Meet BC's 12th $1B+ business in 10 months

Welcome to a special Monday edition of our weekly briefing.

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Good morning everyone. Hurry. Make sure you read this email right away. Don’t leave it until later. Trust me. Once you’ve finished your second family-or-Friendsgiving meal of the weekend and the food-coma starts to hit, you will not — I repeat not — have the attention span for this. “Why’s that?” you ask. Well, in this week’s issue, we’ve shared a whopping 46 stories, including multiple, long features that you don’t want to miss. It’s time to loosen your mental belt buckle — because like a proper Thanksgiving dinner, there is a lot to digest here.

Anyway, today I have 1,538 words for you, a 5 + 1/2-minute read. Enjoy!

-William (@notionport)

Last Week’s Top Stories

Pender Ventures principal Kendall McArdle

🏒 A professional hockey career took Kenndal McArdle from Vancouver to Västerås. Venture capital brought him back.

In this special feature, the Pender Ventures principal reflects on his passion for finance, life and hockey in Sweden, plus what the future holds for venture capital in Western Canada. » Start reading.

Active Impact Investments added Export Development Canada (EDC) as a limited partner (LP) for its second climate tech fund, Fund II.

The firm originally announced in July an oversubscribed fund of $54 million with a group of LPs that included Fondaction Pension Fund, Vancity, the University of Victoria’s working capital fund, Hamilton Community Foundation and clients of Genus Capital Management. EDC is chipping in $5.88 million, making it the largest and final LP in Fund II. » Keep reading.

“When we started, there wasn't even a term like [creator economy.]” — Phoebe Jiang is transforming how creators share their work.

As a student, Jiang read TechCrunch “religiously.” Now, she’s leading a pioneering tech company in Pixieset. » Start reading.

🌎 19 BC cleantech leaders to know ahead of VEF’s clean growth event.

In advance of the upcoming Vancouver Entrepreneurs’ Forum session Clean Growth Stories: Lessons from Leaders Capturing the Climate Opportunity, we’re spotlighting 19 BC-based sustainability leaders, as recognized by Clean50.com. » Get the list.

ICYMI: Vancouver’s TrafficDriven Technologies Inc. has been announced as the winner of the 2021 New Ventures BC Competition, taking home the $110,000 Innovate BC First Place Prize Package.

Vancouver’s Train Fitness claimed the $60,000 Innovate BC Second Place Prize Package and cleantech startup Moment Energy rounded out the top three and walked away with $35,000. » Get the full list.

  • 🏆 The Techies: New Ventures BC Competition’s 21st year, the pros and cons of hybrid events and the celebration of an ecosystem.

    The tweets you may have missed while you brushed up on last night’s winners. » Time to catch up.

  • 👩🏻‍💼 ICYMI: After 21 years, NVBC executive director Angie Schick is ready for her close-up. The head of the New Ventures BC Competition reflects on more than two decades fueling BC entrepreneurial success. » Read the story.

⏩ Quick takes.

🤝 Funding and deals.

  • Damon Motors, which has developed an electric motorcycle, is receiving $400,000 from the CleanBC Go Electric ARC program for its modular electric vehicle (EV) powertrain system.

    The company broke ground at its new clean-tech manufacturing, research and development facility in Surrey on Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. The facility will introduce a cleaner, industry-leading manufacturing process and is expected to create more than 500 new jobs. » Learn more.

  • 📰 Vancouver’s Copperleaf, a decision analytics company, went public on the TSX at a valuation of more than $1 billion, making it the 12th BC business to hit that milestone since last December.

    “The $140-million offering – the first tech IPO on the TSX since July – received strong demand from investors, drawing $1.4-billion in pre-issue orders… That was more than 10 times the initial offering size of $125-million,” reported the Globe and Mail.

  • Dapper Labs has acquired Sequoia-backed Brud to form Dapper Collectives with the goal of bringing decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) to Flow Blockchain. » What Dapper’s CEO had to say.

  • Fobi AI Inc has agreed to acquire PassWallet, an app for managing and utilizing wallet passes on Android phones. » More at Proactive.

  • Tribe Property Technologies Inc. has partnered with Eddy Solutions to bring an IoT-powered suite of smart water monitoring devices to its digital ecosystem. » Details.

  • WELL Health’s CRH Medical Corporation completed two majority stake acquisitions for 70% of Destin Anesthesia and 51% of Pinellas County Anesthesia Associates. » Get the nitty-gritty.

  • Big Whale Labs a web3 startup, raised $655,000 in pre-seed funding led by Slow Ventures with participation from Samsung Next, Intonation Ventures, NFT Investments PLC, and multiple angel investors. » Read the release.

🗞️ In other news…

💡 Ideas and insights.

🌐 More BC tech headlines from around the web.

🎧 Watch and listen.

📅 See you soon at these events.

  • Every Tuesday: Vancouver Tech Morning Coffee. Join the Vancouver Tech community for coffee from 8am-10am every Tuesday. If it’s sunny, meet at the Birds & The Beets (55 Powell St). If it’s rainy, meet at The Coffee Bar (10 Water St.). Sign-up for weekly reminders through this form.

  • TechTOgether is back in Vancouver and they are bringing Vancouver’s tech leaders, innovators, and enthusiasts together to meet, learn and grow — in person. Join me and other Innovators for an evening of great conversation, and learning on October 20th. REGISTER HERE.

  • Have you heard? SAAS NORTH is back this November 17-18 in Ottawa. Early Bird tix are on until Oct 14 and you can save an additional 25% with the code VTJ25—run, don’t walk to grab your tickets.

✅ Checklist.

  1. Forward this newsletter to your colleagues, clients or anyone else you think would find it valuable.

  2. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

  3. Send us story ideas and tips!

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