It’s been just over one year since legaltech firm Clio acquired AI research platform vLex for $1 billion USD, and Jack Newton, Clio’s founder and CEO, is marking the occasion by sharing some lessons he learned from the historic deal.
The news: Newton posted to LinkedIn on Tuesday some thoughts on how his team successfully executed what he called “the most consequential change in our company trajectory,” two years after the company raised what was, at the time, the largest software funding round in both Canadian tech and legal tech history.
From the source: Newton wrote that the top focus post-purchase was on how the two teams could closely integrate their work. “A strategic thesis only matters if the company can execute against it,” Newton wrote, adding that they were able to bring in 400 new employees and launch a new product (Clio Work) in just three months by following that strategy.
The context: While Clio’s post-acquisition path hasn’t been without speed bumps, the deal has broadly been a significant success for the company, and one of just a few of its size in Canadian tech. It’s not the first time that Newton has pulled back the curtain; in September, he spoke out about the need for Canadian VCs to pay more to give domestic companies a “home-field advantage.”
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Latest news across tech
Nvidia’s governance problem
For better or worse, Jensen Huang is Nvidia. Now that he’s admitted to having an affair with a suspected Chinese spy, what’s next for the chipmaker at the centre of the global AI boom? There’s a lot we still don’t know about the situation, but the board has launched an investigation into its chief executive, even though it has no clear succession plan.
Huang’s ability to carry the company on his shoulders and manage more than 50 direct reports was once lauded; now, Nvidia is learning that a flat leadership structure is not without risk.
Mark your calendars
Anthropic updated its IPO filing this week, setting itself up to become a publicly traded company potentially worth $1.4 trillion next Thursday, Nov. 19. The IPO is already reported to be multiple times oversubscribed, with an estimated price between $70 and $78 per share. Each of its seven co-founders is set to cash out about $250 million.
Emerge’s fund fiasco
The Ontario Capital Markets Tribunal has found that former fund manager Emerge Canada, which sold Toronto-listed versions of Cathie Wood’s ARK ETFs, diverted about $6 million from its suite of ETFs over three years to prop up its businesses. The tribunal will determine the mismanagement penalties at a later hearing. Wood and ARK weren’t involved in the improper behaviour.
The “reverse engineering” fun is over
After months of people using AI tools to hack gated electronics, install new operating systems on their smart TVs, and unbrick abandoned internet-of-things devices, 404 Media reports that users trying to “Reverse Engineer Anything” are now being blocked by guardrails inside Anthropic or OpenAI’s models. This “suggests that the future of the practice lies in open-weight, local, and uncensored models, making it less accessible to the masses and the people who could probably benefit from it most.”
No changes expected to C-22
Canada’s Minister of Public Safety Gary Anandasangaree told the National Post that he doesn’t anticipate any changes to the Lawful Access Act. The minister’s statement runs counter to strong pushback from tech companies, civil liberties groups, Canada’s privacy watchdog, and even some senators, who argue the bill will need further amendments to better protect the privacy of Canadians. It’s still before the Senate, so the debate isn’t over yet.
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On the move
This week’s hires, fires, and exec shakeups:
- Prime Minister Mark Carney appointed Bridgewater exec Karen Karniol-Tambour to lead the $25-billion Canada Strong Fund.
- Toronto-based Float Financial appointed former BDC Capital partner Jack Fraser as its first CFO.
- AI tax research platform Blue J expects to exceed 200 employees by year’s end after securing a new Series E round.
- Former NASA chief economist Alexander MacDonald has been named the new head of the Canadian Space Agency.
- Data analytics firm NowVertical has struck a “separation agreement” with former CEO Sandeep Mendiratta following his replacement this past June.
- James Povitz has been promoted to partner at NAventures, the corporate venture capital arm of National Bank of Canada.
- Vancouver meal kit company Fresh Prep will welcome Goodfood employees after buying the Montréal-based competitor out of creditor protection.
- Fusion power company General Fusion appointed former CIBC climate tech investment banking lead David Janashvili as CFO.
- Lightspeed Commerce added Rory Cameron as chief marketing officer.
- The feds aren’t saying whether the upcoming BDC and EDC consolidation will result in job losses for the Crown corporation’s thousands of employees, the Ottawa Citizen reports.
- After Anthropic earmarked five percent of its shares for a Public Benefit Fund, The Globe and Mail analyzed whether that will actually help workers disrupted by AI.
The refresh
The War, Carved in Stone
Instead of a tech-themed story this week, take a moment on Remembrance Day to read this tale from The Walrus’ archives about a Canadian searching for their grandfather’s story in the tunnels beneath Vimy Ridge.
Contributors: Alex Riehl (Ottawa staff writer), Trevor Nichols (web editor), Sarah Rieger (managing editor), Douglas Soltys (editor-in-chief).
Feature image courtesy Clio.