Startup Genome and the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) released its 2021 Global Startup Ecosystem Report on Wednesday and Montreal cracked the top-30 list. Well, sort of. Montreal tied for 31st with four other cities. What did the report say about Montreal? From first to fifth, the highest grades went to Silicon Valley, New York City, Boston, LA and Seattle. North America continued to dominate the Global Rankings, with 50 percent of the report’s top 30 ecosystems in this region. 27 percent of the cities came from Asia while 17 percent of the cities came from Europe. Montreal climbed four ..read more

Several well-known Montreal tech investors have joined forces to create a new special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). The new SOAR Technology Acquisition Corp is announcing the close of its $230 million initial public offering (IPO) of 20 million units at $10 per share. A SPAC is a “blank cheque” shell company, meant to raise money through an IPO for the purpose of acquiring an existing company. Given SOAR’s leadership’s track record within the travel and tourism space – and the NYSE stock ticker “FLYA,” – one might reasonably guess SOAR’s target would be a company within the airline or tr ..read more

Techstars Montreal AI has accepted 12 startups into its fourth edition, says managing director Bruno Morency. Three of the teams hail from Montreal, while five are coming from Europe. The dozen teams span a wide variety of verticals, including cannabis, biotech, machine learning, webcams and VR, home building and more. Here they are: Atlas AI London, UK – atlasai.co.uk Motion analysis API for online workout platforms, powered by computer vision. We transform raw videos into actionable data such as exercise performed, number of repetitions and quality of form. Huge congrats to our #SportT ..read more

The Montreal General Hospital is launching a new health tech incubator after it received a $2 million donation from National Bank of Canada. The new Clinical Innovation Platform (CLIP) comes as a joint effort by the Montreal General Hospital Foundation (MGHF) and the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC). CLIP’s mission will be to support “innovative solutions to unmet clinical needs and accelerate the adoption of technologies into the market and healthcare system.” Jean-Guy Gourdeau, the CEO of the Montreal General Hospital Foundation (MGHF), said that health car ..read more

Panache Ventures is announcing the acquisition of San Francisco-based Commonwealth Ventures. Along with that, the firm is unveiling its second fund, Panache Ventures Fund II. Chris Neumann, Commonwealth’s founder, will join Panache as a west coast partner based in Vancouver/San Francisco. “The addition of Chris and Commonwealth gives us the most credible path for Canadian startups to Silicon Valley investors.” said Panache Ventures’ managing partner, Patrick Lor. Panache said it will integrate Commonwealth Ventures’ growth and fundraising programs across its portfolio of 90+ companies. Those p ..read more

Montreal ecommerce company ShopperPlus is raising $17 million in series A money in a round co-led by Celtic House Asia Partners (CHAP) and the Canadian Business Growth Fund (CBGF). Celtic House Venture Partners and the National Bank of Canada also contributed to the round. Individual investors include Wish cofounder Danny Zhang and Sequoia China Managing Director Kevin Pan. CEO Jack Zhan’s company will will use the new cash to “drive future platform expansion to include more vertical product offerings as well as broaden in-house fulfillment centre coverage.” Founded in 2007, ShopperPlus sells ..read more

Montreal’s AON3D is raising $14.4 million (US $11.5 million) as it seeks to enable large scale production of end-use thermoplastic parts, including the first 3D printed objects to successfully land on the moon. The cash is coming via lead investor Wave Ventures, with participation from AlleyCorp, Y Combinator Continuity, BDC Capital, EDC, Panache Ventures, MANA Ventures, social-media influencers Josh Richards & Griffin Johnson, and Silicon Valley angel investors. AON3D will use the money for 3D printing research and development, and to hire more people. From Kickstarter to the first 3D pr ..read more

Montreal’s Angel Host, a platform assisting vacation rental property managers and real estate investors, is closing a funding round worth $6.5 million. The round was led by White Star Capital and joined by Desjardins Capital, Panache Ventures, and individual investors. The short-term and vacation rental space is fast evolving, says Angel Host, and adopting new technology to increase efficiencies and revenue remains a challenge for both individual owners and property managers. “Unless you employ the latest technology, have a staff of revenue managers to perform daily rate optimizations, and hav ..read more

National Bank of Canada is investing $103 million in Flinks, a Montreal financial data company. As part of the deal, National Bank acquires a majority stake in the company. National Bank will also devote $30 million of the funds towards Flinks’ North American expansion. Flinks calls itself “the financial data layer of the Internet.” Armed with significant funding, the company said it will grow its market share in the wealth and lending spaces, following its United States launch. More generally, it wishes to to continue servicing its users, which are fintechs, asset managers, credit unions ..read more

Montreal and Victoria-founded Blockstream is raising $265 million (US $210 million) in series B money. Blockstream says it is now valued at $4 billion (US $3.2 billion). The round is being led by Scotland-based investment firm Baillie Gifford, iFinex, the parent company of stablecoin issuer Tether, and Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex. Blockstream has offices in Montreal, Victoria and Mountain View, California. It was cofounded by British ‘cryptographer’ Dr. Adam Back and a group of developers passionate about Bitcoin, including longtime Montreal investor Austin Hill. The ..read more