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Shopify facing $130-million lawsuit for alleged attempts to slash post-layoffs severance pay (BETAKIT)
Shopify is facing a $130-million class action lawsuit for allegedly breaching severance pay contracts by tens of thousands of dollars with recently laid-off employees.
Amazon workers walk out amid layoffs, citing concerns for climate (THE WASHINGTON POST)
Hundreds of Amazon staff members walked off the job on Wednesday afternoon demanding a flexible remote work policy and renewed commitments to reducing carbon emissions to zero.
Employees say recent layoffs and the mandate — which increases emissions as workers commute — have left them questioning whether Amazon executives are leading the company in the right direction.
Shopify launches Shop Cash rewards program in the US (BETAKIT)
Shop Cash’s launch is part of Shopify’s first Shop Day event held on June 2, an initiative similar to other dedicated deal days from e-commerce brands, including Amazon’s Prime Day.
Temu Is Losing Millions of Dollars to Send You Cheap Socks (WIRED)
The reason that prices on Temu seem impossibly low is that they are. An analysis of the company’s supply chain costs by WIRED—confirmed by a company insider—shows that Temu is losing an average of $30 per order as it throws money at trying to break into the American market.
So far, it's working. In just seven months, Temu's app has been downloaded over 50 million times.
Collision nears a one-year Toronto extension, efforts mount for a West Coast alternative (BETAKIT)
With Collision’s long-term future in Toronto still uncertain, efforts are mounting for a British Columbia alternative, as multiple Vancouver organizations have begun exploring the idea of luring Collision to the city.
MarketForce tightens its belt as tough times hit B2B commerce (TECHCRUNCH)
MarketForce, a Kenyan B2B e-commerce platform to help independent corner shops source goods, once had an ambitious plan to grow the number of users on its platform to a million by the end of 2022.
Now, the startup has had to slow down and retool after some VCs backed out a few months after the company announced its $40 million series A.
Saskatoon startups SolusGuard, BetterCart win a combined $75,000 at Uniting the Prairies 2023 (BETAKIT)
Two Saskatoon startups walked out of the Uniting the Prairies 2023 pitch competition with a combined $75,000 in investment funding.
Workplace wearables company SolusGuard won $50,000 and B2B price analytics platform BetterCart clinched $25,000.
SellerX acquires US e-commerce roll-up rival Elevate Brands in an all-share deal, raises $64M+ (TECHCRUNCH)
SellerX, a Berlin-based roll-up play that has raised nearly $900 million in equity and debt and is valued at more than $1 billion, announced that it would acquire Elevate Brands, based out of Austin and NYC.
Elevate, like SellerX, is in the business of buying up smaller retailers that sell over marketplaces like Amazon, but it’s a fair bit smaller, with some $250 million raised to date.
A survey of the challenges women founders face when fundraising (and how to overcome them) (BETAKIT)
40 women founders from 25 different countries share their views for other women entrepreneurs fundraising.
SAAS NORTH producer reveals new Vancouver-based INNOVATEwest tech conference (BETAKIT)
A newly-launched website shows that Cube Business Media, the company behind Canadian tech events like SAAS NORTH, TechExit.io, and Tech Talent North, plans to launch a new tech event in Vancouver called INNOVATEwest in 2024.
Hopper’s Rise in Travel 2023 (SKIFT)
Skift releases what its CEO and Founder Rafat Ali calls the "most comprehensive" research report done on Hopper, the upstart mobile travel booking company.
"(Hopper) touched close to half billion in revenues in 2022 and likely to well cross it this year. Still not profitable," Ali said.
Ex-Panache, ScaleUp partners team up to launch new early-stage VC fund CMD Capital (BETAKIT)
Long-time Canadian technology startup investors Matt Roberts and David Dufresne have teamed up to launch their own early-stage VC firm, CMD Capital.
CMD Capital aims to raise up to $75 million CAD for startups that use artificial intelligence to solve problems across the B2B and enterprise sectors.
Serve Robotics to deploy up to 2,000 sidewalk delivery bots on Uber Eats (TECHCRUNCH)
Serve Robotics, the Uber spinout that builds autonomous sidewalk delivery robots, is expanding its partnership with Uber Eats. The startup will now deploy up to 2,000 of its cute little bots via Uber’s platform in multiple markets across the US.
Report: 2021 VC boom in Canada was short-lived as market resets to pre-pandemic levels (BETAKIT)
A recent report published by BDC Capital, the investment arm of the Business Development Bank of Canada, found that the number of VC deals in 2022 dropped by 12 percent year-over-year, while the total amount invested declined by 34 percent.
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