The SaaS Weekly is a weekly newsletter covering major SaaS news from Canada and around the globe.
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Descartes Systems Group acquires shipment management SaaS provider Supply Vision for $16 million CAD (BETAKIT)
Descartes announced its purchase of Supply Vision last week as the former looks to expand its offerings for logistics service providers (LSPs) through an active acquisition strategy.
Cloud startup OutSystems’ $9.5 billion valuation is slashed in half after new funding round (FORBES)
OutSystems, a software firm which sells low-code app development tools, quietly raised a new financing round last October at less than half its previous $9.5 billion valuation, Forbes has learned.
Nanoprecise closes $13.4 million CAD Series B round for its manufacturing monitoring software (BETAKIT)
Nanoprecise’s round was led by Export Development Canada (EDC), with participation from several players in the manufacturing and industrial technology space, including Honeywell Ventures, NSK Ltd., and EC Mergers & Acquisitions. Nanoprecise noted all of the organizations that contributed in the funding are new investors.
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Vista Equity Partners to acquire insurance software company Duck Creek for $2.6B (TECHCRUNCH)
Boston-based Duck Creek, a SaaS-based software provider for the property and casualty (P&C) insurance sector, went public back in 2020, initially hitting a market cap of around $5 billion. After peaking at around $7 billion in early 2021, Duck Creek’s fortunes have fallen somewhat, with its valuation plummeting to below $2 billion over the past year, with a closing price of around $13 per share as of Friday.
Aptum Technologies acquires CloudOps to expand its cloud solutions (BETAKIT)
Aptum said the acquisition will enable it to further deliver its multi-cloud solutions and services, which it claims it offers to clients in 43 countries.
Adobe tried to buy Figma twice before $20 Billion bid accepted (BNN BLOOMBERG)
Adobe Inc. tried to acquire design firm Figma Inc. for years before co-founder Dylan Field and the startup finally accepted, according to a filing with details about how the merger came together.
Interac’s CTO on how to hire for technical roles (BETAKIT)
Speaking with BetaKit, Henderson explained how he approaches technical hiring from a process perspective and his advice for other CTOs or heads of talent looking to recruit.
BC holds consultations on employment standards for gig workers as Uber, Lyft offer own visions (BETAKIT)
The next steps for regulating gig work are uncertain, says BC's parliamentary secretary for the sustainable economy.
Observability platform Chronosphere raises another $115M at a $1.6B valuation (TECHCRUNCH)
Chronosphere, which had already raised $228 million, including a $200 million Series C round at a $1 billion valuation last year, today announced that it extended this Series C round by another $115 million from new investors GV and Geodesic Capital.
Thinkific makes more layoffs as part of push towards profitability (BETAKIT)
With the move, Thinkific aims to hasten its path towards profitability. According to LinkedIn, Thinkific currently has a headcount of 394. Based on this total, 76 employees represent about 19 percent of the company’s staff.
Parler’s parent company has laid off a majority of its staff (THE VERGE)
Parlement Technologies began laying off workers in late November, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. These layoffs continued through at least the end of December, when around 75 percent of staffers were let go in total, leaving approximately 20 employees left working at both Parler and the parent-company’s cloud services venture.
Glassdoor names Google, Microsoft, Salesforce among best 25 places to work in Canada (BETAKIT)
Using company reviews and ratings from current and former employees submitted between October 2021 and October 2022, Glassdoor listed (in order) Google, Roche, QuadReal, Ericsson-Worldwide, and iA Groupe financier as the top five workplaces in Canada.
Facebook, Instagram ban ads targeted at teens based on gender (THE WALL STREET JOURNAL)
User activity on Facebook and Instagram will also no longer be used to tailor ads for teens, the company said in a blog post Tuesday. For example, engagement on certain Instagram posts or Facebook pages will no longer inform the types of ads that teens will see, the social-media company said.
Able Innovations, Cognota, BlueDot among recipients of $14 million FedDev investment (BETAKIT)
Through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), the funding will largely go towards a slew of tech startups, such as Able Innovations, Cognota (formerly Synapse), Mero Technologies, and BlueDot, to create over 230 skilled jobs across GTA through tech-focused initiatives.
