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MeetAmi secures $36.5 million to help wealth management firms navigate digital assets (BETAKIT)
Private International Consulting, a multi-family-owned European investment office, was the only announced investor in the round, which also represents MeetAmi’s first institutional capital raise.
Wagestream raises $175M to expand financial app for hourly workers in US market (CRUNCHBASE)
Wagestream, a London-based startup that offers a flexible pay and finance management app aimed at front-line and hourly workers, said Wednesday it raised $175 million in Series C funding it will use to expand in the U.S. market.
Amid mounting competition, Float’s CEO believes company has what it takes to win in Canada (BETAKIT)
Since joining Float as CEO just over a year ago, Rob Khazzam has steered the Toronto-based corporate card and spend management startup from “effectively zero” to over 1,000 Canadian company customers.
Crypto startup Ava Labs raises funds at $5 billion valuation (BNN BLOOMBERG)
Ava Labs Inc., the lead developer of the Avalanche blockchain, is in the process of raising a new round of funding, according to people familiar with the discussions. Its new valuation would make it one of world’s most highly valued crypto startups.
Osler releases inaugural multi-year study of 300+ Canadian VC and growth equity financings
Osler’s Emerging and High Growth Companies practice has released its first comprehensive study of 332 anonymized venture capital and growth equity financings from 2019–2021, valued at US$5.7 billion, providing data and insights for founders, entrepreneurs, investors and advisors contemplating transactions this year and beyond.
The report is unique as it draws on both publicly available data on venture capital and growth equity financings, as well as Osler’s confidential anonymized data sources. The report authors have distilled actionable insights on the data, including on common terms and structural considerations.
Read the Deal Points Report: Venture Capital Financings
Plooto wants to solve the problem keeping entrepreneurs up at night (BETAKIT)
After years of seeing shoeboxes full of receipts land on his desk week after week, Plooto CEO and co-founder Hamed Abbasi finally found a better way to manage business payments.
Flutterwave: The African Unicorn Built On Quicksand (WEST AFRICA WEEKLY)
On the night of Sunday March 20, 2022, a particular WhatsApp group wouldn’t stop buzzing. Word had got out that a big story that would shake the Nigerian tech space was coming out the next day. Rumour had it that the story was about Nigeria’s highest valued tech unicorn and that the fellow working on it was a certain enfant terrible of Nigerian journalism. For an unspecified reason, this was very bad news.
What businesses are getting wrong about SR&ED tax credit claims (BETAKIT)
The Canadian Government Scientific Research and Experimental Design (SR&ED) program was created to support and reward investments by businesses in innovation. Yet many businesses aren’t utilizing the program to its full potential, and therefore they miss out on all that SR&ED can offer.
Wealthsimple snags Snap VP as COO (BETAKIT)
FinTech firm Wealthsimple has hired Radhika Kakkar as its chief operating officer (COO). At Snapchat parent company Snap, Kakkar was responsible for leading the company’s global operations and scaling Snap’s platform operations.
Better.com said to be planning third round of layoffs (TECHCRUNCH)
Digital mortgage company Better.com is gearing up for another round of layoffs, multiple sources with knowledge of internal happenings at the company have told TechCrunch.
Emma closes $6 million Series A to take online insurance products across Canada (BETAKIT)
After establishing a presence in Québec and Ontario, Emma has secured $6 million CAD in Series A financing from Luge Capital, Investissement Québec, and Tactico to take its insurance offerings across Canada. In an interview with BetaKit, Emma co-founder and CEO Félix Deschatelets said the insurtech startup also plans to use the capital to build a slew of new insurance products.
The five things every Security Operations Centre manager needs to know (BETAKIT)
Security looks different for every startup. This is where the security operations centre (SOC) manager comes in. The focus of an SOC manager is broad risk mitigation: ensuring regulatory and legal compliance, controlling business-essential risks such as encryption or personally identifiable information (PII) protection, and balancing taking action to lower risk with both company risk tolerance and available resources.
A $620 million hack? Just another day in crypto (TECHNOLOGY REVIEW)
A suspected North Korean heist of cryptocurrency only adds to an already long and growing list of big crypto hacks.
Netcoins user walks away with an estimated $1.58 million after software vulnerability (BETAKIT)
Bigg Digital Assets Inc. is reporting that its subsidiary, Netcoins, experienced a security breach that allegedly allowed a customer to fraudulently withdraw an estimated $1.58 million CAD.
The ‘stealthy enablers’: Canada’s smaller banks court fintechs as industry dynamics shift (THE LOGIC)
Peoples Trust isn’t exactly a household name among Canadian consumers. The privately owned bank, whose parent is an international congolomerate with holdings in real estate and entertainment, doesn’t have a single retail branch.