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ContactMonkey raises $55-million Series A from Updata Partners
(BETAKIT)
Toronto-based email communications startup ContactMonkey has secured $55 million in Series A funding.
Founded in 2010, ContactMonkey started as a sales email tracking tool that helped companies strategically serve their customers. According to the startup’s website, the team later pivoted the solution into an internal communications tool, which has been operational since 2015.
VC Firm OpenView Abruptly Winds Down After Key Partners Leave, Returns Sour
(THE INFORMATION)
OpenView Venture Partners, a Boston-based venture capital firm that has backed enterprise software firms such as Calendly and Expensify, laid off most of its staff and will no longer make new investments, leaders told staff Tuesday, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.
The sudden fall of the firm, which employed at least 74 people and had raised a total of $2.4 billion, could be a sign of rising pressure on VC firms to generate returns in an era of higher interest rates.
Sixty Degree Capital closes $338 million CAD for third venture fund
(BETAKIT)
Toronto-headquartered Sixty Degree Capital has completed a final close of its third venture fund. The fund earmarks $338 million CAD ($250 million USD) to invest in enterprise software and healthtech startups between the Series A and pre-IPO stages.
Founded in 2017, the firm invests in technologies for enterprises such as data and cloud infrastructure, artificial intelligence, developer tools, and cybersecurity. In healthcare, the firm said it invests in therapeutics, health services, medical devices, and diagnostics.
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Uber sues Toronto over ‘bad faith’ cap on ride-hail licences
(THE LOGIC)
In an application filed to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on Monday, Uber claims Mayor Olivia Chow and the Toronto city council failed to give proper notice of new rules limiting the number of ride-hail drivers in the city at existing levels. It asked the court to cancel the cap.
Workleap expands through acquisition of US-based HR tech firm Pingboard
(BETAKIT)
Montréal-based Workleap, formerly GSoft, which provides software solutions aimed to improve the employee experience, has acquired Austin, Texas-based HR tech firm Pingboard as it looks to expand and unify its offerings.
The acquisition adds new capabilities to Workleap’s family of software products, the company said in a statement, pointing specifically to Pingboard’s organization chart and employee directory capabilities.
Asana’s financial wins dimmed by warnings of economic challenges ahead
(SILICONANGLE)
Shares in Asana Inc. plunged by over 12% in late trading today after the work management software company warned of a challenging macroeconomic environment for the second straight quarter, despite reporting beats in earnings and revenue in its fiscal third quarter and forecasting a better-than-expect outlook for its fourth quarter.
Aiming for cash-flow positive in 2024, Virtuo targets North American expansion with 2023 funding
(BETAKIT)
This week, Virtuo unveiled a $3.5-million CAD ($2.5 million USD) seed round led by Telus Ventures and ATB Private Equity.
The new funding is being used to expand Virtuo’s offering across Canada and the United States.
Spotify’s CFO is out days after mass layoffs
(THE VERGE)
Spotify’s chief financial officer, Paul Vogel, who since 2020 has managed the company’s balance sheet as it expanded into podcasting and audiobooks, is leaving the company at the end of March 2024.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said the decision was made because Vogel didn’t have the experience needed to help the company both expand and meet market expectations.
Spotify is focusing on producing a profit, for better or worse. Spotify cancelled two of its most prestigious shows, Heavyweight and Stolen, this week and laid off approximately 1,500 people, amounting to 17 percent of its staff.
Advice on fundraising and living in the future from Huntress CFO Marcos Torres
(BETAKIT)
Building a business is an exercise in living in the future, according to Marcos Torres, CFO of managed cybersecurity platform Huntress.
In a recent #CIBCInnovationBanking podcast episode, Torres shared his advice for founders who want the best chance of success in difficult times.
EZee Assist reveals $1.85 million in funding to help franchises manage institutional memory
(BETAKIT)
EZee Assist wants to make it easier for franchise and hub-and-spoke businesses to share internal, often critical, but difficult-to-access operational knowledge.
Founded earlier this year, the Toronto-based software startup has closed $1.85 million CAD in previously unannounced pre-seed funding to tackle this problem with the help of generative artificial intelligence.
Messenger is finally getting end-to-end encryption by default
(THE VERGE)
Meta is rolling out end-to-end encryption for one-on-one chats and calls on Messenger, finally fulfilling a promise that’s been in the works for quite awhile. When end-to-end encryption is on, only you and the person you send a message to in Messenger can see its contents, the company claims.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in 2019 that the company planned to move toward encrypted ephemeral messages across its messaging apps.
Bianca Bharti joins BetaKit as newsletter editor
(BETAKIT)
BetaKit is thrilled to announce that Bianca Bharti has joined BetaKit’s editorial team as its first-ever newsletter editor.
As newsletter editor, Bianca will be in charge of accelerating BetaKit’s flagship newsletter, and will play a key role in defining and growing our editorial capabilities within the format.
BetaKit is on a mission to connect, interrogate, and inform Canadian tech. If you believe in this mission the way we do, join us: BetaKit is hiring a new senior editor and a permanent CEO, with more roles to be announced in the New Year.
Renaissance raises $1 million CAD in fresh funding to help artists connect with their superfans
(BETAKIT)
Vancouver-based Renaissance has revealed $1-million CAD in fresh funding as the startup looks to organic growth for its superfan app in 2024.
Renaissance offers a social app tailored for music enthusiasts that integrates with streaming services like Spotify to provide real-time, shareable summaries of user listening habits.
The Renaissance app launched publicly in early 2021 and quickly went “viral,” according to CEO Arpan Deol, who claimed the app has since amassed over one million installations and tracks over 150 million streams monthly.