Welcome to BetaKit’s startup stories of the week! Here, you will find the week’s most important news, features, and editorials published on BetaKit. If you prefer this update hit your inbox every week, make sure to subscribe to the BetaKit Newsletter using the form at the bottom of this page.
Top Stories of the Week
500 Startups is back in Canada with Neha Khera in charge(BETAKIT)
“500 Startups still believes in Canada and this is how we’re going to continue to support it.”
Pando founder Sarah Lacy on how Silicon Valley got so bad(BETAKIT)
“Ninety percent of the returns come from five percent of the companies.”
BuzzFeed’s fake news expert Craig Silverman on using tech to “game the system” AI(BETAKIT)
“Today, the most cost-effective thing is just to make stuff up and figure out how it spread on Facebook, and then just do a traffic arbitrage.”
Busting the myths behind quantum computing(BETAKIT)
As companies strive to deliver personalized experiences in near real-time, the algorithms needed will become more complex and require greater computing power.
Startup Milestones
-
AVA Technologies raises $2.6 million to launch a soilless smart garden (Read here)
-
Ritual raises $90 million CAD Series C (Read here)
-
Squiggle Park raises $800,000 to support mission of increasing children’s literacy (Read here)
-
Planswell raises $7 million to develop financial planning platform (Read here)
-
Flexiti Financial acquires $250 million of TD’s private label credit card portfolio (Read here)
Must Reads
Report: Canadian tech investment hits record $1.3 billion CAD in Q1 2018(BETAKIT)
Q1’s $1.28 billion funding amount is the largest seen since CB Insights began collecting MoneyTree data in 2012.
Ask an Investor: How do I get an investor off my cap table?(BETAKIT)
The first step is to identify how you would repurchase these shares before even approaching the recalcitrant investor.
CanCon Podcast Ep. 118: BuzzFeed’s Craig Silverman and Pando’s Sarah Lacy at True North
Subscribe to B|K: The BetaKit Newsletter
Subscribe to B|K using the form below to ensure the best from BetaKit hits your inbox every week.