Plus: MaxSold raises $16.1 million to expand online auctioning platform.
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MaxSold raises $16.1 million to expand online auctioning platform (BETAKIT)
Kingston-based MaxSold secured $11.1 million in a Series B investment round led by new investor Framework Venture Partners with participation from existing investor Canadian Business Growth Fund. MaxSold also received $5 million in growth capital from Silicon Valley Bank.
The investing startup Wealthsimple is raiding Shopify for talent as the Canadian tech scene heats up (BUSINESS INSIDER)
Dozens of Shopify employees have left the Canadian e-commerce giant to join Wealthsimple, a smaller, Toronto-based digital investing company, in the past year. At least 40 employees have departed Shopify for Weathsimple.
Live shopping marketplace ShopThing secures $10 million Series A round (BETAKIT)
Marking its first round of institutional funding, ShopThing intends to scale across new categories, markets, and product development. The company also plans to fuel its growth in user adoption, retail partnerships and with the content creator economy.
Instacart delivers a lower valuation (AXIOS)
Instacart is hoping that this move will help both with employment recruitment and retention. On that latter point, don’t be surprised if recent Instacart hires get accelerated refresh grants at the lower price.
Lawsuit prompts Grubhub to add disclosures about hidden fees (TECHCRUNCH)
The lawsuit alleges that Grubhub violated D.C.’s Consumer Protection Procedures Act (CPPA) in eight different ways, which mostly center on false advertising. The filing references misleading prices (prices are often higher in-app than at the restaurant) and false claims that deliveries via Grubhub+ were free when they still contained a service charge.
Apple is working on a hardware subscription service for iPhones (BNN BLOOMBERG)
The service would be Apple’s biggest push yet into automatically recurring sales, allowing users to subscribe to hardware for the first time — rather than just digital services. But the project is still in development, said the people, who asked not to identified because the initiative hasn’t been announced.
Dragoneer-backed marketplace startup Faire breaks $150 million in its first year in Europe as competition in the sector intensifies (BUSINESS INSIDER)
Faire, which is valued at $12.4 billion, has added 75,000 brands and retailers across the content to its marketplace. The San Francisco-based startup has generated over $150 million in annualized sales volume from Europe, a feat that took three years to achieve in the US.
With $150 million USD in fresh funding, Montréal’s Talent.com is ready to take on Indeed worldwide (BETAKIT)
It has been a tumultuous few years for Montréal’s Talent.com. Founded in 2011, the job search platform had hit an inflection point in 2019: profitable, more or less bootstrapped, and with global scale – but still well behind the market leader, Indeed.
Electric vehicle battery plant set for Windsor, Ont., signals Canada is a ‘player’ in auto industry’s future (CBC)
A planned $4.9-billion electric vehicle battery plant in Windsor, Ont., that is anticipated will help the city reclaim its position as Canada’s automotive capital, promises to be a significant economic generator and create thousands of new jobs.
Walmart launches global tech hub in Toronto, plans to hire hundreds (BETAKIT)
Walmart said it intends to make Toronto one of its larger tech hubs with the promise of providing hundreds of jobs over time. For its initial hiring phase, the company is expected to hire 45 full-time workers from the city in software development, technical program management, and product management.
The BlackBerry veteran who took on Google and won (THE GLOBE AND MAIL)
Patrick Spence learned two crucial lessons working at the company formerly known as Research In Motion: Do whatever you can to protect your inventions, and expect America’s digital titans to try and crush you.
Inside GoTo’s high-stakes, very badly timed IPO (REST OF WORLD)
After anticipation and delays, GoTo, the blockbuster result of merging ride-hailing giant Gojek and e-commerce platform Tokopedia, is scheduled to make its leap onto the Indonesian Stock Exchange on April 7. Billions of dollars, not to mention national pride, hinge on GoTo’s success: It’s everything from a bellwether for investor appetite to the poster child of homegrown Southeast Asian tech.
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