AI Operators in Canada: Google Fireside Chat and Roundtables

Want to work for Israel's Top 10 High-Tech companies? The official Calcalist and CTech 50 Most Promising Startups list for 2026 has been released, proving that the Israeli ecosystem is stronger than ever -focused on AI-native platforms and building deep-tech infrastructure for the entire world. At Who Got Funded Israel, we know the best time to join a company is right at this leap point. So, instead of just reading about their success, we’ve gathered direct links to the job boards of the top 10 companies leading the list. Now is your time to build the future: Irregular – The world’s only security lab for advanced AI models. https://lnkd.in/dinRc_ws Unframe – The platform enabling enterprise giants to truly implement AI agents. https://lnkd.in/dw4KawFi AIR – "The Tesla of the skies" with the AIR ONE personal electric aircraft. https://lnkd.in/d_Wpx5uQ ZyG – The autonomous revolution of e-commerce (from the founders of ironSource). https://lnkd.in/dNRg5ZJE Appcharge – Building a platform that empowers game developers to achieve independence. https://lnkd.in/dxJ4siQv Port.io – Building a system to manage development workloads using AI agents that work alongside humans. https://lnkd.in/dGRKFRZG Qodo – Ensuring the AI revolution doesn't break the software world. https://lnkd.in/dd8ET5Ta ScaleOps – The world’s most efficient autonomous cloud resource management. https://lnkd.in/dzUSzdD3 Guardio – The bodyguards of the private internet. https://lnkd.in/dRgF7RtS Quantum Art – Building Israel’s first full-stack quantum computer. https://lnkd.in/di5U8mja For the full ranking and article on CTech by Calcalist: https://lnkd.in/dXXHHpdE

At 2degrees Business, we believe one of the most important roles we can play for our customers right now is helping them cut through the noise on AI and turn curiosity into capability. You may have seen our latest research on the topic in our Productivity Propelled report and why it matter to making a structural change to lift New Zealand productivity . https://lnkd.in/eZ-VTCaB That’s why we’ve been proud to support events like AI Solutioning at Tech Week 2026 , creating space for Kiwi businesses to come together, learn, experiment and explore what AI really means for their organisation. AI isn’t just a technology shift  it’s a business transformation. And for many, the biggest barrier isn’t access… it’s understanding where to start and how to apply it in a practical, meaningful way. Through sessions like these, we’re focused on: Sharing real-world use cases (not just theory) Connecting businesses with partners and experts Helping leaders move from interest → action → impact Because when New Zealand businesses grow smarter, faster, and more competitive  we all win. Excited to see the momentum building across the market and the conversations shifting from “What is AI?” to “How do we use it to drive value?” #2degreesBusiness #TechWeek2026 #AI #DigitalTransformation #NZBusiness #Innovation

AI is no longer a future conversation. It's happening now and the businesses that move from curiosity to capability fastest will be the ones that pull ahead. That's exactly why I was proud to support AI Solutioning at Tech Week 2026. Not to talk about AI in the abstract, but to help Kiwis get practical, real use cases, breaking down the barriers and finding real paths forward. The mood and curiosity in the room was inspiring. Twelve months ago, the question would have been "Should we be thinking about AI?" Now it's "How do we make it work for us?" That's a meaningful change. At 2degrees Business, we've been leaning into this for a while, including our Productivity Propelled research, which makes the case for why AI adoption isn't just a tech decision, it's a structural lever for lifting NZ productivity. The opportunity is real. But so is the gap between intention and action. The answer isn't complicated. It starts with sharing what's actually working, connecting the right people, and helping leaders back themselves to give it a go. New Zealand has the ideas, the talent, the ambition, and increasingly, the momentum. Let's not waste it. #AI #TechWeek2026 #2degreesBusiness #NZBusiness #Leadership #DigitalTransformation

Y Combinator can't fund a Shenzhen-style supply chain. The math doesn't work — hardware margins are too thin for venture-scale LP returns. Shenzhen wasn't built by VC. It was built by economic zones that pulled in workers from China's poorest regions, fueled by the kind of raw determination that comes from real poverty. Most American founders today haven't lived that, and that's fine — but it means we need a different model. Here's an idea: Give American families a tax incentive to invest money market funds directly into domestic manufacturing companies and young builders. No 8% VC vig. Longer timeframes. Evergreen structures designed for the multi-decade arc that hardware actually requires. We won't replicate Shenzhen. We shouldn't try. But if we want a manufacturing base, we need capital structures built for it — not software-era economics forced onto a fundamentally different problem.

What types of startups is Y Combinator looking for this summer? 🚀 Software 🚀 Services 🚀 Silicon and those pushing AI into the physical world.

YC’s framing here is timely. AI is moving from feature layer to operating layer, especially in industries where the work is still fragmented across documents, emails, spreadsheets, payments, and human follow-up. That is a big part of why we’re building Project Meridian. Cross-border procurement still depends heavily on informal workflows: PDFs, WhatsApp threads, weak counterparty verification, scattered trade documents, and limited visibility from supplier commitment to shipment. Meridian is designed as a governed trade workflow for verified buyers and suppliers, with agentic support across diligence, document review, payment readiness, and shipment execution. This RFS lines up closely with where we believe the market is going. #AI #Startups #SupplyChain #Procurement #GlobalTrade

Hot off the press. A few of these categories will be ALL you hear the second half of this year, some will be companies that get burnt by providers and incumbents.

Y Combinator’s latest call for startups: founders building tools that are capturing the “critical know-how scattered across people's heads” to build a company brain. “the real blocker [for AI agents] is the domain knowledge inside companies. Every business has critical know-how scattered everywhere. Some of it lives in people’s heads.” Exactly right! This expertise, this tacit knowledge which is not documented, needs to be extracted from the experts in order for AI agents to automate knowledge work. After completing a PhD and spending over two decades on cognitive AI Agents and cognitive science, the moment has finally arrived - the wave is coming for this type of AI agent tech. Exciting times ahead! CogFlow

So awesome to see Precision Medicine as a thesis for YC. What’s fascinating is that we’re still early. The human interactome likely contains 100,000s of molecular interactions, and we have only mapped a fraction of it (<10%). These networks are too complex to map manually, which is why AI is becoming essential to understanding biological systems at scale. Feels like we are living through a modern-day gold rush… but instead of rivers and mountains, we are chasing frontier biological data! Great read Ankit Gupta 👍

YC’s latest “requests for startups” are out. Take a look. These are the areas they’re focusing on: • AI-native services • Personalized medicine • Company brain / AI operating systems • Agent-first software • Dynamic software interfaces • Low-pesticide agriculture • Counter-drone defense • AI chips and inference for agents • Semiconductor supply chains • Hardware iteration and manufacturing • Space infrastructure and industrial capabilities • SaaS challengers What stands out is how applied this feels. Less AI as a feature, more AI doing real work across software, services, hardware, and science. From a UK and EMEA perspective, this lines up closely with what I’ve been seeing on the ground. Strong teams, many still under the radar, building exactly in these directions (while I am still missing some visibility on regional startups on Semiconductors, Space and Defence)