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
Former Alphabet executive chairman Eric Schmidt confirmed as speaker at Elevate(BETAKIT)
GV partner Lo Toney, Clearbanc co-founder Michele Romanow, and NEXT Canada CEO Sheldon Levy were also confirmed as speakers at the event.
Applications now open for government’s $100 million startup procurement program(BETAKIT)
Selected small businesses will be able to receive up to $150,000 to refine their research and development towards addressing the government challenges.
Front Row Ventures plans Canadian expansion with goal to raise $10 million(BETAKIT)
Founded in Montreal, Front Row is planning to expand to Ontario and BC first.
Coinsquare hires new chief digital officer as platform looks to win a broader audience(BETAKIT)
Former Postmedia chief digital officer Thomas Jankowski is taking on the role of chief digital and growth officer.
Startup Milestones
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Hardbacon raises $150,000 with participation with Bulldozer (Read here)
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Edmonton-based Showbie acquires classroom assessment platform Socrative (Read here)
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Fitplan raises $6.2 million to connect people with fitness professionals (Read here)
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Slack acquires Missions to help users automate work tasks (Read here)
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Desk Nibbles raises $362,500 to bring office snack platform to the US (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 VCs think about the macroeconomic environment?(BETAKIT)
Regardless of the recipient, fundraising becomes harder when the economy doesn’t do as well, so anticipatory raises tend to increase in size.
How OSMO and the Quebec government plan to build a Communitech for Montreal (CanCon Podcast Ep. 123)
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Photo via Desk Nibbles