Toronto-based Swtch Energy, which develops electric vehicle (EV) charging and management solutions for multi-tenant buildings, has raised $27.2 million USD ($37.4 million CAD) in Series B funding. Communitech recently added Swtch to its list of Canadian tech companies with the potential to reach $1 billion in revenue by 2030. The all-equity round was led by global impact investor Blue Earth Capital, Alantra’s Energy Transition Fund, Klima, GIGA Investments Corp, and return investor Active Impact Investments. Swtch said the new funding will help it leverage machine learning and artificial in ..read more

INNOVATEwest touched down in Vancouver this week, and several Canadian startups and teams are going home with some sweet, sweet prize money. Thousands of members of Canada’s tech ecosystem gathered at the Vancouver Convention Centre for the inaugural INNOVATEwest conference. The event featured conversations with Canadian tech leaders and investors spanning artificial intelligence (AI), FinTech, SaaS, venture capital, and more. INNOVATEwest featured several pitch competitions and challenges, with all winners announced on The BetaKit Keynote Stage. Headliners at INNOVATEwest included Koho’s D ..read more

Toronto-based venture capital firm Contango Digital Assets has closed the first $5 million of its targeted $10-million Blockchain x AI Seed Fund.  The fund has already invested in a couple Canadian companies from the $1.5 million that has already been deployed. Contango says the fund is backed by Dean Skurka, the CEO of one of Canada’s largest crypto companies, WonderFi. Contango also counts Richard Ma, the CEO of blockchain security firm Quantstamp, and Mario Casiraghi, the CFO of decentralized AI algorithm marketplace SingularityNET, as investors in this round.   Establishe ..read more

The Retail Times is a weekly newsletter covering retail tech news from Canada and around the globe. Subscribe to R|T using this form to ensure you don’t miss out on the most important retail tech news every week! StubHub Plans Summer IPO in New Test of Market Online ticketing marketplace StubHub is aiming to go public by late summer, people close to the company said, setting up another sizable internet initial public offering after Reddit’s IPO last month. And as StubHub has more than $2 billion in debt, many times its estimated profits, the company will test investors’ appetite for companies ..read more

DMZ has received $500,000 CAD from the Embark Student Foundation’s Major Grant Program to expand its student-focused entrepreneurship programming. The Toronto-based incubator specifically plans to expand Basecamp, its hybrid summer entrepreneurship program that helps students turn their ideas into tech solutions for social or economic challenges. Basecamp will now be offered in two phases: “Sprint” and “Voyage.” The Sprint phase will include a four-week pitch coaching experience that gives students the chance to pitch their businesses at tech conference Collision, win a trip to New York City ..read more

Vancouver-based digital healthcare company Well Health Technologies has acquired 10 primary-care medical clinics across British Columbia (BC) and Ontario from Loblaw-owned Shoppers Drug Mart.   The deal, made through its subsidiary the Well Health Clinic Network, will see Well Health acquire all primary care medical clinics operated by Shoppers Drug Mart under The Health Clinic by Shoppers banner. The banner is made up of 35 physicians across four clinics in BC and six clinics in Ontario, according to Well Health, and will be rebranded under the Well Clinic name.  Well Health s ..read more

Montréal-based cleantech company Eocycle Technologies has closed $25 million CAD in Series A funding as it looks to expand its distributed wind turbines in the United States and Europe. The deal closed earlier this month and was led by Export Development Canada (EDC), which contributed a $10-million equity investment. The round saw additional participation from Fonds de Solidarité FTQ and Investissement Québec, which contributed $10 million in equity financing and a $5-million loan, respectively. To date, Eocycle has raised $47 million in equity financing. “A just environmental transition al ..read more

Among the over 250,000 attendees drawn to South by Southwest (SXSW) each year, aspirations vary widely. As one of the world’s largest tech conferences, SXSW offers a key opportunity for startups, investors, and tech enthusiasts from all over the world to connect, learn, and close deals over eight days of tech-focused programming in Austin, Texas. “By exposing our companies to those environments, we can help them change their mindsets and think globally.” According to Tim Murphy, vice president of Alberta Innovates’ health division, the crown corporation had a clear objective going into this ..read more

The AI Times is a weekly newsletter covering the biggest AI, machine learning, big data, and automation news from around the globe. If you want to read A|I before anyone else, make sure to subscribe using this form. Ottawa has used AI in nearly 300 projects and initiatives: research Canada’s federal government has used artificial intelligence in nearly 300 projects and initiatives, new research has found — including to help predict the outcome of tax cases, sort temporary visa applications and promote diversity in hiring. Joanna Redden, an associate professor at Western University, pieced tog ..read more

Today, the Government of Canada publishes its 2024 budget. Analysts do not expect #Budget2024 to be heavy on new spending commitments, with interest rates remaining steady and significant spending having already been announced in recent weeks for housing. Housing commitments and last week’s announcement of $2.4 billion to AI startups, compute, and safety, together already clock in at over $25 billion. Instead, the Canadian tech community will be looking for meaningful updates on past commitments, such as open banking and the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA), which is part of Bill C ..read more