It can be hard to feel like immigration should be a top priority right now, as we’re still mostly unable to travel, and the Canada-U.S. border is still closed to non-essential travel. But the fact is, the great reopening is right around the corner, and with the pilot of the dedicated tech talent stream of […]
News
People Are The New Storefront In The Creator Economy
How social commerce is turning a perfect storm into a prime opportunity The fallout from the pandemic-induced shuttering of Canada’s physical storefronts has been nothing short of catastrophic. As of February 2021, small businesses have collectively taken on $135 billion in debt in an attempt to survive COVID-19, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business reports. […]
Metaspectral AI will Sort Recyclable Plastic in B.C. by the End of 2021
Vancouver’s Metaspectral has received a $300,000 grant from CleanBC to develop computer vision, artificial intelligence, and robotics designed to sort post-consumer recycled plastic. It is impossible for humans to differentiate between different types of clear plastic bottles with the naked eye, so until now, various types of post-consumer recycled clear plastics were sold together in […]
TELUS Launches Emergency Response Wearables Service On Apple Watch
TELUS Health wants to revolutionize how Canadians experience wearable emergency support in Canada with their new TELUS Health Companion on Apple Watch. A 24/7 emergency monitoring service provided through TELUS Health’s LivingWell Companion national response service combined with the Apple Watch Fall Detection API and proactive monitoring functionalities, this new service enables more Canadians with […]
Defending Against Cyber-threats In The Inbox
For over a year now, businesses across Canada have adapted to remote or hybrid work environments made necessary by the Covid-19 pandemic. Most Canadians have now familiarized themselves with applications and virtual collaboration tools like Zoom, Skype, and Microsoft Teams to keep working, and stay connected throughout lockdowns and distancing measures. Yet even as organizations […]
PDFTron Announces Strategic Growth Investment from Thoma Bravo
Vancouver’s PDFTron Systems has landed a strategic growth investment from Thoma Bravo, a private equity investment firm focused on the software sector. PDFTron’s highly configurable software development kits (SDKs) help more than 2,000 customers improve productivity, accelerate application development lifecycles, and reduce time to market. Since its founding in 1998, PDFTron has developed the industry’s definitive […]
SOTW 010: ThyForLife
Welcome to Startup of the Week, a column highlighting BC’s most innovative and exciting tech startups. Today, we’re featuring Vancouver’s ThyForLife. With World Thyroid Day coming up on May 25th, it’s the perfect time to highlight ThyForLife—an award winning mobile thyroid health tracking app. Over 400 million people around the world have thyroid conditions but […]
Vancouver’s StoryTap Scales Up With USD $2.3 Million Seed Round
Vancouver’s StoryTap has raised a USD $2.3 million seed round led by Refinery Ventures and including StandUp Ventures. StoryTap’s patented video storytelling platform enables brands to engage and grow by harnessing the power of authentic social video stories. StoryTap was founded by CEO Bernadette Butler and CTO Sean Braacx (pictured) and has been bootstrapped for […]
Vancouver’s Metaspectral Selected For SCALE Aerospace Accelerator Program
Vancouver’s Metaspectral has been selected to join the SCALE Aerospace Accelerator Program. Run by the Starburst Aerospace Accelerator in collaboration with UCLA, SCALE is an early-stage, aerospace-focused accelerator that helps entrepreneurs launch and scale their businesses. Metaspectral’s unique technology derives real-time insights from artificial intelligence (AI) using ultra-high-resolution, visible-to-infrared (hyperspectral) images. This is enabled by its […]
Shopify & Thinkific Collaboration Helps Entrepreneurs Sell Products And Skills In One Basket
While impacts of the pandemic to businesses have varied wildly across sectors, it has been particularly painful for small operators. For many service based entrepreneurs; coaches and instructors, beauticians, stylists, and personal trainers, ‘business as usual’ literally shuttered overnight. Those running small online businesses selling physical goods, themselves struggled with cratering supply chains, disrupted shipping […]