Canada has gained another artificial intelligence investor in Developer Capital (DevCap), but this one looks a bit different from your standard venture capital firm.
Born out of Montréal-based full-stack software development consultancy Monadical, DevCap is structured as an investment corporation with no management fees and the capacity to move quickly, which enabled it to close $2.5 million CAD in funding and begin investing in pre-seed and seed-stage startups in only three months.
“We think the next mega tech companies are going to be born in 2024 and beyond, and we don’t want to miss the start,” Steiner, DevCap’s CEO, told BetaKit in an exclusive interview.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, multiple sources familiar with DarwinAI confirmed to BetaKit that Apple reached a deal to acquire the startup. One confirmed that the acquisition has now closed and that Apple has acquired the entire company—including DarwinAI’s employees, tech, and intellectual property.
According to unnamed individuals who spoke to Bloomberg, who first reported the story, Apple acquired the startup earlier this year, and dozens of DarwinAI staff have joined Apple’s artificial intelligence (AI) division. As of press time, DarwinAI’s website is down, and neither the startup nor Apple have publicly confirmed the news. Bloomberg’s report did not mention the purchase price of the deal.
Mark Trevitt, who had been investing in AI with BDC Capital since 2014, left the Crown corporation last year to found Vancouver-based Defined Capital as its managing partner. Through Defined, the former BDC partner plans to focus on early-stage technology startups across North America that are “shaping the AI frontier.”
Defined has closed on over a third of its $15-million USD target for its first fund from a group of limited partners that includes Inovia Capital, Band Venture Partners, and a slew of successful British Columbia tech entrepreneurs.
The VC firm has invested in five startups already, acting quickly to capitalize on some of the possibilities fuelled by recent advances on the data, architecture, and computing fronts. “It’s a Cambrian explosion of opportunity, so I wanted to nimbly move to be in market as fast as possible,” Trevitt said in an exclusive interview with BetaKit.
In Canada, intelligence agencies estimate between $45 billion and $113 billion is laundered each year. Financial institutions (FI) are tasked with repeatedly assessing their clients’ risk profiles to block dirty money from passing through legitimate financial systems.
While Toronto-based Minerva got its start serving cryptocurrency companies, the startup is setting its sights on larger FIs to help compliance teams get ahead of financial crime. After raising two funding rounds and bringing Equifax Canada on board as a partner, CEO Jennifer Arnold believes the startup is well on its way toward achieving that mission.
“By getting them to move more quickly to be able to understand their risk, something closer to real time, we actually have a real shot at disrupting this flow of [illicit] funds,” Arnold told BetaKit in an interview.
The Saskatchewan Technology Startup Incentive (STSI) offers a 45 percent tax credit to individuals who invest in eligible tech startups in the province. Previously capped at $3.5 million, as of April 1 of this year, the program’s annual disbursement cap is now $7 million.
Saskatchewan tech ecosystem leaders lauded the province’s decision to double the program cap, with Jordan McFarlen, director of Conexus Venture Capital, telling BetaKit this decision “signals that the government believes in the tech sector.”
According to Tim Lynn, co-founder of Startup TNT—which drives investment into startups across the Canadian Prairies, including Saskatchewan—the previous cap of $3.5 million introduced “friction” regarding the amount investors should commit and the timing for receiving their tax credit.
Burnaby, British Columbia-based Cymax Group Technologies has found its match in majority owner Markus Frind, who is taking over as its new permanent CEO.
Frind first invested in Cymax in leading its $30-million Series A round in October 2015, following which he joined the company’s board of directors. That investment came months after the sale of the online dating platform Plenty of Fish to Match.com in July 2015 for $575 million, which Frind founded in 2003.
