The SaaS Weekly is a weekly newsletter covering major SaaS news from Canada and around the globe.
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Aaron Zifkin departs Airbnb to become Lyft’s Canadian managing director(BETAKIT)
Zifkin will oversee Lyft’s operations and growth nationally, beginning in the greater Toronto area (which just launched).
Product-market fit: A founder’s key takeaways from SaaS North (LSPARK)
Advolv founder Ashley Beattie shares lessons learned from SaaS North.
Paddle, the software sales platform founded by a Thiel Fellow, raises $12.5 million TECHCRUNCH)
Paddle’s platform tackles the problem whereby software developers typically need to piece together systems from multiple different suppliers in order to sell their wares online. Instead, Paddle consolidates all of these tools into a single offering.
Shopify, PointClickCare among Glassdoor’s top 25 best places to work in Canada (BETAKIT)
Shopify placed third on the list, dropping two places from its first place spot last year. PointClickCare — which raised $111 million early this year — was ranked 15th on the list.
With IoT, any company can enter the SaaS market (VENTUREBEAT)
The real upheaval that IoT will have is by transforming all types of companies into SaaS companies.
Pivotal has something for everyone in the latest Cloud Foundry Platform release(TECHCRUNCH)
At its S1P developer conference in San Francisco, the company announced a huge upgrade to its Pivotal Cloud Foundry platform, which includes support for serverless computing, containers, and a new app store.
Microsoft Ventures invests in SaaS ‘Active Strategy Management’ startup Workboard (GEEKWIRE)
Workboard helps companies see through their strategic plans by using analytics and artificial intelligence on a cloud-based platform called Active Strategy Management. It works across mobile apps and features a Slack bot.
Predictive marketing startup Leadspace raises $21 million (CTECH)
Leadspace develops and sells a service that helps businesses generate new leads and optimize business-facing marketing efforts. It lists Microsoft, Marketo, HP Enterprise, and Brocade as customers.
SaaS strength helps drive Oracle’s Q2 results (FORBES)
Oracle reported a strong performance from its Cloud Services division. In addition, Software Licenses and Services segment revenues were also up after a lackluster performance in fiscal 2017.
Create more value than you capture: An oral history of Toronto product development (BETAKIT)
BetaKit’s first #longform piece explores the evolution of Toronto tech over the last 15 years.
