Web Summit Vancouver welcomes 20,235 attendees with its largest investor turnout yet 

Web Summit Vancouver welcomed 20,235 attendees, 1,197 startups, and 768 investors from over 100 countries to the Vancouver Convention Centre last night, opening the North American edition of Web Summit’s global tech series. It’s the largest investor turnout the North American edition has ever seen, up 13% on last year, a sign global capital is looking for the ideas and founders that will define what comes next.

Capital tends to follow the founders who show up at Web Summit. Crunchbase data shows more than $77 billion was raised across all companies that attended Web Summit Vancouver 2025 including startups, speakers, and partners.

Over the next three days, from May 12 to May 14, investors, founders, policymakers and industry leaders will gather in Vancouver to explore the ideas and technologies reshaping the global economy, from the global AI race and its move from hype to deployment, to the future of film and gaming, the rewiring of trade and supply chains, and the race to scale clean tech.

Top stats:

• 20,235 attendees from over 100  countries are in Canada for Web Summit Vancouver 2026, up nearly 30% from last year’s edition;
  
• 768 investors are in Vancouver as global capital turns its attention to the region. Top VCs on the ground include Khosla Ventures, Benchmark, Fusion Fund, Eclipse Capital, Insight Partners, Alumni Ventures and White Star Capital;
  
• 1,197 startups will be showing their ideas, with the top sectors being AI and machine learning, SaaS, Healthtech and Wellness, Fintech, and education;
  
• Companies exhibiting at Web Summit Vancouver include Microsoft, AWS, Cloudflare, Google, IBM and Dell Technologies;
  
• Capital tends to follow the founders who show up at Web Summit. Crunchbase data shows more than $77 billion was raised across all companies that attended Web Summit Vancouver 2025 including startups, speakers, and partners;
  
• Web Summit Vancouver hosts government and trade delegations from Cabo Verde, Italy, South Korea, Portugal, Qatar, Lithuania, Poland and others;
  
• 157 meetups, powered by AI-driven recommendations, will connect attendees around shared interests, from scaling tech in emerging markets to AI in education, fintech, and closing the gender gap in tech;
  
• Web Summit Vancouver Speakers will tackle today’s biggest topics, including AI, chip wars, tech geopolitics, the future of film and gaming, and the creator economy;
  
• Headline names include the Honourable Evan Solomon, Canada’s first Minister of AI and Digital Innovation; Joelle Pineau, Chief AI Officer at Cohere; Sigrid Jin, the developer behind Claude Code; Kelly Day, who runs Amazon Prime Video outside the US; Michelle Grady, President of Sony Pictures Imageworks; and Libby Liu, CEO of Whistleblower Aid;
  
• Media from global and national media groups on the ground include CBC, BBC, The Globe and Mail, CTV, Business Insider, Axios, The Guardian, National Geographic, Fox Business, The Canadian Press, and The Young Turks.

Paddy Cosgrave, CEO of Web Summit, during opening night of Web Summit Vancouver 2026

Open vs closed: who controls AI?

Opening night brought together voices charting what AI means and where it is heading in 2026, including government policy, enterprise deployment, and the open-source frontier where the rules are still being written.

“We meet at a critical moment in the history of technology…”, said Web Summit founder and CEO Paddy Cosgrave. “On one side, trillions of dollars have been bet on a singular belief: that a small number of American firms will provide proprietary AI services, for a fee, to billions of individuals and businesses. On the other side are open source AI models, freely available to anyone in the world, with Chinese open-source models dominating the rankings. There are speakers you’ll hear from who’ll tell you US closed systems will win: others will tell you it’s already over, and Chinese open-source has won”, he continued.

Canada’s first Minister of AI and Digital Innovation, the Honourable Evan Solomon, took the stage to outline how the country plans to turn AI and quantum into the engine of its next chapter of growth. He was joined by Cohere Chief AI Officer Joelle Pineau, one of the most influential figures in modern AI, and Sigrid Jin, the developer behind Claw Code, a free, open-source alternative he built overnight in Python and Rust after Anthropic accidentally posted Claude Code’s source online earlier this year, now used by thousands of engineers. Also on stage were the Honourable Gregor Robertson, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Pacific Economic Development; the Honourable Brenda Bailey, BC’s Minister of Finance; and Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim.

The conversation made one thing clear: the questions shaping AI in 2026 aren’t just technical. They’re about who builds it, who controls it, who sets the rules, and whether the future is closed or open source.

Largest gathering of investors

Web Summit Vancouver has once again established itself as one of the most significant gatherings of investors in North America. Revolut, Uber, and Defined AI all met key investors at Web Summit events early in their journeys, and this week 768 investors are travelling to Canada to find the next ones. 

Top VCs on the ground include Khosla Ventures, Benchmark, Fusion Fund, Eclipse Capital, Insight Partners, Alumni Ventures and White Star Capital, alongside corporate investors from Google, IBM, Sony, Qualcomm, and Toyota, and major institutional investors including BlackRock, Brookfield, J.P. Morgan, and Morgan Stanley.

Over the next three days, they’ll get to meet 1,197 startups across top sectors led by AI and machine learning, followed by SaaS, healthtech and wellness, fintech and financial services, and education. 

157 meetups help find new communities

Powered by Web Summit’s AI recommender system, 157 curated meetups will bring people together across the event, connecting attendees with the right communities, sparking meaningful connections, and turning shared goals into collaborations shaping the future of tech.

Meetups span industries and interests, from the Vancouver Tech & Founders Meetup and the Fintech & Financial Services Meetup with Phi Wallet, to Speed Networking: Meet & Match and the First Timers at Web Summit Vancouver Meetup. Community-led meetups also bring people together around shared purpose, including the Accessible Tech Founders Meetup and the Neurodiverse & ADHD Meetup, a recurring gathering across all Web Summit events focused on shared experiences and understanding. A dedicated Web Summit women in tech meetup space honours the programme, dedicated to building networks and breaking barriers.

The first-ever Web Summit Hackathon

Web Summit Vancouver 2026 also marks the debut of the first-ever Web Summit Hackathon. Open to all attendees regardless of technical background, coders and non-coders alike, the hackathon challenges teams to build something that changes how people experience live events. The winning team will take home Chairperson tickets to Web Summit Vancouver 2027.