$300 million for made-in-Canada AI

TOGETHER WITH

Welcome to this week’s Sunday Briefing. In this issue:

Now on to today’s briefing.

-Emily, [email protected]

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We’re shining a light on the incredible tech talent right here in Victoria, B.C. Through our Community Spotlight series, we’ll be profiling some of the amazing organizations, innovators, and startups that are helping shape the future of technology on the island and beyond. From cutting-edge software to impactful social enterprises, stay tuned as we celebrate the people and ideas driving our local tech scene forward.

Today, we’re featuring Scott Beatty, CEO of MarineLabs.

How would you explain what your company does to someone outside your industry?

MarineLabs builds and deploys sensors that light up coastlines with real-time data. Our sensors collect high resolution, hyper-local real-time wind, wave, and weather information and forecasts and deliver it on a subscription basis. Port operators, vessel pilots, coastal engineers and others use this data to make smarter, safer decisions. 

Unlike traditional data buoys, which are large, expensive, and hard to deploy—requiring ship time with cranes and multiple crew—our sensor nodes are compact, self-contained, and rapidly deployable. Our customers don’t need to manage deployments, procure or maintain data buoys, or rely on government agencies or apps to fill weather data gaps. They simply subscribe to MarineLabs. 

What inspired you to start this company?

I grew up on Vancouver Island in a family that always supported my curiosity, especially when it came to taking things apart to see how they worked and designing and building things. I spent most of my time designing and building model planes, boats, rockets, and soapbox cars. And when I wasn’t building, I was outside in the ocean.

I studied mechanical engineering at UBC, and at first, I thought I’d go into aerospace, but I realized I wanted my work to have more real-world, immediate impact. That’s what drew me to ocean wave energy. During my PhD at UVic, I got to design and test wave energy converters in labs across Canada and Europe.

After that, I worked in a consulting firm specializing in ocean wave energy. But we kept running into the same issue: we didn’t have good enough data to validate coastal models. So in 2017, I started MarineLabs to solve that problem. We began by building small wave buoy technology and kept refining it, with help from great mentors and colleagues from UVic.

Read the full story.

SPONSORED BY REED POPE

Reed Pope Business Lawyers is a leading business law firm based in Victoria, offering top-tier service to a wide range of clients involved in local, national, and international transactions. For over 18 years, Reed Pope lawyers have served as trusted counsel to entrepreneurs, start-ups and emerging companies, established businesses, high-net-worth individuals, investment funds, and other investors. The firm has deep expertise in entity formation and structuring, capital raising and investments, acquisitions, exit transactions, and general start-up advisory services.

Reed Pope is proud to support the local and provincial tech sector and is excited to partner with Victoria Tech Journal to help increase visibility for innovative start-ups, scaling technology companies, and the broader ecosystem. Learn more.

✈️ Leaving on a jet plane: Summer usually means travel season, but with the state of global affairs, many Canadians are changing their habits this year. Hear from Departures/Niche Travel CEO Cathy Scott on 2025 trip planning.

🔌 Plug me in: The Government of Canada has launched applications for the AI Compute Access Fund, which it says will provide up to $300 million for affordable access to compute power for small and medium-sized enterprises to develop made-in-Canada AI products and solutions.

☀️ Summer solstice, your hand in mine: Island Women in Science and Technology shared photos from their community solstice celebration featuring a fireside chat with Hazel Stevenson, people and culture manager, and Jordan Watson, full stack developer at Redlen Technologies.

SPONSORED BY ACERA INSURANCE SERVICES LTD.

In the fast-paced tech world, your insurance needs to keep up. Acera Insurance does just that, bringing over 60 years of expertise to provide tailored insurance coverage for startups and experienced tech firms alike. Acera’s knowledgeable team understands the unique challenges your business faces and offers value-added support.

Find your next career:

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SPONSORED BY PRESSURE PROS

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July 10 | Black Holes and Beyond: Peering Into the Universe’s Most Extreme Phenomena

What lurks at the heart of galaxies? How do we study what we can’t see? Join Dr. Chelsea Spengler for a journey into the cosmos, exploring a career in astronomy and astonishing objects like supermassive black holes.

July 11 | Accountability in Action: Lessons from High-Performing Teams

Join fellow CEOs for an interactive breakfast roundtable exploring what it really takes to build a high-performance culture rooted in accountability. In a time when expectations are shifting and teams are stretched, how can CEOs foster clarity, ownership, and consistent follow-through without micromanaging?

SPONSORED BY REED POPE

Legal expertise for Victoria’s next unicorns. Reed Pope’s Brandon Deans on startup share structures, common legal mistakes — and why early advice can save founders big. Read the full article here.

Have something or someone we should know about?

Reply or email [email protected] so we can work together to spotlight the lesser-known stories of Victoria's tech ecosystem.