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PacifiCan and PrairiesCan commit $17.7 million to companies in Western Canada

Western Canada’s federally-funded economic development agencies, PacifiCan and PrairiesCan, committed a collective $17.7 million CAD to help companies in Richmond, BC and Calgary develop and commercialize their technologies last week.  The British Columbia-focused PacifiCan provided a repayable $4.7 million CAD across two Richmond-based companies, Ideon Technologies and Lucid Vision Labs, while PrairiesCan dispersed $13 million […]

Family office software MyFO secures $3.5 million seed round led by Rhino Ventures

Vancouver-based MyFO has secured $3.5 million to scale the operations of its wealth management platform tailored for family offices.  “While many tech companies are joining the AI-hype, MyFO remains focused on its goal of thoughtful innovation.” MyFO statement The round was led by Vancouver-based early-stage venture capital fund Rhino Ventures. MyFO did not disclose any […]

Champagne and Conservatives point fingers as Canadian cleantech startups suffer continued SDTC funding delays

The sluggish restart of embattled federal cleantech investment agency Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) has left some of the early-stage cleantech startups the organization was designed to support still waiting for promised funding. With those startups cutting staff and projects to reduce burn, Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne traded barbs with Conservative counterparts last week as […]

Georgian Partners isn’t the only one

It was only a matter of time. The Globe and Mail said the quiet part out loud on Friday, with new reporting from Sean Silcoff indicating Georgian Partners—Canada’s largest independent VC firm with $5.6 billion USD in assets under management—wrote down 28 investments in 21 companies across five funds, representing a whopping $430-million USD loss […]

Does Canada have the leverage to regulate Big Tech?

Google is a monopolist. That’s according to a US federal judge who ruled that Google violated US antitrust law by maintaining a monopoly in the search and advertising markets. The Department of Justice (DOJ), which levied the case, just dropped proposed solutions, which include forcing Google to sell off parts of its business, such as […]

Inside FreshBooks’ struggle to reach profitability

When FreshBooks founder and board chair Mike McDerment decided to cede the CEO position to Don Epperson in early 2021, he set the sights for his financial accounting software company high.  “The next five years will be focused on scaling globally,” McDerment told BetaKit at the time. “In my opinion, Don’s strengths are better suited […]

New funding for Kepler and Wyvern headline busy month in Canadian space tech

It’s been an eventful week for Canadian space tech as companies like Wyvern, Kepler Communications, Mission Control, and Volta Space Technologies prepare for take off with new partnerships and rounds of funding. Wyvern has expanded over the years from four founders to 33 employees across Canada and the US. Edmonton-based satellite imaging startup Wyvern secured […]

Round13 Capital to acquire startup lending platform TIMIA Group for $6.5 million

Toronto-based venture firm Round13 Capital is set to acquire venture debt platform TIMIA Group from Vancouver-based alternative lender Montfort Capital for $6.5 million. The transaction, announced Thursday, includes a $4.5-million cash payment and a $2-million debt repayment to Pivot Financial, a creditor connected to TIMIA Capital. Montfort has agreed to sell all its rights and […]