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!
How Loopio went from bootstrapped startup to RFP leader (BETAKIT)
In April, Loopio closed a $252 million CAD strategic investment, its second external fundraise since being founded seven years ago.
Deadline is July 16 – Pitch your startup to leading North American health industry CEOs
Pitch your business idea to leading CEOs from Healthcare and Insurance companies across North America. Startups get valuable exposure to judges from some of the largest Health industry players in North America. Accenture’s Health Tech Innovation Challenge brings together startups and larger health organizations to tackle the world’s biggest health issues.
Deadline extended to July 16 – apply today!
Nextdoor to go public in $4.3 billion SPAC merger as CEO looks toward expansion (CNBC)
Nextdoor, which was included in CNBC’s Disruptor 50 companies in 2015, gets an implied valuation of $4.3 billion through the SPAC deal.
LifeSpeak goes public on TSX, closes $125 million public offering (BETAKIT)
The move comes after closing a previously announced $90 million initial public offering (IPO) and a $35 million secondary offering.
Software firm at center of ransomware attack was warned of cyber flaw in April (WALL STREET JOURNAL)
President Biden is meeting officials to discuss recent attacks, including the latest affecting hundreds of organizations around the world.
BBTV CEO Shahrzad Rafati on why ethical business decisions are good business decisions (BETAKIT)
Shahrzad Rafati explains how operating ethically is a smart financial decision, and shares how other founders can create broader impact through business.
Biden’s sweeping executive order takes on Big Tech’s ‘bad mergers,’ ISPs and more (TECHCRUNCH)
In the fact sheet, the White House lays out its plans to take matters to regulate big business into its own hands at the federal level.
VerticalScope increases IPO to nearly $144 million following exercise of over-allotment (BETAKIT)
VerticalScope, which went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) a few weeks ago, has boosted the total size of its initial public offering by nearly $18.8 million CAD, after the deal’s underwriters exercised their over-allotment option in full.
Swarmio aiming to go public on Canadian Securities Exchange (BETAKIT)
Swarmio aims to use the funding to support its expansion into the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia.
China to remove 25 Didi apps from store as crackdown intensifies (REUTERS)
The apps in question used data that was illegally collected by Didi and include those for its delivery service, camera device and finance services, the Cyberspace Administration of China said in a statement.
Ritual acquires contact tracing platform AllChecked.in (BETAKIT)
The acquisition follows a reported $29.8 million CAD that Ritual raised last year from existing investors. Ritual quietly raised the capital after cutting its workforce in half at the onset of COVID-19, in April 2020.
Hackers run startups now, too: what businesses need to know (BETAKIT)
Microsoft Canada Chief Security Officer Kevin Magee says startup leaders need to be more vigilant than ever in their security approach.
Call centre software provider ReadyMode secures $4 million in venture debt (BETAKIT)
The $4 million marks ReadyMode’s first round of funding since the startup was founded in 2014.
Temasek, Warburg Pincus and Bhavish Aggarwal invest $500 million in Ola (TECHCRUNCH)
This is the first time SoftBank-backed Ola, which leads the market in India, has raised money since its Series J financing round two years ago, according to records on insight platform Tracxn.
Michelle McBane on shrinking the gender investing gap in VC (BETAKIT)
On the #CIBCInnovationEconomy Podcast, Michelle McBane talked about the gender investing gap in VC, and what it means for women founders in Canada.
