Schedule

The Day 2 Networking Breakfast provides an informal start to the conference program, giving attendees time to connect ahead of the morning sessions.

Breakfast will be served buffet-style, with seating available in adjacent ballrooms to allow participants to grab breakfast and continue conversations at their own pace. The format is designed to accommodate early meetings and informal networking before programming begins.

The morning will open with welcome remarks to formally begin Day 2 of Invest Canada ’26.

The session will include an opening land acknowledgement, followed by brief remarks to set the context for the day’s programming and discussions.

The CVCA Awards are a cornerstone of Canada’s private capital community, recognizing the investments, leadership, and strategic decisions that have shaped the industry.

The awards highlight achievement across venture capital and private equity, including notable exits, global dealmaking, regional impact, and leadership that has contributed to the strength and credibility of Canada’s private capital ecosystem.

The conditions for private capital deployment in Canada remain unsettled and are actively shifting. Business investment has declined in real terms for a decade, sector tariffs on steel, aluminum, and autos are unresolved, and the CUSMA review begins July 1, with outcomes that could materially reset North American market access.

At the same time, the federal government is projecting $1 trillion in investment over the next five years, positioning Canada for a more self-directed growth path in a more fragmented global economy.

This session brings together economists working across export credit, trade finance, academic macroeconomics, and manufacturing cost pressure. They are reading the same conditions from different vantage points, and the discussion will reflect that gap and what it means for capital allocating in Canada now.

Trade policy is now affecting capital decisions directly. Tariffs and industrial policy are showing up in deal economics, cost structures, and decisions about where investment can scale. This plenary session focuses on how trade and tariff policy is influencing investment decisions and Canada’s positioning beyond the U.S. market. The discussion will look at how Canada is deepening trade and investment relationships across a broader set of markets, with Europe as a central reference point, and how those relationships are affecting capital flows and industrial capacity. Industry perspectives will keep the discussion practical. The discussion will focus on costs and timelines, and how those factors are influencing capital decisions.

Government-backed capital is being redesigned in real time. Programs such as VCAP and VCCI have shaped fund formation in Canada and the role public capital plays in the LP base.

This VC-focused breakout session will examine where those models have worked and where gaps remain. The discussion will explore how public capital interacts with private LPs and how new initiatives, including the Venture and Growth Capital Catalyst Initiative (VGCCI) and the federal $750M growth-stage envelope, may reshape venture funding capacity in Canada.

Farm Credit Canada will offer its perspective on deploying capital where traditional structures do not reach, including partnership models and innovation hubs designed to validate new technologies and accelerate commercialization.

At stake is a structural question for the ecosystem: how public capital can expand access to long-term capital while strengthening market outcomes rather than distorting them, and what that means for how funds raise and deploy capital in the years ahead.

For a long time, multiple expansion carried returns. Today, with holding periods extended and exit windows narrower, the pressure to drive organic value inside the portfolio has moved from a competitive advantage to a basic requirement.

This session examines how PE firms are adapting their value creation strategies for the current environment. The discussion will address how operating partners and value creation teams are being built and integrated, how AI is being deployed as a tangible operational lever, and why firms must plan for the exit from the point of acquisition.

The conversation will also explore how value creation operates under strict capital constraints, analyzing how debt structures and capital availability dictate what is executable inside a portfolio company. Ultimately, the panel will outline how to demonstrate the kind of repeatable value creation process that LPs are actively demanding in today’s market.

The Networking Lunch provides a mid-day break for attendees to connect and continue conversations in an informal setting.

Lunch will be served buffet-style, with seating available in adjacent ballrooms to allow participants to meet, reconnect, and transition smoothly into the afternoon programming.

Secondaries have moved to the centre of liquidity planning in venture markets. Managers are integrating secondary transactions earlier in the fund lifecycle and structuring deals with liquidity pathways in mind. These transactions are influencing how portfolios are constructed and how ownership evolves over time, while also creating entry points for new investors. Drawing on practitioner perspectives across venture investing and secondary markets, the discussion will examine how secondary transactions are being used in practice to manage liquidity and shape portfolio outcomes.

Debt is taking a larger role in venture-backed growth companies, and in many transactions, it now shapes structure as much as equity does. Venture credit and private credit are increasingly used to manage dilution, extend runway, and structure growth capital when equity is more selective.

This session pressure-tests the debt options available to VC-backed companies and how they are being used in practice. It will address how lenders assess scaling businesses, how pricing and structure are evolving across Canada and the U.S., and how credit is integrated into the broader capital stack.

The discussion will draw on direct experience with using leverage to reduce dilution and the trade-offs that follow when debt becomes embedded in the plan, including the founder’s perspective on how leverage interacts with ownership and control.

For many venture-backed companies, debt is no longer a bridge between equity rounds. It is a deliberate component of capital strategy that changes ownership and shifts the return profile. At Invest Canada, this conversation will take place among those deploying and structuring capital in the current cycle.

This PE-focused breakout will consider the use of AI in deal origination and sourcing within private equity.

Session details, including speakers and format, will be announced soon.

Defence and dual-use companies are attracting private capital, however investment is only part of the journey from moving innovation into operational capability. Halifax sits at the centre of that journey, home to Canada’s Atlantic naval fleet, NATO DIANA’s North American accelerator, and companies that have successfully navigated that path to global markets.

This session examines the defence innovation cycle from inside, drawing on direct experience from global investors and operators on what makes companies in this space investable and where capital accelerates the path from innovation to operational deployment, including how NATO DIANA is actively compressing that cycle.

This discussion brings together a scaled operator delivering to global navies, a leading aerospace and national security investor, and the Chief Commercial Officer overseeing the capital network for NATO DIANA, providing complementary perspectives on how capital is deployed and what it takes to translate innovation into deployable capability.

AI is attracting capital at scale. The harder question is how experienced investors are evaluating it. This session examines where returns are being generated and what separates the companies producing them.

The discussion will highlight shifts in the market and identify business models that have demonstrated resilience. Anchored by a real-world investment decision, the conversation will raise questions and insights that resonate across the broader AI landscape.

Few venues are more deeply rooted in Halifax’s identity than Alexander Keith’s Brewery, home to one of Canada’s oldest operating breweries and a landmark of the city’s historic waterfront district. Keith’s Kitchen Party brings attendees together for an evening that celebrates the East Coast tradition of good company and warm hospitality. This is an opportunity to step away from the formal programming and connect with fellow attendees in a setting that has been part of Halifax’s story since 1820. Early arrivals will receive a special keepsake to mark the occasion. Important Note: Pre-registration is not required for this session; however, name badges will be scanned at the door for entry.

The Morning Guided Group Run offers delegates an active start to Day 3 before the final sessions begin. Attendees will meet in the lobby of the Sutton Place Hotel before heading out as a group. Additional details including route, distance, and duration will be announced soon. This event is open to all registered delegates.

Meeting location and additional details will be shared in advance of the conference.

The Networking Breakfast provides an informal start to the final day of Invest Canada ’26, allowing attendees to connect ahead of the morning programming.

Breakfast will be served buffet-style, with seating available to accommodate informal meetings and conversation.

When the most powerful technology executives in the world took their seats at the front of the Capitol Rotunda in January 2025, ahead of the cabinet and generals – ahead of everyone – it was the visible result of years of deliberate positioning. Proximity to the people writing the rules had become a return-generating asset, and that calculation has since proven correct in which companies are being built with structural advantages that did not exist before. Billions in economic value generated by Canadian businesses and Canadian-funded research flow annually to foreign-owned platforms and infrastructure through tax structures and trade terms that have not kept pace with the scale of Canadian industry’s stake in them. The USMCA review closes in July 2026. Several of those frameworks are still open, and the funds and companies with organized positions in those conversations are shaping the outcomes. Recognized by Time Magazine as one of the World’s 100 Most Influential People and three-time Barron’s list of “”””World’s Top CEOs”, Jim Balsillie scaled Research In Motion from a startup to $20 billion in global sales. His private investment office includes global and domestic technology & real estate investments, including cybersecurity leader Magnet Forensics, and was part of the consortium that repatriated Canadian space technology leader MDA. He has also built a network of policy and governance institutions including the Centre for International Governance Innovation, the Balsillie School of International Affairs, the Canadian Shield Institute, the Council of Canadian Innovators, the Centre for Digital Rights, and Digital Governance Council. The federal commitments now taking shape on sovereign infrastructure and capital programs reflect years of coordinated private sector positioning. Balsillie sits down for a fireside at Invest Canada to speak to what Canadian private capital needs to understand about its current position, where influence is still possible, and the cost of delayed engagement.

A founder-led conversation on building Canadian-owned infrastructure in a market where the terms are still being written.

Session details, including speakers and format, will be announced soon.

Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS) signals a shift in how the country supports defence, dual‑use innovation, and strategic supply chains. As defence spending accelerates, investors are asking where durable opportunities emerge—and how policy intent translates into bankable deals.

This session situates the DIS within Canada’s broader industrial priorities and explores how development banks align with private capital to support SME growth, manage risk, and crowd in investment. Drawing on Canada’s approach and lessons from the UK’s British Business Bank and National Security Strategic Investment Fund, the panel examines how policy clarity and capital structure influence scalability, risk‑return dynamics, and long‑term confidence in defence and dual‑use investments.

This keynote will offer a forward-looking address relevant to the current environment.

Session details, including speakers and format, will be announced soon.

The conference will conclude with closing remarks, reflecting on the discussions and insights from Invest Canada ’26 and the connections formed over the course of the event.

The session may also include announcements relevant to the broader CVCA and Canadian private capital community.

Additional details will be announced soon.