A Canadian and American flag along the Detroit River in Windsor, Ont. (Credit: Dan Janisse/Windsor Star files)
An Ottawa-based developer behind a self-driving platform spacecraft that’s been named as one of the country’s most promising startups says foreign interest has driven demand for its tech despite Canada’s accelerated defence and dual-use innovation push.
The federal government’s recent announcements, including the Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS) and the Space Launch Act, a blueprint for building sovereign space launch capabilities, have been “game changers,” said Kevin Stadnyk, co-founder and chief executive of Obruta Space Corp., which on Wednesday was named one of 27 Top Moonshot Ventures of 2026 by the National Angel Capital Organization (NACO).
But he said the “pull to move to the U.S. and (European Union) has been very real,” given that nearly all the demand and investor interest in his company has come from U.S. and European investors and companies.
Obruta raised a pre-seed round from several U.S. venture-capital firms and family offices, while Quebec’s Aventure Capital led a convertible note to cap off startup’s pre-seed round last January. It also participated in a U.S. startup accelerator program supported by U.S. defence giant Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.
Obruta plans to expand internationally and launch subsidiaries, but hopes to keep its headquarters in Ottawa. It also expects to secure a commercial contract before inking one with the Canadian government, though it is pursuing both routes, Stadnyk said.
“For us as a dual-use company, it is important to have boots on the ground for face-to-face meetings, for integrating hardware and working directly with our customers,” he said.
Among the 27 other early stage startups on track for Series A funding picked by NACO, an industry group representing more than 4,000 individual investors and 100 member networks, were two defence and dual-use companies. The startups have collectively raised more than $140 million to date.
“This is the first Moonshots cohort where defence and dual-use technologies are a distinct grouping, reflecting Canada’s first-ever DIS,” NACO chief executive Claudio Rojas said in a statement on Wednesday.
But Stadynk said Canada needs to increase the amount of later-stage capital to keep innovative defence and dual-use tech companies in the country.
“The early stage investment market exists within Canada, but it trails off once you start moving past Series A (funding rounds) into Series B and C,” he said. “Large $100-million-plus rounds that deep-tech companies need to be raising simply don’t occur all that often within Canada.”
Stadnyk said he is seeing the first signs of growing interest in Canada due to government’s recently announced policies and initiatives such as the Defence Industry Assist, which has earmarked $240 million for small and medium-sized businesses developing dual-use tech, and the Ideas program, which provides funding for companies solving a problem for the Canadian Armed Forces.
These programs have become “a lot more relevant” for Obruta, he said, with the company now eyeing developing sovereign space and defence applications for Canada.
“Canadian investors are now looking at these kinds of infrastructure technologies, and companies are having a bit more appetite for what we’re doing,” he said.
Ottawa has also reserved $750 million for early stage startup support as part of the $1.75 billion earmarked for the startup ecosystem, but industry groups have differing ideas on how it should allocate the funds, with NACO asking Ottawa to direct the money toward angel networks and pre-seed and seed-stage startups.
The Canadian Venture Capital Association, which represents 350 private capital companies and 3,300 individuals, has asked Ottawa to give the $750 million to Series B and growth-stage companies and private equity focused on deep tech like aerospace and defence, artificial intelligence and quantum tech.
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