The SaaS Weekly is a weekly newsletter covering major SaaS news from Canada and around the globe.
Subscribe to S|W using the form at the bottom of this page to ensure you don’t miss out on the most important SaaS news every week!
US companies Avanade, Nautical Commerce, Twilio, Dealpath plot Canadian expansions (BETAKIT)
This week, US-based Avanade, Nautical Commerce, Twilio, and Dealpath laid out their intentions to bolster their existing Canadian teams.
“Every major city in this country is brimming with entrepreneurship, innovation and engineering talent,” said Dino Marasco, Twilio Canada VP and GM.
Exclusive: Deep cuts at Byju’s: Over 2,500 employees laid off across Byju’s, Whitehat Junior and Toppr (MONEY CONTROL)
Byju’s has laid off about 1,200 employees from Toppr alone. Sources said that about 300-350 permanent employees from Toppr were laid off, while another 300 employees were asked to tender their resignations, or were told that they will not get salaries for about 1-1.5 months.
Isaac Souweine leaves Real Ventures, joins Pender Ventures to support Vancouver firm’s expansion across Canada (BETAKIT)
Prior to joining Real Ventures in 2016—first as entrepreneur-in-residence and then as a partner—Souweine worked at Sonder (then Flatbook) as VP of product, and Frank & Oak as director of product management.
Supercluster program gets political renewal – and new name – from Innovation Minister Champagne (THE GLOBE AND MAIL)
Innovation, Science and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne spoke on Monday with the heads of the five non-profit “supercluster” bodies mandated by Ottawa to bring together academia and business to collaborate on innovative projects, spin out companies and create jobs, economic growth and IP.
Do you want to work where your imagination makes an impact? Join Tech @ RBC. We’re not just Canada’s largest bank – we’re a fast-paced team of innovators, working to create positive change for our clients and our communities. Our size and scale mean you can focus on your craft while continuing to learn and grow in your domain.
At RBC, you’ll build a meaningful career, while working on high impact projects with some of the top tech and business experts in the country. We’re hiring for a range of tech positions, from developers to data scientists to cybersecurity professionals and more.
Maxa raises $2.9 million CAD to help businesses automate resource planning (BETAKIT)
Founded in 2019 by brothers Alexis and Raphael Steinman, Maxa provides a data automation and artificial intelligence (AI) analytics software solution, working alongside enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms.
Tencent, ByteDance Implement Fresh Layoffs Amid China’s Economic Pains (THE WALL STREET JOURNAL)
Previous job cuts were mostly focused on restructuring loss-making businesses and noncore segments. But as the Omicron variant of Covid-19 prompts harsh lockdowns, roiling the Chinese economy, some companies are extending layoffs to core businesses.
Three trends defining the future of cybersecurity (BETAKIT)
Larger organizations with fortress-strength cyber security protocols and hundreds of cyber security employees can still be impacted by attacks on one of the thousands of vendors and partners in their supply chains.
Siemens to Buy Buildings Software Firm Brightly for $1.6 Billion (BNN BLOOMBERG)
“Brightly will enable us to leapfrog to the next level of performance for buildings,” Matthias Rebellius, head of Siemens’ Smart Infrastructure unit, said in a statement. “The acquisition will speed up our target of becoming a leading software company also in infrastructure and support our vision of creating fully autonomous buildings.”
Cadence closes $1.2 million to ease the administrative burden for grieving families (BETAKIT)
Cadence co-founder and CEO Rachel Drew claimed that in the months following a death, families spend an average of 500 hours closing the affairs of their loved ones between claiming benefits, closing accounts, administering the estate, engaging a variety of professionals and keeping strict records.
Option Impact, the startup world's go-to compensation tool, has a new owner (PROTOCOL)
Pave, a fast-growing Option Impact competitor, announced Tuesday that it had bought Advanced-HR from Morgan Stanley. The acquisition came as Pave announced its $100 million Series C funding round led by Index Ventures
Wattpad launches creator monetization program with $2.6 million in writer stipends (BETAKIT)
“We’re in the business of helping writers build a global audience and make money,” said Jeanne Lam, president of Wattpad.
Wattpad noted that educational programming and writer resources will be available for over 3,000 writers this year, along with over 500 writers who are eligible for cash stipends.
Sources: Unity Laying Off Hundreds Of Staffers (KOTAKU)
Unity, the company behind the popular game development engine of the same name, has recently laid off hundreds of staffers, according to Kotaku, as the market downturn spreads to the gaming industry. Meanwhile, fellow gaming firm Niantic, which has struggled to find another big hit following its 2016 game Pokémon Go, canceled four projects and will cut about 85 to 90 jobs.
IBM Canada to launch innovation centre in Calgary, hire 250 staff (BETAKIT)
The ambitious hiring goals have led to concerns locally about an already tight talent market. Calgary was selected to be the home of IBM’s latest CIC because of its growth as a Western Canada tech hub, as well as its “skilled and diverse workforce,” according to IBM.
Parallelz raises $3 million to challenge how app stores deliver, distribute app (BETAKIT)
Toronto-based mobile computing software startup Parallelz has raised $3.8 million CAD in equity pre-seed funding led by Maple VC general partner Andre Charoo to make sharing a mobile app as easy as sharing a meme. Meanwhile, Montréal’s Beehivr has closed $1 million in equity seed financing from Investissement Québec to launch a new digital sales room solution to add more talent.