Canadian startup news of the week (3/12/23)
Plus: Ten things worth reading on International Women’s Day.
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Dan Breznitz unmuzzled: Canada Innovation Corporation architect explains how we got here
What the CIC is missing, who might make a good CEO, and why the Crown corp. comes with carrots and sticks.
H|T: The Healthtech Times – AstraZeneca announces big Canadian expansion, hiring plans
Plus: BetterHelp barred by FTC from sharing data with Facebook.
Intuit, Highline unveil 2023 cohort of joint FinTech accelerator
Toronto-based Chexy and Carbonhound among the group of startups chosen.
Firehood hands out $100,000 in prizes as the DMZ, CVCA announce women of year awards
Apricotton, Areto Labs, PragmaClin secure $100,000 in total prize money from pitch competition.
Yaletown Partners hits $200 million final close for Innovation Growth Fund II
Yaletown saw four exits in 2022, including Tasktop, Circle Cardiovascular Imaging.
R|T: The Retail Times – The Shopify divide: manager or crafter?
Plus: Amazon pauses long awaited construction
Web3 startup Helika closes $4 million seed round led by Diagram Ventures
Diagram: “We see Helika at the forefront of a rapidly evolving industry.”
Wattpad lays off 15 percent of workforce
Interim president says cuts come despite best efforts to limit economic impact.
S|W: The SaaS Weekly – Salesforce’s ‘one big family’ is showing cracks. Can Slack’s new CEO hold it together?
Plus: Not the first LastPass breach
Daily Blends raises $2.7 million CAD, signs Metrolinx deal to deploy smart vending machines
Healthy vending machines are coming to public transit stations, college campuses across Canada.
Cohere among first investments from Salesforce’s new $250 million AI fund
Salesforce invests in Toronto startup as part of broader generative AI strategy.
Loopio, Reelhouse co-founders launch Barley to help make employee compensation easier, more equitable
Golden Ventures-backed Barley has raised $5.4 million CAD to date.
Adaptis secures $2 million CAD to help building owners move to net zero with AI
“Using deep tech to do deep decarbonization is really where we think the gap is.”
F|T: The FinTech Times – Bad news comes in threes for Dapper Labs
Plus: Roham on the hot seat.