Toronto-based insurtech startup Padder has closed $2.5 million CAD in funding to support the launch of its “guarantor-as-a-service” platform for Ontario landlords and tenants. Padder was founded in 2023 by CEO Daniel Moss, a former data product and business intelligence manager at Toronto’s Zensurance. The company aims to help landlords lease units to tenants with…
Canada’s CoeusAI is going to the Netherlands to help the Dutch government optimize its offshore renewable energy using AI. The early-stage, Kitchener-Waterloo-based cleantech company says that it was the lone Canadian firm selected to participate in the North Sea Energy (NSE) program and the only one of its 30-plus partners asked to work across multiple…
BY THE OPTMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In a sign of how quickly the clean energy landscape is evolving, HydrogenXT has secured a $900 million financing agreement to build an initial fleet of 10 zero-carbon hydrogen production and refueling facilities across the United States. For an industry that, not long ago, was dominated by fossil fuels,…
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In a culture that celebrates new restaurants, new workouts, new experiences, anything novel, there is something subtle yet radical about returning to the same place week after week. The same café order. The same corner booth. The same familiar faces behind the counter. It may feel predictable, even unadventurous….
After more than 10 years and 11 cohorts, Ottawa-based accelerator L-Spark changed direction last April. The organization is no longer an accelerator for software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies; it’s now a hired gun, finding startups that complement a corporation’s offering so they don’t have to. L-Spark executive managing director Leo Lax explained to BetaKit last year that…
Nisku, Alberta, is a long way from the ocean, but that hasn’t stopped Confined Space Robotics (CSR) from contributing to Canada’s national shipbuilding strategy, thanks to a partnership with British Columbia’s Seaspan Shipyards. The $1.5-million contract is part of Seaspan’s commitment as a partner with the federal government’s national shipbuilding strategy On Feb. 12, CSR,…
It’s not uncommon to hear a founder call a business their baby, a relationship that can make it difficult to sell that business, when the time comes, to someone with no connection to it. Another option exists in the form of employee ownership trusts (EOTs), which provide a path for owners to pass the torch…
As Canada rearms itself, a group of emerging Canadian defence technology leaders have joined forces to stand up a new trade association to represent the interests of domestic firms. ACDC co-chair Eliot Pence argued Canada’s defence targets are “unobtainable [without] a clear voice from Canadian-owned, Canadian-controlled businesses.” The Alliance of Canadian Defence Companies (ACDC), which…
How many times have you been waiting on the phone and heard “please stay on hold, an agent will be with you shortly,” only to be forced to wait a period of time that is in no way short? Toronto-based General Magic wants to help solve that problem in the insurance industry. “This is how…
Toronto FinTech startup Loop is launching a new product that allows businesses to more easily link banking data with accounting apps. “This is unlocking…what open banking was always set to unlock in Canada.” The company released its direct application programming interface (API) connectivity today, which can sync its clients’ global banking data with accounting tools…
