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
VFF closes $31 million Fund II(BETAKIT)
VFF will be cutting larger cheques and leading more deals with Fund II.
US insurance giant Travelers acquires majority stake in Zensurance(BETAKIT)
Documents obtained by BetaKit show that Travelers now owns approximately 60 percent of the Toronto-based FinTech startup.
Ontario will still oversee cannabis ecommerce, but privatize physical stores(BETAKIT)
The new plan reverses the former government’s decision to have the LCBO running all cannabis sales.
Startup Milestones
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Impak Finance raises $1.1 million from angel investors (Read here)
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Progressa closes $84 million funding round as company preps for IPO (Read here)
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Cybersecurity platform HYAS receives $475,000 from Western Innovation Initiative (Read here)
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Chinova Bioworks raises $2.6 million to develop mushroom-based preservative (Read here)
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Nomz, Crescendo named outstanding ventures at NEXT Canada Venture Day (Read here)
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Wealthsimple launching zero-commission stock trading service in Canada (Read here)
Must Reads
Report: AI drives VC investment as Canada hits $900 million USD for second straight quarter(BETAKIT)
AI experienced a 104 percent funding increase in Q2 2018 compared to last quarter.
Ask an Investor: How do investors build their expertise?(BETAKIT)
The amount of expertise a VC has built in your industry directly impacts the amount of value they can provide you with.
Is tech FOMO fading away? (CanCon Ep. 126)
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