The trend is undeniable. Tech companies hailing from San Francisco are setting up shop in Vancouver to gain access to our strong talent base. This trend shouldn’t surprise anyone. The strongest economic argument in Vancouver’s pitch to Amazon to build their HQ2 was that the city’s tech workers have the “lowest wages of all North […]
News
Tencent Acquires Majority Stake In Vancouver’s Klei Entertainment
Chinese multinational tech conglomerate Tencent has acquired a majority stake in Vancouver’s Klei Entertainment. The acquisition news comes by way of a forum post from Klei founder Jamie Cheng. According to Cheng, “Klei retains full autonomy of creative and operations across all aspects of the studio, including projects, talent, and more.” Klei was founded by […]
Esports Startup GameSeta Acquired by U.S. Leader PlayVS
Vancouver’s GameSeta Esports has been acquired by Los Angeles’ PlayVS (pronounced Play-versus), the leading amateur esports platform in the United States. The GameSeta platform manages all the logistics that go into an esports league including a secured platform for schools and students to monitor game performance, conduct training sessions, and manage teams. PlayVS is the […]
Immersive Tech To Launch Virtual Reality Shipping Container Attraction
Vancouver’s Immersive Tech is launching a new Location Based Entertainment (LBE) VR attractions franchise division named UNCONTAINED, to capitalize on the growing demand from its Family Entertainment Centre clients for COVID-safe outdoor attractions. UNCONTAINED will be the world’s first free-roam hyper-immersive interactive VR attraction, built for a COVID world within shipping containers. The experience will […]
Autozen Emerges From Stealth With $4.2 Million Round
No longer operating in stealth mode, Vancouver startup Autozen announced today that it has raised a $4.2 million funding round. Positioned to disrupt the stressful and unnecessarily complex car sale process, Autozen is a new consumer-to-business (C2B) marketplace on a mission to create an easier, safer and more transparent way for car owners to sell […]
Rivian Is Worth $27 Billion and Vancouver Is Home To Its Vehicle Management Software Teams
In preparation for a summer launch, electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian has selected Chase as their private label partner to provide customers with a truly digital-first vehicle financing journey. Set to launch in early 2021, ahead of scheduled June deliveries of Rivian’s R1T pickup, Rivian Financial Services will deliver a best-in-class financing journey for retail customers through […]
Thinkific Announces Launch of Amplify 2021 Virtual Summit
Last year 63 million courses were taken on the Thinkific and the Vancouver-born online course platform platform hit 100 million courses overall in December. To date, Thinkific’s course creators have earned an estimated $650 Million selling their knowledge. “2020 lit a fire in the world of online learning. This 100 million milestone reflects the soaring demand […]
10 Homegrown B.C. Startups to Watch in 2021
2020 is in the books and despite what we’ve all been through, it was a pretty good one for the Vancouver tech community and the province as a whole. The COVID-19 pandemic forced companies to adapt quickly to change and redesign their products or services or even create new ones to respond to our new […]
BBTV Renews Its NBA Playmakers Partnership
Vancouver’s BBTV is expanding their partnership with the NBA to include content distributed beyond YouTube. Created in 2016 as a joint commercial partnership between BBTV and the NBA, NBA Playmakers is the premier basketball culture video network working with influencers across fitness & training, fashion & lifestyle and gaming content. In addition to YouTube, NBA […]
Shopify Founder Tobi Lütke Invests In General Fusion
Burnaby’s General Fusion announced today the closing of financing from new investor Thistledown Capital. The investment will support the development of the company’s Fusion Demonstration Plant, which will showcase Magnetized Target Fusion technology at power-plant relevant scale. Thistledown was established by Shopify founder Tobias Lütke and his wife Fiona McKean to advance technological solutions for […]