Journeyman Electrician

Jetson raises $50-million USD Series A to heat more homes efficiently. Vancouver-based home electrification startup Jetson has raised $50 million USD ($69 million CAD) in Series A financing as it looks to sell more energy-saving electric heat pumps across North America. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Eclipse Capital, which backed Canadian-founded chipmaker Tenstorrent, led the round, which Jetson announced today. US investors 8VC and Activate Capital also participated, alongside returning backers Kitchener-Waterloo-based Garage Capital and Vancouver climate tech fund Active Impact. According to The Globe & Mail, Jetson is now bringing in more than $4 million CAD in monthly revenue after officially launching its "smart" heat pump in September. Jetson's flagship product, Jetson Air, is pitched as a replacement for polluting gas furnaces and a way to reduce home electricity costs. The pump connects with a home's existing ductwork to regulate home temperature, and gives customers real-time performance alerts and indoor air quality sensing through a mobile app. The company claims the pumps can operate quietly and reliably in temperatures as low as -30° C. Jetson was founded by Lake, Matthew Bailey, Aaron Grant, and other leaders behind the smart glasses startup North (acquired by Google in 2020). Its leadership team worked for Google out of Kitchener, Ont., for years before reconnecting to start Jetson in 2024. The company was featured in BetaKit's Most Ambitious issue in 2025 for its goal of making "a big dent in climate change" by transitioning homes to electric heating. Jetson has customers in Massachusetts, Colorado, New York, and British Columbia. "This funding will help us quickly bring this experience to more homeowners across the US and Canada," co-founder and CEO Stephen Lake said in a press release today. Energy used for heating accounts for 16 percent of all energy used in Canada, and 13 percent of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Canada Energy Regulator. In the US, nearly 20 percent of overall energy consumption came from the residential sector in 2024.

Canadian-led Quilt brings its smart heat pumps north. California-based Quilt, co-founded by Canadian CEO Paul Lambert, is coming full circle by launching its heat pumps in Canada. The startup says there is "enthusiastic demand" for heat pumps from Canadian homeowners and contractors. Quilt's pumps are now available in Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba, and British Columbia, marking its first international expansion. While Quilt had already made its way into 14 US states since its launch last year, the startup said there is "enthusiastic demand" for heat pumps from Canadian homeowners and contractors as the technology gains ground in markets across the country. Instead of generating heat with a gas furnace, electric heat pumps move existing heat from a warmer source to a cooler source. This cools or warms a home in the desired direction while using less energy. Energy used for heating accounts for 16 percent of all energy used in Canada, and 13 percent of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Canada Energy Regulator. Quilt claims its heat pumps, designed by former Google, Apple, and Nest engineers, are built to perform in temperatures as low as - 25°C. Quilt touts aesthetically customizable indoor heat pumps ("like built-in cabinetry," according to a fact sheet) that can control temperature room-by-room through an app. "Growing up in Alberta, talk of both energy and extreme weather was ever-present - and these formative experiences helped shape the creation of Quilt," Lambert said in a statement. Quilt "made sure it works in extreme cold - and extreme heat - so it can stand up to real Canadian conditions both today and in the years to come." Quilt has raised over $40 million USD to date, with backing from Google's Gradient Ventures, Kitchener-Waterloo's Garage Capital, and real estate television personality Drew Scott, better known as one of the "Property Brothers." Drew and his brother Jonathan have invested in Canadian tech before, taking a stake in Toronto-based Properly before it was acquired by Pine. Quilt isn't the only startup that sees demand for heat pumps. Vancouver-based startup Jetson, founded by the team behind smart glasses startup North, also launched its own "smart" heat pump in September. The software-enabled unit also features remote monitoring, real-time performance alerts, over-the-air updates, and indoor air quality sensing.

Jetson's Stephen Lake named to TIME100 Climate for clean-tech leadership. Canadian entrepreneur Stephen Lake has been named to the TIME100 Climate, a global list recognizing influential leaders driving business action on climate change. As governments have retreated from climate-focused legislation in 2025, TIME notes that business leaders are increasingly stepping up to fill the void. Around the world, innovators, executives, and researchers are accelerating the transition to a low-carbon future - and Lake is among them. Lake is the co-founder and CEO of Jetson, a Vancouver-based startup making home electrification more affordable and accessible. The company has developed technology that cuts the cost of heat pump installation roughly in half by streamlining assessments and eliminating unnecessary markups. In September, Jetson launched its Jetson Air system - billed as the industry's first fully integrated smart home heat pump platform. "The biggest thing governments could do is stop spending billions on subsidies and incentives that prop up fossil fuels at a low cost, and instead start investing that money in clean energy initiatives, such as residential electric heating and cooling," Lake told TIME. "If the easiest and most affordable choice for a family or business is also the climate-smart one, people will naturally make that switch." This marks Lake's second major recognition from TIME this year. Earlier in October, Jetson Air was named one of the Best Inventions of 2025 for tackling one of the biggest barriers to heat pump adoption - high installation costs - by leveraging remote project assessments and completing installs in a single day. Lake, previously known as the co-founder of North, the Canadian smart-glasses startup acquired by Google, is once again putting Canadian innovation on the global stage - this time in the fight against climate change.