Canadian startup news of the week (8/08/21)

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


Canada open banking report released(BETAKIT)

The Advisory Committee recommends that a limited initial phase of open banking would become operational by January 2023.


Lightspeed sees Q1 2022 revenues surge as economies reopen(BETAKIT)

In a recent filing, Lightspeed disclosed a motion that, if it passes, would see the company change its official name from Lightspeed POS to Lightspeed Commerce.


theScore to be acquired by Penn National Gaming for $2 billion USD(BETAKIT)

The news follows theScore’s March initial public offering on the Nasdaq, through which it raised $186 million USD.


Ontario commits $109 million towards Telesat’s race to launch low-earth-orbit satellite network(BETAKIT)

The financing secures Ontario dedicated high-speed satellite bandwidth for local internet service providers on Telesat’s network.


Hootsuite nabs conversational AI startup Heyday in $60 million deal to further social commerce push(BETAKIT)

Heyday is Hootsuite’s second acquisition this year, following the purchase of automated messaging platform Sparkcentral.


How KitchenMate evolved its foodservice product for the post-pandemic workplace(BETAKIT)

“Offices need to accommodate higher safety requirements … and food service must be completely rethought as a result.”


Latest Funding, Acquisitions, and Layoffs

  • VAN – Yaletown Partners raises $130M in first close of Innovation Growth Fund II (read more)

  • AB – Government of Canada invests $5M in Alberta Innovates program (read more)

  • TOR – Smile CDR – $20M (read more)

  • TOR – Deloitte Canada acquires Clockwork (read more)

  • TOR – Hydrostor – $10M (read more

  • MTL – WorkJam – $35M (read more)

  • MTL – Carebook – $11.28M (read more)

  • MTL – Dcbel – $9.4M (read more)

  • MTL – Mako Fintech – $2M (read more

  • MTL – Montrium – $2M (read more)

  • MTL – Gray Oncology – $1.25M (read more)

  • GAT – 1Valet – $5M (read more)


RECOMMENDED BY MCI ONEHEALTH

How tech can promote a collaborative, patient-centric approach in healthcare(BETAKIT)

“Innovation is not just about technology. It’s the mechanism by which you organize and sequence how you actually deliver healthcare, and how to actually understand the patient-doctor relationship.”

In an interview with BetaKit, Saleema Khimji, the Chief Innovation Officer at MCI Onehealth, shared how the current siloed ecosystem of researchers, governments, and private sector companies can fail patients – and why a new patient-centric model based on collaboration needs technology to thrive.


BOAST.AI’S LLOYED LOBO SHARES THE TRUE COST OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP(BETAKIT)

“There’s no bigger board meeting than you staring in the face of death in the hospital. Death has all the leverage.”


HOW VULNERABLE IS CANADA TO CYBERATTACKS?(BETAKIT)

How critical infrastructure gets protected has changed a lot in the last 20 years. So have the potential vulnerabilities.


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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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