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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Innovate BC rolled out a new Microgrant Platform this week designed to speed up funding for early-stage companies across the province, including Victoria's startup community. The first stream under the platform, called the Go-To-Market Microgrant, offers between $10,000 and $50,000 in non-repayable funding to help B.C. startups with proven technologies move toward commercialization and early revenue.

The funding can cover activities like building brand awareness, launching marketing campaigns, or investing in materials and talent to land first customers. Companies need to contribute at least 25 per cent of project costs in cash, with the province covering up to 75 per cent. The program promises a streamlined four-to-six-week turnaround from application to contract, with funded activities needing to wrap up by March 20, 2026.

To qualify, companies must be for-profit, headquartered in B.C., and have a product or service either in market or ready to sell. They also need to show clear market opportunity, some secured funding or early revenue, and the capacity to execute. The intake window for this first call closes November 30, 2025.

SPONSORED BY PHS COMMUNITY SERVICES SOCIETY

Help seniors in crisis in Victoria – and your donation will be doubled.

Until midnight December 2 (Giving Tuesday) every dollar you donate to PHS Community Services Society will be matched by an anonymous donor — up to a total of $10,000.

Your gift helps PHS provide supportive housing, nutritious meals and vital services for vulnerable seniors caught in the housing crisis in Victoria and Vancouver.

Seniors are the fastest-growing group facing homelessness because pensions aren’t keeping up with rents.

They need safety, dignity, and a place to call home — and you can make that happen.

Act now. Every dollar counts twice.

Donate up until Giving Tuesday on December 2.

🙋‍♀️ Who run the world: B.C. proclaimed November 19 as Women's Entrepreneurship Day, recognizing women-led businesses as data showed 18.4 per cent of Canadian businesses are now majority women-owned, up from 15.6 per cent in 2017.

🤖 Changes: Redbrick COO Rory Capern shared insights from TEDxVictoria Salon AI panel during Tech Week, hosted by the Victoria-based company, with speakers addressing workplace fear around AI adoption, regulatory gaps in healthcare technology, and shifting from task automation to using AI as a collaborative thinking tool.

🐟 Ocean's deep: ASL Environmental Sciences demonstrated its Acoustic Zooplankton Fish Profiler at COAST's Demo Day, showing how the echosounder works with Open Ocean Robotics' autonomous vessel to track marine life for ecological research and energy projects.

Find your next career:

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November 27 | Victoria Tech Nachos

Victoria Tech Nachos is a covert group at the intersection of nachos and technology. It bills itself as a no-speaker, social-only, no-sponsor, nacho-friendly event.

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.