🌱 December Tech Thursday Line-up Announced
Plus... Complex Games gets acquired, Skip & Bold announce new CEOs, and Winnipeg is named in Top 25 up and coming Tech Talent markets.
December’s Tech Thursday Line-up 👨🎨
Month after month, Tech Thursday has continued to grow and set record attendance. November had an incredible line up of speakers, including: Jonathan Bauer from Talentnav, Jessica Jensen, from MLT Aikins LLP, Meghan Watchorn, from VanHack, Brad Madison, Andrew Buck, and Adam Herstein, from Pitblado, and Ryan Carbotte from Ubisoft. Topics ranged from talent acquisition tips for startups, non-legally binding legal advice, and transitioning into the video game industry.
I’m thrilled to announce this months Tech Thursday line:
December 1st, Teaching reading remotely: How Hoot Reading helps solve the literacy crisis. Adam Rehill, CTO of Hoot Reading.
December 8th, A Primer on Extended Reality - Preparing for what's next at StudioLab xR. Jonathan Phú Son Lê, Training Manager at New Media Manitoba.
December 15th, Tech Thursday Holiday Party 💃 Alec Massé from Typha Co., a company turning plants that produce harmful quantities of algae in Lake Winnipeg into sustainable products, will be presenting. Followed by a performance from The Stephanie Westdale Band.
All Tech Thursdays start at 4:30pm, and take place at the King’s Head Pub. Stick around for StartUp TNT’s happy hours after each event.
→ To RSVP and to get more information, visit Economic Development Winnipeg’s Eventbrite here.
Acquisitions & Funding 💸
Complex Games Inc., an independent game development studio, has been acquired by Frontier Developments. This comes after Complex Games launched their critically-acclaimed game Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters under Frontier Foundry earlier this year.
RTDS Technologies Inc., creators of a fully digital real-time power system simulator, was acquired by AMETEK. Along with RTDS, AMETEK also acquired Navitar, Inc, deploying $430 million in capital between the two acquisitions.
Hoot Reading, a one-to-one online tutoring platform, has received a grant from Scotiabank to provide thousands of free reading lessons to newcomer families from refugee backgrounds. Hoot Reading, in partnership with TalentLift, will provide literacy tutoring to 200 children from newcomer families that have recently arrived from refugee circumstances.
Construction Clock, a software that tracks construction labour, won StartUp TNT’s investment summit in Manitoba and were awarded with six figures in funding. Delphi Technology Corp., a virtual aviation campus that provides career training in the aerospace sector, won the side pot of five figures. The runner ups were TheoryMesh, FleetHunt Technologies, and Take Place.
The Innovation Growth Program has named several Winnipeg Tech Companies as recipients, including: QDoc Inc., Delphi Technology Corp, Carbon Lock Technologies, and Eco Lyter.
Partnerships 🤝
Pivot Furniture, a furniture rental company, has partnered with Cios, an apartment leasing platform, to provide renters with affordable high-quality rental furniture.
Launches 🚀
New Media Manitoba has launched StudioLab xR, an extended reality training centre, with $2.03M from Prairies Economic Development and $1.5M from the Government of Manitoba. StudioLab xR will provide extended reality training in areas such as virtual production, motion capture, Unreal Engine and more.
SkipTheDishes launches a physical gift card program for purchases at major retailers, and an e-card 2.0 platform just in time for the holidays.
3Common, an app to schedule your social life with friends, has launched their iOS and Android apps. 3Common will be a part of the Newchip Accelerator Program’s December cohort in Austin, TX.
In the News 📰
SkipTheDishes announces appointment of new CEO Howard Migdal, after the retirement of Kevin Edwards. Migdal, formerly Skip’s COO, seeks to continue to find ways to help restaurants and local businesses thrive in today’s on-demand economy.
Peter Karpas, formerly of Paypal, has been announced as Bold Commerce’s new CEO. Karpas will look to scale Bold’s composable checkout suite and increase its enterprise and mid-market presence.
Winnipeg, MB, was ranked in the top 25 up and coming tech talent markets, according to CBRE’s Scoring Tech Talent 2022 list.
Awards 🥇
Hoot Reading was the recipient of an Award of Excellence for their Primary Education product, Hoot For Schools, by Tech & Learning. The award is based on evaluations by educators using education technology every day.
Bloom + Brilliance, a queer, Indigenous, and interactional web development company, was one of the companies awarded with the 2022 Visionary Indigenous Business Excellence Award.
Carbon Lock Technologies, Typha Co., and Polysense Solutions all made the Top 4 in MEIA’s Green Dragon’s Lair Pitch Competition.
Spontivly, a real-time community engagement analytics tool, won the Tampa Bay Inno Fire Award in the Transplant category.
Upfeat Media Inc., a company that helps publishers integrate advanced analytics into their platforms, was ranked in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 program.
Who’s Hiring 👩🏫
Neo Financial, Senior iOS Developer
Neo Financial, Junior Developers for Paid Mobile Incubator, email: wpg.incubator@neofinancial.com
New Media Manitoba, Director of StudioLab xR
New Media Manitoba, Studio Operations Manager
SkipTheDishes, Senior Java Developer
Tactica Interactive, Business Development Manager
Vidday, Communications Specialist