The departing president of Lightspeed is joining Montréal venture capital (VC) firm Boreal Ventures in the new year, as he hopes to bring his revenue-scaling experience to portfolio companies. Earlier this month, JD Saint-Martin announced he was stepping down from e-commerce and point-of-sales company Lightspeed at the end of March 2026. He is set to…
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM When Grace Richardson took the stage at the Miss England final in Wolverhampton, she wasn’t just chasing a crown. She was closing a chapter on years of being bullied for who she is and opening a new one as the first openly gay woman to win the national title….
Once a symbol of fossil fuel extraction, the remote Nini oil field in the North Sea is preparing for a new role: storing millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide beneath the ocean floor. Chemical giant INEOS, through its Greensand Future project, is preparing to launch what will become the European Union’s first fully-operational offshore carbon…
Sustainable farming advocates have long taken issue with pesticides, but eco-friendly crop protection products are often more expensive, shorter-lived, and slower-acting than their harmful counterparts. What if farmers could instead use precision chemistry to drastically reduce the use of harmful pesticides and fertilizers while still protecting crops? “It’s always been incredibly important to me that…
Montréal-based Xposure Music has raised $42.5 million USD ($59 million CAD) in debt and equity to scout more Canadian and global independent talent using data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI). The indie music catalogue buyer said on Monday that it had raised $42.5 million USD. The raise comes from a combination of debt from Andalusian…
Saskatchewan’s Conexus Venture Capital (CVC) has closed its second fund, hitting its $30-million CAD target as the firm gears up to back more Saskatchewan technology startups. “It’s a big win for Saskatchewan, it’s a big win for the Prairies, and it’s a big win for Canadian tech,” CVC managing director Jordan McFarlen told BetaKit in…
Equitable Bank parent company EQB is buying PC Financial from Loblaw, bringing two banking challengers together in what appears to be a bid to better take on Canada’s Big Five banks. The $800-million deal, which will also make EQ Bank the exclusive financial partner of the PC Optimum rewards program, was announced on Wednesday evening….
Early-stage companies often face a daunting challenge at the start of the journey: how to get the cash to prove an idea. Last week, the Province of British Columbia announced new funding to help those companies bridge that gap. Crown corporation Innovate BC announced Nov. 28 that it has launched an early-stage demonstration call that…
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Writing may seem like just another mundane, ordinary task. We don’t usually think twice about scribbling down a quick note, typing out a text, or getting a journal entry down before bed, but its impact on the brain is surprisingly powerful. Research shows that translating thoughts and feelings into…
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In a move hailed as decades overdue, the U.S. Department of Transportation introduced the country’s first crash test dummy modeled on female anatomy. The new model, called the THOR-05F, marks a significant step toward addressing long-standing gender disparities in vehicle safety testing. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy unveiled the THOR-05F…
