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Symend closes $54 million CAD to pursue global expansion amid uncertain economic environment (BETAKIT)
Symend’s co-founders claimed this fresh capital is about scaling on a global stage. Notably, though, the amount raised is mainly an inside round from return investors, and is less than half its Series B round that was raised between 2020 and 2021.
Hundreds of employees say no to being part of Elon Musk’s ‘extremely hardcore’ Twitter (THE VERGE)
Multiple “critical” teams inside Twitter have now either completely or near-completely resigned, said other employees who requested anonymity to speak without Musk’s permission. That includes Twitter’s traffic and front end teams that route engineering requests to the correct backend services. The team that maintains Twitter’s core system libraries that every engineer at the company uses is also gone. “You cannot run Twitter without this team,” a departing employee said.
Canadian tech layoffs continue as tough year comes to a close (BETAKIT)
Properly, TealBook, D2L, Symend, and League have all made layoffs in recent weeks. Along with recent cuts by Apollo Insurance, Faire, Swift Medical, VanHack, and Koho, these moves indicate that Canadian tech companies across verticals and geographies continue to feel the pressure of challenging market conditions.
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Meta Employees, Security Guards Fired for Hijacking User Accounts (THE WALL STREET JOURNAL)
As part of the alleged abuse of the system, Meta says that in some cases workers accepted thousands of dollars in bribes from outside hackers to access user accounts, the people and documents say.
BoostSecurity emerges from stealth with $12 million CAD to automate cybersecurity for DevOps (BETAKIT)
The all-equity round was led by Sorenson Capital, with additional support from Hoxton Ventures, Golden Ventures, Firebolt Ventures and Transform VC. Sorenson Capital will be joining BoostSecurity’s board.
The painful changes that helped GSoft scale from zero revenue to $100 million ARR (BETAKIT)
GSoft is one such centaur, hitting $100 million ARR in 2021 and on track to grow that revenue base in 2022, with plans to hire over 200 new employees across Canada this year.
But hitting this rare startup milestone required making a lot of painful and difficult decisions.
PTC To Acquire ServiceMax To Bolster Field Service Management (CRN)
For PTC, the ServiceMax acquisition is aimed at strengthening PTC’s closed-loop product lifecycle management offerings by extending the digital thread of product management into the company’s downstream enterprise asset management and field service management capabilities.
BluWave-ai, Tehama receive collective $4.4 million from FedDev Ontario for product development, hiring (BETAKIT)
The Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) is providing BluWave-ai with $1.7 million and Tehama with $2.7 million in repayable contributions.
The funding is expected to add 85 jobs between the two companies, and the government hopes it will leverage another $12.6 million in private sector support.
Nobul, Hopper top Deloitte Canada’s fastest growing startups lists for 2022 (BETAKIT)
Anders McKenzie, a partner and national leader for the Technology Fast 50 program at Deloitte Canada argued that the 2022 companies stand as a testament to how the Canadian tech sector is currently thriving.
“Despite unpredictable economic and global climates, tech companies from around the country are seizing new opportunities and meeting rapidly evolving market demands,” he said.
Xiaohongshu sheds up to half its implied value in private markets (THE FINANCIAL TIMES)
The Alibaba and Tencent-backed group was forced to shelve its plans to go public in the US after Beijing initiated a regulatory probe into ride-hailing group Didi days after its blockbuster IPO in New York, according to multiple people with knowledge of the move.
Canada’s 2022 Developer 30 Under 30 (BETAKIT)
The Developer 30 Under 30 is a recurring list that recognizes some of the top developers based in Canada. WeaveSphere also added a new award for this year’s conference, which honours 20 technology leaders in the country.
1Password wants to ditch passwords without locking you in to one platform (FAST COMPANY)
Now 1Password is coming out with a different approach that lets you ditch passwords without pledging allegiance to any particular tech giant. The company’s passwordless system, which replaces traditional passwords with simpler and more secure “passkeys,” is launching early next year, and it’ll work across iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, Chrome OS, and Linux.
WeaveSphere’s 2022 Tech Titans list names 20 tech leaders in Canada (BETAKIT)
Named Tech Titans: Top 20 of 2022, this new award honours people in the tech ecosystem that have disrupted the industry through technology, led a digital transformation to deliver business value, and enable growth in client relationships.