I moved to Victoria, British Columbia in 2009 and it took me years to really plug in to the tech scene. Nobody hands you a map. You show up, you Google around, you ask people at coffee shops if they know where the tech people hang out. It shouldn’t be that hard.
This is the guide I wish I’d had back then. Victoria’s tech sector now generates $7.8 billion in economic impact across 1,100+ companies and 20,000+ employees, and there’s still no single resource that maps it all out. Whether you’re trying to break into the tech community, evaluating the startup ecosystem as a founder, or just figuring out where people actually work and hang out, I’ve updated everything for 2026 with current data, verified links, and the perspective of someone who’s spent 15+ years building companies here.
Who I Am (and Why I Wrote This)
I’m the CEO of Plurilock (TSXV: PLUR), a cybersecurity company spun out of the University of Victoria. We went public on the TSX Venture Exchange, grew past $250M in cumulative revenue, and did it all from a Fort Street office with a view of the harbour. Before that, I ran Creative Destruction Labs’ Vancouver cohort and raised angel investment with zero local connections. More on my background here.
I’m not a chamber of commerce. I’ll tell you what works and what doesn’t.
Who This Guide Is For
- You just moved to Victoria and work in tech
- You’re job hunting and want to know who’s hiring
- You’re a founder evaluating Victoria, BC as a base for your startup
- You’re a remote worker wondering if Victoria is good for tech
If any of those fit, keep reading.
Why Victoria?
The honest answer is that I stayed for the same reasons most people come here: it’s a genuinely good place to live and raise a family. That sounds like a tourism brochure line, but when you’re a CEO working 60-hour weeks, the difference between stepping outside to ocean air and stepping outside to a Yonge Street construction zone is not trivial. My kids grow up safe, outdoors, and five minutes from everything.
Victoria also has a working international airport, which matters more than people think when you’re running a company with clients in Washington, D.C. and customers across the U.S. You can get to Seattle, San Francisco, LA, Denver, and several other hubs direct. It’s not Toronto Pearson, and I’d love to see more U.S. direct routes added, but for a city of this size the connectivity is solid enough that I don’t feel stranded.
From a business standpoint, the size of the ecosystem is actually an advantage if you use it right. In Vancouver or Toronto, you can attend meetups for years and never meet a decision-maker. In Victoria, you’ll run into the same 200 people at Fort Tectoria, at KWENCH, at Discover Tectoria, at the same three coffee shops. Within two years of showing up consistently, you’ll know most of the founders and executives in town by first name. That density of relationships is hard to manufacture in a bigger city.
The flip side is that there’s nowhere to hide. If you burn a bridge, everyone knows by Friday. That keeps people honest and collaborative in a way that larger, more anonymous ecosystems don’t.
I could have moved Plurilock to Vancouver or Toronto at several points. The math never made sense. Victoria’s tech sector offers a talent pipeline from UVic that’s real, operating costs lower than Vancouver, and the quality of life is the single best recruiting pitch I have for senior hires who are tired of big-city grind. If you’re weighing Victoria vs Vancouver for a tech company, that combination is hard to replicate.
Victoria’s Tech Ecosystem by the Numbers
According to VIATEC’s 2023 Economic Impact Study (released June 2024), Greater Victoria’s tech sector now includes:
- 1,100+ companies across software, clean tech, digital media, and defence
- 20,000+ employees (up from 16,775 in 2017)
- $5.9B in direct annual revenue
- $7.8B total economic impact (including ~$1.9B indirect)
- More than 50% growth in total economic impact since 2017
VIATEC’s strategic goal is $10B in annual tech revenues by 2030. Given the trajectory, that’s ambitious but not fantasy.
The ecosystem here is dense enough to be useful and small enough that you can actually get to know people. It’s not Vancouver, and it’s not trying to be.
Victoria’s Tech Community Hub: YYJTech Slack
Start here. The YYJTech Slack is the closest thing Victoria has to a tech town square. Sign up at yyj-tech.ca.
The workspace is active, with channel stewards keeping discussions on track. The #job-postings channel alone is worth joining for. If you’re new to town, introduce yourself in #general. People actually respond.
Other communities worth joining:
| Community | What It Is | How to Join |
|---|---|---|
| OpenHack Victoria | Weekly hack night, all skill levels. One of Victoria’s longest-running tech meetups (~10 years) | Meetup. Every Tuesday, 6pm at James Joyce Bistro (1175 Douglas St) |
| Victoria Data Society | Data and AI community. 900+ members. Co-hosted the sold-out Prompt Victoria AI Conference. Runs “Data & Beer” socials and “Data Talks” series | victoriadatasociety.ca |
What’s gone: IGDA Victoria (no events since 2018), Victoria Web & App Developers (Meetup deleted), UX Socials (dormant since 2022), and YYJ Tech Ladies (folded, domain expired). The community has consolidated around YYJTech Slack, OpenHack, and the newer Victoria Data Society.
Tech Events and Conferences in Victoria
Victoria’s event calendar has matured significantly. The big development is Victoria Tech Week, a decentralized multi-venue format (inspired by Boulder and Seattle Tech Week) that launched in November 2025.
Key annual events:
| Event | When | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Victoria Tech Week | November | Multi-day, multi-venue format across downtown Victoria |
| Discover Tectoria | November (part of Tech Week) | 75+ companies, Crystal Garden venue, free admission, 10am-5pm |
| Prompt Victoria AI Conference | November (part of Tech Week) | AI-focused conference, launched 2025. Sold out in its first year |
| VIATEC Awards | May | 23rd annual in 2025. 120+ nominees, 600+ attendees. The tech community’s big night |
| VIPSS | March | Victoria International Privacy & Security Summit. 28th annual in 2026. 60+ international speakers on privacy, cybersecurity, and AI |
| Douglas 10 to Watch | April | Douglas Magazine’s annual awards. More than half of 2025 winners were tech companies |
| BattleSnake | Ongoing | Community-run competitive programming. Leaderboards and tournaments year-round |
| UVic Hi-Tech Career Fair | February + October | In-person, CS and engineering students. Good for hiring co-op talent |
| Quantum Days 2026 | February 18-20 | Canada’s flagship quantum technology conference. Victoria Conference Centre. Researchers, startups, policymakers |
| Western Angel Investment Summit | February 19-20 | 7th annual. Angel investors and founders. Victoria |
What’s gone: Startup Slam hasn’t run since 2020 and appears defunct.
What’s changed: BattleSnake started as a side event from local company Sendwithus/Dyspatch, spun out as its own company, and transitioned to community-run in 2026. Discover Tectoria moved from spring to November as part of Tech Week. And Prompt Victoria added a dedicated AI conference track to Tech Week’s lineup.
Tech Job Boards in Victoria BC
If you’re looking for tech jobs in Victoria, BC, these four boards cover the market:
| Board | What It Is | Link |
|---|---|---|
| vic-startup-jobs (GitHub) | Community-maintained list of 50+ companies. 310 stars. Less actively updated since 2024, but still a useful directory of who’s hiring locally | github.com/sendwithus/vic-startup-jobs |
| VIATEC Job Board | Most-visited VIATEC page. $125 members / $250 non-members. Included in “The Loop” newsletter (4,000+ subscribers) | viatec.ca/jobs |
| BCtechjobs.ca | 25+ years running. Provincial scope with Victoria filter | bctechjobs.ca |
| YYJTech Slack #job-postings | Informal but active channel | yyj-tech.ca |
For salary benchmarks, I put together a YYJ Tech Compensation Survey a few years back. The numbers are dated now, but the methodology and company participation give you a sense of the market.
Co-op tips, who hires juniors, and salary data: Tech Jobs & Internships in Victoria BC
Newsletters worth subscribing to:
| Newsletter | What It Covers | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Victoria Tech Journal | Victoria-specific tech news, startup profiles, funding stories. Weekly. Part of the Overstory Media Group (same parent as Capital Daily) | victechjournal.com |
| VIATEC “The Loop” | Weekly e-bulletin. Events, job postings, member spotlights. 4,000+ subscribers | viatec.ca/e-bulletin |
| Vancouver Tech Journal | BC-wide tech news. 24K subscribers. Founded by William Johnson, now edited by Kate Wilson | vantechjournal.com |
Coworking Spaces in Victoria BC
Victoria has a strong coworking scene with 10+ verified spaces as of February 2026.
| Space | Address | Vibe |
|---|---|---|
| Watershed | 500-1112 Fort St, 5th floor | Top-rated. Herman Miller chairs, Jazz coffee + Phillips beer on tap |
| KWENCH (Fort) | 843 Fort St | Original location. 60 social desks, 15 dedicated, 2 meeting rooms |
| Fort Tectoria | 777 Fort St | VIATEC’s tech hub. Four-storey 1909 red brick building |
| The Dock | 722 Cormorant St | Social impact focus. Scale Collaborative owned |
The Fort Street corridor between Cook and Quadra is where the density is: KWENCH, Watershed, Fort Tectoria, and Space Station are all within a few blocks of each other.
All 10+ spaces reviewed with pricing and wifi details: Where to Work in Victoria BC
Public Companies Based in Victoria
Victoria’s public company list is small but worth knowing.
| Company | Ticker | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Vecima Networks | TSX: VCM | Broadband access, video streaming, telematics. ~563 employees. Serves 140+ MSOs worldwide |
| Tiny Ltd | TSX: TINY | Andrew Wilkinson’s tech holding company (Dribbble, WeCommerce). Graduated from TSXV to TSX in October 2025 |
| ALUULA Composites | TSXV: AUUA | Ultra-light composite materials. Partnerships with Michelin and Airseas. ~20 employees |
| Plurilock Security | TSXV: PLUR | Cybersecurity and IT solutions. Clients include U.S. Cyber Command, NASDAQ-listed enterprises |
| Vitalist Inc | TSXV: VITA | Smart wearables and connected health (Motorola brand). Founded by Victoria-based Connor Tobin |
Most Victoria tech companies stay private or get acquired before they’d consider going public.
Notable Companies and Studios
Beyond the public companies, Victoria has a deep bench of private tech companies. This isn’t exhaustive, but these are the names you’ll hear in conversation:
| Company | Focus |
|---|---|
| AOT Technologies | AI, software, cloud. Great Place to Work certified |
| MetaLab | UI/UX design. Clients: Uber, Slack, Amazon, Apple, Google |
| Reliable Controls | Building automation. Global customer base |
| Redbrick | Software development. Based at 1515 Douglas |
| AggregateIQ | Digital advertising and software |
| Rooof | Property management marketing (multifamily) |
| Stocksy United | Artist-owned stock media co-op |
| StarFish Medical | Medical device design and development |
| Dyspatch | Email platform (formerly Sendwithus). Origin of BattleSnake |
| MarineLabs | Coastal intelligence. Real-time ocean data from sensor networks in 16+ countries |
| Open Ocean Robotics | Autonomous solar-powered marine vessels for ocean monitoring |
| Sepura Home | Kitchen food waste composters. Consumer hardware breakout |
| Solaires | Next-gen solar panel technology |
| Joni | Period care and fertility. B Corp certified (a third-party certification for companies meeting high social and environmental standards) |
| Pani Energy | AI-driven water treatment optimization |
| Certn | Background screening. $114M in VC raised, 314 employees. BC’s fastest-growing company (2022) |
| Barnacle Systems | Marine monitoring hardware. Coast Guard contract. VIATEC Employer of the Year 2025 |
| Niricson | Infrastructure inspection via drones. UVic spinoff. VIATEC Company of the Year 2025 |
| VoxCell BioInnovation | Human tissue models for drug testing. UVic spinoff |
| Iris Dynamics | Haptic motors and motion platforms. Scaling from defence and simulation |
| Shift | Customizable browser. 60+ employees in Victoria |
| Audette | Building decarbonization. VIATEC Startup of the Year 2022 |
| Worldline | Payments processing. 150+ employees, Victoria HQ. Lineage traces back to Beanstream, a Victoria startup acquired three times |
| Flytographer | Travel photography marketplace. Founded by Nicole Smith |
Sector clusters: Victoria’s most distinctive vertical is ocean tech, and it’s not an accident. CFB Esquimalt anchors one side with Canada’s Pacific naval fleet and submarine maintenance infrastructure. On the other side, UVic’s Ocean Networks Canada operates NEPTUNE and VENUS, the world’s largest cabled deep-sea observatories, from Patricia Bay. The COAST Hub at 517 Herald Street runs Blue Action Canada, the country’s first ocean tech accelerator. MarineLabs, Open Ocean Robotics, and Barnacle Systems all grew out of this ecosystem where naval requirements, university research, and startup innovation overlap. Game studios include Blue Wizard Digital, Codename Entertainment, KIXEYE, DoubleJump, Hololabs, and Kano. Cleantech (Solaires, Pani, Joni) and consumer hardware (Sepura Home) are emerging clusters getting regular coverage in the Victoria Tech Journal.
Enterprise branch offices: Victoria also hosts offices from major IT consulting and tech firms. Schneider Electric runs an R&D centre in Saanichton with roughly 350 employees (originally Power Measurement, a Victoria company). IBM operates a software development lab on Douglas Street. Workday has a dedicated office at 1515 Douglas. NTT DATA (formerly Sierra Systems, which was actually founded in Victoria) is on Courtney Street. CGI, Deloitte, EY, KPMG, PwC, Accenture, and Fujitsu all maintain Victoria offices. And TELUS Ocean, a 10-storey, 154,000 sqft building at 767 Douglas, is opening mid-2026 with 250+ employees and room to grow to 450.
Government and Crown corp employers: Victoria’s biggest tech employers aren’t startups. ICBC runs major software and data operations here. Connected Services BC, the province’s consolidated IT organization (formed October 2025 by merging all ministry IT branches), is likely the single largest IT employer in the city. BC Ferries has its corporate IT headquartered here. BC Transit, BC Pension Corporation, BCI, and Maximus Canada (which operates Health Insurance BC for 4+ million British Columbians) all run tech teams out of Victoria. These organizations anchor the job market and provide stability that pure-startup ecosystems don’t have.
Notable Exits and Acquisitions
Victoria companies do get acquired. Here are the exits worth knowing about:
| Company | Acquirer | Year | What Happened |
|---|---|---|---|
| AbeBooks | Amazon | 2008 | Online rare/used book marketplace. Still operates from Victoria with ~100 employees. Amazon’s most hands-off acquisition |
| Latitude Geographics | Battery Ventures / VertiGIS | 2017/2019 | GIS/mapping software (Geocortex). Battery acquired in 2017, folded into VertiGIS brand in 2019 |
| Tutela Technologies | Comlinkdata | 2019 | Wireless analytics. 300M+ smartphone panel. Team stayed in Victoria |
| Pretio Interactive | Bold Collective | 2021 | Ad tech, ML personalization. Now operates as Opn Media division |
| FreshWorks Studio | EY | 2022 | Design and dev consulting, 108 employees. Built BC’s Vaccine Card Verifier. Now EY Design Studio |
| Checkfront | Vertica Capital Partners | 2023 | Booking platform. Merged with Rezdy + Regiondo under Expedition Software Holding |
| Redlen Technologies | Canon (Japan) | 2021 | CZT semiconductor detectors. CAD $341M, the largest disclosed Victoria exit. Saanichton-based |
| STN Video (fka SendtoNews) | Minute Media | 2024 | Sports content distribution. ~US$150M |
| KIXEYE | Stillfront (Sweden) | 2019 | Gaming studio. US$90M+. Victoria became HQ after SF office closed |
| Echosec Systems | Flashpoint | 2022 | OSINT (open-source intelligence) platform. ~$30-40M |
| GenoLogics | Illumina | 2015 | Genomics LIMS software (Clarity LIMS). 120+ labs worldwide. Saanich-based, still operates as Illumina division |
| Metalhead Software | EA Sports | 2021 | Super Mega Baseball studio. 21 employees. Capital Daily called it “proof that large companies see Victoria as viable” |
| Cuboh | ChowNow | 2024 | Restaurant order consolidation. Y Combinator 2019 alum. Founder Juan Orrego made Forbes 30 Under 30 |
| MazumaGo | Baseline Payments | 2022 | B2B payments fintech |
AbeBooks is the one everyone cites. Acquired in 2008, still running independently from Victoria with roughly the same team size. It’s proof that getting acquired doesn’t necessarily mean getting absorbed into a Bay Area headquarters.
Key Tech Offices and Hubs
Victoria’s tech companies cluster in a few areas:
Fort Street Corridor (between Cook and Quadra): The densest concentration of tech. Fort Tectoria (777 Fort), KWENCH (843 Fort), Watershed (1112 Fort), Space Station (517 Fort), and Plurilock (702 Fort) are all here. If Victoria has a “tech district,” this is it.
1515 Douglas Street (The Rotunda): A LEED Platinum (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, the top green building certification) Class AA building that pre-leased 50,000 sqft to tech firms. Home to Redbrick, Introba, and Deloitte among others.
Store Street / Herald Street: The newer frontier. KWENCH’s 25,000 sqft flagship (2031 Store St), Victopia (1824 Store St), and the COAST Hub (517 Herald St) anchor the area. COAST is the Centre for Ocean Applied Sustainable Technologies, home to Blue Action Canada’s ocean tech accelerator and a growing cluster of marine technology companies.
Owen Matthews buildings: 838 Fort St (check out the helicopter in the lobby), 1019 Fort St, and 1124 Vancouver St house a mix of portfolio companies and rentable offices.
Victoria’s Tech Talent Pipeline
Victoria’s tech workforce draws from three institutions. UVic is the primary feeder, with 56% of students participating in co-op placements and 70% graduating with a job offer in hand. Camosun College produces certificate and diploma-level technicians in IT, cybersecurity, and network technology. Royal Roads University offers graduate programs for working professionals.
Co-op tips, salary data, and who hires juniors: Tech Jobs & Internships in Victoria BC
Government, Defence, and Ocean Science
CFB Esquimalt is the anchor institution that makes Victoria’s tech ecosystem different from every other mid-size Canadian city. It produces two distinct but connected clusters: defence technology and ocean technology.
The defence side: Victoria is home to Canada’s Pacific naval base and Seaspan Victoria Shipyards, the country’s largest west coast ship repair facility ($185M in modernization investment, strategic partner under the National Shipbuilding Strategy). Canada’s submarine fleet drives the contractor ecosystem. Babcock Canada leads “Team Victoria-Class,” a 500+ person partnership (with Seaspan and BMT) maintaining Canada’s four Victoria-Class submarines. Thales Canada builds combat management systems and sonar. Lockheed Martin Canada runs marine warfare systems integration. As Canada evaluates its next-generation submarine program, Victoria is positioning as the country’s Pacific defence technology hub.
The ocean science side: UVic’s Ocean Networks Canada operates NEPTUNE and VENUS, the world’s largest cabled deep-sea observatory systems, monitoring the northeast Pacific from seafloor sensors to satellite. The Institute of Ocean Sciences (DFO) is in nearby Sidney. UVic’s School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Centre for Advanced Materials and Related Technology, and engineering programs produce graduates who feed directly into both the defence contractors and the civilian ocean tech companies. The COAST Hub at 517 Herald Street connects these worlds, running Blue Action Canada (the country’s first ocean tech accelerator), the annual COAST Pitchfest, and providing wet lab and prototyping space for marine startups.
Where the two sides meet: Defence needs autonomous surveillance, environmental monitoring, and underwater sensing. Ocean tech startups build exactly those things. MarineLabs’ coastal intelligence network, Open Ocean Robotics’ autonomous vessels (recently testing port security at Prince Rupert in a $1.7M initiative), and Barnacle Systems’ remote monitoring hardware all serve both commercial and defence customers. This is not a coincidence. It’s the same harbour, the same research university, and increasingly the same procurement pipeline.
DRDC (Defence Research and Development Canada) maintains a materials laboratory in the Esquimalt Dockyard, though the full research centre closed in 1994.
For founders in defence and security, the concentration of naval operations, prime contractors, ocean scientists, and procurement officers is something most Canadian cities outside Ottawa and Halifax simply don’t have. The federal government’s “Buy Canadian” procurement push is only strengthening this advantage.
The Scaling Challenge
Victoria’s tech ecosystem has a talent problem, but it’s not the one most people assume.
Engineering talent is fine. UVic’s co-op pipeline is strong, remote hiring has matured, and most technical roles can be filled if you’re patient. The real bottleneck is everything else: sales, marketing, and product management. When a company needs to move beyond founder-led sales, which is the transition that separates a 15-person startup from a 100-person growth company, the local talent pool is thin. Victoria produces great engineers and designers. It does not produce a deep bench of enterprise sales leaders or product managers with scaling experience. You end up recruiting from Vancouver or Toronto, and convincing a VP of Sales to move to an island is a different pitch than convincing a developer.
Then there’s affordability, and I’ll be blunt about this because I lived it. Plurilock scaled our team in Victoria, and then we watched a chunk of our workforce leave during COVID. Not because they didn’t like the company or the city, but because they couldn’t afford it. Victoria’s housing costs have pushed working professionals to the margins, literally. A recent CEO meetup I attended had a telling moment: we went around the room and realized most of us were commuting from the West Shore or Oak Bay. Downtown Victoria, the Fort Street corridor I just spent several sections celebrating, is not the daily hub it was five years ago for the people running these companies.
This isn’t fatal. Victoria still works for a certain kind of company: one that can recruit nationally for key roles, doesn’t need a massive local sales floor, and can offer the quality-of-life pitch as a genuine recruiting advantage. But if your growth plan requires hiring 30 salespeople in 18 months, you’re going to hit a wall here that you wouldn’t hit in Toronto or Vancouver.
The ecosystem knows this. Nobody at VIATEC will pretend otherwise if you ask directly. The question is whether the next wave of growth addresses the gap or whether Victoria stays a city that’s excellent for building products and difficult for scaling go-to-market teams.
Where Victoria’s Tech Community Hangs Out
You need to know where people work from. Victoria’s independent coffee scene is strong, and several spots have become unofficial tech offices.
- Habit Coffee (522 Pandora Ave) – Spacious, multiple seating areas. Popular with creative professionals
- Union Pacific Coffee (537 Herald St) – A Victoria staple for remote workers. In the historic Hart’s Block building
- Discovery Coffee (various locations including Blanshard) – Local roaster, solid spot to post up
Full coffee shop guide plus coworking reviews: Where to Work in Victoria BC
TL;DR: Quick Reference
If you skimmed everything above, here’s the cheat sheet:
- Join first: YYJTech Slack (the town square)
- Find jobs: vic-startup-jobs (startups) or VIATEC (established companies). See also: Tech Jobs & Internships Guide
- Go to: Victoria Tech Week in November, OpenHack every Tuesday
- Work from: KWENCH, Watershed, or Fort Tectoria on the Fort Street corridor. See also: Where to Work Guide
- Know the numbers: 1,100+ companies, 20,000+ employees, $7.8B economic impact
- Meet people: Show up. The ecosystem is small enough that consistent presence at 2-3 events will connect you to most of the community within a few months
Frequently Asked Questions
How big is Victoria’s tech sector compared to Vancouver?
Victoria has 1,100+ companies and 20,000+ employees contributing $7.8B in total economic impact. Vancouver is 5-6x larger. But per capita, Victoria punches well above its weight, and the density means you’re more likely to actually meet the founders and executives running things here. In Vancouver, you can attend meetups for years without meeting a CEO. In Victoria, you’ll sit next to one at Fort Tectoria’s lobby on a random Wednesday.
What are Victoria’s strongest tech verticals?
Enterprise software, ocean tech, defence, game development (half a dozen studios), clean tech, and cybersecurity. Ocean tech and defence are two sides of the same anchor institution: CFB Esquimalt provides the naval operations, UVic’s Ocean Networks Canada provides the science (operating the world’s largest cabled deep-sea observatories), and the COAST Hub connects startups to both. MarineLabs, Open Ocean Robotics, and Barnacle Systems all serve commercial and defence customers from this ecosystem. You won’t find that combination anywhere else in Canada.
Is Victoria good for remote workers?
Yes. Victoria BC is one of Canada’s best cities for remote tech work, with 10+ coworking spaces, reliable coffee shop wifi, and a lifestyle built around ocean, mountains, and a bike-commutable downtown. The YYJTech Slack connects you to the local tech scene without requiring you to work at a Victoria-based company. For workspace details, see our Where to Work in Victoria BC guide.
What funding resources exist for Victoria startups?
Victoria, BC founders typically access capital through angel investors (see my guide to meeting angel investors without a network), SR&ED tax credits (the Scientific Research and Experimental Development program, Canada’s federal R&D tax incentive that refunds 15-35% of eligible spending), and Vancouver-based VCs. Locally, Cindicates is an early-stage VC fund based in Victoria with an ESG focus. CDL’s Vancouver cohort (my review here) is the accelerator most relevant to Victoria founders. There’s also the question of why investors invest in the first place, which is worth understanding before you start pitching.
How do I get involved in Victoria’s tech community?
Join the YYJTech Slack first. That’s the town square. Then show up to OpenHack on a Tuesday night and introduce yourself. Attend Victoria Tech Week in November. If you’re consistent about showing up to 2-3 events per month, you’ll know most of the active community within a few months. Victoria is small enough that presence compounds fast.
Are there defence tech opportunities in Victoria?
Yes, and it’s broader than people think. CFB Esquimalt houses Canada’s Pacific naval fleet, Seaspan Victoria Shipyards runs $185M in modernization, and prime contractors (Babcock, Thales, Lockheed Martin) maintain submarines and build combat systems on-site. But the ocean tech cluster is the other half of the story: UVic’s Ocean Networks Canada operates the world’s largest cabled deep-sea observatories, the COAST Hub runs Canada’s first ocean tech accelerator, and companies like MarineLabs and Open Ocean Robotics serve both commercial and defence customers. For founders building maritime or defence technology, the proximity to naval operations, university research, prime contractors, and ocean tech startups is a combination only Victoria offers. I wrote about the broader Canadian innovation policy landscape including defence priorities.
How do I get to Victoria BC?
Victoria is on Vancouver Island, accessible by ferry, floatplane, helicopter, or flight. BC Ferries runs the main vehicle/passenger route from Tsawwassen (90 minutes). Harbour Air floatplanes fly downtown-to-downtown in 35 minutes. For Seattle, the Clipper ferry runs seasonally. See our complete Getting To & From Victoria BC guide for all routes, costs, and booking tips.
Related Reading
- Creative Destruction Labs: An Honest Review – The no-equity accelerator with a Vancouver cohort
- Meeting Angel Investors in a New City (Without a Network) – What I learned fundraising in Victoria and Vancouver
- SR&ED Loans Overview – The federal R&D tax credit most founders underuse
- Innovation Policy in Canada: A Practitioner’s Perspective – Defence, cyber, and Canada’s tech sovereignty challenge
- A Decade in Review: 2010-2020 – My first ten years building in Victoria
Get in Touch
Visiting Victoria for a conference or business trip? Check out our Executive Visitor’s Guide to Victoria BC for hotel, restaurant, and insider recommendations.
I’m always happy to talk shop with people building in Victoria’s tech scene. If you have questions this guide didn’t answer, or if you spot something out of date, reach out.
- Join the community: YYJTech Slack
- Connect: LinkedIn
- Follow along: Subscribe to my newsletter for updates on this guide and other writing about building tech companies in Canada
Last updated: February 2026. I refresh this guide quarterly.