Neuralink in Canada, Champagne in the Valley

Earlier this year, Invest Nova Scotia fell prey to a phishing attack resulting in $573,000 being transferred to an imposter’s bank account in a breach that went undiscovered for two weeks. This week, Alberta Innovates also experienced a cyberattack, with a spokesperson telling BetaKit the incident involved unauthorized access to the Alberta Innovates network by a third party.

The graph, which came from a teaser of Inovia Capital’s upcoming State of Canadian Software report shared exclusively with BetaKit, shows the number of Canadian tech companies that have secured funding rounds of at least $100 million since 2005.

Inovia CEO Chris Arsenault discussed the graph on the most recent episode of The BetaKit Podcast, saying, “This is the Canadian landscape that has changed.”

This week, Intact Financial announced that it had acquired Toronto-based home maintenance startup Jiffy, which connects homeowners with pre-vetted tradespeople in over 20 categories. An Intact spokesperson told BetaKit the deal is aimed at strengthening Intact’s presence in the home maintenance market.

Although Paula Abdul did launch a line of sunglasses that double as headphones last year, she was not a winner at SAAS NORTH 2024. The winners list included Flutter Care, which offers tools to manage pregnancy complications; Aruna Revolution, which offers compostable menstrual health products; and Instagrooms, which offers a professional grooming platform for the equestrian community.

In 2020, Lake sold his smart glasses startup North (previously known as Thalmic Labs) to Google. According to The Globe, his new venture, Jetson Home Inc., wants to help homeowners trade in their furnaces for clean, all-electric heat pumps. Lake is running the startup with two of North’s co-founders.

Speaking with BetaKit following TechTO’s acquisition of peer network Peerscale, Chevrier said she has developed a deep compassion for those taking on “the extreme sport of building technology companies,” describing the journey as an “amazing opportunity,” but also “extremely taxing.” Listen to her on this week’s episode of The BetaKit Podcast, as she talks about the bankruptcy and demise of her former startup, Sampler.

Among the tech and business leaders Champagne met during his trip was Jonathan Ross, CEO and founder of Groq, a company that develops AI chip technology. The minister’s tour came on the heels of the federal government reinvesting in Canada’s Scale-Up program, which aims to support the growth of Canadian businesses and create new Canadian anchor firms.

Neuralink is developing a chip that connects to the brain to help paralyzed individuals use digital devices with just their thoughts. The four-year-long study that Health Canada approved this week will evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the implant in addition to Neuralink’s surgical robot and software.

Trump Jr. is joining venture capital firm 1789 Capital, whose website describes its investment thesis as “Anti-ESG,” referring to priorities related to environment, social, and corporate governance, including diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The move coincided with news that only 25 percent of Canadian venture firms in the country are hitting gender parity at senior levels.

BetaKit is now on Bluesky, the federated social media platform that began as a research project within Twitter in 2019, started by then-CEO Jack Dorsey.