Credit: Justin Kung and Megan Wu from The Creative Solution
Gumloop, a company that began as a side project in a Mount Pleasant condo, returned to the same neighbourhood on Thursday with a packed room and a clear vision: they’re back, and ready to be part of a builder-led renaissance in Vancouver. Fresh off a recent momentum, the team announced their new Vancouver office and celebrated by co-hosting a demo night with Shopify, Cohere, and North House.
The founders, Max Brodeur-Urbas and Rahul Behal, were accepted into Y Combinator’s Winter ’24 batch; since then the tool has become a connective tissue powering automation inside companies like Shopify, Instacart, Webflow, GitHub, Gmail, Slack, Notion, Google Sheets and many more.
For a company whose success has been driven by sharp technical execution, building in Vancouver is equal parts nostalgic and strategic.
Credit: Justin Kung and Megan Wu from The Creative Solution
Their timing fits a larger pattern happening. Vancouver’s tech workforce has grown more than 30 percent in five years, one of the fastest growth rates in North America. The city now ranks among Canada’s top three AI hubs, with some of the highest concentrations of AI-skilled talent in the country (CBRE 2025 Tech Talent Report, AI Skills Index, 2025).
Gumloops’ founder Max shared, “The talent in Vancouver was too good to pass up. A big part of our team is Canadian, we love this city, and it became obvious that staying in Vancouver was the right move. If we want the best people to help Gumloop grow, this is where we need to be.”
Their first event back, a demo night at North House, hosted more than 200+ people and set the tone for the type of community they’re choosing to build in. This is why places like North House matter. Even in its first week, the space already feels like an engine for early-stage momentum.
Credit: Justin Kung and Megan Wu from The Creative Solution
The Demo Lineup
There were five demo’s that filled the night. Builders walked to the front of the room, opened their laptops and showed what they’ve been working on and practical snapshots of automation being used in the real world.
Cohere’s Chantal Chan, who demo’d North, the company’s new AI agent capable of navigating file operations and multi-step tasks with clean transparency and no theatrics.
Nathan Ngai from Arkhet.co demoed a new approach to visual prompting for frontend development.
Rahul Agarwal, founder of Soch, a personalized content platform that adapts to user interests through features like audio summaries, and dynamic feed shaping.
Samim Saffaei, founder of Sift AI, showcased a “founder intelligence” system designed to democratize insights usually hidden inside accelerators letting early-stage builders map problems, validate solutions, and structure strategy.
And to close the night, Gumloop’s own Brodeur-Urbas took the stage. He shared how the company has come full circle: from sitting in Yaletown Brewing brainstorming ideas, to moving to San Francisco for YC, to returning now with a platform used globally and a Vancouver office that overlooks the same streets where the idea first formed.
Through this night it’s clear that Vancouver is not only capable of producing world-class AI companies, it’s becoming a place where those companies come back to accelerate. Rooms like this, packed with engineers, repeat founders, and hands-on builders are shaping the city’s next chapter.
“It’s amazing how many full-circle moments this week has held,” said Brodeur-Urbas. “Our new office sits across from Yaletown Brewing, where Rahul and I grabbed our first beer together after we met. Coming back to Vancouver with a team and real momentum feels surreal. Everyone is excited, it feels like returning to the place that set things into motion.”
Credit: Justin Kung and Megan Wu from The Creative Solution
What happened in that room highlighted a strong theme: people who are hungry to do the work, who care about building tools to solve real problems, and being a community that succeeds together.
Gumloop is currently hiring for multiple roles in its new Vancouver office and plans to host more events throughout 2026, creating space for local builders to demo, connect, and shape the city’s tech identity. The momentum is accelerating. The builders are here. And now, the companies are coming home too.