On the Road: Ottawa’s Technology Ecosystem

Ottawa’s technology ecosystem is turning technical expertise and government priorities in defence, connectivity and sovereignty into investable corporate activity, but execution risks remain material.

• Pembroke spent two days in Ottawa meeting Kinaxis, Calian Group and Telesat, concluding that federal priorities were translating into projects that were moving beyond policy rhetoric.
• Kinaxis’s management said that around three quarters of development efforts now target new products, including a dedicated team working on large language models and generative AI; Pembroke still believes the company must prove measurable customer value as AI could reduce switching costs.
• At Calian’s global navigation satellite system antenna operation, acquired in 2020, the site was running out of room after rapid volume growth, while four years without price increases suggested pricing potential.
• Calian’s portfolio spans military training, defence, health services, satellite ground systems, nuclear services, IT and cybersecurity; customer concentration, procurement delays and portfolio complexity remain risks.
• Telesat’s Lightspeed constellation is intended to provide secure, high-capacity low-Earth-orbit connectivity, but the project must remain on schedule and within budget, compete with Starlink and offset the decline of the legacy broadcast business; the visit also deepened Pembroke’s understanding of MDA Space.

Takeaway: The visits did not materially change Pembroke’s investment theses, but made them more specific by testing leadership, capacity, pricing, acquisition stewardship and project execution in person; this field context complements rather than replaces financial analysis.