BetaKit

Many media outlets tend to prioritize the amount of funding raised over the actual innovation and quality of products or services. There is a lot of buzz surrounding releases from big, established companies, while new and innovative ideas often get overlooked. The focus is frequently on being the first to share news rather than offering thorough analysis. Often, the spotlight is on Silicon Valley, with little coverage of developments elsewhere, including in Canada. At BetaKit, we believe in delivering not just the news, but also the context behind it. While breaking news is crucial, it's equally important to connect these stories to broader industry trends and explain their significance for you and your business.

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Katherine Homuth launches “organizational memory” startup as SRTX secures new interim CEO and financing

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

The founder and former CEO of SRTX is pivoting from high-tech textile manufacturing to memory software for companies, just as the startup she once led closes on key financing and elects her replacement. “We’re running companies with amnesia. Founders forget the lessons they swore they’d never repeat.”Katherine HomuthIn a Substack post today, Katherine Homuth announced she is launching a new venture, Oomira, to build companies a “queryable” archive of every decision they’ve ever made.
Mélanie Joly, Evan Solomon to run newly split Industry and Innovation portfolios in Prime Minister Carney’s cabinet

2 days ago | betakit.com | Alex Riehl

Mark Carney split up the role of the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Industry as part of his cabinet shuffle today. The newly elected Prime Minister has named Mélanie Joly as Minister of Industry, while Toronto Centre MP Evan Solomon takes on the Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation. Solomon was a columnist and political journalist prior to his election, hosting CTV programs like Power Play and Question Period.
University of Waterloo-backed Velocity Fund II holds $14-million initial close

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

The first venture capital (VC) fund supported by a Canadian university endowment has secured an initial close of $10 million USD ($14 million CAD).
Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund’s new Express stream invests $3.5 million of fast funds across 23 companies

3 days ago | betakit.com | Alex Riehl

The Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund (OCIF) is dispensing $3.5 million from its new Express funding stream to help nearly two dozen Calgary-based businesses complete projects on a condensed timeline. OCIF Express is meant to meet the urgent needs of small- and medium-sized businesses, aiming to provide companies with faster access to funding for urgent projects that can be completed in under two years.
Biotech Intrepid Labs exits stealth with funding from Radical Ventures and Avant Bio

3 days ago | betakit.com | Alex Riehl

Toronto-based biotech Intrepid Labs has emerged from stealth with $11 million USD ($15.4 million CAD) in funding to fast-track drug development with machine learning and robotics. Intrepid is coming off a $7 million USD ($9.8 million CAD) seed round led by life science investor Avant Bio, building on a previously unannounced $4 million USD ($5.6 million) pre-seed round led by Radical Ventures with participation from Propagator Ventures.
Canadian FinTech leaders “cautiously optimistic” about open banking, payments modernization under Mark Carney

3 days ago | betakit.com | Josh Scott

With Prime Minister Mark Carney’s recent election, Canadian FinTech leaders are “cautiously optimistic” that Canada now has a head of government who cares about their policy priorities. They also acknowledged that FinTech might not be at the top of his to-do list.
Will AI agents replace SaaS before SaaS replaces employees with AI?

3 days ago | betakit.com | Douglas Soltys

It’s May, which means we’re at the start of wildfire season in Canada. Actually, that’s not quite true. Traditionally, wildfire season spans from late April to August, but recent years have shown that wildfires are no longer seasonal. That change has been devastating across Canada. 2023 was both an outlier and a sign of what’s to come: 16.5 million hectares of forest burned and 640 million metric tons of carbon released into the atmosphere.
A guide to how Canadian tech is rising to meet the wildfire threat

3 days ago | betakit.com | Isabelle Kirkwood

Wildfires are not a seasonal crisis. They are a structural one. In recent years, Canada has seen record-breaking wildfire seasons. Millions of hectares have burned, hundreds of communities have been forced to evacuate, and damages total in the billions. The failures are systemic, and the risks are rising.
Half of the internet is bots and they’re feeding you lies

4 days ago | betakit.com | Douglas Soltys

A recent report from cybersecurity company Imperva claims that more than half of all internet traffic now comes from non-human sources, or bots. That stat is worthy of discussion on its own, but I want you to focus on another one: over a third of all internet traffic is now bad bots—malicious automated actors. What are these bad actors doing online? Disinformation and defamation campaigns, targeting businesses and governments with ‘irregular warfare’ to manipulate markets and elections.
Healthtech leaders behind AlayaCare and Mimosa say Canadian procurement lacks transparency and risk appetite

6 days ago | betakit.com | Alex Riehl

As the tech leaders have argued it’s time to turn to “building together” post-election, Canadian healthtech leaders described in a panel conversation this week how the country’s approach to procurement drives innovation out of the country. The virtual discussion between AlayaCare CEO Adrian Schauer and Mimosa Diagnostics CEO Dr. Karen Cross was hosted by the Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI) to commemorate the release of its “Mandate to Innovate” report.