Kitchener-Waterloo-based database software startup Kuzu has quietly signed a deal to be acquired by American technology giant Apple. Apple confirmed the deal in a disclosure to the European Union (EU) that was first reported by AppleInsider yesterday. That filing indicates that on Oct. 9, 2025, Apple struck an agreement to buy all shares and hire…
The Government of Alberta is investing $28 million to advance technology to reduce carbon emissions and improve the provincial energy sector’s environmental performance. The projects span renewable natural gas and methane reduction in agriculture to safer pipeline infrastructure and more efficient resource recovery. The investment was announced on Thursday in Coaldale, Alta., by representatives of…
Montréal-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Kainova Therapeutics (formerly Domain Therapeutics) has secured $32 million CAD in the first close of its Series B round. Kainova, which announced the financing today, plans to use this capital to expedite the development of its proposed cancer and inflammation therapies. “This investment is a testament to our clear and defined…
Chris Cassin believes there’s no better place to start a deep-tech company than Edmonton, Alberta. Having spent the past five years building a cryogenics company here, he would know. Cassin is the co-founder and CEO of Zero Point Cryogenics (ZPC), one of just six companies worldwide that commercially manufacture the dilution refrigerators used in quantum…
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM For many of us, friendships were once built on shared space and spontaneous time. We grew close during overlapping class schedules, long shifts at work, or simply passing each other in the hallway day after day. Those early connections often felt effortless, woven into the fabric of daily life…
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Cancer often feels like a disease beyond our control, but according to new global research, that isn’t always the case. A significant number of cancer diagnoses could be prevented simply by reducing two common lifestyle habits. A comprehensive analysis from the World Health Organization (WHO), published in Nature Medicine,…
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM If you’ve seen people dramatically flinging open their windows on social media lately, declaring it’s time to “burp the house,” you’re not alone. The name may be playful, but the idea behind the trend (basically flushing stale indoor air with fresh outdoor air) has deep roots in science and…
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Sustainability is no longer a distant future goal; it’s a present-day responsibility. As we move into 2026, environmental consciousness is increasingly shaping policy, business, and personal decision-making. Whether it’s shifting how we consume goods or how we travel, the focus has turned to building systems that endure and regenerate….
Ottawa-based AI startup Backboard.io announced today that its tech outperformed other leading AI companies on two “memory management” benchmarks in independent evaluations. The company is seeking to solve what it calls “AI amnesia,” which is the bottleneck of limited portable memory in generative AI tools. Founded by Assent co-founder Rob Imbeault last April, the startup…
Graeme Barlow is getting pretty good at hosting dinner parties. The serial entrepreneur and CEO of Iversoft has been hosting one or two a month for almost a year and a half now. His latest stop? A swanky evening at Edmonton’s Iberian-inspired Sabor. “This is about telling your story and connecting with humans and making…
