Canada-based technology startups secured $13.6B in venture capital funding in 2021, per the Wall Street Journal. The sum raised was more than double that of the previous year. The majority of the funding is being invested in companies located in Toronto and Vancouver, otherwise known as the tech hubs of Canada. More: - According to the co-founder and managing partner of Toronto-based McRock Capital, Scott MacDonald, the Canadian tech industry had “struggled to raise capital.”
- He further claims that the startups “have been comparatively underfunded compared to their peers south of our border” in the WSJ report.
- But recent funding rounds are proof of a change in times, with the average deal size increasing over twice to $15.5M in 2021, up from $6.8M in 2020.
- Every three of four deals recorded over $25M in investment.
- Eight venture-backed companies debuted on the public market last year, most notably of which was Coveo Solutions Inc., bringing in $215M at IPO.
- Recent notable funding rounds include:
- OSF Digital’s $100M Series C, led by Sunstone Partners.
- Trulioo’s $394M Series D, led by TCV at a $1.75B valuation.
| |
Cambridge, Mass.-based Be Biopharma raised $130M in Series B financing led by ARCH Venture Partners. The biotech firm is developing an engineered B cells platform. The firm will use the proceeds to advance its clinical development pipeline with an initial focus on oncology and rare diseases. More: - Since its founding 18 months ago, the firm has secured $180M financing.
- Lead financier ARCH Venture Partners’ current investment adds to its over 150 life sciences and tech companies in its portfolio.
- Bristol Myers Squibb, Atlas Venture, RA Capital Management, Alta Partners, Longwood Fund, and Takeda Ventures participated in the funding.
- The firm aims to cover more therapeutic areas such as infectious diseases, neurological conditions, and autoimmune diseases in the future.
| |
 A message from FTX Some people like crypto, some like stocks, and others invest in digital art now. Many investors have a diverse portfolio with a little bit of everything! There’s just one problem: How do you keep up with all of your investments across 10 different platforms? The solution: Invest in everything in one spot. FTX offers a variety of asset classes, with a pretty big one *cough* stocks *cough* coming soon! The best part? FTX has some of the lowest fees on the market, so you can worry less about your transaction costs, and more about investing in the best assets. Join over 6 million+ users today! Join FTX
| |
 Clipboard Health platform Clipboard Health secured $30M in Series C funding led by Sequoia Capital. The company provides a platform for healthcare facilities to post open shifts, allowing available nurses in the region to cover vacant shifts in accordance with their schedules. Clipboard received a $1.3B post-money valuation at the recent funding. Incoming funds will help scale the organization and hire employees across all areas. More: - Since its founding, it has raised $90M in funding, with the last raise coming in the form of a $50M Series B in April 2021 led by IVP.
- Recent funding participants include Y Combinator, Caffeinated Capital, Initialized Capital, and SciFi VC.
- The California-based company claims its gross revenue has increased over 25x in the last 18 months.
- Digital health startups witnessed a surge in VC investments in 2021, with over $37.9B invested in the domain in the year.
- The invested amount was 75% higher than the $21.7B investment seen in the year prior.
| |
 Cal.com scheduling platform Cal.com, an open-source scheduling platform rivaling Calendly, raised $25M in Series A financing. Alexis Ohanian’s venture firm Seven Seven Six led the funding. Cal.com also opened an app store to allow developers to create apps using the company's platform technology. The company will use the proceeds to bring developments to its platform and back developers in creating apps for its app store. More: - It last raised $7.4M in seed funding last year.
- The company rebranded itself from Calendso during the launch of its product last September.
- Cal.com’s platform integrates with Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar, Zoom, or Stripe, and also offers an open-source API.
- Other funding round participants include OSS Capital, Obvious Ventures, Daily.co, Remote First Capital, and several individual investors.
- Notable peer Calendly was valued at $3B in Jan. 2021 when it raised $350M in financing from OpenView Ventures Partners and Iconiq.
| |
 A message from KINTONE Did you know only 2.5% of companies complete 100% of their projects? The silver lining: you can be in the top 3% by completing most if not all of your projects, and Kintone can help you get there. Download the free “5 Reasons Projects Fail” ebook to learn about the most common pitfalls project managers face and how to avoid them. You’ll learn about important concepts like: - Defining goals vs. objectives
- Setting up good project management habits
- The difference between responsibility &. accountability
- Getting ahead of scope creep
Ready to learn about these and other useful tools for improving your project management skills? Click here to download the ebook and learn more about the Kintone method. Claim Your Copy
| |
India-based restaurant management platform UrbanPiper raised $24M in a Series B funding round. Sequoia Capital India and Tiger Global led the financing. Incoming funds will be used to scale operations to cater to over 200,000 restaurants and expand its reach in India, MENA, and the EU region. More: - The platform offers in-depth billing and invoicing analysis, dashboard, brand management, pricing insights, inventory management, and other tools.
- Prominent companies Swiggy and Zomato participated in the fundraiser.
- The company claims that 18% of all online food orders in India are processed via their platform.
- It reportedly processes 14 million orders every month from 27,000 restaurants across eight countries.
- UrbanPiper last raised $7.5M in Series A financing in 2019.
| |
Kindred Ventures led a $5.6M seed round for Ellis. Castle Island Ventures, 20VC, Dreamers VC, V1.VC, and several angel investors backed the funding. Ellis' platform will help alleviate the challenges experienced by foreign students in opening bank accounts and securing mobile connections. The platform aims to offset the difficulties by collecting students' information and assisting them in applying for Social Security, filing tax returns, building credit profiles, and applying for visa renewals. More: - Ellis Mobile, its mobile network platform, is built on T-Mobile's network and will launch in May.
- It has partnered with Blue Ridge Bank to provide virtual banking and checking services under its Ellis Money product, with the option to open a virtual bank account up to four months before the student's arrival.
- Through its platform Ellis Rent, it is exploring the option to co-sign leases and underwrite risks, thereby eliminating the need for students to pay advance rent of six months or a year.
| |
Quick Hits - Development team buried with technical debt? Clear their burden using low-code on AWS.*
- According to the New York Post, Thoma Bravo LP has expressed interest in acquiring Twitter Inc., countering Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s $43B offer.
- Per regulatory filings analyzed by the Wall Street Journal, Coatue Management has received $6.58B worth of commitments toward its fifth growth strategy fund with over 692 investors backing the fund.
- Zambia-based debit card expense management platform Union54 received a $12M financing led by Tiger Global. The round is a seed extension financing to its $3M seed fundraise six months ago.
- Sequoia Capital India will implement proactive measures including governance training, whistleblower policy implementation, independent board representation, and rigorous internal audits in response to recent claims of fraudulent conduct in several of its portfolio firms.
- Mytaverse raised $7.6M in seed funding to develop a virtual shared metaverse for enterprises. Blumberg Capital led the financing.
- AE Industrial Partners portfolio company Alpine Air Express Inc. acquired Suburban Air Freight Inc. for an undisclosed sum.
*This is sponsored content.
| |
Upcoming Events - April 20 - AMA on Building a Cannabis Business with Sam Houston, Founder of CannaBuzz (Register Here)
- April 26 - Need To Know NoCoder - Gautam Nimmagadda (Quixy) (Register Here)
- April 28 - Alternative Investments 2: Crypto Safety Standards (Register Here)
- May 12 - Making Metaverse Dating a Reality (Register Here)
- May 18 - Need To Know NoCoder: Jatin Arora (Utilize) (Register Here)
- May 19 - Understanding Fractionalization (Register Here)
- May 24 - Meet Our Fund 3 (Register Here)
- May 31 - Ethereum Merge with Anthony Donofrio (Ethereum) (Register Here)
- June 01 - Selling Consumer Goods in Web3 (Register Here)
- June 09 - Empowering Content Creators with No Code (Register Here)
| |
 |  | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. | | | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
| |
Kintone’s customizable platform lets you manage your data, workflows, and communication in one place. | |
Comments
Post a Comment