Eliot Pence
Founder & CEO
Dominion Dynamics
Companies already in defence: autonomy, sensing, hardware, software.
The AI and software founders weighing whether it’s their market.
And the investors and operators around them.
NOV 5, 2026 · OTTAWA · PRESENTED BY DOMINION DYNAMICS
DEPLOY
A defence and dual-use summit for founders entering and expanding in the sector.
PRESENTED BY
CO-SPONSORED BY
SUPPORTED BY
MISSION BRIEF
Canada’s defence edge will be built at home.
Canada doesn’t lack defence conferences. It has the trade shows, the B2G circuit, the endless “defence 101.” What it’s never had is a founders summit. A room built for commercial builders, run by the operators who already crossed over.
SAAS NORTH is where it belongs. Eleven years in, Ottawa-based, the country’s most founder-heavy AI and SaaS room. The gap between a strong product and a real capability is the exact gap this room faces now.
And the timing isn’t subtle. Three numbers on how fast the ground is shifting.
0
%
Canada hit NATO's defence target for the first time
// Budget 2025
$
0
B
Five-year rebuild of the Canadian Armed Forces
// Budget 2025
$
0
M
Largest Series A in Canadian defence history (Dominion Dynamics)
// 2026
WHAT WINS IN DEFENCE
In defence, the problem is the product.
Defence funds capabilities that solve a problem it already has, so the best product can still miss. Winning starts with the problem you solve, then the tech.
THE DAY
Build. Fund. Sell. In that order.
Three moves decide whether a company wins in defence, and the order matters more than most expect.
Canada’s next generation of defence technology will be built by ambitious entrepreneurs. DEPLOY exists to help them scale globally while strengthening Canada’s sovereign industrial capabilities. SAAS NORTH AI is the ideal place to launch that mission.
— Eliot Pence, Founder and CEO, Dominion Dynamics
PRESENTED BY
Our Steering Committee
The people already building, funding, and buying Canadian defence tech. Curating the day for the founders coming next.
Samuel Witherspoon
CEO
Anvil
Sonya Shorey
President & CEO
Invest Ottawa
Peter Suma
Managing Partner StrongNorth Fund
BDC
Andrew Waitman
Founder & CEO
ContxtMatters AI
Co-Founder & Executive Chairman
Assent
Ashley Orser
Vice President Market Development
COVE
Matthew Clancey
VP Maritime Programs
Dominion Dynamics
Matthew Berry
Head of External and Corporate Affairs
North Vector Dynamics
Duncan McSporran
Managing Director
Vimy Forge
Questions?
The founder-first defence and dual-use summit which takes place on November 5, 2026, Day 2 of SAAS NORTH. It’s for tech companies weighing or expanding in the defence and dual-use market, with a specific focus on software, AI, and autonomy.
Tech companies already operating in defence, defence-curious software and AI founders, the investors funding dual-use in Canada, and operators who’ve crossed over. It’s deliberately not a procurement, government, or primes event.
In commercial software, the better product usually wins. Defence buys capabilities that solve problems it already recognizes, so a technically impressive product can be irrelevant if it doesn’t map to a problem an operator already feels. DEPLOY is built around making that translation.
No. DEPLOY is a founders’ summit. Procurement is the third problem for an early founder, so it’s covered briefly and forward-looking, not as the centre of gravity.
Yes. DEPLOY is built for companies expanding in defence as much as those entering it: new problems to map, new capital to raise, new contracts to win.
Yes. DEPLOY takes place on Day 2 of SAAS NORTH, so it’s already included with your pass. It runs as a curated summit inside the event. One pass, two days: the full SAAS NORTH experience + DEPLOY.
SHOULD DEFENCE BE YOUR MARKET?
Build what defends.
Canada’s defence edge will be built at home. Spend one day with the people already doing it.