Ilya Sutskever, Garrett Camp, Michelle Zatlyn, Ivan Zhao. All leading names in Silicon Valley, and all Canadian. They are just a few of the people you’ll find on the Dominion List, a database created by VC Antoine Nivard earlier this year. It catalogues the value generated by Canadians building in the US, value the list implies could have stayed at home: 552 companies, 53 unicorns, that have raised more than $600 billion USD.
While Nivard’s methodology notes that the list isn’t exhaustive—for one, it defines a Canadian connection through citizenship, birthplace, or education—it’s supported by data showing a lack of capital in Canada. BDC called Canada’s early-stage funding gap an “economic sovereignty” issue in May; this month, CCI found Canadian startups too often sell to foreign buyers when it’s time to scale; and CFIN found there’s barely any Canadian capital in foodtech beyond the seed stage.
Nivard, who himself spent time in Montréal before moving to San Francisco, told me he started the database when Y Combinator briefly removed Canada from its list of accepted incorporation countries, stoking outrage about a phenomenon BetaKit has tracked for years.
The discourse hit a fever pitch this week when Jesse Rodgers of Builders Club reshared stats from the list, calling it a “damning” portrait of where Canada underdelivers. Build Canada CEO Lucy Hargreaves called it a “five-alarm fire for policymakers.”
In Nivard’s opinion, the policy conversation shouldn’t focus on how to stop the drain. “Venture outcomes at this scale [are] one of Canada’s great exports, and it should be a point of pride rather than a grievance,” he wrote in an email. Rather, it’s a chance for Canada to uplift ambitious founders who want to move here, and those who want to stay, he said.
Either way, policymakers have reportedly taken note. We’ll be watching to see how the fall budget will aim to keep the next class of those founders here at home.
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The Business Development Bank of Canada, the Crown corp that runs Canada’s largest VC firm, reported its fiscal 2026 results this week. Its VC arm saw a net revenue loss of $70.9 million, but net income ultimately grew as the value of its investments rose by more than $400 million.
A16z speedrun-backed Toronto startup Blueprint has raised $1.4 million to build the “Lovable for hardware,” helping anyone turn their AI prompts into prototypes. Go ahead, make your own MP3 player.
How did the Blue Jays make the World Series? They spent their capital smartly, according to Graphite Ventures managing director Aaron Bast, who argues in an op-ed for BetaKit that Canada should do the same in its fight against US tariffs.
