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Toronto Region responds to Amazon HQ2 ‘snub’ (BETAKIT)
In a joint statement, mayors that participated in the Toronto Region bid with Toronto Global expressed excitement at the fact that the city was shortlisted.
DMS Recommends: How mobile search is driving today’s in-store shopping experience (DIGITALMAINSTREET)
As we were reminded during the 2017 holiday shopping season, a great deal of shopping research is coming from mobile: 65% of Canadian holiday shoppers who visited a store turned to online search before going in-store.
Italic launches its marketplace for affordable luxury goods from top manufacturers (TECHCRUNCH)
The funding comes from Comcast Ventures, Global Founders Capital, Index Ventures, Ludlow Ventures, Kindred Ventures, and others.
North opens Focals showrooms, receives $24 million government investment (BETAKIT)
The Canadian governmen is investing $24 million in the company through the $1.26 billion Strategic Innovation Fund.
Plus-size fashion is a $100 billion opportunity. That’s why Dia&Co raised $40 million (FORTUNE)
Dia&Co, which raised $40 million from Union Square Venture, works with retailers and brands to help them expand into plus sizes.
Alibaba and Amazon move over, we visited JD’s connected grocery store in China (TECHCRUNCH)
Offline is the new online for China’s e-commerce giants.
Why Uber and Lyft are both rolling out loyalty programs (QZ)
A good loyalty program would give a rider reason to stick to a preferred service, even if another periodically offered a better deal. Ahead of an IPO, that’s just what both Uber and Lyft need.
Curate Mobile acquires JUICE Mobile adtech firm (BETAKIT)
Curate Mobile’s platform is targeted to advertisers looking to boost user value or increase brand awareness on mobile.
Amazon Go competitor Standard Cognition raises $40 million to expand its cashierless store solution (VENTUREBEAT)
The funding was led by Initialized Capital, with participation from CRV and Y Combinator.
Former Google, OpenText CFOs join Lightspeed’s board (BETAKIT)
Patrick Pichette, former CFO at Google, is one of Lightspeed’s new board members, as the company “makes ambitious plans for the future.”
Mercaux bags $4.5M to help bricks-and-mortar retail tool up to sell more (TECHCRUNCH)
Mercaux provides software for retailers to tap into digital capabilities in their physical retail stores — offering a modular platform that’s intended to support digital transformations at a pace of the retailer’s choosing.
Intelistyle raises $600,000 for AI fashion stylist (BETAKIT)
The seed funding will be used to accelerate growth in the US and European markets.
Mailchimp teams up with Square to launch shoppable landing pages (TECHCRUNCH)
The shoppable landing pages are meant to give businesses a new sales channel to sell things like limited-edition goods or run-targeted promotions.
