Inovia Q2: Over US$1B in primary and secondary financing, 4 new companies, SPAC merger

The Wealthsimple Team

As Q2 comes to a close, there is much to be proud of. This last quarter saw the Inovia portfolio companies complete over US$1B in primary and secondary financing. We continued to grow the Inovia family, welcoming tech champions Swyft, Wealthsimple, Botpress and Tribe.

Of the impressive amount of capital raised, Wealthsimple closed on CA$750M; AlayaCare raised CA$225M, and Clearco (formerly Clearbanc) raised US$100M. And our friends at Sonder also announced an agreement to go public on Nasdaq through a US$2.2B SPAC Merger with Gores Metropoulos. Meanwhile, LightSpeed completed two major acquisitions: Ecwid (US$500M) and NuORDER (US$425M).

The Inovia team also grew. We launched the Inovia Intern Program adding Simon Constantineau, Jack Kline, in the Montreal office, and Owen Newton-Hill in our London office. We also welcomed back Entrepreneur in Residence, Sam Pasupalak.

Enjoy the summer and recharge. We’ll see you in the fall with more exciting news to share.

— The Inovia Team

Portfolio Companies in the News

• Sonder Agreed to US$2.2 Billion Gores SPAC Merger | Bloomberg | Blog
• Lightspeed acquired Ecwid and NuORDER to unify the commerce ecosystem and ignite business creation | Lightspeed
• Wealthsimple joined the Inovia family and announced CA$750M in financing PressRelease | Financial Post
• AlayaCare announced a CA$225M investment to accelerate the digital transformation of home health care and US expansion Globe&Mail | LeDevoir
• Clearco (formerly Clearbanc) hit unicorn status and announced a US$100M financing round | Globe&Mail
• Bench announced a US$60M funding and welcomed Shopify as an investor | Globe&Mail
• Poka announced a US$25M funding to expand ‘Facebook for factories’ platform globally | Globe&Mail | LaPresse
• Swyft raised US$17.5M to bring same-day delivery to all the retailers that aren’t Amazon | TechCrunch
• Botpress announced its US$15M Series A to help developers build conversational apps | TechCrunch
• ResQ announced a US$7.5M fundraise to help restaurants meet “pent-up demand” during COVID reopening | TechCrunch
• Going after Facebook: Tribe raised US$7.5M as it rolls out the second generation of its tools that help clients create social networks for their customers | Forbes
• Commit raised US$6M seed round to match senior engineers with startups they want to work for | TechCrunch
• Going after Google Ad search: Neeva’s official launch to US | Fast Company

Thoughts

• Swyft: Rethinking last-mile logistics as the eCommerce boom continues by Hannah Chelkowski | Medium
• Clearco: Backing the world’s largest eCommerce investor: our continued support of Clearco’s mission to empower founders with equitable access to capital by Alex Barrett | Medium
• Botpress: Building an open source developer stack to service the growth of contextual communication | Medium
• Distinction or Extinction: why it’s game time for Main Street by Hannah Chelkowski | Medium
• Riding the Wave: The Next Generation of Travel Companies Is Here by Chris Arsenault| Medium
• Back in Business: How ResQ is helping the rapidly rebounding restaurant industry by Hannah Chelkowski I Medium
• The Essence of Product-Led Growth by our very own Antoine Nivard and Rosie Chopra | Prosumerized SaaS
• Perspective from Ray Kruck, CEO at Tugboat on How Early-Stage Company’s Security Posture Factors into Investor Diligence | CEOworld.biz
• “You Are Going to Fuck Things Up”: My Experience with Discrimination, and Passion for DEI by Liran Belenzon, CEO of BenchSci | Medium
• Perspectives on Quebec inc evolution, featuring Chris’ thoughts | LaPresse

Industry Highlights

• Black Innovation Capital, supported by BDC Capital, launches fund to support Black entrepreneurs | BDC
• First quarter saw record level of Canadian venture capital financings, industry group says | Globe&Mail
• New measure from Alberta, Saskatchewan securities regulators meant to increase investment potential for startups | Betakit
• Booming Canadian tech sector set to smash venture capital records after ‘ridiculous’ run of megadeals | Globe&Mail
• Manon Brouillette named Chief Operating Officer and Deputy CEO at Verizon Consumer Group | Verizon

Events

Not to be missed

• Watch The Ai Edge Series featuring Todd Simpson as a guest speaker on Episode 3 on July 14

If you missed it

• TechTO — Founders & Funding featuring Shawn Abbott with Certn’s CEO Andrew McLeod