INRS has three projects receiving funding from NSERC. The post Xanadu and CMC among partners in academic quantum projects receiving $7.4 million in federal grant funding first appeared on BetaKit ..read more

American pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and medical device provider Topcon Healthcare join as strategic investors. The post RetiSpec secures $13.8 million Series A to detect Alzheimer’s early through retinal imaging first appeared on BetaKit ..read more

Multinational FinTech to power Toronto-based Float’s recently launched bill pay offering. The post Airwallex continues Canadian expansion with Float partnership first appeared on BetaKit ..read more

Less than six months after its launch, Toronto artificial intelligence (AI) user research startup Cycle AI has been purchased by Miami-based enterprise blockchain platform Crossmint. Crossmint has acquired Cycle’s technology and tools as part of the all-cash deal. Cycle and Crossmint both declined to disclose the acquisition price to BetaKit. Cycle co-founder and CEO Conor Plunkett has joined Crossmint as a product manager, while Cycle co-founder and COO Elan Bibas and the company’s other three employees have not. “This is a tough arena with great rewards. But are we the right gladiators for ..read more

These days, when Anne Ngo sits down to interview a candidate, she gets questions about how her company thinks about runway and growth.  The Director of Talent Acquisition at Toronto-based Carbon6 said job seekers used to ask her about compensation and company perks. But recently, a different set of priorities has emerged. “Employees are looking for stability, they’re looking for sustainability in their job searches,” said Ngo. “There’s a significant shift in candidates exploring if companies are financially responsible.”  “Employees are looking for stability, they’re looking for su ..read more

Shortly after announcing $500 million USD in Series D funding, Toronto-based generative artificial intelligence (AI) startup Cohere laid off approximately five percent of its employees. These staff cuts took place yesterday and impacted around 20 of the enterprise-focused OpenAI competitor’s 400-person workforce across multiple offices. The layoffs were first reported by Fortune and have since been confirmed by BetaKit. “With our most recent round of financing in place, we have a clear vision for the future of Cohere, which has required some internal realignment.” Josh Gartner, Cohere head o ..read more

The British Columbia (BC) Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy (CICE) has invested $7.6 million in non-dilutive funding across nine companies, out of more than 200 applicants, as part of its 2024 call for innovation.  CICE says it has invested $31 million across 47 clean energy and climate technology projects to date. CICE’s commitments vary from $400,000 and $1.3 million per project. The winners are working on solutions to tackle energy storage, carbon management, alternative fuels, and low-carbon hydrogen. CICE sent out the call for innovation in January, where it said it was seeki ..read more

Vancouver-based Gumloop, which offers a no-code platform to automate workflows with artificial intelligence (AI), has secured a $3.1-million seed round.  Gumloop is now looking to grow its team but “stay lean.”  The round was led by San Francisco venture capital firm First Round Capital with participation from Y Combinator and a variety of angel investors, including Instacart co-founder Max Mullen, Dropbox co-founder Arash Ferdowsi, and WePay co-founder Richard Aberman.  Gumloop was founded in April 2023 by McGill University classmates Max Brodeur-Urbas and Rahul Behal under ..read more

In recent months, residents of British Columbia and Alberta might have noticed a brightly wrapped, modestly-sized blue caravan cruising the local streets. The “Shakemobile,” as it’s known, is on a cross-country tour to engage with Canadians who are feeling the squeeze of inflation and high interest rates. The “Inflated Tour” stops at small-town businesses, grocery stores, and gas stations. Its driver, a friendly Canadian wearing jeans and a T-shirt, oversees impromptu contests and giveaways that he posts on TikTok. “[Crypto] is something that people should accumulate in the same way they acc ..read more

Santa Clara, Calif.-based biopharma firm Agilent Technologies has agreed to purchase Charlottetown, PEI.’s Biovectra from HIG Capital for $1.27 billion CAD ($925 million USD). Agilent said Biovectra delivered $113 million USD in revenue during 2023 and expects double-digit revenue growth in 2024. The deal, which will see Agilent acquire all of Biovectra’s employees and sites in Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, is expected to close by the end of the year. Biovectra and Agilent are known in the pharma space as contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs), providing pharma ..read more