Good morning everyone. Welcome to the hundreds of new readers with us this week. I invite you to join me and my friends at Switchboard PR for a special Twitter Spaces online show where we’ll share tips for tech companies to tell their story. It’s happening November 9, 3:30pm PST. Set up at reminder here on Twitter.

Below I’m excited to spotlight the $800M SaaS company hiring a new media team, the entrepreneur using tech to unleash the power of neurotherapy, and 38 other stories.

Today’s Sunday Briefing is 1,302 words, a 4-minute read. Enjoy!

-William (@notionport)

Cameron Uganec, Thinkific’s new general manager of media, dishes on the shifting content marketing landscape.

We caught up with the local executive, who previously held roles at Hootsuite, Later and Bench, about the why, how and what of building a new media company from scratch. » See what he had to say.

“[Neurotherapy] is not a new methodology by any stretch, but we are using technology to unleash it.” - Paola Telfer wants you to master your brain.

With Blackcomb as a backdrop, Telfer’s Whistler-based business, Sens.ai, is building better neurotherapy. » Start reading.

Dyne dynamic in pitch competition. Plus, a serial Seattle entrepreneur looks north up the Cascadia Corridor—and likes what he sees.

Vancouver software company Dyne won $65,000 at the Valhalla Summit after a keynote from Calgary-born Rahul Sood who shared his views on Canadian entrepreneurship. » Start reading.

BBTV announced the appointment of Ehab Samy as its vice president of product and engineering.

Ehab, who held previous roles at Advanced Intelligent Systems, Victoria's Plurilock and Yocale, starts on January 1st and will report to BBTV chairperson and CEO, Shahrzad Rafati. » Get the full story.

⏩ Briefly:

• 👨🏻‍💼 Veteran venture capitalist: Wal van Lierop shares his advice on building a tech startup and pitching investors.

• 🧑‍🔬 Life science leaderboard: Vancouver named the top life sciences startup ecosystem in Canada.

• 🎵 High note: Victoria vocal instruction platform Singdaptive nets investment from the co-founder of Guitar Hero.

• 📈 Build your business: Feds invites small businesses to develop an artificial intelligence decryption service.

🤝 Funding and deals.

• Vancouver’s owl.co, an insurance claims monitoring platform, secured CAD$37 million in Series-B funding led by Cota Capital.

  The round also had participation from Sorenson Ventures, FUSE, Impression Ventures, Luge Capital and Plug and Play Ventures. This latest round of financing brings the company’s overall funding to CAD$50M. The company said it would also increase its full-time staff in the US and Canada by 20% before the end of 2021, with additional hiring planned for 2022. » Continue.

• Tribe Property Technologies, which develops software to manage communities, has partnered with Vancouver’s Fresh Prep, a Canadian meal delivery service, to bring meals directly to Tribe buildings across British Columbia and Alberta. » Continue.

• INEO Tech Corp. is partnering with Prosegur EAS to manufacture, distribute and install INEO's advertising and analytics systems for retailers around the world. » Continue.

• GameOn Entertainment Technologies Inc. has agreed to acquire real-time fantasy technology firm FanClash from London-based Inplay Labs. » Continue.

• PeakBirch Logic Inc., an ecommerce platform, announced that it will acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Greenlite Crowdfunding Corp. for $1.8 million. » Get the details.

• Dapper Labs welcomed Faze NFTs (for international cricket fans) to their Flow blockchain. » Continue.

Helping innovators and impact-makers tell their stories 

Switchboard Public Relations works with some of the most progressive and innovative teams in Canada’s technology sector.

Tech leaders know their products and services are brilliant, but sometimes need help explaining why they matter and how they will create positive change. Switchboard communicates game-changing ideas in an accessible and exciting way to customers, government, investors, media, stakeholders, and the general public. 

See how the country’s top tech PR firm can help you.

* Partner Message

🗞️ In other news…

• Lighthouse Labs is launching its second 21-Day Coding Challenge on November 22. » Continue.

• BCIT launches first of its kind Industrial Network Cybersecurity Lab, designed to train students using game-based learning. » Continue.

• BC Tech Association announced its Board of Directors for 2021-2022, and it features executives from EA, Vancity and East Side Games, among other firms. » Get the list.

• Tom Waller, former SVP of innovation at Lululemon, announced that he’s joining Adidas to lead their innovation division, starting in January 2022.

• Tara Ataya, chief people and diversity officer at Hootsuite, was named to Business Insider’s DEI trailblazers list of 16 diversity executives transforming the workplace in post-George Floyd corporate America.

• Shradha Mittal was appointed senior vice president of people and culture at Trulioo, the global identity verification unicorn.

• British Columbians reported $3.5 million in losses to cryptocurrency investment scams in the first eight months of 2021, prompting warnings from law enforcement. » Continue.

• George Heyman, BC’s environment minister, says, “Successful climate action requires innovation.” » Continue.

• Trulioo CEO Steve Munford thinks “we don’t need more unicorns,” per a BetaKit story.

• Seaspan and other local firms are working to electrify the marine sector and global ports. » Continue.

• ImagineAR, which helps brands create mobile AR campaigns, has been recognized by the STA Group for its fan engagement technology. » Continue.

• Victoria-based South Island Prosperity Partnership has been put in charge of the new Centre for Ocean Applied Sustainable Technologies as it works to “unlock new opportunities in the marine economy and speed up the growth of ocean-based companies.” » Continue.

• Fantasy 360 Technologies announced that its UNCONTAINED VR attraction has moved out of Beta and into production development. » Continue.

💡 Ideas and insights.

• Shafin Diamond Tejani, CEO at Victory Square Technologies, writing on LinkedIn: What Sports Can Teach Us About Funding Women Entrepreneurs

• Kyle Hall, CEO of INEO, writing in Techcouver: Rise In Crime in Vancouver Sees Business Owners Leaning into Retail Technology

• Kathleen Reid, founder and chief communications officer, writing in Vancouver Tech Journal: How tech companies can make the most of the media spotlight 

• Lukas-Karim Merhi and Gautam Sadarangani, co-founders of TENZR Health, writing on Techcouver: Physical Therapy Is About To Witness The Next Innovation Wave

• Jeanette Jackson, CEO of Foresight, writing on her organization’s blog: Reflections from COP26: Sharing Ideas with European Partners and Canada’s PM

🌐 More BC tech headlines from around the web.

• Highline Beta in Forbes: Intuit Accelerator Combines Fintech For Good With AI

• Stambol in Vancouver Sun: Facebook's Meta rebrand does favours for Vancouver's virtual-reality companies

• AbCellera in Pivot Magazine: Why innovation is the key to sustainable growth 

• Dapper Labs in Venture Beat: Upland raises $18M at $300M valuation for NFT-based virtual real estate game

• Dapper Labs in The Sports Rush: “Kevin Durant’s 7 best investments”: The two-time NBA champion has fundings in cryptocurrency, delivery startups, and a digital fitness company, to name a few.

• OMG Media CEO Farhan Mohamed in Capilano Courier: Former Daily Hive EiC and Capilano University alum now CEO of Overstory Media Group

• Nexii in Emering Tech Brew: In record-breaking year for VC funding, climate tech is no exception

🎧 Watch and listen.

• Shubham Datta, VP of corporate development at Clio, joined the Legal Talk Network podcast to discuss how Clio is investing in promising early-stage companies with diverse founders.

📅 See you soon in person.

• Vancouver Tech Morning Coffee every Tuesday. Join the Vancouver tech community for coffee from 8am-10am every Tuesday. Meet at The Coffee Bar (10 Water St.) in Gastown. Sign-up for coffee updates through this form.

• TechVancouver: Join the CEO of Visualping and the co-founder and CTO of Opendoor on December 8 in Yaletown. Register here.

✅ 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!