Paddy Cosgrave’s resignation as CEO of Web Summit may not be enough to convince leaders of Canada’s tech sector to participate in the firm’s Collision conference in Toronto next June. 

Cosgrave stepped down from his chief executive and board positions over the weekend, following backlash to his comments criticizing Western leaders and governments for supporting Israel’s response to Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack. 

Cosgrave co-founded Dublin-based Web Summit in 2009. The company organizes five annual tech conferences in cities across the world, including one in Lisbon that bears the company’s name, and Collision, which has taken place in Toronto three times since 2019. The company’s website quotes a media report saying it runs “the world’s premier tech conference,” and it claims to have attracted half a million people to its events since its founding. 

Cosgrave drew intense backlash for a post on X, formerly Twitter, in which he insinuated Israel had committed war crimes in its retaliation against Hamas in Gaza, and condemned Western leaders for supporting the state. 

The post triggered a campaign to boycott Web Summit conferences, and denouncements from some who’d planned to attend its upcoming events, including Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan and Sequoia partner Ravi Gupta. Keith Rabois, a prominent Silicon Valley investor and executive, said he would “refuse to work with anyone who speaks at [Web Summit’s] conference in Qatar for the rest of my career.” 

Cosgrave’s apology four days later did little to win forgiveness from critics, with tech giants like Amazon, Meta and Google subsequently backing out of Web Summit’s flagship conference in Lisbon next month. Though Cosgrave resigned as CEO, he still controls Web Summit with an 80 per cent ownership stake in the company, spokesperson Katherine Farrell confirmed to The Logic. Farrell did not respond to The Logic’s questions about what will happen to Cosgrave’s stake in the company following his resignation. 

The incident has some Canadian tech leaders rethinking their involvement in Collision.

Mark Skapinker, managing partner of Montreal-based Brightspark Ventures, said he’s weighing whether to attend the next Web Summit event in Toronto. “It depends on [Cosgrave’s] involvement,” he said. 

Skapinker—who studied computer science in Israel and is connected to the country through his wife’s family as well as the tech sector—said Cosgrave’s remarks seemed to ignore the tech industry’s close relationship with Israel and that his apology fell short. Cosgrave’s departure will offer little solace to those he offended, said Skapinker. 

“He’s resigning for business reasons, not for any other reasons,” he said. “And so you’re not getting us back.” 

Maverix Private Equity founder and managing partner John Ruffolo called Cosgrave’s remarks “tone-deaf” and that “subsequent apologies seemed hollow especially when he earlier decided to double down on his original comments.” 

Ruffolo said he, too, is reconsidering participating in Collision. “We were planning to engage more significantly in Collision in 2024 but this whole incident is causing us to pause our thinking,” he said. “Paddy still has a significant economic interest.” 

Kathryn Wortsman, managing partner of Toronto-based impact investment firm Amplify Capital, said she’s also unsure of whether to participate in the next Collision. She said Cosgrave’s control of Web Summit remains a problem, but she expects that will change by next spring. “I suspect Paddy’s 80 per cent ownership won’t hold for very long as it will cause concern for larger partners,” she said. 

“Amplify and myself personally unequivocally stand against the horrific terrorism actions of Hamas and so we would be careful not to support those organizations that were not aligned,” Wortsman added. “However, I’d have to reserve what exactly we’ll do with Collision until the dust settles as I suspect there will be more moves before it does.” 

More than 36,000 people attended the most recent Collision conference in Toronto. The four-day event typically boasts a roster of high-profile speakers and partners, including celebrities, investors and the world’s top tech executives looking to network, shop deals and promote their business. 

However, some have questioned the value it brings to Toronto and Canada relative to the cost for taxpayers of hosting the massive event. BetaKit reported last spring that Web Summit receives about $6.5 million a year from Toronto and its partners to run Collision in the city, and that it had sought another $40 million to stay in the city for another three-year contract after the first one expired. Web Summit has so far agreed to keep the conference in Toronto for one more year, but its future in the city beyond that remains unclear. It will likely require additional funding from the provincial and federal governments to stay in Toronto, BetaKit reported. 

Destination Toronto—which holds the contract to host Collision in the city—did not directly address The Logic’s questions about Cosgrave’s Israel comments or the tech community backlash. “[Collision] is a proven driver of our visitor economy and a catalyst for investment, talent attraction and trade in our region,” Destination Toronto executive vice-president Andrew Weir said in an email to The Logic. “We look forward to welcoming tech entrepreneurs,  investors and visionaries to Toronto once again in June.”

Global Affairs spokesperson Marilyne Guèvremont told The Logic the federal department has not provided funding for Collision and has no agreements to do so in the future. Guèvremont said the department, through its Trade Commissioner Service, has “in past years and iterations facilitated [business-to-business] meetings on the margins of Collision” between stakeholders like Canadian tech companies, foreign investors and regional development agencies. 

“Similar on the margins and distinct programming by the TCS in 2024 is under consideration,”   Guèvremont said in an email. 

As questions swirled earlier this year about Collision’s future in Toronto, Vancouver mobilized a bid to host the event. The controversy that led to Cosgrave’s resignation hasn’t curbed the city’s interest in Collision, said Maria Veras, press secretary for Mayor Ken Sim. “Mr. Cosgrave’s personal comments are not indicative of the quality and the importance of the Collision conference and therefore have not changed our position in hosting this conference in the future,” Veras told The Logic by email. 

This isn’t the first time Cosgrave’s social media comments have incited backlash. He’s been sued for allegedly defaming people in comments on X (formerly Twitter) at least twice. He has also been embroiled in several legal disputes with former colleagues—some brought by him and some by ex-colleagues—over alleged minority shareholder oppression and alleged breach of a profit-sharing agreement. 

Cosgrave has also used his X account and podcast appearances to criticize David Skok, The Logic’s CEO and editor-in-chief, and The Logic Summit, an event held in June immediately prior to Collision. Skok has since been recused from The Logic newsroom’s coverage of Web Summit and Collision, meaning he isn’t involved in any conversation about reporting on the company or its conferences, and does not edit or otherwise influence any of the resulting stories.