TechTO Quick Takes | Canadian tech news and analysis

It’s Thursday, July 8th, 2021, and today, we’ve a got special episode discussing the key questions facing the Canadian tech scene in the second half of 2021: Is this the end of easy money? How bad is the tech talent shortage? What trends will accelerate - or reverse - as vaccination rates rise and Canada re-opens? And quick takes on FightCamp ’s raise, Ritual.co ’s acquisition, and SoftBank e...

It’s Thursday, July 15th 2021, and today we’re talking about: Is Canada’s brain drain over? In other news, Float raises $4m to launch a Canadian SMB credit card. Further, Canadian companies go on a shopping spree, and Algolux sees a $18.4m USD raise. Read the full report on Canadian tech talent here: https://www.cbre.ca/en/research-and-reports/Canada-Scoring-Tech-Talent-2020

It’s Thursday, July 22nd, 2021, and today we’re talking about: Properly raises a proper Series B, Allocadia is acquired by BrandMaker , Auvik Networks Inc. sells a majority stake for $250m US - and if these takes weren’t quick enough, we’ll do some even quicker ones in our lightning takes round: Shopify is thrown for a Loop; Think Research is on an acquisition spree; and Untether AI tethers to a $...

It’s Thursday June 10th 2021, and today we’re talking about: Sequoia Capital makes a high end investment in SSENSE . Waabi drives into $83.5m from Khosla. Lightspeed HQ continues its shopping spree. Trulioo identifies $394m USD; and this week in early stage funding: Poka Inc. , Kepler , and VRScheduler .

It’s Thursday, May 27th 2021, and today we’re talking about: PartnerStack stacks up $35M with new partners, and Ledn raises $30M to expand its crypto offerings. This week in early stage funding: Tenstorrent Inc. , Novisto , 7shifts: Restaurant Scheduling , and Rumble . Also, Canadian startups hit record levels of VC funding in Q1; and today we break down the numbers, and discuss what that means fo...

It’s Thursday May 20th 2021, and today we’re talking about: Knixwear gets intimate with the TZP Group for $53M USD, Relay Financial relays $15m into their bank account and a Lighting round: BuyProperly raise, Wingocard raise and Unbounce acquisition Snazzy AI.

It’s Thursday May 13th 2021, and today we’re talking about: Ada chats up investors for $130M, Xanadu may or may not have raised $100m from Bessemer Venture Partners; and this week in early-stage funding: raises from Sports IQ Analytics, Curbie Cars, Railz.ai, and Relay Platform.

It’s Thursday May 6th 2021, and today we’re talking about: Wealthsimple raises the largest Canadian private round ever, Sonder is checking-in to a SPAC, BuzzBuzzHome moves into a new build with Zonda, and this week in early stage funding: AgTech is sprouting, with raises from Precision AI and Carrot Ventures.  If you haven’t already tried out Wealthsimple, they are a proud supporter of the Te...

It’s Thursday April 29th, 2021, and today we’re talking about: Toronto-based Alphawave who develops “semiconductor intellectual property core”, Thinkific, who topped a $1bn market cap in its trading debut on the TSX and Burnaby-based, Clio, raised a $110m USD Series E round co-led by T. Rowe Price.

It’s Thursday April 22nd  2021, and today we’re talking about: Clearbanc evolves into a double unicorn named Clearco, Waterloo's Axonify trains a US private equity firm to invest in them, Calgary-based Absorb Software is absorbed by another US private equity firm for over $500m USD, and Pay attention to these payment players: Victoria-based MazumaGo and Plooto. 

It’s Friday April 16th  2021, and we’ve got a trio of 9-digit deals to cover from the past week: Loopio accepts a proposal for $200M USD, Perpetua needs to perform for $250M USD, and goeasy and LendCare unite in a $320M deal Photo of a young Adam Epstein and the TechTO x Tab Payments Tromba Tequila bar at TechTO in 2015: https://youtu.be/2_jXnFhebTE?t=889

It’s Thursday April 1st  2021, and today we’ll be talking about: Clutch fills up the tank with $60m, The Ontario Securities Commission cracks down on crypto, Dapper Labs runs it back with $305M, and Getty Images takes another dip into Canada with Unsplash. Photo of a young Alex Norman and Dan Park drinking a beer at TechTO in 2015: https://youtu.be/8iQYZ26gx60?t=90

It’s Friday March 26th 2021, and today we’ll be talking about: Think Research thinks it can end COVID (featuring Sachin Aggarwal, CEO of Think Research), Thinkific and Maple tapping the TSX, Hopper is in the Capital One Wallet, and Beanworks sells their beans to Quadient.

It’s Thursday March 18th 2021, and today we’ll be talking about: KOHO and Brim Financial reload their cards with new rounds (featuring Rasha Katabi, CEO & Founder of Brim), Revolut finds Canada revolting, Lightspeed HQ adds Vend to their cart, Inovia Capital raises $450M USD for its growth fund, and Greensoil PropTech Ventures has a first close of $50M. 

It’s Thursday March 11th 2021, and today on TechTO Quick Takes we’ll be talking about: Wealthsimple focuses on Canada, Dialogue dials up an IPO, Wrapbook wraps up $27m from A16Z, Snapcommerce snaps up a large round, Shopify women back BIPOC founders with Backbone Angels, and Shopify invests in Pipe.

It’s Thursday March 4th 2021, and today on TechTO Quick Takes we’ll be talking about: Clearbanc sprouts wings with its new $100m ClearAngel fund, Vancouver-based Dooly sells investors on a $20m investment, and Canadian gambling tech wins big: Score Media, Rivalry, Torstar

It’s Thursday February 25th 2021, and today we’ll be talking about: Vancouver’s Dapper Labs shoots some hoops to raise $250m, Toronto based Borrowell raises $25M to acquire Kelowna BC-based Refresh Financial, and Diligent acquires Vancouver based Galvanize for $1 billion.

It’s Thursday February 18th 2021, and today we’ll be talking about: Are we at peak Shopify?, Dye & Durham raises $500M, and YC-darling Convictional partners with Lightspeed.

It’s Wednesday February 10th 2021, and today we’ll be talking about: The “Proptech in Canada” report, Calgary-based Symend raises $43M, Shopify’s deal with Facebook and Instagram, and Why we don’t talk about small raises.

It’s Thursday February 4th 2021, and today we’ll be talking about: $100M for Quebec Venture Funds, Longtime Toronto startup darling Hubba shuts down, and Snowflake, a giant cloud company, is opening an office in Canada.

It’s Thursday January 28th 2021, and today on TechTO Quick Takes we’ll be talking about: University of Waterloo brain drain?, Tealbook raises US$14.4-million, and​ Torstar acquires ShipperBee.

It’s Wednesday January 20th 2021, and today on TechTO Quick Takes we’ll be talking about: Wattpad sold to South Korean internet giant Naver, Bold Commerce raises $35m led by Omers Ventures, Rewind.io raises $19m series A, and​ Navdeep Bains steps down as Minister of Innovation.