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
Real Ventures swaps managing partners as firm pauses fundraising
Real Ventures is making its second major leadership change in the last two years with co-founder John Stokes taking over as managing partner from Janet Bannister, BetaKit has learned.
With new Thrive platform, BDC commits half a billion dollars to invest in Canadian women-led startups and funds
The direct investment fund, which marks the WIT team’s second fund, has been allocated $300 million to back firms at seed, Series A, and Series B.
New research surveys competitive intensity in Canada’s banking and payments sector
In response to the research, Wealthsimple co-founder and CEO Michael Katchen tweeted: “now is the time to enable competition and build more affordable financial services.”
RBCx and RBC Ventures merge
In a not entirely unexpected move, the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) announced the merger of RBCx and RBC Ventures. The news formalizes the merger following the announcement in April that RBCx head Sid Paquette would lead both groups.
Startup syllabus: how Dal Innovates embraced innovation education in Atlantic Canada
Halifax’s Dalhousie University (“Dal”), through its award-winning program Dal Innovates, is working to provide this education with multiple programs that encourage and support academics considering or otherwise joining the innovation economy.
How to navigate the tangled web of government startup grants
Despite billions of dollars in available grants, many startups don’t seek them due to application complexity, confusion in finding them to begin with, or a mix of both.
This is something the Cisco Grants Support Program is working to solve. The Grants Office helps startups of all sizes navigate the grant funding landscape in Canada and apply for relevant grants.
Latest Funding, Acquisitions, and Layoffs
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VAN – Trulioo to lay off up to 10 percent of staff (read more)
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VAN – Cognitive 3D – $2.5M (read more)
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CAL – Litus wins $100K prize at Elevate (read more)
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SSK – Andgo Systems – $5.6M (read more)
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WAT – Ssimwave acquired by IMAX (read more)
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TOR – Rumble closes SPAC deal, begins trading on Nasdaq (read more)
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TOR – Coinsquare to acquire CoinSmart (read more)
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TOR – Ada cuts 16 percent of staff (read more)
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TOR – PolicyMe – $18M (read more)
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TOR – Creator Jacket wins $15K prize at Elevate (read more)
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TOR – DealMaker takes over FundAmerica book of business (read more)
IS REAL VENTURES DONE? IS BDC JUST GETTING STARTED? (AMA EPISODE)
“Half a billion dollars for women in Canadian tech. Pretty cool!”
The BetaKit Podcast’s monthly AMA episode answers listeners’ (tough!) questions about bad news coming from Real Ventures and exciting news coming from BDC, with some Elevate highlights thrown in.
EXPLORING THE CITY GOOGLE COULDN’T BUY
“This is the rise and fall of a company that had hundreds of millions of dollars to play with and nothing left to say about it.”
Globe and Mail reporter Josh O’Kane joins to discuss his new book, Sideways: The City Google Couldn’t Buy.
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