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Scoops, Features & Investigations

Recent Scoops & Exclusives

At WSJ, The Logic & Bloomberg

The Logic •

Exclusive: RBC laid off about 30 executives, plans more restructuring, sources say - The Logic

Royal Bank of Canada has laid off around 30 senior executives since September as part of an ongoing restructuring following its acquisition of HSBC Canada, The Logic has learned. 
Canada’s largest bank also plans to lay off lower-level employees as part of the reorganization in early 2025, two people familiar with the matter said. 
RBC made the executive layoffs in separate rounds, starting with executive vice presidents and senior vice president...
The Wall Street Journal •

Exclusive: Thrift App Vinted Has an Eye on America’s Secondhand Clothes - WSJ

Europe’s largest online secondhand retailer has been trying to pierce the U.S. for years. Now its CEO thinks it finally can.

Vinted has grown into a household name in Europe, and Chief Executive Thomas Plantenga said his startup over the next few months will pour tens of millions of dollars into expanding in the U.S., with plans to boost its sales channels and brand presence while optimizing its platform for a bigger American clientele.
Bloomberg.com •

Exclusive: AI Startup Cohere Valued at $5.5 Billion in New Funding Round - Bloomberg

Artificial intelligence startup Cohere Inc. is now one of the world’s most valuable artificial intelligence companies, and one of the largest startups in Canada — but unlike some of its Silicon Valley competitors, it’s not particularly flashy.In a new funding round, Cohere was valued at $5.5 billion, vaulting it to the upper echelons of global startups. It landed there without a consumer app that writes poems, draws pictures or helps with homework.

Artificial intelligence startup Cohere Inc. is...
The Logic •

Exclusive: Shopify lays off team supporting Black, Indigenous and women entrepreneurs - The Logic

TORONTO — Shopify has laid off the team responsible for its social impact initiatives, including programs to support Black, Indigenous and women entrepreneurs, sources have told The Logic.
The layoffs, which took place in January, coincided with Shopify shutting down its Build Native, Build Black and social impact programs. Around a dozen people worked on the team, two sources said. The sources asked not to be named as they were not authorized to speak to the press....
The Wall Street Journal •

Exclusive: Magnum Ice Cream CEO Backs RFK Jr.’s ‘Healthy America’ Push - WSJ

The Magnum Ice Cream Company’s new chief executive said he is aligned with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again movement, endorsing the top U.S. health official’s push for higher-quality foods despite selling high-calorie products.

President Trump’s secretary of health has been a vocal critic of foods that are utra-processed—which much of ice cream is—labeling them as a key driver of the obesity epidemic. Kennedy said that corporate interests in the past had swayed the U.S. govern...
The Wall Street Journal •

Ben & Jerry’s Board Changes Are Causing Upheaval, Co-founder Says

One of Ben & Jerry’s co-founders said the ice-cream maker’s move to shake up the brand’s independent board is an effort by Ben & Jerry’s chief executive to seize control from the chair, and part of a wider upheaval among employees.

Ben Cohen, after whom the brand was named, said the way the business carries out its social mission is under threat. Part of his concern stems from a change in how Ben & Jerry’s chief executive and its parent company, Magnum Ice Cream, treat the board.
The Logic •

Exclusive: SRTX has a deal to raise roughly US$40M as it scrambles to stave off insolvency - The Logic

Montreal textiles manufacturing company SRTX has raised roughly US$40 million from key investors in a deal that would see founder Katherine Homuth step down as CEO, The Logic has learned, as the company works to stave off an insolvency that some expect could otherwise come as soon as next month.
The company, which makes Sheertex rip-resistant tights out of materials used in bulletproof vests, has signed a term sheet for a fundraising round that would see it receive...
The Logic •

Exclusive: Humanoid robot startup Sanctuary AI is trying to raise more money - The Logic

Vancouver-based startup Sanctuary AI is raising more money as it tries to develop humanoid robots powered by artificial intelligence, The Logic has learned.
In a Jan. 10 email to investors, chief financial officer Philip Smith wrote that the company was “undertaking a US$10 million convertible note offering in order to finance the company for fiscal 2025.” Sanctuary had found takers for 50 per cent of the offering, according to the email, and was asking existing sha...
The Logic •

Exclusive: Sanctuary AI is selling its stake in Apptronik as it tries to raise US$175M - The Logic

Sanctuary AI is targeting US$175 million in new capital by selling its majority stake in a hardware supplier and securing two prominent U.S. venture capital firms as co-lead investors in a new fundraising round, The Logic has learned.
The Vancouver-based startup has found buyers for its US$125-million stake in Apptronik, according to an April 1 email Sanctuary’s chief executive James Wells sent to shareholders, a copy of which The Logic obtained.
In 2022, Sanctuary...
The Logic •

Exclusive: Sanctuary AI’s board pushed out CEO Geordie Rose - The Logic

Vancouver robotics startup Sanctuary AI’s board of directors forced co-founder Geordie Rose out as CEO earlier this month, The Logic has learned, setting off a string of personnel changes at the company. 
In an email obtained by The Logic, chief financial officer Philip Smith told investors that Sanctuary’s board decided to remove Rose as CEO and “separate him from the company.” The board has formed a search committee and is now working with a global search firm to...

Features & Analysis

Longer form work.

The Logic •

Why Microsoft is still bullish on Canada - The Logic

Tucked behind Web Summit’s main stage at the Vancouver Convention Centre was a room lined with rows of sand-coloured interview pods resembling horse stalls. Inside one sat Microsoft president and vice-chair Brad Smith. In an interview with The Logic before his keynote, Smith offered a sleek vision of the future of AI that formed a stark contrast with the rustic backdrop.
Though Microsoft has walked away from some data centre leases globally, it’s continued to priori...
The Logic •

A trade war would destroy the Big Mac - The Logic

The Big Mac might be an American icon, but it wouldn’t exist without Canadian potash. 
More than 500 million of these hamburgers are sold in the U.S. each year, requiring huge quantities of wheat, corn, soy and other crops to feed the machine. Some of these ingredients make the Big Mac’s bun, while others feed the cattle that become the beef patties. And almost none of this would exist without Canadian potash fertilizers.
America’s potash dependency runs much deeper...
The Logic •

Former Sanctuary AI CEO Geordie Rose is taking a walk, literally - The Logic

Geordie Rose knew he could keep going. It was his mind that gave out.
It was May 2017. Rose, a serial tech entrepreneur, was halfway through his second marathon, clocking record splits. He was on track to smash his personal record. Then, he stopped.
“I just had this feeling, like—I can’t do this,” Rose says. He mostly walked the rest of the race, stumbled to the finish line, collapsed in the middle of the road, swore he’d never do it again, and wept. “All these emotions just poured out...
The Logic •

The climate crisis is getting costly for Canada’s ski resorts - The Logic

Skiers at Kelly Sinclair’s cross-country resort, Highlands Nordic, used to rely on natural snow to cover 30 kilometres of tree-speckled trails. Now they’re skiing in circles.
“We kind of feel like hamsters on a wheel, sometimes going around an 800 metre loop,” Sinclair said. But it’s all the resort can afford to make snow for, the 35-year old resort manager added
Warmer winters have reduced the number of days the resort in Duntroon, Ont.—15 minutes from the province’s largest ski town in Colling...
The Logic •

The dark comedy of Toronto’s sky-high housing prices - The Logic

Home seller June places sharp, oversized metallic bugs around her gold-embellished Toronto residence. Her late father’s shiny and bizarre insect artwork was created to reflect the ugliness within—and does exactly that for onstage characters brawling over her house in a new Toronto play.
Playwright Michael Ross Albert’s The Bidding War, which premiered at Toronto’s Crow’s Theatre earlier this week, serves as a commentary on the competitive reality of the city’s sky-high real estate market. Tensio...
The Logic •

Mild winters are melting the rental property market in Canada’s ski towns - The Logic

The snow-capped hills of Collingwood, Ont., were an ideal training ground for elite skier Natalie Knowles. She grew up five minutes from the slopes, and recalls a well-maintained ski experience that bred her love for the sport. 
Now, when the former Team Canada skier returns to visit her parents, the conditions there aren’t quite the same. Grass pokes through thin layers of snow, and spots of mud cake the slopes. 
“They are pretty desperate to keep the hills up,” Kn...
Bloomberg.com •

Bloomberg: Condo ‘Catch-22’ Ensnares Toronto Real Estate Investors

Shemeer Ahmad is stuck with a condominium investment located near Toronto that’s losing hundreds of dollars every month.The entrepreneur purchased a two-bedroom apartment in 2019, as rents were rising and real estate seemed like a safe bet. Now, he’s losing around C$830 ($604) every month as high mortgage rates and other costs suck up more than what he receives in rent. He could sell — but he’s worried he would lose tens of thousands of dollars on it.

Shemeer Ahmad is stuck with a condominium i...
Bloomberg.com •

Bloomberg: Record Maple Syrup Harvest Not Enough as Quebec Eyes Bigger Bounty

A record maple syrup harvest just isn’t enough for the world’s top producing region. Quebec — the source of 72% of the world’s maple syrup — is ramping up output to not only quench global appetites for the pancake topper, but also to replenish depleted stockpiles that are set aside to protect Canadian farmers against bad harvests in a volatile industry.

A record maple syrup harvest just isn’t enough for the world’s top producing region.

Quebec — the source of 72% of the world’s maple syrup — i...
Bloomberg.com •

Bloomberg: Homebuyer FOMO Starts to Pump Up Canada’s Real Estate Market

Canada’s interest-rate cut — the first among Group of Seven economies — has jump-started the country’s housing market.Buyers and sellers are striking more deals, pushing the benchmark price for a home up in June for the first time in 11 months. Sales rose for the first time since January.

Canada’s interest-rate cut — the first among Group of Seven economies — has jump-started the country’s housing market.

Buyers and sellers are striking more deals, pushing the benchmark price for a home up in...

Long-term Investigations

The Logic •

The untold story of how Shopify killed DEI - The Logic

It started when protestors marching against police brutality toppled a statue of Sir John A. Macdonald in downtown Montreal. It was the fall of 2020 and Shopify employees were watching four of their colleagues debate the legacy of one of Canada’s most important and controversial political figures.
The virtual town hall had been called because Kaz Nejatian, a recently arrived, fast-rising executive, had publicly pledged to put up $50,000 to restore the monument, sparking internal disqui...

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