Tailwind Futures Monthly Newsletter
Market Insights: Opportunities for Canadian Resilience Tech Startups
Canadian Adaptation & Resilience Innovation Playbook
MaRS Discovery District and Tailwind Futures published the Canadian Adaptation and Resilience Innovation Playbook, establishing a baseline for Canada’s emerging “adaptech” sector. The Playbook maps public and private demand alongside startup activity and capital stack to identify where climate risk awareness is – and is not – translating into investable demand and scalable solutions.
We found around $3.5 billion in climate adaptation spending across federal, provincial and territorial levels and six large municipal governments in Canadian dollars in 2024. Meanwhile, 96 percent of assessed companies recognize climate change as a material threat, but only 11 percent disclose quantifiable spending on adaptation.
Source: Canadian Adaptation and Resilience Innovation Playbook
On the supply side (shown above), pure-play adaptation startups account for 10 percent of all funded Canadian climate startups, but receive only four percent of total funding. Within pure-play, Food, agriculture and forestry startups received 85 percent of total capital raised, while Cities and settlements; Water and sanitation; and Ecosystems account for under 3% of total capital raised. The supply analysis was developed in partnership with Vibrant Data Labs.
When it comes to the capital stack for pure-play startups, capital is concentrated at later stages, with 13 deals accounting for over 60 percent of total dollars invested. While pre-seed and seed-stage deal counts are high, there is a sharp drop at early stage, revealing a funding gap between validation and scale for pure-play startups.
Join us for a webinar diving deeper into the key findings on Wednesday, February 18, 2pm – 3pm (EST).
News from our Portfolio Companies
Hohonu – Predicting King Tides With Advanced Flood Sensors
The highest tides each year, known as king tides, driven by the moon’s phase and proximity to earth, are increasingly likely to lead to flooding as sea levels rise. This may cause chronic cyclical inundation of infrastructure and assets throughout the year.
In its latest research note, flood sensor company Hohonu examines how leveraging hyperlocal data from flood sensors, alongside NOAA methodologies for tidal prediction, enables more nuanced understanding of potential floods before they occur. Detailed information predicting timing and depth of floods enables proactive planning and prioritization of resources to reduce loss during tidal floods.
FieldFactors & Hohonu Win Awards at Davos
Field Factors won the Innovate 4 Nature award at the World Economic Forum in Davos for BlueBloqs, their circular water system that turns rainwater into a local, reliable resource. Field Factors won the “nature as infrastructure and planet-compatible cities” category following a rigorous selection process from more than 400 international applicants.
Hohonu was recognized as a winner of the Water Resilience Challenge at the World Economic forum for their flood detection platform combining solar-powered sensors with digital analytics. The Water resilience challenge, run by HCL Enterprise and Uplink, the World Economic Forum’s early-stage innovation engine, recognized 10 innovative solutions to safeguard this critical resource and secure a water-resilient future.
Fellowships, Accelerators and Prizes
The Resilience District Incubator supports communities in exploring Resilience Districts—new public entities that pool resources across jurisdictions to fund strategic, community-led resilience investments—as well as other governance and financing models. Through hands-on technical assistance, peer learning, and practical tools, pilot communities will have the opportunity to assess feasibility, alignment with local priorities, and pathways from planning to implementation. Statements of Intent received by February 20 will receive priority consideration.
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The Strauch Cleantech to Market Program (C2M) at UC Berkeley helps accelerate the commercialization of leading cleantech solutions. Selected C2M startups work at no cost with 4–6 UC Berkeley graduate students, whose work is supervised and reviewed by program faculty, and are eligible to win up to $40K in award funding. Application deadline: February 22, 2026
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Go Make 2026, an innovation program hosted by Greentown Labs in partnership with Shell and Technip Energies, is an open-innovation program for startups that are developing process technology and catalytic innovations for low-carbon fuels, low-carbon gases, CO2 removal, and sustainable chemical manufacturing. Application deadline: March 10, 2026
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The Morgan Stanley Inclusive & Sustainable Ventures (MSISV) Accelerator Program supports early-stage startups and nonprofits. Participating startups will receive an equity investment (or a grant for nonprofits), a five-month curated program, mentorship, networking opportunities, dedicated office space and access to a network of seasoned experts and industry leaders. Application deadline: March 31, 2026.
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Deel has launched The Pitch, presented by J.P. Morgan, a global startup pitch competition designed for early-stage founders. Up to 10 Global Champions win $1M in investment & Up to 100 Regional Winners win $50k in investment. Application deadlines vary depending on regional location. Deadlines begin in March.
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Pilots at BAT provides climate tech companies with access to test technologies at Brooklyn Army Terminal (BAT), our 60-acre working industrial campus in Brooklyn. The program is operated by the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI), in partnership with NYECEDC at the Brooklyn Army Terminal. Applications are now open!
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The SAP and Top Tier Impact Global Water Challenge is still looking for the best innovations in water efficiency and resilience. They will also host a Davos event on water resilience & efficiency at the World Economic Forum. You can nominate a startup or submit your own startup here.
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The newly-launched InnSure Creation Labs Accelerator is seeking early to mid-stage growth companies with impact-focused, innovative risk transfer, technology and/or data solutions in risk management. Reach out here.
ClimateTech Connect Event Discount
Tailwind Futures is proud to partner once again with ClimateTech Connect, “Where Climate Resilience Meets Technological Innovation” at its annual flagship conference April 8th-9th 2026 in Washington D.C.
Click here to register and use code: tailwindVIP for 25% off ticket prices.
Upcoming Events
- Feb 9-11: Manifest: The Future of Supply Chain & Logistics – Las Vegas, NV
- Osama Idrees will be attending.
- Feb 13: Catalytic Capital Forum – Greenwich, CT
- Brooke Zhang will be attending.
- Mar 24-26: Global Corporate Venturing & Innovation Summit – Monterrey, CA
- Emilie Mazzacurati will speak on how corporations can leverage innovation in adaptation and resilience technologies to manage their exposure to the physical impacts of climate change and develop new business lines to respond to emerging needs from their customers. Arindam Bhattacharya will also be attending.
- March 30-31: Insurtech NY Spring Conference – New York, NY
- Brooke Zhang will be attending. (See discount code above)
- Mar 30-Apr 1: ChangeNOW – Paris, France
- Emilie Mazzacurati will be attending.
- Apr 8–9: ClimateTech Connect – Washington, DC
- Brooke Zhang and Katie MacDonald will be attending.
- Apr 18-26: SF Climate Week – San Francisco, CA
- Keep an eye out for our schedule of events.
- Apr 20-26: DC Climate Week
- Natalie Ambrosio Preudhomme will speak about the game-changing adaptation and resilience hard-tech innovations coming out of academic laboratories.
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