Canadian startup news of the week (5/24/21)

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


Canadian tech is having a moment. How best to seize it?(BETAKIT)

Anyone paying attention to the Canadian tech ecosystem will know something special is happening. So what comes next? BetaKit Patrons can register for the first monthly BetaKit Live on May 27 with participants from OMERS Ventures, Communitech, & Wealthsimple.


Tenstorrent raises over $200 million(BETAKIT)

“Our goal is to continue creating AI-focused hardware for developers,” said Ljubisa Bajic, Tenstorrent’s CEO.


BDC Capital launches second $250 million growth equity fund(BETAKIT)

The business development bank also unveiled a new $200 million deep tech fund in early May.


How Ada piggybacked Zoom and Shopify’s growth during the pandemic to become a Canadian unicorn(BETAKIT)

Earlier this month, Ada announced a $130 million USD Series C round that brought its valuation to $1.2 billion.


White Star Capital closes $50 million USD fund focused on crypto and blockchain(BETAKIT)

Speaking with BetaKit, Sep Alavi, general partner at White Star Capital, said the firm launched the fund to help bring a level of institutionalization to the crypto and blockchain sector.


Shopify, Google expand partnership to make merchants more discoverable online(BETAKIT)

Shopify said this latest integration is aimed to help merchants to become more discoverable to consumers.


General Assembly Pizza set to go public on TSXV June 3(BETAKIT)

GA Pizza secured a $13 million CAD Series A round via private placement in February led by Gravitas Securities before filing to go public on the TSXV in early March.


7 things startups should know about selling to banks(BETAKIT)

CIBC’s Paul McKinlay, Keith Gordon, Bank of America’s Tom Mildenhall, and Sensibill’s Corey Gross share tips for startups selling to banks.


Canadian semiconductor pioneer John Roberts passes away at 77(BETAKIT)

The Twitter thread on his father’s career is the most recent in a series of Canadian tech history lessons Matt Roberts has shared on the social media platform. Speaking with BetaKit, the VC indicated the intention was both to educate the current generation while honouring the past.


Latest Funding, Acquisitions, and Layoffs

  • MIS – Resilience Biotechnologies – $199M (read more)

  • TOR – Tenstorrent – $200M (read more)

  • VAN – Dooly – $80M (read more)

  • TOR – Knix – $53M (read more)

  • TOR – Future Skills Centre reinvests $25.9 million in 10 portfolio projects (read more)

  • MON – Alternative Capital Group buys majority stake in Kaloom (read more)

  • TOR – Rumble secures investment from JD Vance, Peter Thiel (read more)

  • TOR – Sourced acquired by Amdocs (read more)

  • MON – Vanilla acquired by Higher Logic (read more)

  • TOR – MCI Onehealth to acquire Terrace Wellness Group (read more)

  • MON – Dialogue acquires Health (read more)

  • GAT – Foko Retail acquired by WorkForce (read more)

  • VAN – Covalent – $10M (read more)

  • VIC – Bast Fibre Technologies – $8.5M (read more)

  • QUE – Eddyfi/NDT acquires Senceive (read more)

  • MON – District M completes merger with Sharethrough (read more)

  • VAN – Unbounce acquires Snazzy AI (read more)

  • HAL – Arcturus – $6M (read more)

  • VAN – Mogo to acquired Fortification Capital (read more)

  • QUE – OSF Digital acquires Adept Group (read more)

  • TOR – Odaia – $4M (read more)

  • EDM – Alberta Innovates invests $3.53M in Regional Innovation Networks (read more)

  • VAN – ChopValue – $3.15M (read more)

  • TOR – Nanology Labs – $3M (read more)

  • VAN – StoryTap – $2.77M (read more)

  • TOR – BuyProperly – $2M (read more)

  • MON – Wingocard – $2M (read more)

  • TOR – ALT TEX – $1.5M (read more)

  • TOR – OpenUnit – $1.2M (read more)

  • TOR – LumiQ – $1.1M (read more

  • HAL – Audioptics – $732K (read more)


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Josh Scott

Josh Scott

Josh Scott is a BetaKit reporter focused on telling in-depth Canadian tech stories and breaking news. His coverage is more complete than his moustache.

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