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Veteran entrepreneur Jim Estill’s new venture, ShipperBee, may be his most ambitious
Two years ago, Jim Estill was stuck in traffic en route from Guelph, Ont., to Mississauga. As he idled behind a FedEx truck, he had an aha moment. “I looked at all these cars around me with vacant space and thought, ‘This is crazy!’” he recalled. “We could be reducing congestion and carbon emissions by putting parcels in those cars.” Story
Reserve-based businesses go global as Indigenous entrepreneurs tap into e-commerce
In the Ontario village of Ohsweken, located on Six Nations of the Grand River territory, Dakota and Jesse Brant are creating jewellery for customers around the world. Story
St. Lawrence Market to open on Sundays, angering some vendors
For the first time, Toronto’s historic St. Lawrence Market will be opening on Sundays as part of a year-long pilot project, but some vendors fear the extended hours will leave them with almost no personal time. Story
Softchoice’s shift to provide a broad array of consulting services set it up for growth
When Softchoice Corp. was taken private by Birch Hill Equity Partners in 2013, it was at a crossroads. Its legacy business, as a workplace software reseller, was under a growing threat from cloud computing, which shook up how people used and paid for software. Story
Private is the new public: The problem with tech stars chasing private money as they don’t file IPOs
Mike Silagadze has big plans to upend the global textbook market. His 11-year-old Toronto software firm, Tophatmonocle Corp. (Top Hat), has been growing by 50 per cent a year, signing up professors to offer interactive electronic textbooks, tests and assignments on its platform, while traditional giants of the US$35-billion industry such as Pearson PLC have struggled. Story
Vancouver couple’s online travel venture hits $100-million valuation with private equity financing
A fast-growing Vancouver company that has built a prosperous niche in the global travel market has raised $33-million from a U.S. private equity firm. Story
Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains details priorities for minority mandate
Four years ago, Navdeep Bains’s main priority as a minister in Justin Trudeau’s new majority Liberal government was to develop a long-term innovation agenda. He got to keep his job as innovation, science and industry minister after the October 2019 election, but with the Liberals now in a minority situation, his priorities have shifted to shorter-term political considerations Story
The social case for solar power
John Paul Morgan is the founder and CTO of Morgan Solar, and an evangelist for solar power. While he does want to help stop climate change, his main concern is trying to make the world a fairer place. Listen: I’ll Go First podcast
WHAT WE’RE READING ELSEWHERE
Community shows support for co-working space in east end Toronto after break-in
Residents of Toronto’s east end are rallying behind a local small business that was broken into only days before it was set to reopen with expanded child care. CBC
Kanata’s tech community mourns the loss of Ottawa startup CEO
An Ottawa man who died in Wednesday’s plane crash in Iran is being remembered as a devoted family man and skilled entrepreneur who was a respected presence in the local startup community. CTV
Sarah Efron