VICTORIA, BC: Victoria is getting a standing weekly night for its tech community. Tech Wednesdays, a free, open tech meetup held on the same night every week in cities across Canada and the United States, opens its Victoria chapter on Wednesday, October 28, from 6:30 to 8:30 PM at Swans Pub (506 Pandora Avenue).

Victoria opens on the same evening as Vancouver and San Francisco, joining a network that started in Edmonton and now has city leads in Calgary, Saskatchewan, Québec City and beyond.

What Tech Wednesdays is

The format is deliberately simple. It happens on the same night every week. There are no tickets, keynotes or slides, and no one is asked to pitch. Developers, founders, designers, students, investors and people who are simply curious about tech show up, say hello and ask each other what they are building.

Its model is consistency. The Edmonton flagship grew to more than 4,000 attendees by never skipping a Wednesday. The idea is that a community that meets weekly builds trust, and the relationships that follow, far faster than one that meets a few times a year.

Why Victoria, and why weekly

Greater Victoria already has one of Canada’s most significant tech sectors. According to VIATEC’s Economic Impact Study (2023 data), the region’s 1,172 tech companies generated $5.87 billion in revenue and $7.87 billion in total economic impact, supporting more than 20,000 jobs. VIATEC has set a goal of reaching $10 billion in annual tech revenue by 2030.

Victoria has the talent and the companies. What it has lacked is a regular, low-barrier place where they meet. Major events like Victoria Tech Week bring the community together in a burst, but the connections they spark often fade between gatherings. A weekly night gives those connections a place to continue.

“Victoria doesn’t have a talent problem. It has a consistency problem,” says Muhammad Aarij, Founding Host of Tech Wednesdays Victoria. “The people who will build the next generation of Victoria companies are already here, in classrooms, home offices and startups across the city. Tech Wednesdays gives them one night a week where they’re guaranteed to find each other.”

How a weekly night supports Victoria’s tech economy

Growing a sector’s revenue depends on people: companies hiring the right talent, founders finding co-founders and first customers, and graduates choosing to build their careers locally. A recurring community night supports each of these:

• Hiring and talent retention: students and new graduates meet Victoria employers informally every week, which makes it easier to stay and work in the region instead of leaving for larger markets.
• Startup formation: regular, repeated contact is how co-founders meet, ideas get tested and early-stage companies find their first users and advisors.
• Faster deal flow: founders, operators and investors who see each other weekly build the trust that leads to partnerships, contracts and investment.
• National visibility: as part of a network spanning Canada and San Francisco, Victoria’s chapter connects local builders to peers in other tech hubs and puts the city on the same map as larger markets.

Each of these feeds the hiring, company growth and investment behind the sector’s revenue, and supports the kind of growth the region is working toward.

Built with the community

Tech Wednesdays Victoria launches with two Founding Community Partners: the University of Victoria Entrepreneurship Club (UVEC) and Enactus UVic. Together they connect the city’s student founders and impact-driven builders with the wider tech community. The chapter is designed to complement the organizations already doing important work in Victoria, not to compete with them. It adds a weekly room where all of these communities can meet.

For the opening night, the Victoria room plans to connect live on screen with the Vancouver and San Francisco launches, which open at the same time.

Attend

• When: Wednesday, October 28, 6:30 to 8:30 PM, then every Wednesday
• Where: Swans Pub, 506 Pandora Avenue, Victoria
• Cost: Free and open to everyone
• RSVP: luma.com/tw-victoria
• Learn more: victoria.techwednesdays.com and techwednesdays.com

Media contact

Muhammad Aarij, Founding Host, Tech Wednesdays Victoria

aarij13406@gmail.com  |  778-533-0247