Workstaff closes $1.6-million seed round with ambitions to expand beyond Canada
Montréal-based temp staff management platform Workstaff has raised a $1.6-million CAD seed round to help fund its ongoing plans to expand in the US. The round, which closed in March, was led by Normand Bélisle, the former president of Québecor Digital, with participation from the provincially funded Investissement Québec via their Impulsion PME program and […]
Loop Energy alerts creditors to restructuring after layoffs, strategic review
Burnaby, BC-based hydrogen fuel cell company Loop Energy has alerted its creditors that it filed a Notice of Intention to Make a Proposal (NOI) under Canada’s Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. In May, Loop said that it had reduced its headcount to less than 15 people worldwide. The filing, which does not mean the company has […]
Claudette McGowan closes $10-million Series A for cybersecurity startup Protexxa
Toronto-based cybersecurity startup Protexxa says it has set a “new achievement” in Canada with the closing of its $10 million CAD Series A round. Protexxa said the new capital will be used on its platform as well as growing its sales and marketing teams. Protexxa told BetaKit in an email statement that “a private family […]
Clio tops $4-billion CAD valuation with largest software funding round in Canadian tech history
Already one of Canada’s highest-valued technology startups, Clio claims its new Series F round makes it the most valuable cloud-based legaltech company in the world. Buoyed by strong revenue growth, the Burnaby, BC-based unicorn has closed the fresh funding at a more than $4-billion CAD ($3-billion USD) valuation. Clio’s $1.24-billion CAD ($900-million USD) Series F […]
How Symcor is helping Canada get ready for open banking
Late last month, Canada’s prolonged road to open banking hit a new milestone: the federal government’s Bill C-69 received royal assent, officially enshrining the implementation of a consumer-driven banking framework into law. Open banking—which will allow Canadians to control and share their financial data with third-party providers and ultimately benefit from a wider range of […]
Cohere Series D hits $500 million raised at $5.5-billion valuation
Toronto-based generative artificial intelligence (AI) startup Cohere has topped up and officially closed its Series D round, raking in $500 million USD at a $5.5 billion valuation ($687 million CAD at $7.6 billion). Last month, BetaKit independently confirmed reports that Cohere had raised a first tranche of $450 million USD from returning backers that included […]
Predicting the perfect VC vintage
It’s been a rocky couple of years for Canadian venture capital. Josh Scott has an excellent temperature check from GPs and LPs at different fund stages. Spoiler alert: it’s not exactly pretty. This year, Canadian VCs are on track to raise the lowest amount of capital in a decade, with a paltry $500 million in […]
BDC among those to experience interruptions as part of CrowdStrike outage
Today’s CrowdStrike outage has caused unprecedented disruptions in a number of sectors around the world, and there are also indications this could impact Canada’s tech sector. The disruptions have grounded flights and disrupted hospitals, emergency services, and countless businesses. Troy Hunt, the cybersecurity expert known for creating the password-breach monitoring service HaveIBeenPwned, described the current […]
Are you an AI company or a company that uses AI?
Investor Deck is a six-article series presented by Sage, offering tips for SaaS startups from Canadian VCs. You can read the previous installment here. For the past 18 months, artificial intelligence has been the drumbeat of the tech world, and it’s triggered an identity crisis for many SaaS startups. As investors have redirected their coffers […]
Ontario is getting rid of ghost jobs
Whether in dating or job applications, we’ve all been ghosted at some stage. When it comes to ghost jobs—postings for positions that for whatever reason, aren’t actually available—Ontario has had enough. To address the growing issue of “ghost jobs”, the province is set to introduce new legislation aimed at increasing transparency and fairness in the […]