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RenoRun files for creditor protection after failed pursuit of "Hail Mary" deals to save company from insolvency (BETAKIT)
Montréal-based RenoRun has filed for creditor protection as the struggling business looks to avoid bankruptcy.
The decision follows a monthslong pursuit by RenoRun of potential acquisition deals to stay afloat after not being able to secure bridge financing from its investors.
Elon Musk Values Twitter at $20 Billion (THE NEW YORK TIMES)
Elon Musk said Twitter is now worth about $20 billion, according to an email he sent the company’s employees on Friday, a significant drop from the $44 billion that he paid to buy the social network in October.
In the email, Musk warned workers that Twitter remained in a precarious financial position and, at one point, had been four months away from running out of money.
Nulogy raises $20 million to make collaboration easier for multiple companies in a supply chain (BETAKIT)
According to Nulogy, this new funding will be used “to accelerate the growth” of its multi-enterprise supply chain platform and solutions. The company did not specify how or the areas it’s looking to grow in.
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Lyft staff pressed founders for change as Uber pulled ahead
(THE WALL STREET JOURNAL)
As the ride-share company has struggled with competition from Uber Technologies Inc., some people within Lyft had been questioning the leadership of its co-founders—Chief Executive Logan Green and President John Zimmer—for months. Some investors and stock analysts also had urged change.
On Monday, Lyft said the founders would be stepping down from day-to-day management.
Federal #Budget2023 includes cleantech commitments, little else for innovation (BETAKIT)
The Government of Canada's 2023 budget is out and it's heavy on cleantech and light on innovation.
Notable commitments include $500 million for cleantech investing through the Strategic Innovation Fund, and numerous new cleantech and clean energy investment-related tax credits totalling billions of dollars. Additionally, the feds are instituting guidelines on the disclosure of crypto assets for federally-regulated financial institutions and pension funds in the wake of high-profile failures like FTX.
Revenue at TikTok Owner ByteDance Rose More Than 30% in 2022, Topped $80 Billion (THE INFORMATION)
The 2022 result, which hasn’t previously been reported, is significant because most technology companies with that kind of revenue experienced a marked slowdown in growth last year. It also means ByteDance revenue is on par with that of Tencent, an iconic Chinese social media company that owns WeChat.
Ontario budget gains kudos for streamlining procurement, increasing access to skilled talent (BETAKIT)
The province committed to providing an additional $2 million for the Futurpreneur program, $224 million for a new capital stream of the Skills Development Fund to leverage private-sector expertise, and boost the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program with an additional $25 million over three years to attract more skilled workers.
US investors slash Byju’s and Swiggy valuation (TECHCRUNCH)
BlackRock has cut the valuation of Byju’s, which is India’s most valuable startup at $22 billion, by nearly half to $11.5 billion. Meanwhile, Swiggy, India’s most valuable food delivery startup at $10.7 billion, has been marked down to a valuation of about $8 billion.
The valuation cuts add a new dimension to the impact of the dwindling market conditions on the Indian startups.
Carbon Neutral Club secures $1.4 million to incentivize employees to help companies meet climate targets (BETAKIT)
As many firms struggle to meet their emissions targets, Toronto-based Carbon Neutral Club has raised $1.4 million CAD in seed capital to mine what the startup views as a largely “untapped resource” for corporate climate pledges.
“We want to shepherd in a new era of climate plan implementation, one that embeds climate action directly into the values of a company,” said co-founder Jack Bruner in a statement.
Electronic Arts says it is laying off six percent of workforce
(THE WALL STREET JOURNAL)
The announcement makes EA the first major videogame publisher to disclose significant layoffs. The industry has until now been largely sheltered from the staff reductions that have been happening at many tech companies.
Birdseye raises $500,000 to help Shopify businesses automate marketing strategies using AI (BETAKIT)
According to Birdseye, its platform goes beyond standard e-commerce analytics reporting, which typically lacks solutions for what to do with the collected data. Birdseye uses AI to automatically generate step-by-step marketing plans.