‘American VCs were hungrier’: Canada tries to stop tech startups from moving to U.S.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney aims to build an economy less reliant on the U.S., as it reels from U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and threats. | AFP-JIJI

Sep 17, 2026

When Miles Schwartz co-founded payment company Zum Rails in Montreal in 2019, he knocked on almost every Canadian venture capitalist’s door looking for funds. They all turned him down.

So by 2024, Zum Rails was working on a U.S. expansion, and Schwartz moved to Miami. The company raised 10.5 million Canadian dollars ($7.5 million) from U.S.-based growth equity firm Arthur Ventures that year.

“We tried raising with Canadian VCs,” said Schwartz, 35. “American VCs were hungrier, faster — between them reaching out to us, getting a term sheet was like literally one week.”

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