Solotech

Solotech

Denis Lefrançois founded Solotech in Montreal in 1977, initially providing sound equipment for local Quebec artists. The firm grew alongside Canada's live music revival, eventually capturing the touring production market as arena-scale concerts demanded sophisticated audio-visual capabilities. Privately held, Solotech has expanded through both organic growth and a series of acquisitions in the UK and US, transforming from a regional rental house into a transatlantic production partner for marquee residencies, global tours, and corporate events. Solotech's operations span three integrated divisions: sales and systems integration for permanent venues, live productions and touring, and a dedicated US operation for Las Vegas and Los Angeles entertainment markets. Its inventory covers live sound reinforcement, video and LED walls, lighting rigs, and rigging — capital-intensive assets that create barriers for smaller competitors. The firm has supplied production for Adele's Weekends with Adele residency at Caesars Palace, Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour, and Cirque du Soleil's traveling shows. Geographically, its main inventory hubs in Montreal, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Birmingham serve touring circuits across North America and Europe. While not a private equity firm or family office, Solotech functions as an institutional asset-backed operation, with Canadian pension fund CDPQ acquiring a minority stake in 2021 to help fund its international expansion. Today Solotech employs more than 1,800 professionals across 20 locations in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The 2021 minority investment from Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) (per the firm's announcements, 2021) provided an institutional capital backstop that accelerated its London and Los Angeles market penetration. Adjacent to its touring business, Solotech's systems integration division designs and installs permanent audio-visual infrastructure for corporate boardrooms, houses of worship, stadiums, and broadcast facilities — converting episodic touring revenue into recurring construction and service contracts. Philip Giffard was named CEO in 2021 following a deliberate succession transition period, before handing the role to current President and CEO Martin Tremblay. Solotech's hybrid structure — combining a massive owned-equipment fleet with in-house technical labor — creates a structural differentiator that pure rental houses cannot replicate. The firm functions as a single-vendor production partner for global tours, eliminating the coordination friction of piecing together separate lighting, video, and sound vendors. Its security posture involves over $100 million in physical equipment assets, giving it the logistical credibility to service shows that require identical rigs across multiple continents, a demand pattern that increasingly characterizes the modern stadium-tour economy.