F|T: The FinTech Times – Canadian Crypto’s Bizarre Love Triangle Ends in Three-Way Merger
Plus: Cash App creator Bob Lee stabbed to death.
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WonderFi, Coinsquare, CoinSmart to Merge as Canada’s Crypto Industry Consolidates (BETAKIT)
WonderFi, Coinsquare and CoinSmart Financial announced that the three companies reached an agreement to combine and create what they claim will be “Canada’s largest regulated trading platform for cryptoassets.”
Together, Vancouver-based WonderFi, and Toronto’s Coinsquare and CoinSmart have over $600 million CAD in assets under custody and more than 1.65 million users.
Bob Lee, creator of Cash App and former CTO of Square, stabbed to death (TECHCURNCH)
Bob Lee, the product manager at MobileCoin, was killed in a fatal stabbing in San Francisco. On Tuesday morning, at 2:35 a.m., the San Francisco Police Department responded to a report of a stabbing near the 300 block of Main Street in SoMa. Lee was taken to hospital but succumbed to his injuries.
After the news, there was great sadness in the technology community. “It’s real. Getting calls. Heartbreaking. Bob was instrumental in Square and Cash App. STL guy,” Block CEO Jack Dorsey wrote on nostr.
LayerZero Labs Raises $120M at $3B Valuation to Enable More Multi-Blockchain Apps (BETAKIT)
Vancouver-based Web3 startup LayerZero Labs is now valued at $3 billion after closing a $120 million Series B funding round. LayerZero was previously valued at $1 billion when it raised $135 million in March 2022.
The Vancouver startup claims its platform connects over 30 blockchains, allowing developers to create projects that can exist across multiple blockchains without the need for an intermediary to facilitate cross-chain interactions.
For the second year, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP has released its comprehensive study of 353 anonymized venture capital and growth capital financings from 2020-2022, valued at more than US$6 billion, providing data and insights for founders, entrepreneurs, investors and advisors considering transactions this year and beyond.
Join members of Osler’s Emerging and High Growth Companies Group on April 26, 2023, at 12 p.m. ET, for a special one-hour virtual event as they provide insights and analysis from this important report.
Sign up for our Deal Points Report event
Un-Unicorn: Clearco Seeks Funding That Will Dilute Tech Financier (THE GLOBE AND MAIL)
Clearco, the Canadian e-commerce financier co-founded by Dragons’ Den star Michele Romanow, is pursuing a complex recapitalization plan that will wipe out most of its previous $2 billion-plus valuation.
The company hopes to raise $20-25 million in an equity deal that would value the company at $200 million including the new cash, reducing the value of early investor holdings.
VCCI-Backed Kensington Capital Partners Secures $158M First Close for Third Venture Fund (BETAKIT)
Now over halfway to its $290 million goal, Kensington is the first of four fund managers selected by the Government of Canada’s Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative to announce they have closed funding.
With its first close, Kensington Venture Fund III (KVFIII) surpassed the $150 million size of Kensington’s last venture fund. KVFIII will primarily serve as a fund-of-funds, supporting Canadian venture capital funds, with a quarter of the capital reserved for direct investment in technology startups.
SEC accuses startup founder Frank of financial backing for defrauding JPMorgan (TECHCRUNCH)
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Charlie Javice, the founder of student aid startup Frank, with fraud in connection with the $175 million sale of the company to JPMorgan Chase Bank in 2021.
The complaint alleges that while JPMorgan pressed Frank executives for customer data, Javice allegedly attempted to generate synthetic data to make it appear as if Frank had 4.25 million customers.
How Startups Can Access an Untapped Pool of Talent in Canada (BETAKIT)
Pablo Listingart, CEO of tech skills school ComIT, explains what founders need to be aware of when hiring rural employees.
Bing Newcomb, whose E* Trade Transformed Stock Trading, dies at 79
(NEW YORK TIMES)
Bing Newcomb, who co-founded the company E*Trade and wrote the computer code that enabled investors to trade stocks from their home computers in the 1980s, died on January 29 at his home in Palo Alto, California. He was 79 years old.
With No Open Banking Update in #Budget2023, FinTech Leaders Growing Weary of Delivery Timeline (BETAKIT)
Despite the Open Advisory Committee’s call for the federal government to move aggressively to implement the first phase of the system by January 2023, and the Liberal Party’s 2021 election promise to implement a made-in-Canada model “by early 2023 “, the system is still delayed.
The federal budget, tabled on March 28, did not include a mention of the future system.
Stripe says volume growth slowed even with more large customers (BNN BLOOMBERG)
Stripe Inc., one of the world’s most valuable startups, said payment volume growth slowed last year after a pandemic surge, even as it helped more large corporate customers handle payments over the Internet.
The $50 billion valuation it received in a funding round last month was well below the $95 billion it was last valued at when it raised $600 million from investors in 2021.
PureFacts acquires Xtiva to strengthen its revenue management solutions (BETAKIT)
According to Toronto-based PureFacts, the deal combines its infrastructure for gross and net fee calculations and reporting, with Xtiva’s technology and expertise in incentive and performance compensation. This consolidated entity, which will operate under the PureFacts umbrella, is expected to offer a “complete” revenue management solution.
Checkout.com faces executive exodus, layoffs ‘for stealth’ (SIFTED)
Just over a year after raising $1 billion in a Series D funding round, Europe’s gold-plated payments startup Checkout.com is facing an exodus from its management team and making a series of unannounced layoffs.
After publicly cutting staff by five percent last September, sources also tell Sifted that Checkout has made further cuts in a series of “stealth redundancies” over the past three months, with six executives quitting or being fired. last nine months.
Binance rejected Justin Sun’s offer to buy his Huobi stake: Source (COINDESK)
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, recently rejected an offer to buy Tron blockchain founder Justin Sun’s stake in rival exchange Huobi, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Binance was not interested because of rumors that Huobi has ties to mainland China, which Binance wants nothing to do with, according to the person, who requested anonymity.
