R|T: The Retail Times – Canadian-founded company behind Instant Pot files for bankruptcy
Plus: Shopify partners with Volt to offer open banking solutions (but not in Canada).
layoffs
The two Canadian cities rising in Startup Genome’s global ecosystem rankings
Plus: Real-Time Rail delays are an unmitigated disaster.
R|T: The Retail Times – Shopify uses new weapons in battle against patent trolls
Plus: TikTok seeks $20 billion ecommerce business despite US setback.
Automotive software maker LeddarTech inks SPAC deal to go public on Nasdaq
CEO hails agreement as “important milestone,” plans to step down.
S|W: The SaaS Weekly – Instabase notches $2 billion valuation on the back of AI
Plus: Montreal-based HR platform GSoft secures $125M.
Canadian app Apollo to shut down amid user protest against Reddit API pricing
The app, founded in Halifax, was created to improve Reddit for iOS users.
Three Canadian cities ranked in the global top 50 startup ecosystems
Plus: Led by ex-Google researchers, OpenAI rival Cohere secures $270M.
Cohere announces $270-million USD Series C from Inovia, Nvidia, Oracle, Salesforce
Led by ex-Google researchers, OpenAI rival Cohere aims to help firms adopt generative AI.
R|T: The Retail Times – Shopify’s birthday gift: a new class-action lawsuit
Plus: Temu is losing millions of dollars to break into the US.
Inside Canada’s new early-stage VC firm
Plus: Shopify facing $130M lawsuit for alleged attempts at slashing severance pay.
H|T: The Healthtech Times – FDA approves Elon Musk’s Neuralink for human clinical study
Plus: AbCellera and BenchSci get combined $395 million
Shopify facing $130-million lawsuit for alleged attempts to slash post-layoff severance pay
Lawsuit claims severance packages were reduced by “tens of thousands of dollars.”
Ex-Panache, ScaleUp partners team up to launch new early-stage VC fund CMD Capital
As funding has dried up, David Dufresne and Matt Roberts say they plan to lead and price early-stage rounds.
S|W: The SaaS Weekly – Microsoft launches Fabric, mCloud looks to go private
Plus: Novisto closes $27-million Series B.
Canadian startup news of the week (5/28/23)
Plus: What’s on the table for Alberta’s tech sector this election?