What’s UpNext: Signals from the Global Startup Circuit
The F1 Circuit of the Startup Ecosystem. Tracking founders, momentum, and signals as they emerge.
Welcome to What’s UpNext.
This week, we are coming off DiscoveryX in Toronto and looking ahead to Web Summit Vancouver, which kicks off May 11.
At DiscoveryX, we collaborated with OneEleven on the ScaleUp 10: Ones to Watch, spotlighting Canadian scale-ups already showing traction across AI, healthcare, manufacturing, and mobility.
Next week, Web Summit Vancouver shifts the lens to the global stage, with signals around AI deployment, clean technology, and what Canada is building on its own terms.
Further below, we break down what to watch, highlight the OneEleven collaboration, and share a final thought on why clarity matters more than visibility in a world where everyone can publish.
81.5% of founders now use AI for content. 58.7% say it doesn't sound like them.
They surveyed 92 founders to find out why — and what the ones who've cracked it are doing differently. Free report, no gate.
UpNext Briefings
Web Summit Vancouver 2026
Web Summit Vancouver returns May 11 to 14 for its second edition, and the timing is pointed. Tariffs are reshaping supply chains, Canada is rallying middle powers, and the question across every stage is no longer whether AI works but where it is actually delivering.
Expected to draw 20,000+ attendees, 700+ investors, and 1,500+ startups, the event has quietly filled the void left by Collision's departure from Toronto, shifting Canadian tech gravity westward. Three new tracks debut this year: Film Summit, Gaming Summit, and Planet Tech, reflecting Vancouver's strengths in gaming, creative tech, and cleantech.
The speaker lineup sets a deployment-over-hype tone. Canada's first Minister of AI and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon brings a sovereign infrastructure lens. Joelle Pineau, now Chief AI Officer at Cohere, brings the research credibility. Max Levchin, Joe Paluska of Commonwealth Fusion, and Sam Register of Warner Bros. Animation round out a cohort where real performance is the through line.
For founders pursuing North American market entry and investors looking for deal flow outside traditional Silicon Valley channels, this is the room. Vancouver's position as a Pacific Rim gateway adds a layer few comparable events can match.
A key stop on the UpNext World Tour.
Full details at https://vancouver.websummit.com/.
UpNext Ecosystem
ScaleUp 10: Ones to Watch
At DiscoveryX 2026, OneEleven launched its ScaleUp 10: Ones to Watch initiative, spotlighting ten Canadian companies already past early-stage and operating at the edge of commercial scale. The cohort spanned healthcare, AI infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, clean mobility, and enterprise systems, but the common thread wasn't category. It was stage. These are companies navigating real deployment challenges, enterprise adoption, and expansion, not experimentation.
From BAO Laboratory's AI-driven skincare manufacturing to SWTCH Energy's EV retrofit infrastructure, and EECOMOBILITY's battery defect detection to Fero International's modular construction at scale, the cohort reflected where Canada's innovation economy is quietly shifting: from building to deploying.
Read the full ScaleUp 10 breakdown.
Edwin J. Frondozo
UpNext Spotlights
Founder POV
Through our collaboration with Flashpoint Global, we’re diving deeper into the human side of innovation — the beliefs, tensions, and turning points that shape how founders see the world they’re creating.
Every spotlight explores a founder’s point of view—not just what they’re building, but why it matters next.
Dr. Paul Newton
Dr. Paul Newton
Dr. Paul Newton
Final Thought
AI can accelerate expression. The market creates understanding.
That distinction matters more now than ever. Because execution has become so fast, it creates the illusion that clarity should come fast too. Launch the site. Write the deck. Build the app. Generate the content. Move.
But if the offer is unclear, AI helps make the unclear offer sound better. If you are solving the wrong problem, AI helps you scale the wrong message.
The market still has to correct you.
Real conversations create the friction AI removes. Someone pushes back. Someone asks why it matters. Someone reveals the gap between what you thought you were building and what they actually need. That is where strategy comes from.
The founders who break through are not always the loudest or most active. They are the most understandable. And that clarity does not come from moving faster. It comes from still doing the slower work while everyone else is just shipping.
Ten years ago, the lesson was: get out of the building. The tools changed. The work did not.
Read the full piece at edwin100x.substack.com.
Gratefully,
Edwin
P.S. Curious what clarity looks like when it compounds? See what we built at Flashpoint Global.
