Michael DiPaul

🚨 NEW POD ALERT 🚨 On the latest episode of the #humanunicornpod, I sit down with Amar Varma — co-founder of Mantle ($10m raised), Autonomic (acquired by Ford for <$400m), Xtreme Labs (acquired by Pivotal), longtime builder of Toronto’s tech ecosystem-- and maybe most importantly, amazing father of 4. From pioneering mobile app development before the iPhone App Store existed, to scaling two of Canada’s most successful exits, Amar shares what it really takes to build durable companies outside Silicon Valley. We dive into his founder journey, lessons learned from working with global tech giants, and his vision for the next wave of Canadian unicorns including the one he's building now- Mantle. 🇨🇦🦄

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#Canada should be investing more into #lifesciences. There's a gaping hole in this graph. Right where the most promising #lifesciences startups are just starting out. You can't replace medicine with #ai. Instead, #Lifesciences #startups are using #ai to accelerate the development of drugs and diagnostic tools. These breakthroughs are enabling both faster development cycles and ever more precise therapeutics. Canadian Universities are world-leading research institutes in medicine and related fields, ensuring a steady stream of bright minds with bright ideas ready for global impact. As the world grows both older and richer, we will be spending more on health and medicine over the next few decades. We have a national network of Life Sciences infrastructure and support systems to seed ideas and clinically validate scientific breakthroughs. Life Sciences companies are high quality job creation engines for our society - the work requires humans and is a very long way off from automation. And for #investors, there's an obvious reason to invest: Life Sciences startups offer the best returns. BDC's most recent #VentureCapital landscape reports the best internal rates of return for investors is from Life Sciences portfolios. Yet, we have very few Canadian-based, Life-Sciences specific pre-seed and seed-stage Investment Firms. Let's change that. Here's 21 Reasons the start investing in #LifeSciences, Canada. Come see for yourself: https://lu.ma/wqcb9pqx 9Bio Therapeutics Aufero Medical CereCura Nanotherapeutics Copoly.ai Elle, MD Biotechnologies Foqus Technologies Inc. HeadFirst Hollo Medical ImageCyte Technologies JVPLabs (JRAS Medical Inc.) MagnetaMR MHCombiotic Inc. Modulari-T Bio Modulate Technologies   PragmaClin Research Inc. Qidni Labs: Winner of World Changing Ideas Award (Fast Company 2025) & a NATO DIANA company. Reach Orthopaedics Inc. ScopeSys stoked bio TATUM bioscience TissueTinker

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Canada just dropped $25M into a single gap in the venture pipeline. CIBC and Women in VC announced a $25M fund targeting female-led SaaS companies. The data is simple: → Women-led startups get <3% of global VC funding → Yet they consistently show higher capital efficiency and stronger early retention → And still, they receive less than 3% of global venture funding → Most never raise again because they weren’t funded properly to begin with This fund is one of the first signals that Canada’s capital markets are starting to price talent with discipline. Because this isn’t about “supporting women.” It’s about investing in founders who are already outperforming, even when under-resourced. The bigger signal? → Founder profile ≠ founder potential → Capital is starting to chase performance, not pitch polish → SaaS isn’t just a sector - it’s systems. And women are building better ones. I’ve seen it first-hand: when capital sharpens, better companies emerge and cleaner GTM systems get built. Some of the best I’ve seen are led by founders the market still underestimates. It shows the ecosystem is stronger when capital chases performance over pattern. #femtech #womeninvc #womenintech #saas #femtech #womeninvc #womenintech #saas

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REGULATION BOTTLENECKS ARE KILLING CANADA'S INNOVATION We talk endlessly about funding, talent, and R&D, but the real choke point isn’t capital. IT'S REGULATION! It’s the silent tax on ambition. The slow bleed of opportunity. Every week of delay costs us innovation, exports, and credibility. We’ve built a system that moves slower than the science it governs. - PMRA reviews can take years. - Novel food approvals drag on. - Interprovincial trade barriers make it easier to sell abroad than at home. We are funding companies to wait out the regulatory clock. An incredible waste of assets that could be going into new ideas and new innovations We are losing ground, not because we lack ideas, but because our systems can’t keep up. Here’s the opportunity: Canada can lead the world in agile, trusted, evidence-based regulation, the kind that protects people and accelerates innovation in agriculture, biotech, and climate tech. We don’t need less regulation. We need regulation that leads, continuously learns and takes on weighted risk alongside our innovators. I’m calling on entrepreneurs, policymakers, investors, and innovators. I’m compiling a national record of what’s working - and particularly what isn’t. If you’ve experienced: - Delays or duplications in PMRA, CFIA, or environmental approvals - Interprovincial trade barriers or inspection bottlenecks - Lost deals or stalled projects because of regulatory uncertainty ** Share your story** Comment, DM, or tag colleagues and organizations who have lived this reality. This is not another report, this is a call to action and I will be asking my friends and colleagues to amplify This continues the work I began with Canada’s Economic Strategy Tables more than 8 years ago promising agile regulatory environment. We built the case for growth in our Agrifood system. Now we need the courage for reform. Let’s align those ready to lead change, including: Council of Canadian Innovators | Conseil canadien des innovateurs (CCI) Business Council of Alberta Canadian Chamber of Commerce Creative Destruction Lab Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI) Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada/ Agriculture et Agroalimentaire Canada Help map Canada’s real regulatory roadblocks. I’m collecting: - Case studies and examples of approval delays - Stories of lost deals or stalled projects - Practical ideas for reform ➡️ Comment or DM me your experience. ➡️ Tag colleagues and orgs who’ve lived this.

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What’s happening in Canadian Fintech? Ndax, a Calgary based crypto exchange partnered with MeetAmi Innovations Inc., a Vancouver based platform for wealth advisors to get their clients into crypto. Money Mart, a subprime consumer lender, launched international payments via MoneyGram Propra, a Calgary based property management software (accounting, maintenance requests, tenant communication) partnered with CENTURY 21® to power their Canadian property management division. Wealthsimple now allows customers to borrow money to invest using their investment portfolio as collateral in their registered accounts. — Want more? Subscribe to the Canadian Fintech Newsletter in the comments below 👇

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The Globe and Mail recently asked my view on quantum investing. My answer was simple: “It’s much more investible now.” At Two Small Fish, our first principle is simple: we only invest in what we truly understand across technology, product, and commercialization. We are also a group of tech nerds who have been following quantum for years. For a long time, it wasn’t ready for early-stage venture investment. This year, we changed our mind. Why? In short, quantum has shifted from a science problem (if it will work) to an engineering problem (how and when it will scale). Link to full blog post in comments.

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