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Whitecap Venture Partners closes $140 million Fund V to invest across Canada (BETAKIT)
Toronto-based Whitecap Venture Partners, which has a portfolio that includes Canadian tech companies like Bolt Logistics and Silofit, has secured $140 million CAD for its fifth fund. Through Fund V, Whitecap plans to expand its geographic investment focus to all of Canada, and allocate more capital towards the seed stage, as it looks to back more B2B software and medtech startups.
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Canadian tech investor Georgian targets $2.8 billion for two funds (WALL STREET JOURNAL)
Like a growing number of technology investors, Toronto-based Georgian wants to double down on its best investments, and the firm is pitching a $1.5 billion fund that would give it money to do just that.
The metrics that show your startup is healthy (BETAKIT)
Mike Kwatinetz of Azure Capital Partners shares his approach to evaluating businesses and how to paint a picture that shows the quality of your startup.
EU antitrust regulator seeks input on Microsoft’s Nuance deal (REUTERS)
The previously unreported outreach is the most extensive by an antitrust authority since the companies announced the acquisition in April, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Benevity acquire Swiss firm Alaya to extend global reach (BETAKIT)
Calgary-based Benevity is set to acquire Switzerland’s Alaya, which offers corporate giving and volunteering software for employees that is much like Benevity’s own corporate charitable donation management software and ESG tech. Meanwhile, Influitive has acquired fellow Toronto-based software company PostBeyond to engage both customers and employees through its platform.
HashiCorp’s ‘behind-the-scenes’ cloud strategy is now worth almost $15 billion (PROTOCOL)
HashiCorp helps companies get up and running on cloud servers, and that’s a good business to be in as demand surges for cloud infrastructure services.
Kudos secures $10 million from Canadian Business Growth Fund to boost employee engagement (BETAKIT)
According to Kudos, its fresh financing positions the startup for global expansion, as it expects to double its workforce to 120 employees across Canada by the end of 2022.
Ola’s valuation crosses $7.3 Bn; completes GeoSpoc acquisition for $3.5 Mn (ENTRACKR)
This is the second funding tranche for Ola in 2021. It had announced a $500 million pre-IPO round in July from Temasek, Warburg Pincus and Bhavish Aggarwal.
Tech panel thinks Canadian startups are ready to move from defence to offence in 2022 (BETAKIT)
In a recent BetaKit Live panel discussion, Shaun Ricci, General Manager, Talent Intelligence at Ceridian Dayforce, Lissa Ricci, Head of Sales, Small Business Solutions at Cisco Canada, and Andrew Popliger, Partner, National Tech Sector Leader at PwC spoke about the changing tides in Canadian tech and explained why talent is at the top of everyone’s mind right now.
Former Shopify employees raise $8.5 million from Sequoia, Bessemer for new developer productivity startup Gadget (NBC NEWS)
Founded in 2020 by former Shopify employees Harry Brundage and Mohammad Hashemi, Gadget describes itself as a developer productivity company with a mission to help e-commerce developers to cut down on time spent writing pages of code.
Welcome to the space jam: Canadian startup Kepler stirs debate with huge planned fleet of internet satellites (THE GLOBE AND MAIL)
The Canadian company is jockeying with SpaceX, Amazon and Telesat for room in orbit for tens of thousands of new machines. Critics say the space race could come at a cost on Earth.
How to (successfully) pivot your startup, from a company that did it twice (BETAKIT)
It’s hard to recognize you need a radical course correction. And it’s hard to pull one off once you’ve decided to go for it. We asked a CEO who had two successful pivots to share tips with us.
Four startups from initial Entrepreneur First Toronto cohort raise collective $5.7 million CAD (BETAKIT)
According to the company, EF Toronto facilitated over 175 virtual investor meetings for its founders across over 90 funds and over 30 angels amid the pandemic.