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Damon Motors secures $37.9 million CAD for its AI-backed electric motorcycles (BETAKIT)
Backed with fresh financing, Damon intends to fuel its production and manufacturing efforts as the startup prepares to open its Vancouver factory and begin delivery of HyperSport motorcycles in 2022.
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Chinese AI company SenseTime delays IPO as US imposes investment ban (WALL STREET JOURNAL)
Chinese artificial-intelligence company SenseTime Group Inc. is trying to keep its initial public offering alive, according to a person familiar with the matter, as the Biden administration adds the company to a blacklist that will ban American investors from buying its shares.
AbCellera’s antibody treatment becomes first to receive emergency FDA approval for kids under 12 (BETAKIT)
The FDA’s newly expanded Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the AbCellera-discovered antibody treatment follows promising clinical trial data, and comes amid ongoing concerns about the Delta and Omicron variants and a youth vaccination push.
Robotic Research raises $228M Series A to build out commercial autonomous offerings (TECHCRUNCH)
Robotic Research has historically automated trucks for the U.S. Army and Navy, operating in areas that aren’t mapped and don’t have GPS, good communications or lined roads.
Four startups from initial Entrepreneur First Toronto cohort raise collective $5.7 million CAD (BETAKIT)
According to the company, EF Toronto facilitated over 175 virtual investor meetings for its founders across over 90 funds and over 30 angels amid the pandemic.
Tech panel thinks Canadian startups are ready to move from defence to offence in 2022 (BETAKIT)
In a recent BetaKit Live panel discussion, Shaun Ricci, General Manager, Talent Intelligence at Ceridian Dayforce, Lissa Ricci, Head of Sales, Small Business Solutions at Cisco Canada, and Andrew Popliger, Partner, National Tech Sector Leader at PwC spoke about the changing tides in Canadian tech and explained why talent is at the top of everyone’s mind right now.
Identity verification company Incode hits unicorn status after $220M Series B (CRUNCHBASE)
Incode is one of several companies trying to eliminate the hassles of real-life verification for things like online banking and e-commerce.
Lockheed Martin partners with, invests $1.3 million in Université de Sherbrooke’s Institut Quantique (BETAKIT)
This partnership also includes a $1.3 million investment from Lockheed Martin. The investment will support new research and applications in the field of quantum computing with IQ and the Université de Sherbrooke.
Inside Tesla as Elon Musk pushed an unflinching vision for self-driving cars (NEW YORK TIMES)
The automaker may have undermined safety in designing its Autopilot driver-assistance system to fit its chief executive’s vision, former employees say.
How to (successfully) pivot your startup, from a company that did it twice (BETAKIT)
It’s hard to recognize you need a radical course correction. And it’s hard to pull one off once you’ve decided to go for it. We asked a CEO who had two successful pivots to share tips with us.
Klue scores $79 million CAD from Tiger Global, Salesforce Venture (BETAKIT)
Vancouver-based software company Klue has closed $79.2 million CAD in Series B financing led by Tiger Global with participation from Salesforce Ventures to build on the growth of its competitor intelligence platform since it secured its Series A round last fall.
DeepMind says its new language model can beat others 25 times its size (MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW)
RETRO uses an external memory to look up passages of text on the fly, avoiding some of the costs of training a vast neural network.
The metrics that show your startup is healthy (BETAKIT)
Mike Kwatinetz of Azure Capital Partners shares his approach to evaluating businesses and how to paint a picture that shows the quality of your startup.
Group backed by top companies moves to combat AI bias in hiring (NEW YORK TIMES)
The organization has created a format for evaluating the technology, which is often used to screen job candidates.