👩‍💻 Meet the woman driving DEI at EA Games

Vancouver’s Marija Radulovic-Nastic is leading EA Games’ push for diversity in its characters

The veteran exec is working to create gaming communities free from harassment, and design a welcoming workplace for all. » Start reading.

Mastercard’s new Vancouver tech hub will help stop you from getting hacked

The global giant’s west coast centre has now officially opened to partners and visitors, and will focus on global intelligence and cybersecurity. » Start reading.

Autozen raises CAD $5.1M, expands across Canada and into Seattle

Vanedge Capital led the oversubscribed seed round into the auto sales marketplace. » Start reading.

• Go deeper: How auto sales marketplace Autozen 100x’d GMV in less than 5 months

PerformanceTech startup Impro closes $2.25M seed round

The startup will use the funds for marketing and R&D. » Start reading.

• Go deeper: Has Josh Blair found his calling with Impro.AI?

🖥️ Experts from Manifold, Signalytic, and UBC on blockchain's potential to change the world

While we have seen many cryptocurrency companies soar in value, is it hype? Or are we in fact standing on the precipice of the next generation of the internet? » Get the insights.

🤝 Funding and deals

• Partner message: Life Sciences British Columbia and Acetech announce partnership

• WonderFi, a local crypto and decentralized finance startup, commenced trading on the TSX. » Continue.

• The Government of British Columbia’s new Climate Preparedness and Adaptation Strategy saw $513 million in CleanBC funding. » Continue.

• Acquisitive healthtech company WELL Health acquired INLIV, a Calgary-based medical clinic, for $1.6 million. » Baystreet.

• Raiven Capital, a global early-stage tech venture fund, announced an investment in Vancouver-based Elevated Signals, an enterprise software company for controlled environment agriculture producers. » Continue.

• The Government of Canada announced the second phase of the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy with a $443 million investment. » Continue.

• Also announced was Buyers for Climate Action, an environmental initiative to advance green procurement practices with more than $45 billion in purchasing requirements every year. The government of B.C. and the city of Vancouver are on board. » Continue.

• Adamas Esports acquired Belfast-based esports performance company Gscience. » The Esports Observer.

• Vancouver’s Finn.ai, an AI-powered chatbot platform for banks and credit unions, was acquired by New York-based software company Glia. » Continue.

• ABOzymes, a biotech company creating a platform that enables universal organ transplants or blood transfusions, completed an upsized seed round. » Continue.

• Dapper Labs participated in the Series A round and partnered with Cryptoys, a company building blockchain-based toys. » TechCrunch.

🗞️ In other news

• Partner message from TELUS: Unlock 5G for all Canadians

• Formula E dropped Vancouver from its provisional race calendar, dashing hopes that the event would take place in 2023. » Global News.

• The Internet Archive Canada, a non-profit building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts, has a new headquarters and tech community space: 330 West Pender. » Vancouver Sun.

• Susannah Pierce was elected chair of the Business Council of British Columbia. » Continue.

• Immersive Tech’s UNCONTAINED, a VR attraction inside a shipping container, will feature at Playland this summer » Continue.

• Akshon Esports, a digital media company specializing in esports, was announced as the official content production partner for the 2022 season of Overwatch League and Call of Duty League. » Continue.

• Noida, India-based multinational HCL Technologies is adding 9,000 square feet to its Vancouver office space and will fill it with 80 hires. » BIV.

• A survey from The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade found rising anxiety levels amongst Metro Vancouver business owners. » Continue.

💡 Ideas and insights

• Partner message: The world is flat for global talent

• Erin Gee, writing in d3crypto: 60% of Canadians support cryptocurrency regulation

• After reading her piece, listen to Gee as she is joined by our very own Kate Wilson in a dispatch from Collision conference » Listen now.

• Mike Winterfield, founder of Active Impact Investments, joined The Art of Meaningful Work podcast to discuss how he became a climatetech investor and the criteria his team uses to define investable companies. » Listen now.

• Charlie Grinnell, CEO at RightMetric, writing on LinkedIn: Time to consider gaming

• Chris Neumann, partner at Panache Ventures, writing on his blog about international investing: you’re not from around these parts…

• Michael Gilbert, CEO of Semios, appeared on BNN Bloomberg to discuss how AI can help farmers save water and reduce chemical inputs. » Watch now.

• The trailer for DecentralDoc’s CBC series about the metaverse and web3 just dropped. » Watch now.

• Visier, the local HR tech unicorn, premiered the first episode of its podcast where the company’s VP of research and value, Yustina Saleh, and VP of people analytics, Ian Cook, chatted about the Great Resignation. » Listen now.

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