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Real Ventures swaps managing partners as firm pauses fundraising (BETAKIT)
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.
Stokes co-founded Real Ventures in 2010, leading the firm’s investments in companies like Unsplash, Transit App, Dcbel, and Wrk. At Real Ventures, Stokes oversaw the development of the FounderFuel accelerator program and establishment of Real Ventures’ presence in Toronto.
Canadian biotech venture capital firm Lumira starts hedge fund to target oversold public companies (THE GLOBE AND MAIL)
With its new fund, Lumira Ventures Opportunity Fund 1, the Toronto firm is following what many established U.S. biotech investors – including OrbiMed Advisors LLC, H.I.G. Capital and Baker Brothers Advisors LLC – have done for years by backing both public and private companies. By contrast, it’s rare to find fund managers in Canada that specialize in publicly traded drug and medical device development.
With new Thrive platform, BDC commits half a billion dollars to invest in Canadian women-led startups and funds (BETAKIT)
BDC first launched the WIT Venture Fund in 2017 to help address the need for direct investment in Canadian early-stage, women-led tech firms and to make indirect investments in women-led funds.
The direct investment fund, which marks the WIT team’s second fund, has been allocated $300 million to back firms at the seed, Series A, and Series B stages.
OurCrowd announces new $200M Global Health Equity Fund (TECHCRUNCH)
Even before the pandemic, OurCrowd had long invested in medical startups, but that only accelerated during the pandemic, and best I can tell, it has also become somewhat of a personal mission for the firm’s founder and CEO, Jon Medved.
"COVID-19 was a wake-up call for me as an investor,” said Medved.
Alberta Innovates is leading the evolution of healthcare as a connector, collaborator, convenor, and funder, driving improvement in the entire healthcare ecosystem. We’re shifting the paradigm from high cost, high acuity health care to personalized, self-managed care that’s digitally enabled and data informed.
In Alberta, we are combining our collective strengths to reimagine healthcare delivery while simultaneously creating new economic opportunities for our province. Together, we will build a bold culture ready to push boundaries, stretch our thinking and change the world.
Startup syllabus: how Dal Innovates embraced innovation education in Atlantic Canada (BETAKIT)
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.
MicroTransponder grabs macro funding round with $73M for stroke rehab neurostimulator (FIERCE BIOTECH)
The series E topped out at $73 million, the Texas-based company announced this week. It finalized the round with $20 million more than originally expected, just a few months after it first closed the series E with $53 million in June.
WELL Health among few tech companies to crack TSX30 amid sector downturn (BETAKIT)
The companies included in the list were revealed on Thursday, in which oil and gas companies made up the majority of it. Named the TSX30, the program was created in 2019 to recognize companies listed on the exchange with “exceptional” shareholder returns.
How to navigate the tangled web of government startup grants (BETAKIT)
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.
A Startup Has Put Electrodes in a Patient’s Skull to Treat Depression (BNN BLOOMBERG)
The startup behind the surgery is Inner Cosmos, one of a growing cadre of tech companies working on implanted devices for the brain. The trial, the first of its kind using implants in the bone of the skull to treat depression, represents a step forward for scientists’ efforts to treat mood disorders with hardware. It’s also a sign of progress for implants that sit within the skull itself.
The Rounds closes $5.1 million CAD Series A from US VC firm Panoramic Ventures (BETAKIT)
Founded in 2012, The Rounds (whose corporate name is Boondoc Technologies) provides an online collaboration network for physicians and healthcare professionals to discuss various medical topics in specialized groups named “Communities.”
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