🏙️ Well, that was a week

The calendar gods have smiled upon us, and I for one am very excited to welcome back-to-back long weekends — especially given how much has happened in Vancouver tech this week.

First, the City of Vancouver decided to fold the Vancouver Economic Commission, which has been supporting economic growth in the region since 1995. Next, there was a major announcement from Crown agency Innovate BC about its newly launched portal for intelligence on startups, scaleups, investors, entrepreneurial resources, and investment capital flow within the province. Finally, two major summits will be taking place in Vancouver next week to help grow investment and development in the city.

Oh, and remember — this long weekend is in honour of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. It’s an important opportunity to reflect on your privilege (if you’re a settler like me), and learn more about Indigenous culture. Don’t miss our trio of stories from the Vancouver Tech Journal archives to commemorate the day.

Now onto today’s briefing. It’s 1,279 words: a four-minute read.

-Kate, @KateWilsonSays

Vancouver Economic Commission shuttered by City officials

The closure came as a shock to many of the non-profit's staff and many commentators in the city.

Confessions of a serial entrepreneur: Nicky Senyard

Learn from the founder of Fintel Connect — who’s already on her third venture — about how to build strong teams, scale ventures, and put your passions first. Members-only content.

Frontier Collective to run two summits to help spur investment and opportunity in Vancouver

The Placemaking Summit will explore how an innovation hub could benefit the community, and the Frontier Summit aims to encourage financing for bleeding-edge technologies in the city.

Indigenous insights

A trio of stories from the Vancouver Tech Journal archives to commemorate the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Funding from Innovate BC

Plus, more fallout from the VEC shuttering, and a new partnership for Portable Electric. Read our top briefing from this week. Members-only content.

🤝 Funding and deals

• Pender Ventures, a local venture capital organization, announced that Co-operators made a strategic investment into its second fund, Pender Technology Inflection Fund II.

• Fuse, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on the Pacific Northwest, unveiled its oversubscribed $250M sophomore fund.

• 7Gen, which electrifies medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicle fleets, has partnered with Fresh Prep for cleaner deliveries.

• Port Coquitlam’s WTC Group announced a partnership with Petro-Canada Fuels and Coastal Mountain Fuels to completely switch to 100 percent renewable diesel in all of WTC’s truck, forklift, and shunter fleets.

• Ascendum Machinery partnered with Portable Electric to drive the rapid adoption of Portable’s electric construction equipment.

• For all the local funding news, become a Vancouver Tech Journal member »

🗞️ In other news

• Rogers announced it is investing in wildfire detection and prevention technology by using its national network and technology partnerships to help combat climate change-related events in communities across the country.

• Josh Nilson, known as the co-founder and GM of East Side Games among other accolades, has “mutually parted ways” with the company.

• A Vancouver Sun op-ed unpacks the recent shuttering of the Vancouver Economic Commission.

• A trio of Vancouver-based companies made the LinkedIn Top Startups 2023 roster.

• A North Vancouver man and his corporation agreed to 10-year suspension from market activities and to pay $200,000 to the B.C. Securities Commission for abusing capital markets and insider trading.

• Richmond-based food manufacturing software Icicle ERP won another AgTech Breakthrough award, this time for Overall Post Harvest Company of the Year.

• For all local news and our daily coverage, become a Vancouver Tech Journal member »

💼 Take your career to the next level

• There are hundreds of Vancouver tech businesses searching for talent, including Airble, Montra, BC Public Service, Ethos, Ari, and SunTracker.

• Check out who else is hiring on our Vancouver Tech Job Board »

• Growing your team? Post a job with us »

💡 Ideas and insights

• Simran Kang, CEO and co-founder of MyFO, writing on her company’s blog about her key takeaways from VTJ’s event with Jason Fried: Unpacking wisdom: A glimpse into Jason Fried's business mind.

• Jonathan Becker, founder and president of Thrive Digital and general partner at Occasional Ventures, was interviewed on the Hard Part podcast about building $3.5 billion in paid customer acquisition ad spend, among other topics.

• Chris Neumann, general partner of Panache Ventures, writing on his personal blog: What cooking can teach you about fundraising

👋 Before you go…

If you’ve made it all the way to the end of this newsletter, you must be really into tech news. Us too! In fact, we love it so much that we’re growing the Tech Journal family. We’re launching a new publication, Canadian Tech Journal, which will uncover and amplify the most compelling tech stories and insights from across the country. Want to be the first to get in on the action? Join the waitlist to subscribe now.