7,500 founders applied. These 7 got in
7,500 founders applied. These 7 got in
Meet the Canadian startups that received funding from On Deck ODX, a $100M global fund and accelerator.
Good morning everyone. It’s already January 16th. Wild, right? We’re halfway through the month and the momentum in B.C.’s tech sector is showing no signs of subsiding. Case in point: I have another 35 stories for you this week. On a different note, some of our readers have been asking us to bring back the weekly morning coffees. If you also want this, please let us know by replying to this email or messaging us on Twitter. Plus, for future meetup-specific updates, sign up here. Now, let’s get into today’s newsletter.
Here are the 7 Canadian startups backed by ODX, On Deck’s $100M accelerator fund
7,500 founders applied to On Deck’s ODX, a startup accelerator backed by a $100 million fund. 110 were accepted. Meet the seven Canadian startups—including five from Vancouver—that got in. » Start reading.
SHAPE up: How Apply Digital’s culture made it ripe for investment
Co-founder and CEO Gautam Lohia cites Apply’s culture as a key driver of the company’s success and last week’s announced growth investment from Interlock Equity. » Start reading.
LOI Venture, the $20M pre-seed fund launched by Ryan Holmes and Manny Padda, announced the first close of its fund, LOI Venture Fund I
The fund’s slate of limited partners (investors), which according to Padda, have so far committed about half of the fund total, includes a who’s who of Canadian tech industry royalty. They include Dapper Labs co-founders Roham and Sam Gharegozlou, Tiny’s Andrew Wilkinson and Clearco founder Michele Romanow. » Get the full story.
Start Hiring from VanHack’s 280K+ Developer Community
Trusted by over 600+ companies, VanHack is one of the world’s largest providers of tech recruitment services, specializing in helping employers hire qualified candidates faster and retain talent longer.
* Partner Message
🤝 Funding and deals
Unbounce acquired LeadsRx to help companies measure marketing performance. The acquisition positions Unbounce to be able to bring the power of marketing attribution to its small and midsize business customers. » Get the full story.
27 Indigenous communities received over $3.8M for clean-energy projects in 2021. The funding was delivered by the BC Government through the First Nations Clean Energy Business Fund. » Start reading.
Progressive Planet, a Vancouver-based provider of solutions and eco-friendly minerals for sustainability in industry and agriculture, has received conditional approval from the TSX Venture Exchange to acquire Absorbent Products Ltd., a BC-based mining company. » Continue.
Chrysalix Venture Capital announced the final close of its Chrysalix RoboValley Fund, a nearly USD $100M fund to invest in early-stage companies that are developing technologies in intelligent systems, resource productivity and environmental solutions. » Continue.
Shiba Shelter, a Vancouver-founded, charity-focused non-fungible token (NFT) collection, announces a 9.04 ETH ($36,866.14) donation to dog shelters as voted on by Shiba Shelter token holders. » Continue.
Acuitas Therapeutics Inc., “the company behind key COVID-19 vaccine tech,” has signed a major deal with Pfizer. » Globe and Mail
WonderFi, which just bought Bitbuy for about $206M, announced a $35M bought deal public offering. » Continue.
TraceSafe, which develops location-aware IoT technology, closed a convertible note financing with institutional investor Arena Investors LP, raising USD $3 million. » Continue.
Groundswell Cloud Solutions, a Salesforce advisory and implementation service, was acquired by Indiana’s GyanSys Inc. » Continue.
TELUS International announced a collaboration with Automation Anywhere, a global leader in robotic process automation, to simplify the delivery and migration of automation solutions on Google Cloud. » Continue.
🗞️ In other news…
BBTV announced the launch of its Pay To Crypto solution—which enables creators to receive their earnings in a range of popular cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and USD Stablecoin. » Continue.
B.C. companies Spring, Cubic Farms, Telus and Tentree were amongst the winners of Real Leaders' 2022 Impact Awards. » Continue.
Mogo Inc., a digital payments company, announced the appointment of Allan Smith (ex-Amazon and SoFi) to the newly created role of chief people officer. » Continue.
B.C. led all provinces in IPOs last year with 90 that raised $2.2 billion. » BIV.
Carbon Engineering, Ekona Power, General Fusion, Ionomr Innovations,MineSense Technologies, Pani Energy and Svante were the B.C. companies named to the 2022 Global Cleantech 100. » Get the full list.
Immersive Tech is redefining the digital space through immersive entertainment. » LA Weekly.
Covalent announced new real-time APIs to drill down into NFT markets, providing a global view of NFT collections ranked by market cap, as well as a detailed view of historical sale and floor price information for a particular collection. » Continue.
Pocketed, Commit and other Vancouver startups were recognized by FoundersBeta as two of the Top 100 Tech Companies to Watch for in 2022. » Continue.
Invest Vancouver, Metro Vancouver’s new regional economic development agency, hired Lejla Uzicanin in the role of vice president, data, research and policy. » Continue.
Kizmet Impact Capital, an impact investment fund intending to become one of the first publicly-traded funds of its kind by listing on the NEO Exchange, has launched. » Continue.
ehsAI, which develops compliance automation SaaS technology powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning, was named a winner in the 2022 BIG Innovation Awards presented by the Business Intelligence Group. » Continue.
TELUS Health launched a digital virtual pharmacy service to enable users to set up automatic refill reminders for prescription medications that are shipped directly to their doorstep. » Continue.
Icicle Technologies Inc., which offers food processors digital solutions that enable them to go paperless and audit-ready, won an award from Top Software and Technology Award from Food Logistics. » Continue.
Pam Saunders, director of communications and engagement at Microsoft, and Polly Tracey, VP of communications and public affairs, at Best Buy, were both named Top Canadian Marketers to be Following on LinkedIn in 2022 by Marketing News Canada. » Continue.
Furniture retailer Article has reportedly delayed plans to go public amid market uncertainty and a “sharp sell off of tech stocks.” » The Globe and Mail.
Wishpond, which develops digital marketing solutions for businesses, David Pais as its new chief financial officer. » Continue.
General Fusion said it successfully achieved key performance goals of a prototype system for its Fusion Demonstration Plant (FDP) which will enable it to create practical and commercially viable fusion power. » Continue.
💡 Ideas and insights
Mike Stephenson, co-founder and CEO of addy, writing in Inc.: 3 Ways To Attract Top Talent Despite The Great Resignation
Darian Kovacs, founder of Jelly Marketing, writing in The Future Economy: Increasing Opportunities for Indigenous Peoples and Businesses in Digital Marketing
Ryan Wong, CEO of workforce analytics unicorn Visier, launched People Powered, a newsletter that will feature data-backed insights on today’s workforce. » Read now.
Kari LaMotte, managing director at entrepreneurship@UBC, joined the Startup Canada podcast to discuss how #incubation and #acceleration for entrepreneurs can lead to high rates of innovation and success. » Listen.
Curt Sigfstead, Clio’s new CEO, joined BIV Today to discuss his decision to join the high-profile unicorn and more. » Listen.