Luge Capital, Pender Ventures hire in Alberta following investments from AEC

Two venture-capital (VC) firms from opposite sides of the country are establishing new presences in Alberta.  Montréal-based Luge Capital and Vancouver-based Pender Ventures are both adding new Calgary-based investors after the Alberta Enterprise Corporation (AEC) contributed to their most recent funds.  The new VC presence indicates a boost in capital available to early-stage companies in Alberta. […]

‘Is there life after acquisition?’ Canadian founders get candid at TechTO

Can ChatGPT write a founder’s story for them? What does life after exit look like? And how do you get men to back a fertility solution?  On January 13, four founders took the stage at the MaRS Discovery District for TechTO Together to share hard-earned lessons about fundraising, storytelling, life post-acquisition, and winning at every […]

Home hardware: Canadian founders at CES talk challenges and opportunities

Canadian companies secured some high-profile awards at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, even while most face hurdles building their solutions on home soil. Montréal-based Eli Health won a Best of Innovation award at the event for the Hormometer, an app-linked home device that the company says can measure levels of the […]

Feds pledge nearly $100 million in grants to commercialize research innovation

The federal government has announced a nearly $100-million commitment over five years to support the commercialization of lab innovations from Canadian universities.  SFU and UBC are leading the Lab2Market program’s West Coast expansion, which will be known as the Lab2Market Pacific Hub. A total of $95.3 million in grants will be dispensed in varying amounts […]

Trudeau’s tariff team taps Canadian tech to get tough on Trump 

A team of Canadian businesspeople, including tech founders and venture capital (VC) investors, have been tapped by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to lead Canada’s response to the threat of potentially devastating 25-percent tariffs imposed by the US.  Council members are being asked to leverage their expertise to support the Prime Minister and Cabinet in crafting […]

Lyteflo secures $3 million CAD in seed funding to rev up EV sales platform

Montréal-based electric vehicle (EV) sales platform Lyteflo has closed a $3-million CAD seed round to help car dealerships sell EVs more effectively.  “EVs are here to stay. They’re too big to fail.” Ryan Osten The software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup aims to demystify the EV buying process for consumers and dealerships through its EV Revenue Platform, which […]