# Ottawa buys into Cohere, Rogers fined $15 million, and DoorDash bids for Instacart > Ottawa commits up to $1.6 billion to Cohere, a tribunal penalizes Rogers over 'unlimited' ads, DoorDash wants Instacart, and students get a free year of Gemini. - Published: 2026-10-30T11:00:00.000Z - By: The Circuit Staff - Type: Daily Briefing - Topics: Daily Briefing, AI, Telecom, Startups - URL: https://thecircuit.ca/posts/2026-10-30-briefing/ Here's what happened in tech yesterday. ## 1. Ottawa takes a stake in Cohere The federal government will invest up to $1.6 billion in Toronto's Cohere through the Canada Development Investment Corporation, as part of a Series E of up to $7 billion that would be the largest funding round in Canadian startup history, [BetaKit reports](https://betakit.com/canada-to-invest-up-to-1-6-billion-in-ai-firm-cohere/). The Logic puts Cohere's valuation at [$35.7 billion](https://thelogic.co/news/cohere-raises-7-billion-ai/). Germany's Schwarz Group is leading the round. In return, Cohere must stay headquartered in Canada, create more than 1,000 tech jobs here and spend $1.7 billion on Canadian computing infrastructure by 2030. "Now, Canada has a stake in it," Prime Minister Mark Carney said. **Why it matters:** It's a direct federal stake in one company, and AI Minister Evan Solomon says [it won't be the last](https://betakit.com/cohere-deal-wont-be-last-time-feds-take-stake-in-canadian-tech-companies-ai-minister-says/). ## 2. Rogers ordered to pay $15 million over "unlimited" ads The Competition Tribunal ruled that Rogers misled customers by advertising its Infinite plans as unlimited data when speeds drop sharply after a set amount, the [Competition Bureau says](https://www.canada.ca/en/competition-bureau/news/2026/10/statement-from-the-interim-commissioner-of-competition-following-the-competition-tribunals-ruling-in-the-rogers-deceptive-marketing-case.html). Rogers must also publish a corrective notice and pay the Bureau's legal costs. It says it stands behind its advertising and is considering its next steps, [MobileSyrup reports](https://mobilesyrup.com/2026/10/29/rogers-competition-tribunal-fine-deceptive-ads/). **Why it matters:** The tribunal didn't order refunds. But Bell, Telus and Freedom also sell "unlimited" plans that slow down, so expect the word to be used more carefully. ## 3. DoorDash agrees to buy Instacart for about $17 billion USD DoorDash will pay $65 USD a share, about $17 billion USD (about $24 billion CAD), [it announced](https://about.doordash.com/en-us/news/doordash-to-acquire-instacart). The deal needs clearance under Canada's Competition Act, among other approvals, and isn't expected to close until the end of 2027 or the first half of 2028. **Why it matters:** Both companies deliver groceries across Canada, so the Competition Bureau's review will decide how much choice Canadians keep. ## 4. Telesat warns about its debt Telesat reported a third-quarter loss of $157 million on revenue down 20%, and said more than $2 billion of debt comes due between December and October 2027, [BetaKit reports](https://betakit.com/telesat-posts-q3-losses-as-satellite-company-offers-no-assurances-on-ability-to-pay-back-debt/). Its filing says there's "no assurance" its plans to deal with it will succeed. **Why it matters:** Telesat is building Lightspeed, a 225-satellite network ([as we noted Monday](https://thecircuit.ca/posts/2026-10-26-briefing/)), so its finances matter for Canada's space ambitions. ## 5. Post-secondary students get a year of Gemini free Google is offering Canadian university students 18 and older a free year of its Google AI Plus plan if they sign up by Dec. 31, according to [Google's student page](https://gemini.google/ca/students/?hl=en-CA). Students verify their status through SheerID, [MobileSyrup reports](https://mobilesyrup.com/2026/10/29/gemini-free-one-year-canada-post-secondary-students/). **Why it matters:** It renews automatically after the year, so set a reminder to cancel if you don't want to pay. --- **One more thing:** A fully loaded Mac Studio, with 512GB of memory and 16TB of storage, costs $44,898.98 in Canada, [MobileSyrup worked out](https://mobilesyrup.com/2026/10/29/fully-specd-mac-studio-canada/). The memory upgrade alone is $23,250.