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Willful lands Dragon Michele Romanow in new $750,000 round (BETAKIT)
Oulds and Bury appeared on the show in the episode filmed in June hoping for $500,000 for a five percent investment in their estate planning company.
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Thought Machine closes $200M for its cloud native banking SaaS and becomes a unicorn (TECHCRUNCH)
The new funding follows an $83M Series B round last year — when it described its market cap as “increasing healthily”.
UK FinTech Wise rolls out payments card to Canadian users (BETAKIT)
Formerly known as TransferWise, the London, United Kingdom (UK)-based FinTech company first rolled out its Wise Account offering, which allows users to hold multiple currencies at the same time, to Canadians in 2017.
Ahead of public market debut, Better.com lays off 9% of its staff (TECHCRUNCH)
One day after announcing an amendment to its SPAC agreement, digital mortgage lender Better.com confirmed that it is laying off roughly 9% of its nearly 10,000 person staff.
Communitech exploring $200 million venture fund (BETAKIT)
TCEO Chris Albinson spoke to the strategy on a recent episode of The BetaKit Podcast, and while he is still vague on many details of how Communitech will help create Canadian winners to own the podium, one thing is clear: Communitech wants to launch a venture fund to support their growth.
Sequoia Capital’s crypto frenzy intensifies with three new deals (THE INFORMATION)
Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and crypto trading firm FTX are co-leading an investment of more than $100 million in LayerZero Labs, a 10-month-old crypto firm that has yet to launch its product publicly, at a $1 billion valuation, according to two people familiar with the deal.
How Katherine Regnier found the right enterprise customers for Coconut Software (BETAKIT)
In a recent interview for the #CIBCInnovationEconomy Podcast, Regnier explained Coconut’s uncommon founding story and what she attributes as the secrets to her success landing enterprise clients.
The head of Meta’s cryptocurrency efforts is leaving the company (NEW YORK TIMES)
David Marcus, the leader of cryptocurrency efforts at Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, said that he plans to leave his post at the end of the year.
Survey suggests progress, room for improvement on equitable compensation for women in venture capital (BETAKIT)
The survey found that, for investment roles, salaries and bonuses are lower for women than men in more junior roles, but higher in more senior positions, with the exception of partners.
New exchange-traded crypto funds launching in Canada will be 1st to pay monthly yield (CBC)
The new funds from Purpose Investments target investors looking to put their money into the volatile world of cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin or ethereum, through more traditional investment vehicles.
As CIOSC preps consumer framework, Canadian FinTech startups fear another open banking boondoggle (BETAKIT)
BetaKit has learned that the CIOSC will release a draft of its minimum viable framework for consumer-directed finance by the end of 2021 or early 2022. But some say it has become another venue for the ongoing power struggle between banks and FinTech startups over the future of open banking.
Celsius Network CFO under investigation by Israeli police weeks after Caisse acquires stake in the crypto company (THE GLOBE AND MAIL)
The British company said in a statement on Twitter that the probe was in ‘no way related to the employee’s time or work at Celsius Network, but that the worker was ‘immediately suspended’.
Tired of waiting, Flinks launches its own Open Banking Environment with National Bank (BETAKIT)
In collaboration with majority owner the National Bank of Canada, Flinks is launching a new product called the Open Banking Environment, which will allow FinTech startups to securely access consumer data from financial institutions without the need for screen-scraping.
Jesse Walden and Li Jin’s crypto VC firm Variant finds early success (BUSINESS INSIDER)
The early success of Variant, a crypto venture-capital firm led by Andreessen Horowitz alumni could signal a wave of emerging fund managers chasing crypto’s untold riches.