After navigating “major” changes to restaurant industry, Notch closes $13.7 million CAD to fuel pivot to FinTech
CEO: “When you have to pivot in COVID, that’s a challenging place to be.”
Retail
R|T: The Retail Times – Shop Pay vs. ‘Buy with Prime’ begins
Plus: TikTok Parent ByteDance’s E-Commerce Volume Surged in 2022.
Lightspeed to lay off 300 employees as it targets “profitable growth”
Lightspeed says layoffs aim to streamline operations, “unify” acquisitions.
R|T: The Retail Times – Shopify targets enterprise retail with new commerce stack
Plus: Amazon plans more layoffs.
GoBolt lays off five percent of staff shortly after $75 million raise, citing worsening consumer demand
With cuts, GoBolt shifts focus away from SMBs to mid-market, enterprise merchants.
Descartes Systems Group acquires shipment management SaaS provider Supply Vision for $16 million CAD
With the purchase, Descartes wants to increase its shipment management capabilities.
Bird Canada takes international counterpart Bird Global under its wing in merger
A Canadian management team will be established at Bird Global.
Salesforce layoffs show Canadian employees caught in ongoing Big Tech cuts
Layoffs at major US tech firms continue to hit Canada, Salesforce joins Amazon, Meta, Twitter.
Ackroo acquires Simpliconnect to bolster client base
The payment solutions startup absorbs 60 clients in 350 locations in the process.
Shopify launches commerce stack for enterprise retail
Commerce Components will target retailers with billions in sales like Mattel, Staples.
R|T: The Retail Times – Shopify abandons The Well
Plus: Saas-based hotel management platform raises $185 million.
Layoffs persist at Canadian tech companies amid bleak outlook for 2023
FreshBooks, Thinkific, Revelate, Bridgit among latest firms to cut staff amid downturn.
Shopify’s Ria Bhavnani shares the company’s approach to pricing
“Maybe it’s more relevant in this market, but you should always be thinking about pricing.”
R|T: The Retail Times – Michael Rubin’s Fanatics has $700 million for more acquisitions
Plus: GoBolt, Elastic Path, CommerceBear secure new funding.