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HelloFresh to acquire Chefs Plate (BETAKIT)
The German meal-kit company said the acquisition will “amount to a middle double-digit million” CAD payout.
DMS Recommends: Digital Main Street Launches Ontario Grant Program (DIGITALMAINSTREET)
Coinciding with Canada’s Small Business Month, Digital Main Street has officially launched the Digital Main Street Grants Program, which provides funding to qualifying small “main street” businesses and community business groups to enhance online promotion, selling and operations.
Instacart’s new $7 billion valuation is a bet on the future of grocery delivery — not a wager against Amazon (VOX)
The startup has a fresh $600 million in funding to boot.
How Sears was the Amazon of its day (NYTIMES)
It was a technological wonder — until the retail landscape changed and new innovation, and greedy owners, arrived.
Sam’s Club to offer same-day grocery delivery via Instacart at over half its stores by month end (TECHCRUNCH)
Sam’s Club grocery delivery via Instacart will be available to nearly 1,000 new ZIP codes and more than 100 new stores, including those in markets like New Jersey, Indianapolis, Houston, and others.
H&M invests $13M in AI-driven menswear startup Thread (RETAILDIVE)
Thread uses artificial intelligence (AI) and human stylists to make recommendations to its customers for a perfect fit and look.
Sustainable Produce Urban Delivery opens 74,000 square foot grocery delivery warehouse (BETAKIT)
Once the Burnaby facility is operating at full capacity, Food-X plans to employ 500 people.
Shopify-powered online stores take 100 orders a minute on legal cannabis’ first day
(BETAKIT)
Millions of individuals from Canada and the rest of the world have visited the four websites since they went live at 12:01 a.m. in their respective provinces.
Passport, a customer service company focused on shipping, has raised $3 million in seed funding from some notable names (TECHCRUNCH)
Among its backers is Resolute Ventures; Precursor Ventures; Product Hunt co-founder Ryan Hoover; Girlboss founder Sophia Amoruso; and April Underwood, the chief product officer of Slack.
Victory Square launches Grow Tech Labs cannabis accelerator (BETAKIT)
GTL will work with Launch Academy to kickstart its foundational training programs.
Pinterest converts its old buyable pins to product pins (ADWEEK)
Product Pins bring shoppers directly to checkout pages on retailers’ sites, enabling them to complete purchases in a few clicks.
Lightspeed launches index to help businesses find growth opportunities (BETAKIT)
Through the platform, businesses can measure their stance among competitors, identify strengths, and find areas to improve.
