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Sonder lowers valuation expectations for SPAC deal amid market conditions (BETAKIT)
As part of its reverse takeover deal, travel tech company Sonder has changed its valuation from its original estimate of $2.2 billion to $1.9 billion in relation to current market conditions.
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Kurly, the Korean online grocery startup, plans June IPO at estimated $5.9B valuation (TECHCRUNCH)
The startup, which declined to comment on how much it plans to raise via IPO, said it estimates the company valuation at approximately $5.9 billion after it goes public.
Hootsuite plans to IPO before Christmas, raise $200 million on TSX (BETAKIT)
BetaKit has learned that Hootsuite is finalizing its preparations to go public on the Toronto Stock Exchange before the end of the year. Sources told BetaKit that Hootsuite is looking to raise $200 million CAD capital through an IPO to make additional acquisitions in the social commerce and customer care space.
Shopify increases revenues and gross profits, posts operating loss in Q3 2021 (BETAKIT)
As of September 30, 2021, Shopify had $7.52 billion in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, compared with $6.39 billion on December 31, 2020.
Rent the Runway stock closes below IPO price on first day of trading (CRUNCHBASE)
Shares of clothing rental company Rent the Runway ended their first day of trading below the company’s IPO price, closing at $19.29.
Former Slack leader Allan Leinwand joins Shopify as new CTO (BETAKIT)
Allan Leinwand, former senior leader at Slack, is joining Shopify as its new chief technology officer (CTO). Shopify’s previous CTO was Jean-Michel Lemieux, who left the company in April.
How a corporate lawyer and a finance guy ditched the rat race to build a $750 million barbershop app (FORBES)
Today, their fast-growing startup, Squire Technologies, is valued at some 60 times this year’s estimated sales and is featured on this year’s Forbes Next Billion-Dollar Startups.
Neo Financial’s Series B leads Calgary’s venture funding bounce back in Q3 (BETAKIT)
Following a poor Q2 for tech investment, Calgary bounced back in the third quarter. Elsewhere, Toronto startups broke venture funding records again, Montréal and British Columbia continued to see strong results, and Waterloo Region saw deal volume hit a two-year low.
SoftBank leads $312m Series D round for Chinese smart retail SaaS provider Huice (DEAL STREET ASIA)
The Series D round followed Huice’s Series C round in December 2020, in which GIC led a transaction of almost $100 million in the firm.
Lightspeed continues e-commerce push with product developed through Ecwid acquisition (BETAKIT)
Lightspeed has launched a newly updated e-commerce product built on the integration of its acquisition of California-based Ecwid, which it acquired earlier this year for approximately $500 million USD.
GrubMarket expands to Canada by acquiring e-commerce startup Funtech (BETAKIT)
Founded in 2017 by Sam Qi, Funtech designs, develops, and supports e-commerce storefronts across desktop and mobile websites, as well as mobile applications.
How social media giants are playing e-commerce catch up (MODERN RETAIL)
While still in its infancy, social commerce is growing in importance.
Amid potential PayPal-Pinterest deal, Scott Galloway predicts Shopify will purchase Snap (BETAKIT)
“This is an attention economy and the attention that media captures is worth more to FinTech companies than it is to the investors of a pure-play media company right now.”