The SaaS Weekly is a weekly newsletter covering major SaaS news from Canada and around the globe.
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ApplyBoard raises $375 million CAD Series D at $4 billion valuation (BETAKIT)
The Kitchener-Waterloo-based startup claims the new financing gives it a post-money valuation of $4 billion CAD ($3.2 billion USD), double that of the company’s $100 million Series C round in May 2020.
Win a $100 Amazon gift card with the BetaKit x Cisco Startup Survey!
Want a chance to win one of 3 $100 Amazon gift cards? Or maybe a cool BetaKit t-shirt? We’ve teamed with Cisco Designed to understand the state of Canadian startups and small businesses on their path to recovery. The survey tracks the ecosystem’s response to the pandemic and priorities for growth in 2021.
Anonymized survey results will be turned into a report and published on BetaKit.com. Complete the 3-minute survey now to ensure your business is included and for your chance to win!
Neo4j hits $2B-plus valuation after $325M raise (CRUNCHBASE)
Neo4j is looking to disrupt the space long dominated by relational databases that organize data into tables. Its graph databases help connect data, showing how different points intersect.
VerticalScope upsizes IPO to $125 million, begins trading on TSX (BETAKIT)
Initially, VerticalScope sought to raise only $100 million through the IPO, but the firm boosted the size of its offering to $125 million.
BrowserStack valued at $4 billion in $200 million BOND-led funding (TECHCRUNCH)
BrowserStack, which for the first six years of its journey didn’t raise any money and remains profitable, has raised $250 million to date.
Introhive raises $121.3 million CAD after nearly doubling revenue during pandemic (BETAKIT)
This sizable raise comes after a year of growth for Introhive, which claims the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the market need for its offering.
Messaging social network IRL hits unicorn status with SoftBank-led $170M Series C (TECHCRUNCH)
Social calendar app IRL has been busy building a messaging-based social network, or what founder and CEO Abraham Shafi calls a “WeChat of the West.”
Employee wellness software firm LifeSpeak files for TSX IPO (BETAKIT)
In September, LifeSpeak raised a $42 million equity investment in its first institutional round of financing, led by Round13 Capital.
Fill out the BetaKit x Cisco Startup Survey (BETAKIT)
To better understand the current state of Canadian startups and small businesses, BetaKit has joined forces with Cisco Designed to create a brief survey.
Google’s adtech business set to face formal EU probe by year-end (REUTERS)
An EU probe would focus on Google’s position vis-a-vis advertisers, publishers, intermediaries and rivals, one of the people said, indicating deeper scrutiny than the French antitrust agency’s case concluded last week.
Two US startups with Canadian roots, Moonshot and Nylas, secure combined $280 million (BETAKIT)
Nylas provides productivity infrastructure solutions for developers, while Moonshot aims to build a portfolio of profitable e-commerce brands.
Uber and Lyft donated to community groups who then pushed the companies’ agenda (THE MARKUP)
The ride-hail giants are orchestrating a complex PR scheme to sway public opinion to ensure drivers aren’t classified as employees.
Dfuse rebrands, secures $73.5 million CAD grant to develop blockchain infrastructure project (BETAKIT)
Over the past two years, since raising a $4.5 million CAD seed round, StreamingFast built out its team and focused on developing the indexing technology that Graph became interested in.
China is getting the Liberals into video games (THE FINANCIAL POST)
Canadian studios tend to be smaller companies that are vulnerable to takeover, especially if the biggest video-game developers have decided to battle for market share.
With third acquisition, holding company PlanetCorp is looking to win big with AI, 5G, blockchain (BETAKIT)
Amid a recent surge in M&A activity in Canada’s tech sector during COVID-19, PlanetCorp’s team sees a path to growth through merging with and acquiring other firms, and working closely with the companies to help them scale.
