TechTO Quick Takes | Canadian tech news and analysis

It’s Thursday March 31, 2022, and today we’re talking about: Markets turn and growth at all costs stop: Thinkific and Farmers Edge make layoffs and executive changes  Pivot to monetizing other people’s content leads to a $14.5m round for Bonsai Canadian Web3 Council is formed to help shape Canada’s approach to Web3  and Quicker take: Athennian raises $27m Insider company of the week: htt...

It’s Thursday March 24, 2022, and today we’re talking about:  Seeing the problem, creating a solution, and dedicating: Validere early pivot pays off with a new $43m USD raise The importance of branding: Talent.com rebrand leads to a $120m USD raise Massive markets have venture scale opportunities in “niches”: Two bootstrapped companies raise outside financing Developing impact of cryptocurren...

It’s Thursday February 23rd, 2022, and today we’re talking about:   Some scaling points that can generate massive business: Convictional connects with $40m USD  As if we don't say it enough... Timing IS everything: RideCo. On-Demand Transit drives into $16m USD  What you need to know about Web3 as a Founder or Employee: The Web3 boom continues  Why growth is important to valuat...

It's Thursday, February 17, 2022, and today we are talking about:  A successful startup needs insights, product market fit and good timing: Paper raises $270m USD to become latest Canadian unicorn  What it takes for a scale economy business to succeed: Cohere raise $125m USD  Markets may not reflect the true value of your business: Shopify misses expectations shares crushed but noth...

It’s Thursday February 10th, 2022, and today we’re talking about:  Longevity over potential: Quantum proves the allure of possibilities How acquisitions help companies expand: Trulioo buys HelloFlow How and where to raise capital: DOZR raises money to expand geographies Heightened revenue growth during a pandemic: Hopper provides liquidity and increases its valuation Benefit of investing in i...

It’s Thursday February 3rd, 2022, and today we’re talking about:  Accelerating growth via acquisition : Daylight Automation acquires Proof Data Technology, three large funding announcements: all with similar timing? Coincidence?, Hopper is taking on Airbnb to increase revenue and improve unit economics Blackberry sells patents to legacy smartphone business for $600m.

It's Tuesday, February 1st, 2022, and today we are talking about: KOHO raises $200m+ to become the leading Canadian neo bank.

It’s Thursday, January 27th, 2022, and today we’re talking about: what's happening with funding markets, centralized crypto banking is becoming more competitive in Canada, easiest way to enter new geographies can be via acquisition, SHOPLAZZA raises $150m USD from SoftBank Group Corp., BenchSci raises $50m USD, and Caribou raises $3m USD.

It’s Thursday January 20th, 2022, and today we’re talking about: The Future of Work is getting funded, the secrets behind 1Password’s raise, space tech is blasting off in Canada, temporary tattoo maker Inkbox permanently acquired by Bic , Canalyst raises $70m US, and Shopify enters China.

It’s Thursday, January 13th, 2022, and today we’re talking about: Health tech expanding beyond virtual care, how important is it to be called a “unicorn”?, profitable opportunities exist in Canada-scale - and not just venture-scale - companies, and Crypto exchanges are getting regulated.

It’s Thursday, December 16th, 2021, and today we have a very special episode where we are taking a look back at 2021 and asking ourselves: What were the biggest trends of 2021?  Is Alex Norman psychic? The predictions he got right and wrong in 2021. What did the TechTO community read, watch and listen to this year? We’ll reveal the highlights from our best performing content in 2021.

It’s Thursday December 9nd 2021, and today we’re talking about: mastering enterprise network effects with Spare , “Etsy for X” is fundable: GoodGood raises $6.5m, should you raise in secret? Buf finally announces $93M US in funding, and how to take on big tech: Rumble competes with YouTube and goes public.

It’s Thursday December 2nd 2021, and today we’re talking about: Constellation Software Inc. launches a VC arm, Tiger Analytics and Salesforce get a Klue , Spare raises $18m for its mobility software platform, and the end of the road for Roadmunk .

It's Thursday November 25th 2021, and today we’ll be talking about 5 major trends that we see in the Canadian tech ecosystem, across: Funding’s flight to quality, Going public: IPOs and SPACs, Accelerators: More or Less?, Salaries: to the moon?, Distributed teams vs. back to office, Announcing rounds, and Web3.

It’s Thursday November 11th 2021, and today we’re talking about: owl.co breaks the rules on their way to a $30m US raise, Wrapbook brings the gig economy to entertainment and becomes a unicorn, Bolt rides logistics and US expansion plans to a $75m series B, Threekit 3D & Augmented Reality adopts web3 and raises $35m; and a bonus take: Georgian backs Gradient Spaces , a 2S-LGBTQ-IA+ incubator.

It’s Thursday November 4th 2021, and today we’re talking about: Momentum fundraising: Tiger Global Management invests $37M in Float , No momentum yet? Be a repeat founder: Practice raises $10m US, Scaling hardware is hard: ecobee sells to Generac Power Systems for $770M. Lightning takes: Uvaro raises, and AlayaCare goes shopping.

It’s Thursday October 28th 2021, and today we’re talking about: On Deck launches a $100m USD accelerator, Hopper continues its transformation by acquiring PlacePass , IP-Oh Canada: Sharethrough , Magnet Forensics , Hootsuite , Propel Holdings , D2L and Q4 ; and in the lightning takes: CalendarHero acquired by Vendasta , Fellow.app raises $24m USD; and Council of Canadian Innovators | Conseil Canad...

It’s Thursday October 14th 2021, and today we’re talking about: Tiger Global Management pounces on ResQ . Rose Rocket drives into a new round, FreshBooks and Paystone use their funds just like they said they would; and in our lighting round: IPOs for Q4 and D2L; CostCertified raises $8.5m, and Alida is alive with a new raise.

It’s Thursday October 7th 2021, and today we’re talking about: AutoLeap drives into a $18m US round, Dapper Labs buys Lil Miquela, Klass Capital schedules $28m in Coconut Software ; and a lighting round: Sandpiper Ventures makes first close on its new fund, and Interac Corp. acquires the rights to SecureKey Technologies Inc in Canada.

It’s Thursday September 30th 2021, and today we’re talking about: Semios harvests $100m USD to eat up agtech, Salesforce acquires LevelJump.io , Kira Systems spinout Zuva raises $20m, and a lighting round: Conexiom raises $130m from Warburg Pincus LLC , The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company rolls into Gatik , and Convictional raises $6.7m.

It’s Thursday September 23rd 2021, and today we’re talking about: Rewind and Dapper Labs both raise additional capital, FormHero raises an A and rebrands to Daylight , Opendoor enters Canada via the Skylight ; and a lighting round: Inovia Capital ’s SPAC, Foxquilt series A, and Copperleaf Technologies goes public.

It’s the first Thursday in September, and today we’re talking about: National Bank of Canada makes $100m+ bet on Flinks , VICE Media is too much to handle for SPACs and raises $85m, and Top Hat continues to stock its shelf.

It’s Thursday August 12th, and today we’re talking about: Southwestern Ontario team up to launch Health Innovation network, FreshBooks now contain a $1b valuation and is looking to expand globally and due diligence is completed as Kira Systems is acquired by Litera .

It’s Thursday, July 29th, 2021, and today we’re talking about: The Maple Syrup Mafia invests in 1Password , Deep Genomics raises $180m US led by SoftBank Group Corp. , Paystone engages with private equity to raise $30m. Notch rebrands and raises $10m US, and Shopify announces more earnings and more investments.

It’s Thursday, June 24th, 2021, and today we’re talking about:  Q4 tells investors to wait for their IPO, AlayaCare brings home $225m for home care. Portage gets ready to SPAC, and Golden Ventures doubles down with 2 new funds.