Welcome to BetaKit’s startup stories of the week! Here, you will find the week’s most important news, features, and editorials published on BetaKit.
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TOP STORIES OF THE WEEK
NOTMAN HOUSE IS IN TROUBLE. WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE HOME OF MONTRÉAL TECH?
Notman House, the Montréal startup hub run within a 187-year-old heritage building, will likely be put up for sale as government creditors claim years of unpaid debt.
Many are now concerned about what Notman’s uncertain future means for Montréal tech.
A new initiative with a similar mission called Ax-C, which is set to open on the former trading floor of the Montréal Exchange by the end of next year, has garnered $48 million in government support. Meanwhile, the OSMO Foundation, which owns and operates Notman House, owes $323,000 in unpaid mortgage fees to the Business Development Bank of Canada and Investissement Québec.
VISTARA GROWTH SECURES $200-MILLION CAD INITIAL CLOSE FOR FIFTH PRIVATE CREDIT FUND
Vistara, which targets enterprise software companies with between $10 million and $100 million in annual recurring revenue, creates tailored investment structures comprised of debt, equity, or some combination of the two to help tech companies finance organic growth, mergers and acquisitions, or shareholder liquidity initiatives.
STARTED IN A BAR, NOW WE’RE HERE: STARTUP TNT COMPLETES FIRST CLOSE OF TARGETED $5-MILLION VENTURE FUND
In May 2019, Zack Storms launched what became an Edmonton “Thursday night tradition.” Aptly named Startup TNT, the event began with a simple vision: create a space where local entrepreneurs, investors, and ecosystem stakeholders could mingle, have fun, and collaborate on building great companies.
Over the past four years, Startup TNT has hosted 30 summits, and engaged 375 angel investors to invest over $12 million into more than 90 Prairie-based startups. Now, the non-profit has announced the first close for its first-ever venture fund, for which it is targeting $5 million.
KITCHENER-WATERLOO TECH LEADERS LAUNCH NEW COMMUNITY-BUILDING PLATFORM WATERLOO INC.
CCI has been hearing from innovation leaders in Kitchener-Waterloo and that their sense of local community “atrophied” during COVID-19, and for many, virtual gatherings haven’t filled that void.
Developed in partnership with the Medical Innovation Xchange and Catalyst Commons, Waterloo Inc. marks the first chapter of the Innovator Network of Canada, a brand that the CCI has rolled out in response to demand from its members.
“Waterloo is not in isolation,” CCI president Ben Bergen told BetaKit.
SYNCTERA LAUNCHES EMBEDDED BANKING PLATFORM IN CANADA
After getting its start in the United States, banking as a service (BaaS) platform Synctera has launched in Canada.
The platform allows organizations of various sizes, from small FinTech startups to major brands, to develop FinTech apps and embedded banking products — including bank accounts, card programs and lending — that are compliant with Canadian payments and banking regulations.
AS INTUIT WINDS DOWN MINT, FINANCIAL PLANNING APP MONARCH MONEY COMES TO CANADA
Since Intuit decided to shut down its free budgeting app, Mint, last month, San Francisco-based personal finance app Monarch Money identified a gap in the market and decided to hasten its Canadian expansion plans.
“We saw on Reddit and elsewhere the Canadian frustration of, ‘Oh my gosh there’s nothing else we can use that really [does] what Mint did,’ so we fast-tracked the Canadian release,” Monarch co-founder and CEO Val Agostino told BetaKit in an exclusive interview.
FORMERLY QUI IDENTITY, WAVE ALUMNI LAUNCH DIGITAL ID VERIFICATION PLATFORM CONFIRM
It’s no secret that 2023 has been a tumultuous year for tech. But in some ways, for founders, it was a year like any other: navigating challenges and uncertainty to find opportunity and success.
We asked a group of Canadian tech founders to reflect back on an unpredictable year. They shared their views on adopting new technologies, celebrated their biggest wins, and shared what learnings they’ll bring into 2024.
SIX CANADIAN TECH FOUNDERS SHARE THEIR WINS AND LEARNINGS FROM 2023
It’s no secret that 2023 has been a tumultuous year for tech. But in some ways, for founders, it was a year like any other: navigating challenges and uncertainty to find opportunity and success.
We asked a group of Canadian tech founders to reflect back on an unpredictable year. They shared their views on adopting new technologies, celebrated their biggest wins, and shared what learnings they’ll bring into 2024.
HOW XERO OVERHAULED ITS CUSTOMER SUPPORT FUNCTION USING GEN AI
New Zealand-headquartered and Canada-connected Xero recently launched a gen AI solution for its Xero Central self-service helpdesk, built in partnership with Québec-based AI software platform Coveo.
Speaking with BetaKit, Nigel Piper, executive general manager at Xero, explained how the project came to be and what it took to build and implement a solution.
WHY IS THE START-UP VISA PROGRAM STRUGGLING?
After successfully operating businesses through both the dot-com bust and the 2008 Financial Crisis, John Raeder has developed a “paranoia of operational frailty,” always planning for a doomsday scenario.
In a recent #CIBCInnovationBanking podcast episode, Raeder shared how he thinks about growing businesses—and what founders should be doing to set the stage for growth.
Latest Funding, Acquisitions, and Layoffs
VAN – Vistara Growth nabs $200M initial close for Fund V (read more)
VAN – Durable – $18M (read more)
CGY – Woveo – $2.3M (read more)
EDM – Startup TNT secures $2M first close for first fund (read more)
TOR – Terminal – $4.2M (read more)
MTL – Leav – $2.3M (read more)
STJ – Propel receives $2.9M for accelerator program (read more)
The BetaKit Podcast
WHY IS THE START-UP VISA PROGRAM STRUGGLING?
“The government doesn’t have a great way of being able to kind of parse through and say, ‘this is bad and this is good.’ And, this is, I think, a key part of the problem.”
TMU senior research associate Stein Monteiro and former NACO CEO Yuri Navarro join to discuss the successes and failures of the Start-up Visa program in relation to its predecessor, and how improving the program might be difficult without the right data.
WHAT HAPPENED TO OPENVIEW AND WILL CANADA SEE ZOMBIE FUNDS?
“When I heard the news, I was stunned … Absolutely, it is going to be happening in Canada.”
CMD Capital’s Matt Roberts joins for an emergency podcast on the sudden demise of OpenView Venture Partners, what caused it, and the likelihood that Canadian tech will see similar zombie funds north of the border.
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