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! Shopify Employees Go Head to Head for Raises in New Ranking System In recent months, Shopify has been assigning employees a numerical score to represent their skill level, known as their mastery in Shopify lingo. Only people whose scores increase in a given review period are eligible for raises, the people said. The new mastery score builds on a stack ranking system Shopify introduce ..read more

Two new offerings have come out of companies led by former leaders within Canadian tech giants.  Founded by Shopify alumni Robleh Jama, CEO, and Krishna Satya, CTO, Boom is looking to inject energy into remote work meetings with camera personalization tools. The MacOS app works with multiple video-calling platforms and allows users to add branded overlays, titles, and logos to their camera feed, whether they’re just talking, creating a special presentation overlay, or making a splash screen for when their camera is off. The app also provides a media board for users to play GIFs, effects ..read more

Canadian payment services provider Interac has acquired the exclusive rights to use Toronto-based Vouchr’s payments personalization platform in Canada. Interac said it invests into the Canadian FinTech ecosystem “to create a more accessible and secure digital economy.”   An Interac spokesperson also told BetaKit that Interac has brought in several key Vouchr employees to integrate the technology as part of the deal. According to Vouchr co-founder and CEO Robert Balahura’s LinkedIn profile, he now holds a position in Interac’s product team to further develop the Vouchr platform. Ba ..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. Untether AI to collaborate with semiconductor giant Arm on smart vehicle solutions Toronto-based artificial intelligence semiconductor startup Untether AI has announced a partnership with Arm that will see the two implement their semiconductor technology into software-defined vehicle solutions. By partnering with Arm, a Softbank-backed company, Untether has connected with arguably ..read more

Edmonton Unlimited has announced the appointment of Tom Viinikka as its new CEO.  Viinikka will assume the role on May 15, taking over from Launa Aspeslet. According to a January report from Taproot Edmonton, Aspeslet was named the organization’s interim CEO after Catherine Warren departed the role that month. The transitions add to a growing list of executive turnover at Canadian tech startups and organizations.  Warren had served in the role since 2020, before Innovate Edmonton and its program divisions rebranded to Edmonton Unlimited in 2022. Warren’s departure from the agency ..read more

Toronto-based robotics sensing company Forcen has closed an $8.35 million CAD funding round as it looks to scale up its prototype production facilities. The round was co-led by Brightspark Ventures and BDC Capital’s Deep Tech Venture Fund with participation from Garage Capital, MaRS IAF, and returning investors including EmergingVC. Forcen said it will use the investment to support more customers and continue developing its force sensing technology for robots.  “Robotic vision has undergone a revolution over the past decade and is continuing to accelerate with new AI approaches,” Brights ..read more

Hamilton, Ont.-based Inference Labs has closed $2.3 million in pre-seed funding as it looks to make AI inference more accessible. The round was co-led by three investors: Digital Asset Capital Management, Mechanism Capital, and Delphi Ventures. Additional participation came from Big Brain Holdings, BitScale Capital, Edessa Capital, ID Theory, Metropolis DAO, Mozaik Capital, Newman Capital, Seed Club Ventures, and several angel investors. Founded in 2023 and led by co-founder and CEO Colin Gagich and co-founder Ron Chan, Inference Labs develops infrastructure and products for artificial i ..read more

Toronto-based AutoAlign has spun off from its parent company Armilla AI and has launched a firewall solution aimed at making large language models (LLMs) safer. According to a spokesperson for AutoAlign, the new spinout is being led by Dan Adamson as interim CEO and co-founder, and Rahm Hafiz as CTO and co-founder. Adamson will continue as CEO of Armilla AI, while Hafiz will serve at AutoAlign on a full-time basis, moving from his role as CTO of Armilla AI. Founded in 2020, Armilla AI develops risk assurance products for artificial intelligence (AI) models. The startup has some notable backer ..read more

The SaaS Weekly is a weekly newsletter covering major SaaS news from Canada and around the globe. Subscribe to S|W using this form to ensure you don’t miss out on the most important SaaS news every week! If Salesforce is a Buyer Again, the M&A Market Must Be (Almost) Back A year ago, the board of Salesforce, one of the most acquisitive companies in tech, disbanded its mergers and acquisitions committee as it faced pressure from activist shareholders to reduce spending. But in recent days there’s been signs that the deal market is beginning to turn. News last week that Salesforce was in ta ..read more

Two Canadian software companies were involved in two different transatlantic acquisitions today. Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont.-based Descartes Systems Group has acquired Dublin, Ireland’s Aerospace Software Developments (ASD), while Toronto-based HR management tool provider GroupeX Solutions has been acquired by Paris, France-based HR Path.  Descartes said that ASD, which provides customs declaration software for logistics service providers, will complement its current global logistics network and provide Irish customs domain experience. Descartes said it originally arranged to acquire ASD fo ..read more