Inovia kicked off the year on a solid note, creating momentum for the months ahead. Our team remained focused on driving our portfolio’s reacceleration, closing exciting new deals, and sharing meaningful insights with peers and partners across the ecosystem.
Here are a few highlights of this past quarter:
- Portfolio company Street Context was acquired by BlueMatrix. We couldn’t be more excited for Blair and his team and are honoured to have supported their journey!
- We welcomed three new portfolio companies, Vasco, Nue, and Tera AI, to our venture portfolio.
- Inovia emerging manager GTMfund closed US$54M Fund II to back more early-stage Canadian B2B SaaS startups.
- We proudly published the second edition of our State of Canadian Software Report.
- We actively engaged with operators and investors across North America, participating in key events such as the VCAA Conference, Socratica Symposium, CIX Summit, and Transform.
Read on for more highlights.
— The Inovia Team
Portfolio News
Fundraising – Portfolio Companies
- Tera AI Comes Out of Stealth with US$7.8M to Provide Visual Navigation for Robots I TechCrunch
- Certn and Quadshift Secure Capital from BDC Capital’s Topped-Up Funds I BetaKit
- Canadian-Led Nue Raises $28.8-Million Series A Round Led by Inovia I BetaKit
- Ex-Lightspeed Executives’ Vasco Raises US$8M Seed Round for Revenue Management AI Tools I The Logic
Fundraising – Discovery Portfolio
- Bringing Authenticity to Voice: How ai|coustics is Transforming Sound I Tech Funding News
- SIX Secures $1.3M to Supercharge Frontline Customer Experiences I LinkedIn
- Former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger Reinvents Himself as an Angel Investor in AI Startup Fractile I CTECH
Fundraising – Emerging Managers
- GTMfund Closes $54-Million USD Fund II To Back More Early-Stage Canadian B2B SaaS Startups I BetaKit
M&A and Partnerships
- Rewind and monday.com Partner to Enhance Enterprise-Grade Backup Solution for Business Continuity I Press Release
- San Francisco-based Landbase Taps Canadian Roots with Acquisition of LavaReach I BetaKit
- Street Context Acquired By American Market Intelligence Firm Bluematrix For Undisclosed Amount I BetaKit
- QuoteMachine is now part of Lightspeed Commerce I LinkedIn
- RBC Partners with Cohere to Develop AI Platform for Bank Employees I The Globe and Mail
- AlayaCare Selected by Bayshore HealthCare to Transform Home-Based Care in Canada I Press Release
- ai|coustics is partnering with Elgato on Voicefocus | LinkedIn
Hiring, Talent Movement and Board Appointments
- Booksy Appoints Neil Friedman as Country Manager, US I LinkedIn
- Sonder Holdings Inc. Appoints Michael Hughes as Chief Financial Officer I Press Release
- Sonder Holdings Inc. Appoints Erin Wallace to Board of Directors I Stock Titan
Podcasts
- Lessons from Daniel Saks, Founder of Landbase, on Building a Tech Giant & Reinventing the Go-to-Market I The Startup CEO Show
- Founders Journey ft. Liran Belenzon of BenchSci I TechTO’s Founder Series
Other Exciting News
- Medeloop’s Head of Strategy on How Artificial Intelligence Can Be the Catalyst for Transformative Change at NIH I Sensible Medicine
- Ottawa is putting $240M into Cohere’s $725M Canadian AI compute plan I The Logic
- BIV Forty Under 40 Awards: Mark Trevitt, Founding Partner of Defined Capital I Business Intelligence for B.C.
- Cohere Releases Low-Cost AI Model that Uses Fewer Chips I The Globe and Mail
- Klarna x Neo4j: Klarna CEO doubts that other companies will replace Salesforce with AI I TechCrunch (more details in Emil Eifrem’s keynote at HumanX)
- Motion Introduces Expert Agents, AI-Enabled Workflows Designed By The World’s Best Creative Strategists I LinkedIn
- Cohere Has a Plan to Win the AI Race—Without Burning Piles of Money I The Logic
- Introducing SHYPS: Error Correction Codes to Accelerate the Timeline to Useful Quantum I Photonic
- Disco Named One of the Top Tools for Delivering Online Learning in Edtech Insiders’ Latest GenAI Landscape Report I Edtech Insiders
- Travel App Hopper Eyes Long-Term IPO Plan, $10 Billion Valuation I Bloomberg
- Super.com Shines Bright in Times Square: Celebrating 4 Years on the Deloitte Fast 500 with Nasdaq! I LinkedIn
- Spellbook is Expanding to Support In-House Teams with Playbooks I Spellbook
Inovia Thoughts
Investment Blogs
- Inovia Leads Nue’s Series A: a Masterclass on Revenue Lifecycle Management I Karamdeep Nijjar, Taha Mubashir, and Alexis Garneau
- Investing in Vasco: Cracking the Code of a Successful Revenue Engine I Karam Nijjar & Etienne Gauthier
News
- Welcome to Inovia Executive in Residence Satwik Seshasai I Portrait
- Welcome to Inovia Entrepreneur in Residence JF Cote I Portrait
Insights
- Breaking the Founder-Led, B2B SaaS Sales Ceiling: A Guide to Transitioning to Growth Team Leadership I Adam Schlesinger
- Canada’s Tech Resilience: Fueling a More Diverse and Competitive Economy I Inovia
- 40,000 and Growing: Why Managed Service Providers (MSPs) Are Critical for Modern Business Security I Shawn Abbott, Taha Mubashir, Steven Chung, Etienne Gauthier, and Alexis Garneau
Our Team in the News
- Québec’s Dismal Seed-Stage Performance Could Spell Trouble for Province’s Startup Pipeline I BetaKit article featuring Hugues Lalancette
- Lightspeed Commerce Names Veteran Executive Manon Brouillette as Executive Chair I CTV News
- The Matchmaker Of Bay Street Is Out To Fix Hiring In Corporate Canada I The Logic article featuring Krista Skalde
- Vie numérique I Clins d’œil: Le capital-risque va bien I LaPresse article featuring Chris Arsenault
- Canadian VCs Try To Fill An AI Compute Gap For Startups I The Logic article featuring Kory Jeffrey
Podcast
- Building World-Class Tech Teams & Navigating The GenAI Shift I CIO Leadership Live with Kory Jeffrey