The term dual-use, which refers to products with both civilian and military applications, has come to dominate recent conversations about defence tech in Canada. At the Arctic Edge conference<\/a> on Tuesday, which was held at Torys\u2019 office as part of Toronto Tech Week, some founders argued that the term has been tossed around so frequently that it has lost its utility, and asserted that Canada needs to reframe its approach.<\/p>\n \u201cAs an entrepreneur raising money, I\u2019ve become very annoyed with the term dual-use.\u201d<\/p>\n Paul Ziad\u00e9, NVD<\/p>\n Meanwhile, venture capitalists (VCs) outlined why dual-use tech is likely here to stay, but also acknowledged that domestic firms still have their work cut out for them when it comes to supporting the country\u2019s defence innovators.<\/p>\n \u201cAs an entrepreneur raising money, I\u2019ve become very annoyed with the term dual use,\u201d North Vector Dynamics<\/a> (NVD) co-founder and CEO Paul Ziad\u00e9 said on stage, arguing that it has become \u201cso overused that it has lost all meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n Ziad\u00e9 acknowledged that \u201cdual-use is a real thing,\u201d but said he also thinks Canada\u2019s approach to developing such technologies has been a tad \u201cahistorical.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The NVD CEO highlighted that many of the technologies we see as dual-use today were initially funded with solely military applications in mind.\u00a0 Ziad\u00e9 cited GPS, which was originally developed for missile guidance and submarine tracking, and duct tape, which was built to seal ammunition cases, as two prime examples of this.<\/p>\n RELATED: BDC tells VCs it\u2019s willing to lift restrictions on defence investing<\/a><\/p>\n Ziad\u00e9 believes Canada\u2019s burgeoning defence tech industry is \u201creally kind of cornering ourselves trying to find these multiple applications.\u201d<\/p>\n Fellow panellist, Dominion Dynamics<\/a> founder and CEO Eliot Pence, traced the origins of the country\u2019s obsession with this idea to it being \u201ceasy for VCs to sell to their [limited partners (LPs)]\u2014not because we actually give a shit about dual-use.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s a story that we tell ourselves, and the consequences are hugely regressive,\u201d Pence argued. The Dominion CEO said that while the industry often thinks the best path to developing dual-use tech is \u201cto go from outside the military to inside.\u201d He believes the inverse is true\u2014that \u201cthe best way to get more dual-use is to double down on single use.\u201d<\/p>\n During the following panel, some VCs took issue with Pence and Ziad\u00e9\u2019s comments. Maverix Private Equity co-founder and managing partner Mark Maybank argued that \u201cthere is some merit\u201d to the term dual-use.<\/p>\n Startups that sell one product to one buyer, such as the Department of National Defence, have \u201ca very limited [total addressable market (TAM)] and a significant amount of concentration risk,\u201d whereas dual-use means commercial buyers and other applications that reduce some of that risk and boost that TAM, making them more attractive to prospective VCs, Maybank said.<\/p>\n For his part, Maybank is happy that Canada is talking so much about dual-use in the first place. \u201cWhether we\u2019re debating defense or dual-use, we have cultural permission to have a conversation that we couldn\u2019t have two years ago, five years ago, certainly not 10 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n The best of Toronto Tech Week <\/p>\n BetaKit is Toronto Tech Week\u2019s official media partner. Read all of our coverage here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Maybank expressed hope that our understanding of dual-use evolves over time as Canada fully absorbs the impact of geopolitical shifts and its increased defence spending.<\/p>\n Fellow panellist, Garage Capital general partner Devon Galloway said his team is \u201chuge fans of dual-use companies,\u201d noting that Garage\u2019s most successful defence tech startups also have commercial applications. He thinks businesses ought to focus on both to ensure their survival should the Government of Canada\u2019s renewed commitment to defence eventually waver.<\/p>\n \u201cA long way to go\u201d<\/p>\n In true Canadian fashion, Galloway also offered a mea culpa on behalf of domestic VCs. \u201cThe Canadian capital ecosystem should be humble and say sorry to the defence founders in the room,\u201d he said, and fellow panellist Matt Cohen, founder and managing partner of Ripple Ventures, obliged.<\/p>\n To date, many Canadian VC funds have been restricted from investing in defence technologies by their LPs given both historically negative public sentiment toward military spending and the government\u2019s lack of interest in the sector. But recent federal commitments are beginning to turn the tide for firms like Ripple. Garage, which recently invested in Canada Rocket Company<\/a> alongside Ripple, has never been limited in this respect\u2014Galloway said this is because Garage fought against such restrictions from the outset. The only restrictions it has is that startups must sell only to NATO members and allies.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve still got a long way to go.\u201d<\/p>\n Devon Galloway, But Galloway said he has spoken to many entrepreneurs in Garage\u2019s portfolio lately regarding \u201cthe rigamarole\u201d they are currently navigating with other domestic VC firms, which have decided to dip their toes into defence investing only to get cold feet at the last minute.<\/p>\n \u201cI won\u2019t name names, but when a founder building a defence tech company goes all the way through the process with a fund in Canada who\u2019s committed [to figuring] out defence, and gets to the finish line and is told \u2018that\u2019s a little too kinetic for us,\u2019 it just makes me a little sick.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image1-16-1024x683.jpg\" "\\"Arctic")
<\/a>At the Arctic Edge conference on Tuesday, some founders argued that the term dual-use has lost its utility.<\/p>\n
Garage Capital<\/p>\n