Top Ag-tech investor Ospraie Ag Science has made a $5 million strategic investment in Langley’s CubicFarm Systems. The investment was made as a non-brokered private placement and Ospraie now holds an 18.7% interest in CubicFarms. CubicFarms is a provider of automated controlled-environment growing systems that produce commercial-scale quantities of fresh produce and nutritious livestock feed. […]
BC Tech Association Announces Finalists for 2020 Technology Impact Awards
The BC Tech Association took to Zoom today to announce the finalists for the 2020 Technology Impact Awards (TIAs). BC Tech President and CEO Jill Tipping joined co-host Riaz Meghji online to announce the finalists live amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This year the theme of the B.C.’s largest and longest-running tech awards program is “Purpose,” […]
Vancouver Home To World’s Largest Global Review of COVID CT Scans and X-rays
Vancouver experts are leading an international study to help predict the likelihood that a person has COVID-19, using CT scans, chest x-rays and AI technology to crunch the data. The study is being lead by radiologists at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) and University of British Columbia’s Department of Radiology. Since January, teams have been collecting, […]
Trudeau Announces 75% Rent Relief Program For Small, Medium-Sized Businesses
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced significant rent relief for businesses that can’t afford to pay their landlords at a time when their operations are shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program will provide forgivable loans to qualifying commercial property owners to cover 50 per cent of three […]
Direct-to-Consumer Vessi Triples Sales While Doing Good During Crisis
While the retail sector has had its share of challenges over the past few years, they pale in comparison to what it’s facing now. “Never have we experienced a threat as acute as what we’re experiencing today, living with COVID-19,” RBC Capital Markets’ Nurit Altman shared this week online. “The virus and corresponding shutdown are […]
FORM Raises $12 Million Series A Round For Augmented Reality Swim Goggles
FORM has raised a $12 million Series A round led by large family offices in the UK and Denmark with participation from Silicon Valley Bank. Vancouver’s FORM is the direct-to-consumer sports technology company behind the world’s first augmented reality swim goggles. The investment comes after the successful launch of the FORM Smart Swim Goggles in […]
Leading From Beginning to End, Jay Parmar Wraps Up Eventbrite in Vancouver
In September of 2012 I wrote about an event ticketing startup called Picatic for the first time on Techvibes. The company had landed itself with Extreme Startups in Toronto and was launching a crowdfunding platform called EventTilt. Crowdsourcing was all the rage at the time and their new platform was guaranteeing successful events by completely […]
Shopify Capital Launches In Canada And Issues First Loan in 34 Minutes
Shopify is on fire. Their stock price skyrocketed again today, putting it in a tight race with TD Bank to become the country’s second-most valuable company on the TSX behind RBC. The e-commerce company’s shares were up 7 per cent, pushing its market value over $100 billion. Investors rushed to buy Shopify shares last week […]
Luggage Brand Monos Launches Hand-held Sanitization Device
With the spread of COVID-19 and subsequent travel bans, the travel industry has taken a significant hit world-wide. With this in mind, Vancouver-based travel accessories company Monos has developed a new product to help consumers now and for future travel. Monos has announced the launch of The CleanPod, a hand-held rechargeable sanitizer that uses ultraviolet […]
Rocket Builders Announces 2020 Ready to Rocket Lists
Rocket Builders has released its 18th annual “Ready to Rocket” lists. The “Ready to Rocket” lists are the only predictive lists of its kind in North America, requiring many months of sector and company analysis. These lists profile the B.C. technology companies that are best positioned to capitalize on the technology sector trends that will […]