Plus: Two global SaaS firms relocate HQs to Calgary.
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
TIPTAP AND OMNIROBOTIC PURSUE RESTRUCTURING AFTER STARTUPS FAIL TO RAISE ADDITIONAL FUNDING
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.
VANTAGE CIRCLE, EVENTCOMBO BOTH RELOCATE THEIR HEADQUARTERS TO CALGARY, PLAN TO HIRE HUNDREDS
Alberta tech is hungry and global SaaS firms Vantage Circle and Eventcombo are making big bets on Calgary with plans to hire hundreds of people in the city.
AI RISKS: OVERBLOWN, EXISTENTIAL THREAT, OR SOMETHING ELSE? VCS AND TECH EXPERTS DISAGREE
Leading venture capitalists and top AI experts, from Cohere’s Aidan Gomez to “AI godfather” Geoffrey Hinton, grappled with AI’s explosive rise in recent months.
THOUGHTWORKS’ REBECCA PARSONS ON USING THREAT MODELS TO PREVENT AI PERIL
Parsons spoke to the most significant changes she’s seen in AI development over the decades, before evaluating AI doomsayers and approaches to regulation of the technology.
VECTOR INSTITUTE, KIDS HELP PHONE TEAM UP TO EXPAND USE OF AI IN MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
Using natural language processing, KHP will continue to adapt its aggregated youth mental health dataset to the way young people speak, allowing frontline staff to offer more precise services to young people.
HERE’S A LIST OF ALL THE STARTUPFEST AFTERPARTIES
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.
Latest Funding, Acquisitions, and Layoffs
BC – PacifiCan invests $23M in cleantech, zero-waste projects (read more)
CGY – GeologicAI – $20M (read more)
REG – Protein Industries issues $10M call for food AI projects (read more)
TOR – Porta – $10.5M (read more)
TOR – Shakudo – $9.5M (read more)
TOR – Char Technologies – $6.6M (read more)
The BetaKit Podcast
CANADA’S COMMISSIONER OF COMPETITION NEEDS MORE THAN A BADGE AND A GUN
“People in Canada are at their wits’ end about areas of our economy having a lack of competition and how it impacts their pocketbook.”
The Competition Bureau is the last line of defence for enforcing competition law in Canada. But our system is designed so that the line keeps moving.
Commissioner of Competition Matthew Boswell joins to discuss the tools and powers that would help his Bureau prevent Canada’s economy from becoming an endless series of three companies in a trench coat.
ALBERTA TECH IS HUNGRY.
“Something else that’s unique about the Calgary ecosystem…we’re hungry. We’re really, really hungry.”
James Lochrie (Thin Air Labs) and Brett Colvin (Goodlawyer) join for an Alberta tech vibe check, discussing the recent election, big funding news, and the value of community building.
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