It’s Anthonia Ogundele here, on deck for this week’s journal. I’m a parent to an amazing 14 (soon to be 15) year-old girl and the founder of Ethọ́s Lab, a new STEAM-focused non-profit and after-school innovation academy for youth. We leverage culture as a vehicle to access STEAM exploration, through weekly workshops and events. I’m honoured to be one of VTJs guest editors this month.

Everyday, I am on a mission to increase representation of Black youth and girls in STEAM and increase access to networks, tools and resources for all youth. I believe a future for everyone means co-creating with everyone. This is why, in this last week of Women’s History Month I want to give a nod to our future womxn in tech, those who I am inspired by daily through my work at Ethọ́s Lab. With confidence, they create and contribute to our community in innovative ways, showing what is possible when we all have a seat at the table.

To learn more about Ethọ́s Lab and to donate to our $100,000 in 100 days fundraising campaign, you can check out www.ethoslab.ca. If you want to connect with me directly, you can find me on LinkedIn or Instagram or come by our new space in Mount Pleasant. Now, onto this week’s newsletter.

Terramera, Translink among winners of 2022 BC Cleantech Awards

Foresight Canada’s annual competition honoured winners in 10 categories. » See who won.

Who will win the special effects Oscar tonight?

We put our prognosticators' hat on to see who—between Dune, Free Guy, No Time To Die, Shang-Chi and Spiderman—might take it home. » Start reading.

UpperStage Capital hires Kookai Chaimahawong as ESG Partner

Chaimahawong has a history of integrating an impact lens into venture capital investments. » Start reading.

Kevin Sandhu’s mission to democratize freelancing

The serial entrepreneur is back with ControlHQ, a tool that gives freelancers financial peace of mind. » Start reading.

At Cronometer, ski boots meet bootstrapping

Meet the self-funded, Revelstoke-based health tracking app that’s giving back to its hometown. » Start reading.

Rumneek Johal: Rethink what a leader’s supposed to look like

The editor in chief of 5XPress is one of our guest editors for Women’s History Month. Get to know her in our latest Q&A feature. “Put women in leadership, support them, and believe in them,” she says. “Then watch what they can do.” » Start reading.

BC and AB tech leaders reunite after two years to celebrate Acetech's 30th anniversary in Whistler, BC

The Acetech Annual Leadership Summit is scheduled for April 6-8, 2022. » Learn more.

Uber Canada and FLO join forces to accelerate EV adoption

To advance its goal of becoming a zero-emission platform by 2030 in major Canadian cities, Uber Canada is teaming up with FLO to increase EV adoption in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. This partnership will provide discounts on FLO HomeTM charging for drivers on the Uber platform and Uber Green discounts and sign-up incentives for FLO members.

Read more about the Uber and FLO partnership here.

*Partner Message

🤝 Funding and deals

• Vancouver-born tech entrepreneur leads $14.5M donation to BC Parks Foundation. The Age of Union Alliance, helmed by Dax Dasilva, makes one of the largest gifts in the province’s conservation history. » Get the full story.

• Burnaby biotech firm Qu Biologics Inc. has closed USD $12 million in equity financing to grow its team and accelerate innovation. » Details.

• The Flow Foundation and Dapper Labs have partnered to dedicate $10 million in USD and FLOW to support decentralized application builders in the NFT gaming industry. » Ethereum World News.

• XR Immersive Tech Inc. is partnering with educational VR platform VictoryXR to provide new content experiences. » Conitnue.

• Nextech AR teams up with MIT to hack the metaverse using ARitize Maps at their XR Hackathon. » Continue.

• Sierra Wireless announced an agreement with T-Mobile meant to bolster 5G connectivity around the world. » Continue.

Hire More Women in Tech | Women in Tech Hiring Fair: Apr 5-7

Move the needle towards closing the gender gap and build inclusive, gender-balanced teams.

Sign up to VanHack’s Women in Tech Hiring Fair and start speed-interviewing women tech talent.

*Partner Message

🗞️ In other news…

• The New Ventures BC Competition series of startup events begin this week. » Check them out and register.

• CubicFarms appointed Edoardo De Martin as president, in addition to his role as CTO of the company. » Continue.

• Steve Mitobe, CEO and founder of WestCoastNFT, spoke to FinTech magazine about the NFT industry and how it is expanding into social media platforms. » Start reading.

• Coding bootcamps like Vancouver’s Lighthouse Labs and CodeCore have helped those whose jobs were impacted by the pandemic to get new careers. » CBC.

• Fintech firm Mogo forms Mogo Ventures to manage its mostly crypto-related investments. » CoinDesk.

• Monsterlab, a digital transformation company, has established a Vancouver office as part of its expansion in the Americas. » Continue.

• Vancouver-based unicorn Trulioo has hired former Meta and Google executive Reno Matthews as its chief compliance officer. » Start reading.

• Vancouver’s Ad Auris and Tiggy are among 11 companies included in Google’s second cohort of its 10-week cloud accelerator program for Canadian companies. » BetaKit.

• Loop Energy’s technology is being used to launch H2Bus hydrogen-electric buses in Europe. » CompositesWorld.

• Vancouver’s Snack App is back in Hollywood, as celebrity Drew Barrymore shoutout the app in the latest episode of The Drew Barrymore Show. » Watch.

• Simon Fraser University will produce its first sustainable energy engineering grads later this year. » Business in Vancouver.

We’re giving away a 2-night stay at the St. Regis Hotel and dinner for 2 at Gotham Steakhouse. Enter to win by completing our short survey.

Enter the draw

💡 Ideas and insights

• Raghwa Gopal, CEO of Innovate BC, shared the March 2022 local tech stories that caught his eye

• Steve Luscher, a local Facebook programmer, writing on Twitter: Why I'm hopeful for web3

• Peter Muench, VP at Colliers, writing on Tech Office: Return to Office – A Beautiful Mess

• Lindsay Chan, vice president at NATIONAL, writing on her agency’s blog: Technology Trends to Watch in 2022

• Shafin Tejani, CEO of Victory Square Technologies, writing in Entrepreneur: Web3 Could See Its Own Dot-Com Boom. Here's How To Survive The Bust

• Paul Rubenstein, chief people officer at Visier, writing in Entrepreneur: Did Your Employee Ghost You? Here's Why

• Kathleen Reid, founder of Switchboard PR, joined Sarah Elder-Chamanara on the Ellected podcast. » Listen now.

👋🏾 Before you go…

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 story ideas and tips to william@vantechjournal.com