Madison McLauchlan

1 day ago | betakit.com | Madison McLauchlan |Madison Mclauchlan

Provincial investment agency Investissement Québec (IQ) reported a 4.9-percent loss on its direct venture capital (VC) and indirect fund investments last fiscal year, reflecting market volatility and struggling fund performance. IQ’s losses in the venture asset class mirrored stagnant returns across the agency overall.

1 day ago | betakit.com | Madison McLauchlan |Madison Mclauchlan

Toronto-based shipping logistics startup Portless has raised $18 million USD ($24.7 million CAD) to help retailers avoid rising costs as they contend with a volatile trade war. The startup raised its latest round of financing on the assumption that the “de minimis” exemption would be eliminated.

2 days ago | betakit.com | Madison McLauchlan |Madison Mclauchlan

Vancouver-based FinTech company Fispan has secured $30 million USD ($41 million CAD) in Series B financing, including a significant secondary component, as the startup eyes scaleup status. The round was led by new investor Canapi Ventures, a Washington, DC-based growth equity firm, with participation from existing investors, including Rhino Ventures. More than $17 million USD ($23 million CAD) of the deal was issued as secondary capital, mostly to early-stage backers, Fispan confirmed to BetaKit.

3 days ago | betakit.com | Madison McLauchlan |Madison Mclauchlan

Toronto-based Xanadu says it has edged closer to solving two of the hurdles plaguing the quantum industry: eliminating errors and scaling up. This development is a step on Xanadu’s “hardware roadmap” towards its ultimate goal: building a quantum computing data centre in Canada by 2029. The quantum startup announced that its researchers have created a quantum chip with error-resistant photonic quantum bits (qubits), or the basic units of quantum computing, for the very first time.

3 days ago | betakit.com | Madison McLauchlan |Madison Mclauchlan

Canadian-founded, San Francisco-headquartered AppDirect is looking to capitalize on a surge in global energy demand by picking up energy brokerage Broker Online Exchange (BOX). AppDirect purchased the entirety of BOX, including the staff, platform, and intellectual property, the company said. Courtney Blaskower, director of brand marketing at AppDirect, wrote in an email to BetaKit that BOX was “purchased at an enterprise valuation” of $85 million USD ($116 million CAD).