Plus: Mastercard’s new AI tool helps British banks tackle scams.
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Tiptap and Omnirobotic pursue restructuring after startups fail to raise additional funding (BETAKIT)
Burlington, Ont.-based Tiptap and Laval, Qué.’s Omnirobotic are restructuring after both startups were unable to secure the financing necessary to support their existing operations and obligations.
The two companies are the latest in a growing list of Canadian tech startups to restructure after facing difficulty securing venture capital during the downturn as rising interest rates and other factors have cooled investor interest in tech firms.
Binance Unravels as Executives Flee and Layoffs Proliferate
(THE WALL STREET JOURNAL)
Binance is in retreat, as the pressure from federal investigations builds.
The firm’s general counsel, chief strategy officer, head of investigations and a senior vice president for compliance, among others, departed in recent weeks, a sign of the turmoil rattling the largest crypto exchange.
Here’s a list of all the Startupfest afterparties (BETAKIT)
The team that pulled together a community-submitted list of all the events surrounding Collision conference in Toronto has done the same for Startupfest in Montréal, which takes place from July 12 to 14.
Some of the events on the list are completely free, or can be attended without a Startupfest pass. Others require tickets to be purchased or are invite-only.
China Ends Probe of Jack Ma-Backed Ant With $984 Million Fine
(BNN BLOOMBERG)
China imposed more than $1 billion in fines on tech giants Ant Group Co. and Tencent Holdings Ltd., signalling an end to a crackdown on the sector that had wiped out billions in market value and derailed the world’s biggest initial public offering.
The People’s Bank of China said fines were imposed on Ant Group and its subsidiaries in response to violations of laws and regulations in areas including financial consumer protection, payment and settlement business, and anti-money laundering obligations.
AI risks: overblown, existential threat, or something else? VCs and tech experts disagree (BETAKIT)
From “AI godfather” Geoffrey Hinton to Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez, AI experts took centre stage at Collision in Toronto to discuss the promises and perils within the future of AI.
FIS sells majority stake in Worldpay to buyout group at $18.5bn valuation (FINANCIAL TIMES)
US financial technology group Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) has agreed to sell a majority stake in its merchant payments arm Worldpay to private equity firm GTCR for up to $18.5bn in one of the largest corporate carve-outs in history.
ApplyBoard co-founder launches Passage to address Canada’s skilled worker shortage with $40-million seed round (BETAKIT)
Martin Basiri, co-founder and former CEO of ApplyBoard, has a new startup that aims to help fill Canada’s skilled labour gap.
Founded this year and armed with $40 million CAD in initial seed funding, Passage is building a software platform designed to match international students and immigrants to Canadian workforce needs and connect them with financing.
The super connector who built Sam Bankman-Fried’s celebrity world (THE NEW YORK TIMES)
FTX’s bankruptcy lawyers have sued former Hollywood agent Michael Kives’ firm, K5 Global. The lawsuit alleges that Bankman-Fried invested $700 million in exchange for connections with Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom, Bill Clinton, and others.
Financeit acquires consumer-loans competitor Simply Group Financial (BETAKIT)
Toronto-based Financeit has made another step towards becoming the leading home-improvement financing provider in Canada by acquiring its biggest competitor, Simply Group Financial, for up to an estimated $225 million.
F.B.I. Searched the Home of Crypto Exchange Founder
(THE NEW YORK TIMES)
Federal agents were investigating Jesse Powell, the founder of the crypto exchange Kraken, over claims that he hacked and cyber-stalked a nonprofit arts group.
Mastercard’s new AI Tool helps nine British banks tackle scams
(BNN BLOOMBERG)
Mastercard Inc. is selling a new artificial intelligence-powered tool that helps banks more effectively spot if their customers are trying to send money to fraudsters.
Trained on years of transaction data, the tool helps to predict whether someone is trying to transfer funds to an account affiliated with “authorized push payment scams.”
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