Mainstage Panel:

Constructing a resilient, end-to-end Canadian capital architecture—blending venture equity, non-dilutive backing, growth debt, and institutional scale to commercialize physical AI and robotics.

Co-Founder and General Partner

Managing Partner, StrongNorth Fund

VP Robotics

As robotics, physical AI, and autonomous systems become essential drivers of national productivity, resilience and sovereignty, scaling hardware-based companies into durable, institutional-grade assets requires a fundamentally different financial playbook than scaling pure software ventures. Moving hardware beyond the prototype stage demands an orchestrated blend of venture equity, non-dilutive capital, growth debt, and institutional scale.

Bringing a full spectrum of financial levers together is critical to ensuring Canadian robotics firms—and the industrial sectors that deploy them—do not stall at the scale-up phase or face premature foreign acquisition. This panel brings together leaders from across the capital continuum—from early-stage venture capital and non-dilutive development backing to institutional asset management—to explore how to construct a resilient, end-to-end capital architecture for Canadian hardware innovators.