Home hardware: Canadian founders at CES talk challenges and opportunities
BetaKit spoke with Canadian hardware founders at CES 2025, where Haply Robotics earned a Best of Innovation award for the minVerse. Co-founder Colin Gallacher discussed oversold pre-launch orders, building hardware in Canada, and why Canadian companies should aim higher than a quick exit.
Originally published on haply.co — the canonical version of this article.
Canadian hardware on the CES stage
BetaKit’s coverage of CES 2025 in Las Vegas looked at how Canadian companies secured high-profile awards at the show, even while most face hurdles building their solutions on home soil.
A Best of Innovation award for the minVerse
Haply Robotics, from Montréal, earned its own Best of Innovation award for the minVerse — a small haptic device meant to provide precise interaction in virtual environments, such as 3D modelling and animation. At $1,500, the unit is considerably more affordable than the company’s professional products (which cost as much as $7,500) and is aimed at “prosumers” who want more dexterity than the usual VR controllers and hand gestures can provide.
Haply co-founder Colin Gallacher noted that his firm had oversold pre-launch orders and anticipates a bright future for the minVerse — it’s more of an AI-driven robot than a 3D mouse, he said.
Made in Canada?
There was little doubt that the Canadian tech companies exhibiting at CES still faced an uphill battle in the global tech landscape — first and foremost with production. Gallacher noted that Haply has to outsource some elements of production, though large portions (including final assembly) take place in Canada.
Support, ambition, and the road ahead
The Canadian brands at CES shared common complaints about a lack of support: VueReal’s Park and Cobionix’s Vu argued that government support has been lacking, while VCycene’s Yin contended that Canada’s industrial infrastructure is not robust enough to back up innovative projects. Gallacher was more positive, saying investments from Canada’s Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) program dramatically eased Haply’s work.
He also suggested that Canadian companies tend to have a defeatist mindset — looking for quick exits through acquisition rather than ways to scale to the large valuations of American heavyweights — ambition that matters as the threat of steep US tariffs looms over many Canadian businesses.
Read the original coverage
This article has been condensed for relevance. Find the original article on BetaKit.