9 ms·

AI Startups in Montreal

97 points by myth_drannon 8y ago

zaptheimpaler 8y ago
Anyone know of companies doing technically challenging stuff that pays well in Canada? I recently moved to Vancouver but am finding very few doing interesting stuff besides big tech like Amazon/Google etc.
- Waterluvian 8y ago
  Waterloo has an okay robotics scene. Though they generally pay poorly and most suffer from startup-itis. I've heard what I'll call "rumours" that the founders are generally in bed together to keep local talent competition low. In fact, after some thought I'm not sure I recommend it.
- jbrun 8y ago
  We are in Montreal and looking for great people! http://nimonik.com/jobs/ http://nimonik.com/jobs/
  - babuloseo 8y ago
    alright I applied >.<
- zavi 8y ago
  Google? Are you sure you're in Vancouver?
- HelgeSeetzen 8y ago
  Have a look at our portfolio (at tandemlaunch.com). It includes two of companies listed in the article - wrnch and fluent.ai - as well as 20+ others all working on pretty interesting technical challenges in computer vision, AI, sensors, robotics, etc.. Regarding pay, Montreal has a pretty low cost of living so wages aren't huge. If you are looking for Valley-style salaries then you are simply out of luck. But if you are looking for "paying well" in the Canadian/Montreal context then some of our older companies might fit the bill. Airy3D, Aerial, SportlogiQ and a few others have all raised Series A or beyond in funding so wages are fairly competitive. If you are looking for equity stakes instead then of course the younger ones might be a fit for you. I build startups and teams in Vancouver and the valley, so here is my perspective on Montreal for what it's worth: Great city to live in. French is a wonderful personal gain but not a professional necessity. Taxes aren't a big deal - especially with the tax holidays for foreign technologists - compared to the social benefits that you are getting. The winter is rough but survivable with the right clothing. The startup scene is growing in leaps and bounds. Super exciting to watch all the progress everywhere. Overall, I would give it a shot :).
- fsaintjacques 8y ago
  As a software engineer in Montreal, you can get above market rate at these companies: - AdGear - AppNexus - Element.ai - Google - Hopper - Shopify
  - woud420 8y ago
    I don't think AppNexus has offices in Montreal, just a few remote people. But besides that the list is spot on.
    - fsaintjacques 8y ago
      They have a few people and a tiny office recruiting for developers. I work beside them. https://www.peersight.com/job/appnexus-senior-software-engineer-real-time-platform https://www.peersight.com/job/appnexus-senior-software-engin...
      - woud420 8y ago
        Interesting! I only knew of one person back then but I guess they started building a team under him. I mean it does make sense, Montreal has plenty of AdTech talent.
- asvitkine 8y ago
  Google has an office in Montreal: https://www.google.ca/search?q=google+montreal+office&oq=google+montreal+office&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l3j69i64l2.3233j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&ibp=htl;jobs&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiD55f60pzeAhXPqlkKHcWWCMgQiYsCKAF6BAgDECA#fpstate=tldetail&htidocid=8RwQB-49THoqthaJAAAAAA%3D%3D&htivrt=jobs https://www.google.ca/search?q=google+montreal+office&oq=goo...
- alasano 8y ago
  Hey there! We have our headquarters in Quebec City with offices in Montreal and remote positions available as well. The company is Coveo - https://www.coveo.com/en https://www.coveo.com/en You can take a look at jobs here: https://careers.coveo.com/open-positions https://careers.coveo.com/open-positions
Apocryphon 8y ago
Nice promo piece, anyone have anecdata about experience living in Montreal and working in tech there? I've mostly heard about their electronic gaming scene. Why aren't more people going to there rather than Vancouver or Toronto?
- wycs 8y ago
  Rent is cheap.
- daok 8y ago
  >Why aren't more people going to there rather than Vancouver or Toronto? The main language is French and it causes harm to the expansion of many businesses.
  - jkaplowitz 8y ago
    This is partly true and bad, partly false, and partly true and good. Partly true and bad: I think this bit is self-evident to this audience. Partly false: the language wars have subsided in Montreal and rank and file tech workers can manage okay in English until they get around to learning French, even if the company has to deal with French by virtue of being here. The provincial politics are noise which can mostly be tuned out within the Montreal tech worker bubble. Partly true and good: the friction that Quebec's language laws have created across the provincial border have allowed space for more "made in Quebec" companies that wouldn't have happened if Quebec let itself be treated as just another North American jurisdiction. It keeps the French/European cultural flair that makes it uniquely Quebec. Admittedly plenty of North American influence is still present.
    - magnusdeus123 8y ago
      Also, Completely true and good: There is no price to be placed on something that core to cultural heritage i.e. language, that can be decided upon by someone who doesn't or hasn't historically participated in it.
- mdtusz 8y ago
babuloseo 8y ago
I am looking for internships here if anyone wants someone that really wants to get into Robotics.
- AYBABTME 8y ago
  You didn't provide any means of contacting you, and your profile also doesn't list anything. Have an email/github?
  - babuloseo 8y ago
    I usually just go by babuloseo everywhere. I have a reddit account you can message me and github also, I recently started using keybase and it seems to be pretty cool. https://keybase.io/babuloseo https://keybase.io/babuloseo
jypepin 8y ago
I lived for ~10 years in Montreal. From high school to post college, until I moved to SF. My family is still there, so get to go back about twice a year. I really love Montreal, and every time I'm back I think about the possibility to go back. Montreal has evolved so much in the past 10-15 years it's incredible. The culture has opened a lot (it was always full of it, but before it was mostly internal culture), better food/coffees etc. Remove construction and winter, and it'd be really the perfect city. I really like things like that evolving in Montreal, because despite being a great city, it doesn't have much great opportunities. You get stuck to a pretty low ceiling pretty easily (at least if you stay an employee). Montreal's salaries are so low it's almost a disgrace. Yes the city is also cheaper, but it still doesn't compare. I made a quick analysis with a friend recently, comparing Montreal with SF. And even if you spend half your money in rent in SF, you'd still get out with more money, etc. The government offers great deals on salaries to tech companies coming to Montreal, so I'd love to see some more regulations on those salaries and pushing to make them higher. For a remote worker with a decent salary, going to Montreal is great tho. With the recent immigration issues with Trump, I've heard a lot of US-based workers moving to Vancouver or Toronto. I'd recommend greatly Montreal. You don't need to speak French.
- guessmyname 8y ago
  > Montreal's salaries are so low it's almost a disgrace. > Yes the city is also cheaper, but it still doesn't compare. I cannot highlight this enough. I got offered $90k/year (base salary, no stock options, one bonus capped at 10%) For a Senior Engineering position at a company with big infrastructure and capital. If that's an offer for a Senior Engineer, I cannot imagine what a Junior is getting.
  - ilarum 8y ago
    90k CAD or USD?
    - carlmr 8y ago
      CAD would be pretty normal in my Montreal experience. Great city for studying, terrible for staying. I still miss Montreal though.
mr_isomies 8y ago
Funny enough, the national press is covering the other-side of this issue (in French). That is, the displacement of artists & creatives: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1130346/305-bellechasse-howard-shiff-marc-seguin-david-lafrance-ateliers-artistes https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1130346/305-bellechasse... What used to be the "creative bohemian area" of the city has been heavily invested in by Ubisoft (first), and then by a slew of other tech startups. The same thing happens in every city: the artists and the small community shops are being forced out to make space for poke bowl restaurants and tiki bars when the spaceship lands. As a result, the local framing has become "artists vs AI". Grassroot action will paint this influx as a bad thing. To be fair, this whole situation has been mismanaged for decades. By private stakeholders, by the borough's mayors. Montreal as a whole has been historically bad at using alternative scenes to rehabilitate part of itself, then undercutting support to these alternatives scenes & smaller communities... See Griffintown, St-Laurent/Mile-End, St-Henri
- SideburnsOfDoom 8y ago
  > a slew of other tech startups. The same thing happens in every city: the artists and the small community shops are being forced out to make space for poke bowl restaurants and tiki bars when the spaceship lands. You could say exactly the same about the Old Street / Shoreditch area of London UK in the last 20 years. Hardly changing a word, except for "poke bowl" and "tiki bar" - that's just annual fashion.
plehoux 8y ago
This presentation by David Bennahum, who moved his startup from NYC to Montreal is fascinating even for me a guy born and raised in Quebec. He talks about personal compensation, taxes, subsidies & tax credits, insurance, visas, etc... and it's crazy. Others might have different take of this... still fascinating to see how far your $ can go in Montreal VS NYC. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOnaFt4v0ek https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOnaFt4v0ek
- KarenSatantsby 8y ago
  This is true there is no fascist movement in Montreal like in the US now.- there may be some linguistic stuff but really they treat French people kind of bad as well.. But the best part is if you just act nice enough there is respect and anyone is treated humanely - they do not have the legacy of antecedent apartheid that the south - the US has . That and there is just a great deal of good food and cool places.
- mr_isomies 8y ago
  Very interesting and informative, although he seems to infer that his company is not paying the business taxes that it should ("we are still a Delaware registered US company, that does not change") If that's the case, it's obviously part of the problem and is quite disingenuous.
bg0 8y ago
We're making our first hires in Montreal for JS Dev's if anyone is interested, get in touch

97 points by myth_drannon 8y ago

Anyone know of companies doing technically challenging stuff that pays well in Canada? I recently moved to Vancouver but am finding very few doing interesting stuff besides big tech like Amazon/Google etc.

Waterluvian 8y ago
Waterloo has an okay robotics scene. Though they generally pay poorly and most suffer from startup-itis. I've heard what I'll call "rumours" that the founders are generally in bed together to keep local talent competition low. In fact, after some thought I'm not sure I recommend it.
jbrun 8y ago
We are in Montreal and looking for great people! http://nimonik.com/jobs/ http://nimonik.com/jobs/
- babuloseo 8y ago
  alright I applied >.<
zavi 8y ago
Google? Are you sure you're in Vancouver?
HelgeSeetzen 8y ago
Have a look at our portfolio (at tandemlaunch.com). It includes two of companies listed in the article - wrnch and fluent.ai - as well as 20+ others all working on pretty interesting technical challenges in computer vision, AI, sensors, robotics, etc.. Regarding pay, Montreal has a pretty low cost of living so wages aren't huge. If you are looking for Valley-style salaries then you are simply out of luck. But if you are looking for "paying well" in the Canadian/Montreal context then some of our older companies might fit the bill. Airy3D, Aerial, SportlogiQ and a few others have all raised Series A or beyond in funding so wages are fairly competitive. If you are looking for equity stakes instead then of course the younger ones might be a fit for you. I build startups and teams in Vancouver and the valley, so here is my perspective on Montreal for what it's worth: Great city to live in. French is a wonderful personal gain but not a professional necessity. Taxes aren't a big deal - especially with the tax holidays for foreign technologists - compared to the social benefits that you are getting. The winter is rough but survivable with the right clothing. The startup scene is growing in leaps and bounds. Super exciting to watch all the progress everywhere. Overall, I would give it a shot :).
fsaintjacques 8y ago
As a software engineer in Montreal, you can get above market rate at these companies: - AdGear - AppNexus - Element.ai - Google - Hopper - Shopify
- woud420 8y ago
  I don't think AppNexus has offices in Montreal, just a few remote people. But besides that the list is spot on.
  - fsaintjacques 8y ago
    They have a few people and a tiny office recruiting for developers. I work beside them. https://www.peersight.com/job/appnexus-senior-software-engineer-real-time-platform https://www.peersight.com/job/appnexus-senior-software-engin...
    - woud420 8y ago
      Interesting! I only knew of one person back then but I guess they started building a team under him. I mean it does make sense, Montreal has plenty of AdTech talent.
asvitkine 8y ago
Google has an office in Montreal: https://www.google.ca/search?q=google+montreal+office&oq=google+montreal+office&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l3j69i64l2.3233j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&ibp=htl;jobs&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiD55f60pzeAhXPqlkKHcWWCMgQiYsCKAF6BAgDECA#fpstate=tldetail&htidocid=8RwQB-49THoqthaJAAAAAA%3D%3D&htivrt=jobs https://www.google.ca/search?q=google+montreal+office&oq=goo...
alasano 8y ago
Hey there! We have our headquarters in Quebec City with offices in Montreal and remote positions available as well. The company is Coveo - https://www.coveo.com/en https://www.coveo.com/en You can take a look at jobs here: https://careers.coveo.com/open-positions https://careers.coveo.com/open-positions

Apocryphon 8y ago

Nice promo piece, anyone have anecdata about experience living in Montreal and working in tech there? I've mostly heard about their electronic gaming scene. Why aren't more people going to there rather than Vancouver or Toronto?

wycs 8y ago
Rent is cheap.
daok 8y ago
>Why aren't more people going to there rather than Vancouver or Toronto? The main language is French and it causes harm to the expansion of many businesses.
- jkaplowitz 8y ago
  This is partly true and bad, partly false, and partly true and good. Partly true and bad: I think this bit is self-evident to this audience. Partly false: the language wars have subsided in Montreal and rank and file tech workers can manage okay in English until they get around to learning French, even if the company has to deal with French by virtue of being here. The provincial politics are noise which can mostly be tuned out within the Montreal tech worker bubble. Partly true and good: the friction that Quebec's language laws have created across the provincial border have allowed space for more "made in Quebec" companies that wouldn't have happened if Quebec let itself be treated as just another North American jurisdiction. It keeps the French/European cultural flair that makes it uniquely Quebec. Admittedly plenty of North American influence is still present.
  - magnusdeus123 8y ago
    Also, Completely true and good: There is no price to be placed on something that core to cultural heritage i.e. language, that can be decided upon by someone who doesn't or hasn't historically participated in it.
mdtusz 8y ago

babuloseo 8y ago

I am looking for internships here if anyone wants someone that really wants to get into Robotics.

AYBABTME 8y ago
You didn't provide any means of contacting you, and your profile also doesn't list anything. Have an email/github?
- babuloseo 8y ago
  I usually just go by babuloseo everywhere. I have a reddit account you can message me and github also, I recently started using keybase and it seems to be pretty cool. https://keybase.io/babuloseo https://keybase.io/babuloseo

jypepin 8y ago

I lived for ~10 years in Montreal. From high school to post college, until I moved to SF. My family is still there, so get to go back about twice a year. I really love Montreal, and every time I'm back I think about the possibility to go back. Montreal has evolved so much in the past 10-15 years it's incredible. The culture has opened a lot (it was always full of it, but before it was mostly internal culture), better food/coffees etc. Remove construction and winter, and it'd be really the perfect city. I really like things like that evolving in Montreal, because despite being a great city, it doesn't have much great opportunities. You get stuck to a pretty low ceiling pretty easily (at least if you stay an employee). Montreal's salaries are so low it's almost a disgrace. Yes the city is also cheaper, but it still doesn't compare. I made a quick analysis with a friend recently, comparing Montreal with SF. And even if you spend half your money in rent in SF, you'd still get out with more money, etc. The government offers great deals on salaries to tech companies coming to Montreal, so I'd love to see some more regulations on those salaries and pushing to make them higher. For a remote worker with a decent salary, going to Montreal is great tho. With the recent immigration issues with Trump, I've heard a lot of US-based workers moving to Vancouver or Toronto. I'd recommend greatly Montreal. You don't need to speak French.

guessmyname 8y ago
> Montreal's salaries are so low it's almost a disgrace. > Yes the city is also cheaper, but it still doesn't compare. I cannot highlight this enough. I got offered $90k/year (base salary, no stock options, one bonus capped at 10%) For a Senior Engineering position at a company with big infrastructure and capital. If that's an offer for a Senior Engineer, I cannot imagine what a Junior is getting.
- ilarum 8y ago
  90k CAD or USD?
  - carlmr 8y ago
    CAD would be pretty normal in my Montreal experience. Great city for studying, terrible for staying. I still miss Montreal though.

mr_isomies 8y ago

Funny enough, the national press is covering the other-side of this issue (in French). That is, the displacement of artists & creatives: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1130346/305-bellechasse-howard-shiff-marc-seguin-david-lafrance-ateliers-artistes https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1130346/305-bellechasse... What used to be the "creative bohemian area" of the city has been heavily invested in by Ubisoft (first), and then by a slew of other tech startups. The same thing happens in every city: the artists and the small community shops are being forced out to make space for poke bowl restaurants and tiki bars when the spaceship lands. As a result, the local framing has become "artists vs AI". Grassroot action will paint this influx as a bad thing. To be fair, this whole situation has been mismanaged for decades. By private stakeholders, by the borough's mayors. Montreal as a whole has been historically bad at using alternative scenes to rehabilitate part of itself, then undercutting support to these alternatives scenes & smaller communities... See Griffintown, St-Laurent/Mile-End, St-Henri

SideburnsOfDoom 8y ago
> a slew of other tech startups. The same thing happens in every city: the artists and the small community shops are being forced out to make space for poke bowl restaurants and tiki bars when the spaceship lands. You could say exactly the same about the Old Street / Shoreditch area of London UK in the last 20 years. Hardly changing a word, except for "poke bowl" and "tiki bar" - that's just annual fashion.

plehoux 8y ago

This presentation by David Bennahum, who moved his startup from NYC to Montreal is fascinating even for me a guy born and raised in Quebec. He talks about personal compensation, taxes, subsidies & tax credits, insurance, visas, etc... and it's crazy. Others might have different take of this... still fascinating to see how far your $ can go in Montreal VS NYC. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOnaFt4v0ek https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOnaFt4v0ek

KarenSatantsby 8y ago
This is true there is no fascist movement in Montreal like in the US now.- there may be some linguistic stuff but really they treat French people kind of bad as well.. But the best part is if you just act nice enough there is respect and anyone is treated humanely - they do not have the legacy of antecedent apartheid that the south - the US has . That and there is just a great deal of good food and cool places.
mr_isomies 8y ago
Very interesting and informative, although he seems to infer that his company is not paying the business taxes that it should ("we are still a Delaware registered US company, that does not change") If that's the case, it's obviously part of the problem and is quite disingenuous.

bg0 8y ago

We're making our first hires in Montreal for JS Dev's if anyone is interested, get in touch