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Light AI (ALGO:CBOE) has begun trading, presenting a promising future as it positions itself as a leader in AI-based healthcare technology. $30M CAD invested since 2016, the company’s proprietary algorithm boasts 97% accuracy in diagnosing viral or bacterial throat infections, addressing a global healthcare challenge: antibiotic resistance. The leadership team includes AI veteran CEO Peter Whitehead and prominent advisors like the former CIO of Johnson & Johnson, Tom Scarnecchia, and Emmanuel Blin, a healthcare distribution innovator in low-to-middle-income countries (LMICs). Light AI's disruptive technology aims to modernize diagnostics in LMICs, reducing the misuse of antibiotics. With a total of $26.5M CAD raised in private and RTO rounds and a marketing budget of over $3.5M, the company is poised to capitalize on the booming AI sector, which has seen peers like Healwell and Verses achieve significant valuation growth. Light AI's innovative approach and strategic capital deployment position it for strong market traction in the coming months. I am a shareholder.

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🚀 Attention aspiring female entrepreneurs: La Visionnaire Business Idea Competition is closing soon! 🚀 Calling all visionary female entrepreneurs! ⏰ The deadline for submitting your innovative business ideas is fast approaching. Make sure to submit your entry by Monday June 3 evening to be part of this exciting opportunity. This competition is your chance to: 🌟 Showcase your groundbreaking business concept 🌟 Receive valuable feedback from industry experts 🌟 Network with like-minded entrepreneurs and potential investors 🌟 Win incredible prizes and support to help bring your idea to life Don't miss out on this chance to take your entrepreneurial journey to the next level. Submit your application now and seize this opportunity to shine! 💡 📅 Competition Deadline: June 3, 2024 @23:59 🙌 Winner Announced: June 7, 2024 🎯 More Info and Link to Participate: https://lnkd.in/eDCkFyxa For any questions or additional information, feel free to reach out. We can't wait to see your innovative ideas! #Entrepreneurship #WomenInBusiness #LaVisionnaireConference #DiversityAndInclusion #StartupSuccess #Innovation #DiversityInBusiness #WomenEntrepreneurs #WomenSupportingWomen #FemaleEntrepreneurs #WomenLeaders #WomenFounders #BecomeAnEntrepreneur #FlexibleCareer #CareerWithPurpose #WomenManagers #LaVisionnaire

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🚨 Big News in HealthTech 🚨 Sparrow BioAcoustics, a bioacoustic AI tech company based in St. John’s, Canada, just raised $13M in Seed funding! 💰 The round was led by Killick Capital Inc., Klister Credit Corp, and Pelorus Ventures. 💡 What does this mean? This funding will be used to expand operations and accelerate R&D efforts, as Sparrow pioneers in cardiac and pulmonary disease detection through AI. CEO Mark Attila Opauszky and his team of physicians, engineers, and data scientists are working on breakthrough solutions to: • Improve early detection of cardiac and respiratory conditions 🫀 • Enable quicker treatment for those at risk of heart and lung disease 💡 🏥 How does it work? Sparrow's innovative SaMD (Software as a Medical Device) uses smartphones to capture and analyze cardiac sounds, providing life-saving diagnostic insights in real-time. Why it Matters: Earlier detection means longer, healthier lives for those at risk. 📢 Stay tuned to Future Techly for the latest updates on this groundbreaking initiative and the latest in tech and business! 💥 Source: FinSMEs #HealthTech #AI #Funding #BioAcoustics #MedicalInnovation #CardiacCare #PulmonaryHealth #FutureOfHealthcare #SparrowBioAcoustics #SaMD #TechForGood #FutureTechly

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Cool read about portco Vivid Machines using AI to help farmers maximize yield, reduce costs, lower emissions, and make data-driven decisions that weren’t possible a generation ago!! 🍎 🍇 🍐 🥝 From real-time tracking of tree health to optimizing harvest timing, Vivid turns farming into a precise science – helping farmers make informed decisions that improve profitability and boost efficiency. It’s awesome to see Canadian agtech driving such significant economic impact. Proud to support Jenny Lemieux and Jonathan Binas in shaping a more productive and sustainable future for farming! 🌱🚀 https://lnkd.in/e4i2NgMW #AI #agriculture #startups #venturecapital

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If you are a #Canadian #startup frustrated by the lack of #investment opportunities and wondering if #SiliconValley is worth the trip ... I wanted to share a few notable comments from #startups that recently participated in our CELS - Canadian Entrepreneurs in Life Science Showcase. To the companies that participated, I won't drop the F bomb and risk being banned from LinkedIn 😆 but feel free to chime in and share, in your own words, why you think your peers need to take a leap ✈️ and visit #SiliconValley. It's really close to 🇨🇦 but in so many ways, a 🌏 apart. ✍️ "A lot of the people we met with will be relevant in the future. CELS made the introduction. We now have to build the relationship." 💰 "Everyone we met with had a friend or a contact that is relevant to us, even if they were not in our space, so basically everyone we met with was relevant!!" 🚀 "The biggest take away was the different mentality. Risk taking is seen positively here! Innovation is seen as a value driver. Investors want to see the BIG idea!" 🎙 "The Showcase format allowed us to have meaningful conversations. There was lots of time for real networking. Everyone asked, 'what is your ask?'. That was so refreshing!" ⏰ "It's just more sophisticated here. Time to market is faster in the US. We didn't have to spend our time explaining the tech and it felt like conversations got progressively better". So the next opportunity to leverage Connection Silicon Valley to build your network here is May 14th to 16th - open to #FemaleFounders. Don't let fear stop you. If you are looking for global capital, #SiliconValley is where you need to be to build the right connections. Register here - https://bit.ly/48SDuzF Or DM me to chat!

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Are you a B2B software startup founder at the very start? Then you have to meet this early-stage investor! This week's findfunding.vc spotlight is on Dominic Lau from Ripple Ventures. He: 🇨🇦 Is Vancouver and Toronto based 🎣 Loves to fish 🎶 Founded the RippleX Fellowship - a platform to help underrepresented founders access mentorship, intros, and the tools to get from idea to revenue to funding Amongst founders, Dominic and his team at Ripple Ventures, including Matt Cohen, are known for being hands-on partners who open valuable networks, navigate challenges together, and assist in closing crucial revenue and funding deals. Make sure to: ✉️ Pitch him at dom@rippleventures.com 👀 Look into the RippleX Fellowship - they take 10 companies 2x a year through the Founder Fellowship program and also back companies through the Fellow Fund For more, check out our funder spotlight card below along with Ripple Ventures' profile on findfunding.vc (link in comments).

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🎙️ Assembling Your Dream Team: Building the Foundation for Startup Success 🚀 In this episode of Rocket Fuel, we explore a critical challenge for founders: hiring and retaining top talent. Michael Thibodeau sits down with Farial K, founder and CEO of HRXconnect, to unpack strategies for assembling your dream team and ensuring your early hires set your startup up for success. Farial brings over 10 years of expertise to share practical insights on: • Defining roles and creating alignment in your founding team. 🧩 • Hiring strategies for early-stage startups: specialists vs. generalists. 💼 • Attracting and retaining talent without competing on compensation alone. 🔑 • Avoiding common pitfalls in hiring, onboarding, and scaling your team. 🚀 Whether you’re hiring your first employee or scaling to 15+ people, this episode will give you the tools to build a resilient team while navigating the unique challenges of startup life. 🎧 Check out the full episode for actionable tips on turning your vision into reality. Links below! 👇 YOUTUBE: https://lnkd.in/gARiHR_E SPOTIFY: https://buff.ly/3WasDMW APPLE MUSIC: https://buff.ly/3WasDfU OTHER PLATFORMS: https://buff.ly/3WasCZo Let us know in the comments: What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned about hiring for your startup? 🤔 #RocketFuel #StartupLife #Hiring #Leadership #DreamTeam

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Spent a wonderful week in Canada with family! Now back to business.. Here's your weekly AI update: 🔙 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬: 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐈 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤 Week 51 | August 5 - August 11 The OpenAI Brain Drain Industry: 🚨OpenAI co-founder John Schulman leaves for Anthropic; President Greg Brockman is taking extended leave through the end of year. What's interesting is that three of their most technical co-founders (Ilya Sutskever, John Schulman, Andrej Karpathy) have all left the company now. This then begs the question - is this a result of natural silicon-valley attrition, or is there something deeper going on here? And moreover, how will this impact the technical moat that OpenAI has built over the years? (https://lnkd.in/gztRKhwV) 🚨Google announced that new Gemini AI-powered features will be incorporated in a variety of home devices, such as Google Home and Nest (https://lnkd.in/gV2QacAQ?). It also announced a significant reduction in token cost of Gemini 1.5 Flash (https://lnkd.in/gbNe6yNU?) 🚨Figure releases Figure 02, it's newest humanoid robot. Figure has been actively testing robots with BMW at a manufacturing plant. Figure last raised $675M Series B in February 2024, valuing the company at $2.6 billion. (https://lnkd.in/gZnPSke4) 🚨Mark Zuckerberg said on Meta's Q2 earning call that to train Llama 4, the company will need 10x more compute than what was needed to train Llama 3. (https://lnkd.in/g5pEPrTw?) 🚨Elon Musk filed a lawsuit against Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, renewing claims that the company is betraying its founding aims of benefiting the public good rather than pursuing profits. (https://lnkd.in/gAk5grU6) Financing and M&A: 🚨Groq raises $640m in Series D at a $2.8B valuation. The round was led by Blackrock Private Equity Partners with participation from other investors such as Neuberger Berman, Type One Ventures, Cisco, KDDI, and Samsung Catalyst Fund. (https://lnkd.in/gRtKQKvW?) 🚨Hugging Face acquires Seattle data storage startup Xethub. The HF team plans to integrate Xethub's backend storage technology, enabling developers to host more large models and datasets than currently possible. CEO Clem Delangue 🤗 confirmed this was the largest acquisition the company has made thus far. (https://lnkd.in/g8fJ-BjT) 🚨OpenAI is leading a $60m Series B funding round for Opal Camera, a maker of professional-grade webcams(https://lnkd.in/gMT9dkTG) 🚨ProRata.ai a company that has invented an attribution technology to properly compensate content owners, has raised a $25m Series A, led by Prime Movers Lab, Mayfield Fund and Revolution Ventures. (https://lnkd.in/gumjbWmj) R&D: 🚨Alibaba Group releases Qwen2-math, a SOTA model for math-specific tasks. (https://lnkd.in/g8Jh3M7T?) Other Interesting Resources: 🚨 Between May and August, more Humane AI Pins were returned than purchased (https://lnkd.in/gy56qpKm?). 😯

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Freeline and Swan to Spur new AAV Development... I couldn't resist. Syncona announced they are combining Freeline and Swan Bio to create Spur Therapeutics to advance the most viable components of the latter two companies' pipelines. That pipeline will be headlined by Freeline's Gaucher program (on the cusp of starting Ph3), and Swan's candidate in adrenomyeloneuropathy. Syncona previously took Freeline private to create new optionality for the company. This was after AAV headwinds had battered the stock and other candidates reached approval first in their prior lead therapies (hemophilia). This shows there's still interest in AAV and its proven delivery capability to diverse tissues and cells. But there is continuing culling in the industry's pipeline. Want to take a look at that pipeline? or think about how it impacts your own prioritization? Reach out and we can discuss! #venturecapital #genetherapy #pharma https://lnkd.in/g8-ZKp4C

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Dilution is not neutral and shouldn't be viewed as such. It's either positive or negative, good or bad. In the world of VC-backed companies, dilution is such a normalized part of the journey that it is often passively accepted. This often leads to the negative form of dilution such as capital raised for: → inefficient sales and marketing spend → R&D supporting technology searching for a market → layers of unnecessary organizational overhead → supporting broken business models → vanity valuations → etc... However, dilution has a positive and accretive expression as well such as capital raised for: → scaling efficient go-to-market efforts → product and channel expansion with clear ROI → deleveraging and strengthening the balance sheet → accelerating market share gains for a sound business model → transformative investments (e.g. M&A, R&D, capex) → etc... Therefore, dilution should neither be passively accepted nor should it be categorically prohibited. It shouldn't be viewed as always positive or always negative because it can be either. The purpose and quality of the use of capital is what ultimately defines the merit of any dilution. For this reason, capital allocation is one of the most essential responsibilities and capabilities of a CEO. Effective capital allocation leads to dilution being positive. Ineffective capital allocation leads to dilution being negative. It's usually that linear.

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Congratulations to GrayMatter Robotics on their successful Series B! Ever since their Seed raise in 2021, we at B Capital have been convinced of the power of their AI solutions to solve big challenges in the manufacturing sector.   Global manufacturing is facing serious labor shortages—a US Chamber of Commerce report from earlier this year estimated 30% of jobs in the sector are currently unfilled, and that number is expected to grow.   The dominant automation solutions still rely heavily on human programmers and operators, which leads to slower production times, higher costs, more material waste, and less precision in the final product.   We're always looking for founders who have smart, scalable ideas that disrupt the status quo in critical industries, and that’s exactly what we found in Ariyan Kabir.   See GrayMatter's AI-powered Robotics-As-A-Service solutions in action: Gabe Greenbaum Anuj Varma

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In this clip from Founders Only Podcast Season 4: Episode 1, Alex Duta, Founder of Albiware Inc., discusses the common temptation for founders to try to meet everyone's needs at once. Alex recommends focusing on one product and one channel to achieve the best growth. By mastering simplicity and concentration, you pave the way for sustainable success. Watch the full episode on YouTube or tune in on Spotify, Apple, and Amazon Podcasts. Click the link in our comments! #entrepreneurship #b2b #saas #digitalmarketing #podcast #podcastshow #podcasting #marketing #businessowner

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Another great #investcanada2024 conference last week. Congrats Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (CVCA) again and fantastic collaboration with Réseau Capital for curating + delivering such an important ecosystem event that brings together the who’s who in Canadian investing. It’s an interesting macro environment for both founders and emerging VC funds in 2024. The bar for fundraising is higher and the process is more difficult, but it’s an amazing time to build and fund startups. Over the years I’ve been asked what’s made me a successful investor given the number of exits & investor returns delivered. Beyond it being a full-time obsession for decades, one needs to constantly find ways to evolve to founder needs and deliver differentiated value. Earning the right to back and support the best founders is what delivers outsized investor returns. This is easy to say for many investors, but often many fall flat on the everyday execution for different controllable reasons. Reputations are built & lost fast in a more challenging market. Highline Beta's pre-seed VC & venture studio model continues to not only innovate, but also win predominantly because our core investment value is to always “earn the right on the cap table” with the founders that we support. It’s a complete team effort and after 8 years of building out Highline Beta’s foundation let’s us now grow via new vertical venture studios + funds. 🚀

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Check out this epic interview.

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Come join the Future of Frontier Technologies AI & blockchain event panel in Santa Monica! ✨ We are hosting an event on Friday, May 3rd during @Farcaster's FarCon weekend. Which will bring many blockchain experts & builders to LA! Emerging LA is collaborating with Lightspeed's Faction VC as a co-host, with Partner Timothy K. moderating a panel. The panel will discuss the questions that you are probably wondering about these technologies: • How can AI and blockchain work together? • How will these frontier technologies impact industries today? • What are the real-world use cases that these technologies solve? • What are the current dynamics between innovation and regulation? ​One on hand, AI offers the promise of abundance, democratizing content creation but will open the door to (deep)fakes and mistrust. On the other hand, ​Blockchain offers digital scarcity, authentication, and trust in a world inundated with digital replicas. --- The audience will be filled with founders, technical builders, investors, and industry executives in sectors that are most relevant to these trends: Gaming, media, content, finance, social. The early bird ticket sold out quickly last week and the general admission tickets expire on Wednesday, so don't miss out and grab yours soon! Partners for this event include Sunset Ventures and AI LA as well as others in town: • LA schools & clubs: Wharton Club of Southern California, Wharton Digital Assets Club, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Blockchain , and Blockchain at USC • CPG startups & Brands: Studio TBD, doorsa, Red Bull --- PROMO CODE DISCOUNTS! If you are a student or alum from Penn/Wharton, Harvard, USC, reach out and ask for code!! 😉 See you on Friday! (Link to event in comments) #ai #blockchain #farcon #web3 #LA

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🧬 It's a big year for Cemvita Inc. Gold H2 and Endolith. These companies are enigmas, marshaling the power of microbes to unleash economic and industrial solutions directly with the largest industrial titans and they are all the scientific brainchild of Dr. Tara Karimi, now officially appointed Chief Science and Sustainability Officer of Cemvita Inc. Dr. Tara Karimi will go down in history of one of the most brilliant minds of our time in biology. Just look at what she's created and successfully commercialized: 🛩️ Cemvita Inc.: Industiral microbes that utilize carbon waste including CO2 to produce economic sustainable feedstocks for palm oil to Sustainable Aviation Fuel. 🫧 Gold H2: Microbes that produce the cheapest form of clean hydrogen on planet Earth from abandoned oil wells. ⛏️ Endolith: Unleashing Olympic caliber microbes to increase recovery rates in copper and lithium while minimizing environmental impact, making mining more sustainable and effective. We've always known of Dr. Tara Karimi's brilliance. And now the world will too. Check out this feature from World Economic Forum. cc Moji Karimi Prabhdeep S. Sekhon Liz Dennett, PhD Kerem Ozmen Wes Mendenhall Filip Vurdelja Haluk Sabanci Dincer Grant Brown Ishan Meswani Garuth A. Andrew Irwin Shilpa Patel

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As a founder, have you ever been curious about this whole angel investing thing? This week's findfunding.vc spotlight is on an investor who's an expert in it you simply have to know: Matt Wilson, MBA from Allied Venture Partners. He: 🇨🇦 Is Calgary based 😇 Manages one of Canada's largest angle investor syndicates (now at 1,800+ members!) 🏒 Worked as a professional ice hockey referee, which he says shares remarkable similarities with investing Amongst founders, Matt Wilson, is known for bringing empathy and perspective as a former founder himself. Aside from financial support, his goal is to be the 'right' investor - one that aligns with a founder's vision, shares his network, and provides strategic insights when asked. ✉️ Make sure to pitch him, invest, scout, advise and more at https://linktr.ee/alliedvc For more, check out our funder spotlight card below along with Allied Venture Partners' profile on findfunding.vc (link in comments).

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Despite a growing and robust Canadian tech ecosystem, the country has minted fewer than 30 unicorns in the past decade compared to the US's 700. Should Canadian VCs look to invest internationally? If so, what's the optimal approach to accessing global opportunities, navigating financial and cultural differences, and providing meaningful value? Alternatively, should they focus on strengthening the Canadian tech ecosystem? Is the lack of unicorns primarily a cultural, structural, or financial issue, or a combination? Can VCs play a role in addressing these challenges? Happy to participate in the Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (CVCA) webinar with Mana Hosseini, JD/MBA and Kim Furlong addressing these topics. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Registration link in the comments #venturecapital #startups #investing #canada

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