As the GrowWise team, along with many of you, settles in after the chaos of Web Summit, we took some time to reflect and celebrate the wins. The week was a blur, filled with great conversations, interesting sessions, and a few too many social hours. If you weren’t already aware, GrowWise was doing a Web Summit Innovation Challenge, where we awarded one full year of complimentary SR&ED consulting services to one company at Web Summit that is solving technically challenging problems and creating a positive real-world impact. 

Let’s dive into our takeaways for the conference and share the exciting news about the winner of the innovation challenge. 

Web Summit Review

Busy… but not nearly as busy as its predecessor, Collision in Toronto. With roughly 15,000 attendees, it was less than half the size of the 2024 Collision conference in Toronto, which had over 37,000 attendees. The vibe felt different, but not necessarily worse.

While Collision felt like a sea of suits and scaleups, Web Summit Vancouver had more makers than managers. The conversations were grittier, earlier, and in many cases, more interesting. Due to the nature of Vancouver and the West Coast’s ecosystem leaning more towards biotech, cleantech and sustainability, the conference had a larger focus on those areas, with more investors, advisors and companies in those sectors. 

Despite it being the first year, the energy and vibes were there! We spent the majority of the conference on the exhibition floor checking out the startups, and on the nearby patios enjoying the sunshine. I would say that the conference leaned early-stage, with significantly more Alpha startups than the larger Beta or Growth companies. 

With businesses and investors from all over the world, the conversations were spanning much beyond the Vancouver borders. A large focus was on scaling Canadian companies to elsewhere in the world (with extra focus on anyone other than our southern neighbours.) Many countries were advocating for the expansion into their markets, including Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, and the fanciest booth award going to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). 

The international nature of the conference sparked valuable conversations for entrepreneurs about ideas and opportunities for scaling beyond North America, which is a sentiment that a lot of Canadian startups need to be reminded of. 

As per usual, most of the good conversations happened at the after parties, but there were so many to choose from! Accidentally ending up in the same event as someone you were trying to connect with was unlikely, but this meant more intimate conversations and better connections among the attendees at each event. 

Web Summit Startup Scene

There were a ton of solopreneurs and very early-stage companies exhibiting their MVPs and beta-stage products in the Alpha stage areas. Many 1-3 person teams, getting gritty and producing great products, but often too early for the investors in the room. 

Diverse: that would be my summary of the exhibiting startups. CPG companies, AI-driven SaaS companies, retail products, service providers, marketing, real estate, a little bit of everything. While there were general themes among areas for the exhibitors, the descriptions were broad, and therefore so were the startups in those areas. 

AI, AI, AI. It’s not the exception; it is the norm now. I would say to a fault. It is my pet peeve when companies sell AI as their biggest flex, when in reality, that is like flexing that your business uses Microsoft or Google as your email provider. AI is a tool, it isn’t the holy grail. Too many startups in the Alpha and Beta stages were selling AI with a side of their business model. Focusing more on pain points is what will speak to your customers, investors and partners. 

Bootstrapping was a common theme among startups. With the VC environment getting tighter and tighter, and AI tools making it easier and easier to build a product, many startups are doing more with less. 

Despite all of the bootstrapping, innovation and excitement, I am always amazed at the number of startups that are completely unaware of the incredible Canadian non-dilutive funding programs like SR&ED. If you are solving technical problems in Canada, reach out to contact@growwise.ai if you didn’t get your SR&ED questions answered at Web Summit.

GrowWise Web Summit Innovation Challenge News:

The applications were phenomenal, it was very difficult to narrow it down to the one company that is solving the most challenging technical problems, and creating meaningful, positive, real-world impact. 

We had applicants ranging from drones used to replant trees after wildfires, to AI for diverse hiring, to everything in between. 

All that being said, we did eventually select a winner. A huge congratulations goes to PhyCo for winning the challenge and receiving one full year of free SR&ED consulting services from GrowWise. Ranah Chavoshi and her team are creating bioplastics out of seaweed! The application is for plastics typically used in farming and food production, with the goal of reducing microplastic consumption and reducing plastic use in the agriculture industry.

GrowWise is beyond excited to support PhyCo in accessing SR&ED funding to support their continued focus on innovation and growth! 

Final Thoughts

Web Summit Vancouver 2025 was a success. We met tons of innovative startups, made great connections and felt the energy of the conference. We will definitely be attending next year and hope to see you there!