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!
Infosys boosts Calgary hiring plans as it looks to double Canadian workforce to 8,000 employees (BETAKIT)
Infosys shared these intentions as part of the opening of its new Digital Centre in Calgary, located in Gulf Canada Square in the city’s downtown commercial district. Infosys president Ravi Kumar described the occasion as “the beginning of [the firm’s] next chapter in Canada.”
Fidelity cuts valuations of Canadian tech companies including Hootsuite and ApplyBoard amid sector downturn (THE GLOBE AND MAIL)
Fidelity revealed the valuations of its public and private holdings for the year ended June 30 in its annual report, filed with security regulators Monday. The 1,254-page document provides a once-yearly snapshot of the investments held by its 100-plus funds.
According to the filings, Fidelity cut the valuation of its holdings in Vancouver-based social-media management company Hootsuite by 46 per cent, to $18.1-million from $33.5-million a year earlier.
Canadian tech must embrace Indigenous reconciliation (BETAKIT)
While Canada is often viewed globally as a thriving hub of innovation, investment, technology, and education within the digital economy, Indigenous communities and practitioners are largely missing from the conversations and spaces about the future ‘smart’ and decentralized technologies.
Meta to cut headcount for first time, slash budgets across teams (BNN BLOOMBERG)
In what would be the first major budget cut since the founding of Facebook in 2004, Mark Zuckerberg said the company will freeze hiring and restructure some teams to trim expenses and realign priorities. Meta will likely be smaller in 2023 than it was this year, he said.
How finance teams can prepare for an IPO (BETAKIT)
In a webinar presented by Sage Intacct, Michael Lister, Leader, InsightsOfficer, at PwC, and David Appel, Head of Software and SaaS at Sage Intacct, shared the seven steps startup finance teams need to take when preparing to go public.
DocuSign to cut workforce by 9% as part of restructuring plan (CNBC)
The plan is designed to support the company’s growth and profitability objectives and improve its operating margin. As of January, DocuSign had 7,461 employees, and it said the restructuring plan will largely be complete by the end of fiscal year 2023.
Canadian unicorns Neo Financial, Ada lead LinkedIn’s 2022 Top Startups list (BETAKIT)
For the fifth edition of its annual Top Startups list, LinkedIn also named (in order) Fable, Shakepay, ApplyBoard, BenchSci, Cohere, Certn, Drop, Dapper Labs, Snapcommerce, Manifest Climate, Irwin, TealBook, and Klue.
Google is shutting down Stadia (THE VERGE)
Google is refunding all Stadia purchases — hardware, software, and DLC. Members of the Stadia team will be “carrying this work forward” in other departments at Google.
Important financial metrics every early-stage founder should know (BETAKIT)
Ali Ladha, a virtual CFO for startups & SMBs through his company Vertical CPA, talks about these problems regularly on his Twitter and YouTube channels. In viral tweet threads and various YouTube videos, Ladha explains the financial metrics every business owner should know, how to calculate them, and how they connect to operational decisions.
How tech leaders like Shopify are TV-ifying the traditional company meeting (BETAKIT)
For better or worse, the way we work has changed dramatically in the last two years, and with these changes have come new challenges for businesses. While tools like Slack, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Hangouts have become second nature in a remote-first world, executives are finding these tools less conducive to forming real connections with employees, selling a mission, and generally cultivating a strong work culture.
What Figma plans to do inside Adobe (THE VERGE)
Figma CEO Dylan Field discusses antitrust, AI, and the future of design after signing a $20 billion deal to be acquired by a chief rival.
NACO report finds SAFEs on the rise in angel investment during record-breaking 2021 (BETAKIT)
This figure is more than double the $103 million in angel investment Canada saw in 2020, as the early-stage investment segment rebounded from a pandemic low fuelled by market uncertainty.
Meanwhile, angel organizations reporting deal flow information received 7,753 approaches from companies for investment last year—an 18 percent increase since 2020, and more than every other year since 2015, excluding 2017.
Triller Raises $310 million in Funding Round Ahead of IPO (THE WRAP)
TikTok rival Triller said Thursday it will receive an investment of up to $310 million from Global Emerging Markets, a Luxembourg-based private alternative investment group, in conjunction with its pending initial public offering.
