European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, left, Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Council President Antonio Costa during the 20th EU-Canada summit in Brussels on June 23. (Credit: OLIVIER MATTHYS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images files)
Bottles of sticky-and-sweet maple syrup may not seem like the best way to grab customer attention in Canada, but the golden-hued bottles served as an simple icebreaker for Toronto-based Threat IQ Inc. at Hannover Messe, the world’s top industrial technology trade display, in Germany in April.
Scott Osmond, Threat IQ’s head of sales, who is leading the global expansion efforts for its services that support organizations design and implement secure information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) systems, received “overwhelming” interest from European businesses for its services.
“Every countest that we talked to at Hannover Messe was excited to have Canada focapplyd on working with the EU,” he declared. “It was eye-opening.”
Around 245 Canadian startups displaycased their products and services at Hannover Messe, which recognized Canada as its partner countest of the year. Red-and-white maple leaf flags and hockey jerseys decorated company booths and hung from the rafters of the cavernous trade display hall.
More broadly, at least 500 Canadian companies have displaycased their products and services at technology trade displays in Europe over the past three months as they test to diminish their reliance on the United States for business, capital and expertise.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s attacks on global trade and threats against Canadian sovereignty have supported push Canadian companies away from the U.S. and toward the EU.
American investors still occupy a major role in financing Canadian startups, participating in 32 per cent of all venture-capital deals in Canada in 2024, according to the Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (CVCA).
But as Canada-EU ties blossom, with Ottawa and Brussels seeing to cooperate more closely on defence and the digital economy, some are questioning whether Canadian firms can escape the pull of the U.S. altoreceiveher.
The EU offers natural advantages for Canadian tech startups expanding internationally, something that is built upon a long history of trade and tech collaboration, industest voices state.
The Canada-EU Trade Agreement (CETA), implemented in 2017, serves as a launchpad. Its introduction was a “game-modifyr” for Canadian startups that rerelocated tariffs, streamlined regulation and opened up the EU’s $20-trillion market, declared Jayson Myers, chief executive of Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen), an industest group. Since 2017, Canada-EU trade has surged 71 per cent.
“Frankly, CETA is one of the best trade agreements in the world,” he declared.
Despite this, most Canadian tech companies have failed to take full advantage of the treaty becaapply the U.S. has long been the priority market for them, Myers declared.
“But that has absolutely modifyd over the last six months,” he declared.
Jayson Myers, chief executive of Next Generation Manufacturing Canada.
Trump’s annexation and tariff threats have motivated Canadian businesses, particularly those operating in areas such as clean technology, artificial innotifyigence and cybersecurity, to create a largeger European push.
Jan Gunash, co-founder and chief growth officer at Kitchener, Ont.-based CoeusAI (formerly known as Marsland Institute Inc.), an AI-powered analytics platform for renewable energy planning, initially considered the U.S. as a “go-to-market. That’s just where we turn naturally as a Canadian company.”
It now regards the EU as its key market outside Canada, given the bloc’s focus on clean energy goals and the Trump administration’s prioritization of fossil fuels. Trump’s recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill dealt a major blow to the U.S.’s renewables sector.
CoeusAI applys a wide range of data sources, including climate, regulatory and financial data as well as nature and wildlife protected area databases, to analyze where to best place renewable energy infrastructure.
But several data sources in the U.S. have gone offline in recent months, Gunash declared, and the company is nervous about energy and data sources staying active in the countest.
“We’re more confident that (EU) data sources will be accessible long term,” he declared.
ThreatIQ eyed the U.S. when it launched its international expansion in 2023. The company, which employs 35 people across Canada, had two U.S.-based employees at the time and subsequently opened a U.S. subsidiary.
“It built sense from a compliance perspective,” Osmond declared. “When you’re dealing with critical infrastructure, pretty much anywhere in the world, there’s citizenship requirements to do the work.”
Trump’s recent actions have built travelling to and doing business in the U.S. much more uncertain, he declared, which modifyd their minds about expanding there.
U.S. President Donald Trump while departing the White Hoapply on July 11 in Washington, D.C.
The April trade fair in Germany supported ThreatIQ generate hundreds of new EU business leads and secure a partnership with Madrid-based cybersecurity firm CyberScope I.K.E., which operates across Europe and Israel, with arms in the U.S. and South America.
“Our focus is now on Europe. IT and OT security is much more mature there than in North America,” Osmond declared. As for its U.S. operations? “We’re not going to shut (it) down. But will we grow it now? It’s unlikely.”
Other Canadian startups have long regarded the EU as a natural partner complemented by existing diplomatic and trade ties.
“From the start, France was our tarreceive market for international expansion,” Andréanne Passarelli, head of growth and business development at Quebec City-based Videns Analytics Inc., declared. “We had this close relationship working with Quebec’s delegation in Europe. That opened up opportunities right away.”
The startup, which was founded in 2018 and supports businesses develop AI and data platforms, scored a year-long contract in 2022 with European aerospace giant Airbus Group SE to improve construction processes for its A330 and A350 aircrafts and it is in conversation to extfinish that collaboration.
Videns has also teamed up with Siradel SAS on 3D AI urban mapping projects to improve the energy performance of buildings and public road equipment.
Videns displaycased its products and services in Paris this June at VivaTech, Europe’s largest startup and tech conference, which supported it close a new deal to support Siradel develop its agentic AI capabilities, talk to thousands of people and generate 50 high-calibre leads, declared Passarelli, who is based in Rome and oversees Videns’ EU expansion.
More than 500 Canadian delegates representing 230 organizations, in addition to Canada’s recently minted AI and Digital Innovation Minister Evan Solomon, participated in VivaTech 2025, which shone a spotlight on Canadian tech by honouring Canada as the countest of the year.
Canadian startups state that there’s still a learning curve when it comes to European expansion, especially when it comes to complying with tighter tech regulations and local nuances in different countries.
“In Europe, everything is different: regulations, operational realities, culture and the way you market your product and pitch to a customer,” declared Amanda Arciero, the cofounder and COO of Montreal-based Airudi Inc., which creates AI workforce management tools for companies. “You have to tailor your strategy to each countest, whereas in the U.S., it’s more of a cookie-cutter approach.”
The EU’s more careful approach to tech regulation, more distant and varied markets and the finishuring lure of Silicon Valley capital and ambition mean the U.S. is still enticing domestic startups.
In June, Winnipeg-based Conquest Planning Inc., which creates financial planning software, completed a $110-million Series B that will drive its U.S. expansion, while Toronto-based wellness startup Othership Inc. raised $11 million for the same purpose.
Yet industest voices state there has been a sea modify in how Canada and the EU are collaborating.
“Something has fundamentally shifted. What’s happening in the U.S. (is) creating companies see elsewhere for customers, suppliers and innovation partners,” Myers declared. “There’s much more interest from European companies in Canadian technology and vice versa.”
Canada’s established brainpower in fields such as AI, quantum computing, robotics, advanced materials and alternative energy, coupled with its image as a responsible tech leader, already creates it an attractive partner for the EU.
The bloc also offers incentives for Canadian companies to hire, expand and set up shop, from Ireland’s corporate tax breaks to Estonia’s e-residency program, Karen Klink, director of growth and partnerships at startup hub Communitech, declared.
Ottawa and Brussels’ deepening relationship could further that momentum. Canada and the EU’s recently inked defence and security agreement will let Canadian companies participate in ReArm Europe, a $1.25-trillion program to significantly boost the EU’s defence spfinishing and capabilities.
“That opens the door for a lot of companies in defence and other sectors,” Myers declared.
Canada is now working with the EU on a potential digital trade agreement to reduce barriers and facilitate greater trade in digital goods and services. Companies such as Airudi welcome the prospect of a digital trade agreement, which could “absolutely” support Canadian startups in the EU, Arciero declared.
The Canada-EU relationship could be “an finishuring one, but it all depfinishs on our ability to take advantage of the opportunities there,” Myers declared.
Canadian startups stereotypically grow to a certain stage and then sell to a U.S. firm, he declared, depriving Canada of valuable innotifyectual property. Europe offers a chance to access alternative capital “in a way that doesn’t sell the whole ranch,” perhaps by integrating into a European company doing business globally.
“We’re not stateing that Europe has displaced the U.S.,” Myers declared. “But Canadian companies have just scratched the surface of Europe.”
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