You're right they are one of the largest Go-based applications and get asked to test go releases.

                                                                                                    My opinion is they have a poor engineering culture though and worse leadership that is abandoning open-source roots, chasing "mission critical" government/enterprise business.

                                                                                            • mrPurplePinkie

                                                                                              07/09/2025

                                                                                              https:\\soti.net

                                                                                              Enterprise Mobile Management

                                                                                              • erichocean

                                                                                                07/09/2025

                                                                                                SideFX

                                                                                                • feraldidactic

                                                                                                  07/08/2025

                                                                                                  Opentext

                                                                                                  • 07/08/2025

                                                                                                    • throwaway1x2y3z

                                                                                                      07/08/2025

                                                                                                      Tigera - K8 security - Vancouver

                                                                                                      • warrenbuffering

                                                                                                        07/08/2025

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                                                                                                        • cfycom

                                                                                                          07/08/2025

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                                                                                                          • ryansdwilson

                                                                                                            07/08/2025

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                                                                                                            • toki01

                                                                                                              07/08/2025

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                                                                                                                07/08/2025

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