Dominion Dynamics founder Eliot Pence speaks at the 2026 Toronto Tech Week Homecoming conference, on May 27.Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press
In the past year, Canadian Eliot Pence has turned Dominion Dynamics into one of the country’s most high-profile emerging defence technology companies.
The chief executive has trialled products in the North with the Canadian Rangers, attracted attention from a suite of prominent investors, sat down with Prime Minister Mark Carney and now sits on Mr. Carney’s advisory council on Canada-U.S. trade.
But the one thing that’s remained elusive to Mr. Pence and his company is a contract with the federal government. He’s hoping Dominion’s latest funding round – which he touts as the largest Series A early-stage venture capital financing ever by a Canadian defence startup – will change this.
“The funding and contracting pathways for anything under $100-million remain complete mysteries to most people,” he said, adding that most Canadian defence companies typically vie for contracts in that value range.
On Tuesday, the company announced it has raised $139-million in Series A funding led by Toronto venture capital firm Georgian Partners, bringing it to a total of $169-million raised since launching in June, 2025.
The round includes existing investors such as Bessemer Venture Partners and pension manager British Columbia Investment Management Corporation. Also participating are a second Canadian pension fund, OMERS; Crown corporation Business Development Bank of Canada; Royal Bank of Canada; and several other European, American and Canadian investors. Georgian previously led the company’s $21-million seed-stage financing in January.
Mr. Pence said the investors that Dominion has been able to attract, including Valor Equity Partners’ Antonio Gracias, an early investor in SpaceX, are a testament to his company’s prominence on the global stage.
“I think it’s an indication that Canada is relevant again,” said Mr. Pence, who is also a former executive with Anduril Industries, a private U.S. defence tech company valued at around US$60-billion.
Ottawa-based Dominion launched last year with the intention of building a sensor network to monitor and detect threats in the Canadian Arctic. Prototypes of that network have since been trialled during Arctic military operations. The company is pursuing additional products such as an ice-penetrating sensor and a drone that can operate alongside the F-35 and other fifth-generation fighter jets.
Mr. Pence said this latest financing will be used to grow the company and pursue certain acquisitions, mostly Canadian, that he believes will help Dominion secure a federal government contract.
“It’s for transitioning the company from a startup that produces prototypes, to a global defence prime that produces things that we can scale,” he said.
Dominion Dynamics, vying to become Canadian defence ‘neoprime,’ raises $21-million led by Georgian
Ashton Scordo, managing director of venture and growth at BCI, one of Canada’s largest pension-fund managers, said what Mr. Pence is doing with Dominion represents a Canadian iteration of what he sees happening in the United States, in terms of startups building quickly.
“His pace is exceptional when we look across the board in terms of different industries and this stage of company,” Mr. Scordo said.
Samuel Burrell, a partner at European venture capital fund Expeditions, said his fund’s investment into Dominion’s Series A round represents the first Canadian company in its portfolio.
“We’re excited at the opportunity to partner with Canada as Europeans,” he said. “We see the political will to do that on the Canadian side, and we think that it’s important for Expeditions to be establishing connections with Canadian companies to build on that.”
Dominion currently has around 60 employees, tripling its head count since the start of 2026, and hopes to reach at least 100 by year’s end. The company has an office in Toronto and a newly opened 25,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Ottawa.
2025: Ottawa-based Dominion Dynamics launches to build Canadian Arctic sensor network
Its launch last year roughly coincided with Mr. Carney’s initial promises to bolster defence spending in Canada and, consequently, its domestic industry. These announcements sparked hope among many small- to medium-sized businesses that Ottawa’s sluggish procurement system would become easier to navigate and prioritize homegrown solutions.
However, many of those companies say the promised changes are yet to land, as they await the establishment of Ottawa’s new Defence Investment Agency as a stand-alone entity to accelerate procurement timelines. Failing this, smaller Canadian firms will continue to rely heavily on innovation programs such as the Defence Department’s Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security, which has been criticized for lacking a clear pathway to contracts and commercialization.
Mr. Pence has faced his own challenges navigating Canada’s procurement system. He said Dominion recently applied to Ottawa’s Strategic Response Fund, which was established to help Canadian industry innovate and respond to economic turbulence such as U.S. tariffs. However, the fund deemed his company too high-risk to invest in, he said.
Hans Parmar, a spokesperson for Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, said it could not disclose details regarding funding applicants owing to “commercial confidentiality.”
Given the difficulties Dominion has had in securing a federal contract, Mr. Pence said, there’s a 50-per-cent chance the company’s first contract lands in the U.S.
“The reality is, this time is different. We’re postrupture world. We need to invest in Canadians that have ambition, that have technology, that are taking reasonable risk,” he said.