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We found Q1 to be exceptionally productive, and we’re excited to share some of our highlights.
In SaaS news, we doubled-down on Rubikloud, with lead investor Intel Ventures, and were proud to announce an investment in Bench Accounting, as well as a series A round for Poka. We made moves in our travel thesis, leading series B for Busbud, and announced the acquisition of Routehappy by travel industry leader ATPCO.
We further developed our decentralization thesis supporting our views and thinking around aligning incentives, building trust among users, and providing them with more power. And finally, we wrapped our Quarter up with the announcement that we are growing our team, and are actively looking for the best talent!
Please share the news, or message us a reference. And as always, thanks for subscribing and we hope to see you soon.
Inovia Team
IN THE NEWS
- Rubikloud scores $37 million investment to bring intelligence to retail industry 🏆 | TechCrunch
- Busbud refuels its bus travel booking platform with $11M 🏆 | TechCrunch
- Bench Raises $18 Million to Simplify Small Business Accounting, Cuts Prices Through Automation 🏆| Business Wire
- Poka Announces $10M Funding 🏆 | NBC
- Toronto startup Cybeats raises capital with Inovia to create “immune system” for IoT devices 🤖 | Cantech Letter
- Peraso launches a chipset for VR and appoints Bill McLean as CEO 🚀 | PR Newswire Venture Beat
- Mike Silagadze is profiled | Ozy
- Justin Trudeau visited AppDirect to speak with Dan Saks and Nicolas Desmarais 🇨🇦 | LinkedIn
- Google Maps visionary joins Clearpath advisory board 🤖 | Business Wire
- EXIT: Airline Data Platform ATPCO Acquires Rich Content Provider Routehappy 🏆 | ATPCO
Read our thesis on the travel industry and our thoughts on the acquisition - ROSS Intelligence partners with world’s leading AI research institute 🤖 | ROSS Intelligence
THOUGHTS
- Read Sarah’s take in the “Ask an Investor” weekly series 💬 | Betakit
- Chris continues to share with us his learnings from the Well.ca sale to McKesson in this Part II post on optionality 💬 | Inovia Blog
- Salima provides her thoughts on Exit Preparedness from an HR Perspective. 💬 | Inovia Blog
- Hugues walked us through how Automation is Reshaping SMB SaaS 🤖 | Techvibes
- Chris talked entrepreneurial capital on a podcast 💬 | the pnr
- Sarah summarized our thesis on travel, vis-a-vis the Routehappy acquisition ✈️ | Inovia Blog
- Venture Partner Todd Simpson has released the 6th installment in his careful dissection of decentralization, and ICYMI, here are links to the full series 🤖:
The Center Cannot Hold
Democracy, Decentralization, and Well-Being
Strategy Frameworks and Decentralization
Meaningful ICO’s
The Advent of Decentralized Transportation Systems
Systems of Participation - Mike Silagadze shares his thoughts on why the next billion-dollar tech firm will be born in Canada 🇨🇦 | Forbes
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
- Inovia launches the Empower Initiative in Toronto and Montreal.
EVENTS
- April 16: Inovia Toronto CEO Dinner
- June 12: Inovia 2018 CEO Summit & LP/CEO Dinner, Montreal
- June 13: Inovia 2018 Annual Summit, Montreal
FUNDING
We’ve included all disclosed fundings of portfolio companies in Q1–2017 (excluding pre-seed investments). The lead gets a🏅.
- Poka: C $10M
🏅 CDPQ, Inovia Capital, Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH,
Leclerc Family, Uncork Capital | Poka - Bench: US $18M
🏅Inovia Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, Altos Ventures, SVB | TechCrunch - Busbud: C $14M
🏅 Inovia Capital, Teralys Capital, Plaza Ventures, Claridge, Real Ventures | BusBud - Lightspeed: C $207M
🏅 CDPQ, Inovia Capital | Betakit - TrackTik: C $7M
🏅 CDPQ, Inovia Capital | Betakit - ROSS Intelligence: US $13M
🏅 Inovia Capital, Comcast Ventures Catalyst Fund, Real Ventures,
Denton’s NextLaw Labs, Y Combinator | Techvibes - Rubikloud: US $37M
🏅 Intel Capital, Inovia Capital, OTEAF, Horizons Ventures, Access Industries | TechCrunch