We hope that you had a lovely summer and recharged your batteries.
While our team of company builders also took some time off, we accomplished a lot. Here are a few highlights from Q3:
- Clearpath Robotics, an Inovia portfolio company was acquired by Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE: ROK). We couldn’t be more excited for Matthew, Ryan, Bryan and the Clearpath team and are honoured to have supported their journey over the past nine years.
- We announced Inovia Discovery Fund I, formalizing our long-standing support for the early-stage venture capital firms essential to a vibrant North American tech ecosystem.
- Discovery Fund I’s capital is already at work, and we invested in several emerging managers who have the potential to outperform the market through their unique networks and deep industry knowledge. Learn more about these firms on our website.
- We spent a lot of time sharing insights and networking with the Canadian and EU tech ecosystems, from hosting a Startupfest event in July with seven co-investors to discussing the power of LLMs with Cohere at the ALL IN conference in September to sharing insights about the power of platform teams with the VC Platform community in London, to name a few.
- Last but not least, our team completed a number of Discovery and Venture investments that will be shared with you over the coming weeks.
Find below more activity highlights of the past quarter. In the meantime, we wish you a productive end of year!
— The Inovia Team
Portfolio in the News
Fundraising – Portcos
- Vital – Sam Altman, Valley VCs Bet $48 Million on Blood-Testing Startup I Bloomberg
- OneTrust Secures $150M Investment Led by Generation Investment Management I Generation
- Cohere Secures Strategic Investment from SAP as Enterprise Demand for Generative AI Grows I BetaKit
Fundraising – Emerging Managers
- Front Row Ventures Closes Oversubscribed CAD$5.5M Pan-Canadian Fund I BetaKit
- Luge Capital Looks To Buck Fintech Trends With CAD$71M First Close Of New Fund I BetaKit
- Connect Ventures Hits $80M for its Next Fund, Says the Bear Market Means ‘Product is Back, Baby!’ I TechCrunch
- Former Global Founders Capital Partner Launches Northside Ventures to Back Pre-seed Canadian Entrepreneurs Across North America I BetaKit
M&A and Partnerships
- Rockwell Automation Completes Acquisition of Autonomous Robotics Leader Clearpath Robotics and Its Industrial Offering Otto Motors I Press Release
- BoardProspects Acquires theBoardlist I Press Release
- AppDirect Acquires ADCom Solutions’ NOC and VEEUE Platform to Deliver Premier Managed Services Through the Channel I Press Release
- Cohere and McKinsey Announce Strategic Collaboration to Help Enterprises Adopt Generative AI I Press Release
- Avalanche Technology and Eideticom Partner to Drive Innovative NVMe Storage Solutions I Benzinga
Hiring, Talent Movement and Board Appointments
- Lightspeed Re-appoints Manon Brouillette to its Board of Directors, Reinforcing its Customer-Centric Vision I Lightspeed
- Top Hat Announces the Appointment of Curtis Tripoli as Chief Financial Officer I Top Hat
Other Exciting News
- Certn, Symend, Lightspeed, AlayaCare, and Talent.com Ranking in Canada’s Top Growing Companies of 2023 I The Globe and Mail
- Hopper’s B2B Business Reaches New Heights with Launch of E-Commerce Offerings I Hopper
- Novisto Recognized as One of LinkedIn’s Top Startups in Canada for 2023 I LinkedIn
- Aidan Gomez on the TIME100 Most Influential People in AI 2023 I Time
- Spellbook: Lower fees, fewer lawyers and disruptive startups: Legal sector braces for impact from ChatGPT I The Globe and Mail
- Neo4j Wins Google Cloud Technology Partner of the Year Award I Neo4j
- Spellbook: From Musical Instruments to Legal AI Tech: The Journey of Scott Stevenson I Focused Chaos
- Cohere: Introducing Coral, the Knowledge Assistant for Enterprises I Cohere
- Sonder Launches Its First Hotel Collection I Skift
- What Are Secured Credit Cards, and Are Newer Ones Like Neo Financial’s a Better Option? I The Globe and Mail
Podcasts
- From Startup to Super Scaleup: Hypergrowth Lessons with Henry Shi, Super.com I Traction Podcast
- Building a blood-testing startup in 2023 with Vital CEO Vasu Nadella I This Week in Startups
- The Founders Journey ft. Justin Herlick of Pine I TechTO’s Founder Series
Inovia Thoughts
Inovia News
- Inovia Closes its First Discovery Fund to Empower Emerging Managers I Press Release
Blogs
- Celebrating Clearparth’s Journey: From University Halls to Making the Impossible a Reality I Karamdeep Nijjar
- Inovia Emerging Managers Portrait Series: Meet Northside Ventures I Portrait
- Navigating Startup Sales: Insights for Founders and Sales Leaders I Simon Leroux
- Inovia Discovery Fund I: Investing In Emerging Managers To Build A Robust Funding Environment For Canadian Tech Startups I Prem Kalevar
- Creating Talent Strategies & Crafting Success with System Design: Insights from the Unicorn Leaders Podcast I Krista Skalde
Industry Highlights
- Cohere, Coveo, Ada Sign on to Ottawa’s Voluntary Code for Generative AI I The Logic
- Elevate Announces CIX Acquisition and New $2M Innovation Challenge for Youth Mental Health I BetaKit
- Standout Startup: The Founder’s Guide to Irresistible Marketing That Fuels Growth I Allyson Letteri
- Impact of Canada’s H-1B Visa Talent Grab May Go Well Beyond 10,000 Applicants I BetaKit
- Canada Welcomed More Than 32,000 Tech Workers Over the Past 12 Months, Report Finds I Press Release
- National Bank Reaffirms Leadership in the Technology Banking Space through Acquisition of Silicon Valley Bank’s Canadian Portfolio I Press Release
- Luge Capital’s David Nault on Making Investment Decisions Through the AI Hype Cycle I BetaKit