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.
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Top Stories of the Week
Regulators force Silicon Valley Bank Canada into liquidation, paving way for auction
The order was approved on Wednesday after The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Canada took over permanent control of SVB Canada. The move to restructure SVB Canada comes after a Canadian buyer did not come forward.
As regulators take over SVB Canada, companies still have questions about impact
Beyond companies with SVB Canada lines of credit, SVB’s collapse is set to impact startups that have their US banking with SVB, or ostensibly Canadian companies that are legally domiciled in the US for tax purposes and use SVB.
CVCA CEO: Tech still needs influx of capital given possible investor pullback, even as liquidity concerns calm
CVCA CEO Kim Furlong and a host of other industry leaders have called on the feds to quell a possible “full-blown” liquidity crisis in the country’s tech sector following SVB's collapse. While Furlong admits regulators have assuaged SVB liquidity concerns for now, she argues the need remains for the government to hasten its spending.
Venture funding surged in Québec and Alberta tech sectors over 2022, bucking national trend
According to new data from briefed.in, Alberta tech companies raised a collective $675 million in 2022, an 89 percent increase from 2021 and a 121 percent increase from 2020. In Québec, venture funding totalled $2.3 billion in 2022, a 21 percent increase from 2021 and a 76 percent increase from 2020.
BDC appoints Sévrine Labelle as head of $100 million Thrive Lab for women entrepreneurs
Labelle is focused on meeting with ecosystem players to understand where BDC’s Lab might be able to fill gaps for women-led companies.
Latest Funding, Acquisitions, and Layoffs
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TO/MTL – Meta cuts 10,000, #CDNtech hiring unclear (read more)
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SSK – Vendasta acquires Broadly (read more)
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KIT – ShinyDocs – $16.25M (read more)
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TOR – PointClickCare acquires Patient Pattern (read more)
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MTL – Spark Microsystems – $34M (read more)
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MTL – Paper acquires Readlee (read more)
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MTL – Staging Labs – $1.1M (read more)
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Raine Maida and Senator Deacon discuss Big Tech’s control over digital creators (and the news)
"We are in the midst of a new technological payola."
Our Lady Peace's Raine Maida and Senator Colin Deacon join for a frank discussion about Big Tech's leverage over Canadian content as Parliament looks to pass new regulations in Bill C-11 and Bill C-18.
Dan Breznitz unmuzzled: Canada Innovation Corporation architect explains how we got here
"Let's be blunt about it: we as a country are extremely good at invention … we're horrible at innovation."
Dan Breznitz, co-director of the Innovation Policy Lab at the University of Toronto, walks through the reasons for Canada's failure on innovation, the origins of the CIC, and who he thinks should be its first CEO.
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