Tank Talks By Ripple Ventures

AI demand is booming. So why is John Ruffolo watching the bond market? Welcome back to another news roundup on Tank Talks! Matt Cohen and John Ruffolo dig into the money behind the artificial intelligence boom, and whether the companies building it can make the numbers work. From Anthropic’s proposed $10 billion Nova Scotia data center campus to CoreWeave’s debt pressures and the race between Open...

In this episode of Tank Talks, host Matt Cohen sits down with Shomik Ghosh, Partner at Sierra Ventures, to explore his unique path from the fixed income trading floor to the forefront of deep tech and hard tech investing. Shomik shares his journey from a liberal arts education to Wall Street, his pivotal role at Top Tier Capital, and his nearly six-year tenure at Boldstart Ventures, where he learn...

In this special episode of Tank Talks, recorded at NRTH Festival (formerly Elevate) in downtown Toronto, host Matt Cohen chats with three prominent investors and operators to explore the state of the Canadian tech ecosystem. Michael Garrity, retired CEO of FinanceIt and co-chair of the C100, discusses why Canadian founders need to get better at telling their stories and how the Canada Investment S...

In this episode of Tank Talks, host Matt Cohen sits down with Jonathan Rosenbluth, co-founder of Blackletter, to trace his path from a Harvard JD and McKinsey consultant to employee number 20 at Cohere, and finally to building an AI-native law firm from the ground up. Jonathan shares how a chance networking call led him to Cohere’s founders, why he chose to bet on an unproven startup over a legal...

Welcome back to another thought-provoking episode of Tank Talks! Matt Cohen is joined once again by John Ruffolo to break down the biggest stories shaping the future of technology, investing, and Canada’s economy. From the market reaction following Xanadu’s SPAC lockup expiration to the growing debate around whether Canadian pension funds are investing enough in homegrown innovation, this episode...

In this episode of Tank Talks, host Matt Cohen sits down with Henry Gould, founder of Daedal Systems, to explore his journey from a childhood fascination with physics to building the measurement infrastructure for the entire fusion energy industry. Henry shares his path from Queen’s Engineering Physics to the plasma diagnostics team at General Fusion, where he worked on the PI3 project and saw a s...

In this episode of Tank Talks, host Matt Cohen sits down with Rahul Parmar, Head of Go-to-Market at Railway and Venture Partner at Ripple Ventures, to unpack the real truths of building a sales engine in the modern AI era. Rahul shares his journey from being one of the first sales hires at Google Cloud in London to scaling Drata’s sales team from Series A to Series C, and now leading GTM at the de...

In this episode of Tank Talks, host Matt Cohen sits down with Anthony Mouchantaf, co-founder and CEO of Biossil, a biotech company on a mission to resurrect orphaned drugs using AI and a hedge fund–inspired operating model. Anthony takes us through his unconventional journey: from a law school student obsessed with Alexander Hamilton, to founding his first startup, Rthm (acquired), to investing at...

Matt Cohen and John Ruffolo break down the collapse of Canada-U.S. trade negotiations, the unanswered questions surrounding the failed deal, and whether Canada is protecting legacy industries at the expense of technology and long-term economic growth. They also examine Prime Minister Mark Carney’s ambitious pitch to bring international capital back to Canada, including billions of dollars in propo...

In this episode of Tank Talks, host Matt Cohen sits down with Chris Pronger, Hockey Hall of Famer, Norris and Hart Trophy winner, Stanley Cup champion, two-time Olympic gold medalist, and one of the NHL’s 100 greatest players. Chris takes us inside the mindset that transformed him from a booed 21-year-old in St. Louis into one of the most dominant defensemen of his generation. They break down what...

In this episode of Tank Talks, host Matt Cohen sits down with Keegan McCallum, co-founder and CEO of uRUN, an inference provider built for persistent, steerable, interactive AI experiences. Keegan’s path took him from jailbreaking iPods in Thunder Bay, Ontario, to building the infrastructure that powered Luma AI’s viral Dream Machine launch, scaling from 500 to 9,000 H100s in six hours to process...

Canada is back at the negotiating table with the U.S., looking for relief from tariffs on autos, steel, aluminum, forestry, and other goods. Matt Cohen and John Ruffolo break down the latest developments, including the possibility of a revived Keystone XL project and the concessions Canada may have to make to get a deal across the line. But John’s bigger concern is what Canada could give up in the...

In this episode of Tank Talks, host Matt Cohen sits down with Karl Holmqvist, co-founder and CEO of Lastwall, a FedRAMP-certified identity security platform built for the highest-risk use cases. Karl has been deep in cybersecurity since the 1990s, with early experience building critical infrastructure, including Canada’s first high-speed mobile data network, and a recent focus on identity security...

Canada’s venture capital market is showing signs of life, but the recovery comes with a catch: more money is flowing into fewer companies. Matt Cohen and John Ruffolo unpack what that means for Canadian founders, why promising tech companies keep getting acquired before they reach scale, and whether Canada is at risk of becoming the world’s R&D shop instead of building lasting global champions. Th...

In this episode of Tank Talks, host Matt Cohen sits down with Wayne Pommen, Chief Revenue Officer at Affirm and founder of PayBright, Canada’s first e-commerce buy now, pay later platform. Wayne shares his unlikely journey from competitive rowing, including the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race, to a PhD in international relations, Bain Consulting, and private equity at TorQuest, where a failed deal set...

In this episode of Tank Talks, host Matt Cohen sits down with Julia Maltby, a Principal at Fengate Asset Management who has lived the full venture capital lifecycle. Julia started as the first employee at Plum Alley Investments, ran partnerships at WeWork during its hyper-growth phase, spent over five years rising from Associate to Principal at Flybridge Capital, and even ran her own seed fund, De...

Everyone Has the Same AI Tools Now. So where’s the Moat? In this episode of Tank Talks, host Matt Cohen sits down with Jacob Jackson, partner at Julian Capital and founder of Deep Checks. A physicist turned SaaS founder turned deep tech investor, Jacob brings a unique perspective on the shifting landscape of venture capital. He shares his personal journey from developing MRI techniques at UBC to f...

Matt Cohen is joined by John Ruffolo for another hard-hitting Tank Talks: The Rundown, covering the biggest stories shaping Canadian technology, venture capital, defence, and artificial intelligence. They break down TouchBistro’s dramatic fall from Canadian tech darling to a roughly $100 million exit, examining how inflated valuations, founder transitions, and restrictive financing can leave a com...

In this episode of Tank Talks, host Matt Cohen sits down with Paul Ziadé, CEO and co-founder of North Vector Dynamics, a Calgary-based company building full-spectrum precision missile systems for Canada and its allies. A former tenured professor at the University of Calgary turned defence entrepreneur, Paul brings a deeply personal and historically literate perspective to the Canadian defence land...

In this special episode of Tank Talks, recorded live during Toronto Tech Week at Moomoo Canada’s flagship store in Yorkville, Matt Cohen sits down with two of venture’s sharpest data and investment minds for an unfiltered conversation on the state of private markets. Peter Walker, Senior Director of Insights at Carta, brings the hard numbers from 60,000+ companies and 3,000+ US venture funds, reve...

Canada is entering one of the most important moments in its innovation history. As global tensions rise and national security becomes a growing priority, founders, investors, and governments are being forced to rethink how Canadian defence technology is built, funded, and scaled. In this special episode of Tank Talks, host Matt Cohen steps into the guest seat as part of a live panel recording from...

In this special episode of Tank Talks, Matt Cohen brings listeners inside Toronto Tech Week with a live podcast studio recorded at the Toronto Homecoming event. This episode captures a fast-moving snapshot of the Canadian tech ecosystem through candid conversations with Boris Wertz of Version One, Lawrence Mandel and Farhan Thawar of Shopify, Ben Vinegar of Modem, Andrew Chau of Neo Financial, Fah...

In this episode of Tank Talks, recorded live at the Global Startups Conference, Matt Cohen and John Ruffolo take the stage for a wide-ranging conversation on the future of Canada’s innovation economy, the AI infrastructure race, and why this moment feels different, even if John still refuses to fully believe “this time is different.” The conversation opens with SpaceX’s historic IPO, massive valua...

In this episode of Tank Talks, Matt Cohen sits down with Michael Arbus, CEO of moomoo Canada, for a wide-ranging conversation on Wall Street trading floors, Canadian fintech, crypto regulation, AI-powered investing, and what it really takes to build and scale financial technology companies. Michael’s career has taken him from the chaos of Bay Street and Wall Street desks at firms like RBC Capital...

In this episode of Tank Talks, Matt Cohen sits down with Aidan Madigan-Curtis, Partner at Eclipse, for a sharp conversation on physical AI, frontier tech, robotics, manufacturing, and the future of building in the real world. Aidan shares her unlikely path from a small mountain town in Penticton to Harvard, Bridgewater, Apple, Samsara, and now Eclipse, where she invests at the intersection of atom...