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Bold Commerce reveals product that allows retailers to add checkouts to video and email (BETAKIT)
Winnipeg-based checkout software company Bold Commerce has unveiled a new product that enables sellers to insert checkouts into marketing videos and emails.
Called "Checkout Unleashed," Bold hopes to help retailers offer a faster, more seamless buying experience, converting more customers “at their highest point of intent.”
Shopify has had talks to invest in marketplace company Faire (INSIDER)
Shopify has held talks to make a strategic investment in Faire, the wholesale marketplace company, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Shopify and Faire already have an integration in place that allows merchants to sync their product inventory between the two platforms, but sources said Shopify had discussed taking a five percent stake in the $12.5 billion dollar company.
Elevate Festival was built to amplify and connect startups, so this summer, Elevate and Moneris have teamed up to offer a limited-time deal for startups.
Until July 30th, startups can take advantage of 50% of Elevate Festival Startup passes. That means that if you run or work at a startup, you will have the opportunity to get a 3-day Startup pass for only $125!
Hear from the world’s most innovative minds, meet with Canada’s leading investors, source leads, pitch on stage, network in the Startup lounge, connect with fellow founders at evening socials, and more!
Checkfront merges with Australia's Rezdy to scale online tourism reservations (BETAKIT)
Victoria-based Checkfront, which offers booking software for the tourism industry, is merging with Rezdy, an Australian company that operates in the same space. There are currently no plans to merge the brands as they will continue to operate independently.
Co-founded by Jason Morehouse and Grant Jurgeneit in 2008, Checkfront's platform allows tour and activity operators to accept reservations, process payments, track customers, sign waivers and documents, as well as simplify pricing, seasonality, and inventory requirements.
Fast-fashion retailer Temu sues rival Shein over US antitrust law (REUTERS)
Chinese e-retailer Temu has filed a new lawsuit accusing rival Shein of violating U.S. antitrust law in its dealings with clothing manufacturers, escalating a legal clash for dominance in the fast-fashion market.
Temu's complaint alleged Shein "forces manufacturers to sign loyalty oaths certifying that they will not do business with Temu."
Venture funding in Toronto, British Columbia rebounds in second quarter of 2023 (BETAKIT)
Following a sluggish start to the year, two of Canada’s largest tech ecosystems saw a resurgence in venture funding in the second quarter of 2023, according to new data from briefed.in.
Mostly thanks to a handful of very large deals, tech startups in Toronto raised a cumulative $1 billion in Q2, up 733 percent from Q1 2023 and up 71 percent year-over-year. A similar story unfolded further west. BC’s tech startups raised $639.6 million in Q2, which represents a 573 percent increase quarter-over-quarter and a 213 percent increase year-over-year.
Bolt Probed by SEC, Investors Over Statements Made During Fundraising (THE INFORMATION)
The Securities and Exchange Commission subpoenaed e-commerce software startup Bolt and sent a notice to co-founder and former CEO Ryan Breslow last year over their past statements to current and potential investors.
Brian Reinken of WestCap Management and Arjun Sethi of Tribe Capital Management claim Breslow misled investors when he was raising Bolt’s $355 million Series E financing that valued the company at $11 billion in late 2021.
Canada’s private tech firms gather to talk AI, growth, global appeal (BETAKIT)
RBC Capital Markets hosted its fourth annual Canadian Private Technology Conference at the end of June, an exclusive gathering in Toronto of more than two dozen executives and founders from 17 tech companies across multiple disciplines and several venture capital firms.
The event culminated with a conversation with keynote guest, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, who shared his own entrepreneurial journey and his perspective on the tech and AI landscape today.
Korean fashion platform Musinsa bags $190M Series C led by KKR at a $2.7B valuation (TECHCRUNCH)
Musinsa, a Seoul-based fashion marketplace, said Wednesday it has raised a $190 million round of Series C funding.
With the Series C financing, Musinsa will continue to scale its online and offline business, expand into overseas markets, hire additional staff and make acquisitions in order to diversify its portfolios.
Here's how much Canada's top public tech company CEOs were paid last year (BETAKIT)
A new report by human capital consulting firm Global Governance Advisors, and shared with the Globe and Mail, maps the compensation of Canada’s top public company CEOs across a variety of industries, determined by their market capitalization.
From Shopify's Tobias Lütke to Opentext's Mark Barrenechea, find out how much these CEOs were making as public tech companies faced a challenging year in 2022.
Oddity Prices Closely Watched IPO Above Expectations
(THE WALL STREET JOURNAL)
Oddity, the direct-to-consumer seller of makeup brands Il Makiage and SpoiledChild, priced its initial public offering above expectations at $35 a share, signaling a potential thaw in the new-issue market.
Oddity said it aimed to sell shares at a price of $32 to $34 apiece in its IPO, up from an initial targeted range of $27 to $30.
Dallas unicorn o9 Solutions’ valuation soars by another $1 billion with new investment (THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS)
Dallas technology firm o9 Solutions’ rapid ascent in the supply chain planning market is getting another major boost with an additional $116 million cash infusion from its backers.
o9 plans to invest most of the $116 million into its artificial intelligence-powered business platform called the “Digital Brain,” which uses a live digital model of a company’s extended operations to predict demand and balance it with supply.
Toronto and Montréal added the most tech jobs in Canada in the last five years: Report (BETAKIT)
Within Canada, Toronto and Montréal added the most tech talent jobs between 2017 and 2022, according to CBRE’s latest Scoring Tech Talent report. In the five-year period, CBRE’s report found that Toronto added 63,800 tech jobs, while Montréal added 51,500.
The report illustrated the emerging tech talent concentration in Canada, with three of the top five North American cities in this category located in Canada: Ottawa, Waterloo, and Toronto.
At Cameo, Deep Layoffs Followed a Dash for Cash (THE INFORMATION)
After two rounds of layoffs in 2022, things finally seemed to be stabilizing for employees of Cameo. Cameo had flown dozens of employees to its Chicago office for an annual hackathon, feasting on lunch and working on a plan for the second half of the year.
By this week, though, many of them were out of a job after a third round of layoffs shrank the startup’s headcount to under 50 workers—roughly a tenth of the number Cameo employed just over a year ago.
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