COMMUNITY UPDATES & MEMBERS IN THE NEWS
Vancouver-based seed investment firm Version One Ventures, co-led by Boris Wertz (C100 Charter Member) and Angela Tran (C100 Charter Member & Board Member), has successfully closed two new funds following a big year. Learn more about the $70-million Fund IV and $30-million Opportunities II fund in Boris’ post here. Congratulations Boris, Angela & the entire version one team!
Applications close on Friday for RBC Women in Cleantech Accelerator, a 12-month program designed for 10 exceptional female entrepreneurs in the Cleantech space. RBC is a proud foundational partner of C100.
DMZ (Corporate Member) has updated its incubator model, introducing a new 18-month program designed to take a more customizable, hands-on approach for founders. Looking to apply or know someone who should? Applications (found here) are due at the end of July.
🤝Montreal-based Lightspeed, led by Co-Founder & CEO Dax Dasilva (C100 Charter Member), is set to acquire two California e-commerce companies for a total of $925-million. The deal included Ecwid, an e-commerce platform for small businesses, and NuORDER, a wholesale software provider. Both acquisitions are expected to close during the 3rd quarter of 2021 and remain subject to approval.
Kirstine Stewart (C100 Charter Member) has been appointed by the Canadian government to the Board of Trustees for the Canadian Museum of Science and Technology.
A group of current and former Shopify execs are ramping up investment efforts, paying it forward by investing in Canadian founders as angels or at the seed level (article from The Information – subscription required).
Toronto-based chatbot provider Ada, led by Co-Founder & CEO Mike Murchison (48Hrs ’18), has joined the latest slew of Canadian unicorns following a $130-million raise, led by Spark Capital and backed by Tiger Global Management.
Futurpreneur’s Canada Black Entrepreneur Startup Program is designed to support Black entrepreneurs between the ages of 18-39, providing up to $60,000 in startup loan financing and up to two years of mentorship, plus access to resources and networking opportunities with fellow entrepreneurs across Canada. Learn more here. This program is funded by RBC, with additional loan financing from BDC.
Entrepreneur First (EF), which opened its North American HQ in Toronto last September, has announced the six startups founded and funded through EF’s first Toronto cohort. If you’re an investor interested in meeting with a specific EF company, you can schedule time with the founders here.
Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (Founder & Chairman of the BoardList, former President of Stubhub & C100 Charter Member) and Jeffrey Housenbold (who recently stepped down as a Managing Partner of SoftBank Vision Fund) have formed a new SPAC called LTV Capital Partners.
🧠 Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) has launched a new stream focused on scaling companies focused on work in the field of neurotechnology, neuromonitoring, and brain-machine interfaces. Applications for the Neuro Stream at CDL are open until July 30.