Ontario Festival Industry Task Force

Mark Monahan

Music to fans’ ears: Outdoor concert slated for Lansdowne Park in late March

Sports and Entertainment

First-of-its-kind event during pandemic will require all spectators to be screened for COVID-19 in advance.

Get our email newsletters

Get up-to-date news about the companies, people and issues that impact businesses in Ottawa and beyond.

The Latest

‘A good hub to build from’: Ottawa a budding defence-tech hotbed, Kongsberg execs say

Industry stakeholders consider next steps after Algonquin College cuts 30 programs

Toronto investor proposes multi-tower development near Place d’Orleans Shopping Centre

Film smarter: the competitive advantage of shooting in Pembroke

Corel separating into two new companies and other tech news from around Ottawa

Video

Ottawa’s AI scene is evolving. Early momentum was created by companies such as Solink, founded by Mike Matta, which applied computer vision to retail analytics, and Ranovus, led by Hany Mussad, which develops the optical hardware necessary for high-capacity AI data centres. Subsequent growth was driven by firms such as MindBridge, co-founded by Solon Angel and Eli Fathi, and BluWave-ai, led by Devashish Paul, which targeted specific industrial applications in financial auditing and energy grid management.

A new AI player is garnering international attention. Backboard.io is developing a memory-native API designed to manage long-term context in large language models. In January 2026, the company closed a pre-seed funding round led by Mistral Venture Partners, with participation from N49P, Garage Capital, and Developer Capital.

In this episode of Techopia Live, OBJ publisher Michael Curran speaks to Rob Imbeault, the founder and CEO of Backboard.io. Having already co-founded tech unicorn Assent, Imbeault is now in the CEO seat and predicting big things to come.

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
02:56 Introducing Rob Imbeault
14:00 Sponsor Segment
22:27 Building a Better Working World
24:03 Techopia Sponsors
24:43 Closing and What’s Ahead at OBJ

For more on Ottawa’s tech and innovation scene, visit https://obj.ca/techopia.

Subscribe to Techopia’s weekly newsletter here: https://obj121.activehosted.com/f/5

Techopia Live: Imbeault is back with Backboard.io | Episode 295

OBJ360

Sponsored

Local businesses face hiring obstacles due to immigration pullback, flawed screening

Ottawa businesses critically important to ending youth homelessness across the city

EXPERT BLOGS

View All | Submit an Expert Blog

The federal downsizing effect: Risk, resilience and Ottawa real estate

Charles Sezlik

Sueling Ching, Ottawa Board of Trade

Building Canada’s Defence Innovation Hub

Sueling Ching

EVENTS

View All | Submit an Event