“We need to bet on Canadian tech”: say Montreal AI entrepreneurs

The result is that employees often spend hundreds of hours manually accessing data from disparate systems in order to perform essential business tasks like financial reporting and analysis, inventory planning or supply chain management.

Using artificial intelligence (AI), Maxa simplifies and harmonizes all this data, by unifying multiple ERP and business data systems into a single source of insights. Users can then ask Maxa’s analyst (an AI-powered chatbot) questions like “Which products should we drop to improve our margins?”, “Did that client pay their invoice?” and “Why were we over budget in Q3?”, and get precise answers backed by reliable calculations.

“In less than 60 seconds, you get plain-English answers to plain-English questions”, says Steinman. “We wanted people in companies to actually talk to their data, so we developed an AI analyst that understands numbers. Not in spreadsheets; numbers in multiple databases with billions of records.”

Finding partners for the long run

In just six years, the two brothers built Maxa into a multi-million AI business with customers ranging from mid-sized businesses to foreign governments and large corporations. But Maxa’s road to success hasn’t been without challenges. The company was launched shortly before two years of on and off pandemic shutdowns.

This was followed by massive disruption as generative AI surged in 2022 and 2023. “We had a strong product feature set for release in 2024, but we scrapped it entirely and rebuilt it to incorporate an agentic workflow that turns months of data engineering work into hours of AI work”, says Alexis. “We realized that the initial version would not survive the next two years due to rapid AI advances.”

He credits part of Maxa’s success to its adaptability and agility. Being ready to pivot quickly while remaining true to their core values was essential in the company’s growth.

Choosing to build in Canada

Both brothers had previously worked in the U.S. before founding Maxa. “I’m more of a tech generalist. My brother is a software engineer and serial entrepreneur. We had never worked together before. Being co-CEOs is a risky proposition, unless you turn it into a superpower”, says Alexis Steinman.

In the end, working together proved to be an efficient synergy. "We’re different, and perhaps quite complementary, but we connect in the middle with the same shared values”, he adds.

With 55 employees across Montreal, Toronto, and Silicon Valley, Maxa is currently creating a net positive flow of talent to Canada.

“We have several U.S. employees, and we are now processing immigration paperwork for a software engineer currently in Silicon Valley who wishes to join the Montreal headquarters”, says Steinman.

Steinman says BDC played an important role in getting the company up and running. “Almost six years ago, when we were basically two guys with an idea, a BDC representative gave us a $250,000 loan. That was literally the start of Maxa”, he remembers.

A few years later, the relationship matured into a VC investment, with BDC Capital’s Industrial Innovation Venture Fund co-leading Maxa’s US$21M Series A in 2024.

AI fuels productivity gains

Maxa’s co-founder believes that one of the best ways to talk about AI is through the lens of efficiency and productivity gains.

“Much of the AI conversation is focused on AI replacing jobs, but we don’t talk enough about how AI automates burdensome, non-value-added tasks so that employees can focus on high-value judgment work,” says Steinman. “Some customers frame success as ‘my staff getting their evenings and weekends back’”.

Based on external reports and shared customer experiences, when using Maxa’s solution, companies can see revenues, margins or cost improvements of up to 15%, which can translate into millions of dollars in savings.

A 2024 BDC study also showed that 97% of small and medium-sized businesses using AI reported tangible benefits, including increased efficiency, reduced costs, higher sales, improved customer service, and better management of sales, production, or inventory.

Canadian companies need to buy more Canadian tech

Yet, the majority of Maxa's customers come from outside the country, with a minority of home-based buyers. Steinman says that one reason for that is that Canadian companies are generally slower to adopt technology. Another reason is a more risk-averse mindset, particularly when it comes to buying start-up technology.

This is a missed opportunity, because adopting AI technology developed in Canada supports business growth, creates jobs, and strengthens the economy. It also helps build the next generation of world-class tech companies and reinforces Canada’s technological sovereignty by backing home-grown talent and innovation.

While financing and ecosystem support is fundamental for tech start-ups, the best way to support Canadian AI companies is to buy their technology.

Steinman’s message for companies who want to invest in automation and AI is to choose more Canadian solutions.

“Instead of going with well-established players, there might be a better, newer, cheaper, faster version from a Canadian start-up. We need to stop seeing start-up technology as a risk”, he says. “If every Canadian AI start-up with a solid product had 10 large Canadian anchor customers, this would create a faster foundation for growth. There is a lot of positive intent to ‘Buy Canadian AI’: what we need is positive action.”

Next steps

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