afransen
Senior Member
I think their existing office is up in Meadowvale. So maybe they are expanding near there?
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Toronto Tech Boom
- Thread starter AlvinofDiaspar
- Start date
AlbertC
Superstar
Shopify partners with TikTok to deliver shoppable video ads
October 27, 2020
Shopify (SHOP) is partnering with TikTok to allow its merchants to create video ads. The Canadian e-commerce giant said in a press release the partnership allows merchants to “create and connect their TikTok for Business account and deploy In-Feed shoppable video ads directly within Shopify.”
As of today, the new partnership will roll out features for merchants in the United States, but the release indicated the feature will be available to the rest of North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia in early 2021.
Merchants will be able to select products that they want to feature in short-form videos and video ads “are automatically generated that drive to their Shopify stores for checkout,” the release said.
“TikTok is one of the world’s fastest growing entertainment platforms with over 100 million highly engaged users in the U.S. alone,” Satish Kanwar, vice-president of product at Shopify, said in the release. “The TikTok channel means Shopify merchants—even those without a strong TikTok following of their own yet—can connect with these new audiences using content that feels authentic and genuine to the TikTok experience.”
ca.finance.yahoo.com
October 27, 2020
Shopify (SHOP) is partnering with TikTok to allow its merchants to create video ads. The Canadian e-commerce giant said in a press release the partnership allows merchants to “create and connect their TikTok for Business account and deploy In-Feed shoppable video ads directly within Shopify.”
As of today, the new partnership will roll out features for merchants in the United States, but the release indicated the feature will be available to the rest of North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia in early 2021.
Merchants will be able to select products that they want to feature in short-form videos and video ads “are automatically generated that drive to their Shopify stores for checkout,” the release said.
“TikTok is one of the world’s fastest growing entertainment platforms with over 100 million highly engaged users in the U.S. alone,” Satish Kanwar, vice-president of product at Shopify, said in the release. “The TikTok channel means Shopify merchants—even those without a strong TikTok following of their own yet—can connect with these new audiences using content that feels authentic and genuine to the TikTok experience.”
Shopify partners with TikTok to deliver shoppable video ads
Shopify's partnership with TikTok adds another channel to the platform, core to its growth strategy, an analyst says.
AlbertC
Superstar
Shopify revenue nearly doubles as company benefits from e-commerce wave amid pandemic
Oct 29, 2020
Shopify’s revenue for the quarter nearly doubled to $767.4 million from $390.6 million, while analysts had been expecting $663.1 million. The company’s sales consisted of $245.3 million in subscription revenue mainly due to new merchants joining the platform, as well as $522.1 million in merchant-solution revenue that was largely driven by growth in gross merchandise volume.
Shopify saw $30.9 billion in gross merchandise volume for the period, up 109% from a year prior.
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“The accelerated shift to digital commerce triggered by COVID-19 is continuing, as more consumers shop online and entrepreneurs step up to meet demand,” Chief Executive Harley Finkelstein said in the earnings release.
Shopify noted that in the third quarter, it began rolling out a payment option for select merchants that lets consumers split their payments into installments. This buy-now-pay-later option has helped merchants “boost sales through increased cart size and higher conversion,” Shopify said in its release.
www.marketwatch.com
Oct 29, 2020
Shopify’s revenue for the quarter nearly doubled to $767.4 million from $390.6 million, while analysts had been expecting $663.1 million. The company’s sales consisted of $245.3 million in subscription revenue mainly due to new merchants joining the platform, as well as $522.1 million in merchant-solution revenue that was largely driven by growth in gross merchandise volume.
Shopify saw $30.9 billion in gross merchandise volume for the period, up 109% from a year prior.
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“The accelerated shift to digital commerce triggered by COVID-19 is continuing, as more consumers shop online and entrepreneurs step up to meet demand,” Chief Executive Harley Finkelstein said in the earnings release.
Shopify noted that in the third quarter, it began rolling out a payment option for select merchants that lets consumers split their payments into installments. This buy-now-pay-later option has helped merchants “boost sales through increased cart size and higher conversion,” Shopify said in its release.
Shopify revenue nearly doubles as company benefits from e-commerce wave amid pandemic
Shopify Inc. delivered third-quarter results Thursday that crushed expectations as the company continued to benefit from an e-commerce surge during the...
www.marketwatch.com
TrickyRicky
Senior Member
Of general interest I was thinking about the news of Elon Musk and Oracle decamping California for Texas.
Personally, the pandemic has taught me that a lot of things in business are-the-way-they-are because of inertia. That’s as true of the largest companies as it is for us as individuals.
I think we really are seeing a historic shift where capital and labour are decoupling. Remote work is a trojan horse for much of labour and will accelerate worker obsolescence.
Independent of the regulatory boundaries we impose on it capital will all live in a mailbox in the lowest cost jurisdiction, goods production will all live where energy is cheap, and labour will live where people want to live in a number of global high cost urban and rural jurisdictions.
Personally, the pandemic has taught me that a lot of things in business are-the-way-they-are because of inertia. That’s as true of the largest companies as it is for us as individuals.
I think we really are seeing a historic shift where capital and labour are decoupling. Remote work is a trojan horse for much of labour and will accelerate worker obsolescence.
Independent of the regulatory boundaries we impose on it capital will all live in a mailbox in the lowest cost jurisdiction, goods production will all live where energy is cheap, and labour will live where people want to live in a number of global high cost urban and rural jurisdictions.
AlbertC
Superstar
Shopify to hire 2,021 technical staff this year, names new VP of engineering
January 6, 2021
Shopify to hire 2,021 technical staff this year, names new VP of engineering
OTTAWA — Shopify Inc. plans to double its engineering team this year and has appointed a new vice-president to help it reach that goal.The Ottawa-based e-commerce company says it will hire 2,021 new employees this year to work in technical roles.Shopify says on its website that it is looking for...
afransen
Senior Member
2021? A stunt...
AlbertC
Superstar
Canada’s Wattpad in talks to be sold for more than US$500-million, source says
Jan 5, 2020
Wattpad Corp., a Toronto company that once touted itself as the “next Disney” and built one of Canada’s largest global internet brands, is in talks with multiple parties to potentially sell the enterprise for upward of US$500-million.
A source familiar with Wattpad, led by co-founder Allen Lau, said it invited potential bidders in the fall after receiving an unsolicited takeover offer from a U.S. internet company. The Canadian company is now in active talks with multiple interested parties and could sign a deal as early as this month, though it’s still possible no deal will happen, the source said. The Globe and Mail is not identifying the source because they are not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
A company spokesman said, “We don’t have any news to share,” in response to enquiries about a potential sale.
Wattpad provides an online platform for amateur authors to post their works, which are read by more than 90 million monthly users around the world. Its primary users are typically young women, accessing the app on their smartphones.
The company has made multiple attempts in recent years to generate more revenue off its platform, which is free to use. It uses artificial intelligence to identify which stories are popular and have potential for adaptation into other formats, which it has fuelled grand ambitions to upend the traditional Manhattan publishers and Hollywood producers, who have typically greenlit books and movies based on gut instinct.
Wattpad has argued its data-based approach to identify blockbuster hits based on the response of its online readers could help producers reduce risk in the content creation process. “You can view Wattpad as an intellectual property factory that can generate entertainment properties organically and in large quantity,” Mr. Lau told The Globe last year.
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Canada’s Wattpad in talks to be sold for more than US$500-million, source says
Wattpad provides an online platform for amateur authors to post their works, which are read by more than 90 million monthly users around the world
www.theglobeandmail.com
Johnny Au
Senior Member
Rumble, which is based in Downtown Toronto, is quickly becoming the largest Toronto-based Internet company (for dubious reasons):
slate.com
During the first seven years of its existence, Rumble mainly consisted of cute pet videos.
Yahoo and Microsoft even paid viewers and content creators on Rumble.
Due to Rumble having much laxer content guidelines than YouTube and Vimeo, it ended up attracting the far-right who were banished from YouTube and Vimeo for violating their content guidelines (such as spreading misinformation about COVID-19, vaccines, climate change, and the American election).
Meet Rumble, the YouTube Alternative Where Trump Could Still Win
Conspiracy theorists have found a new platform for their alternative reality.
During the first seven years of its existence, Rumble mainly consisted of cute pet videos.
Yahoo and Microsoft even paid viewers and content creators on Rumble.
Due to Rumble having much laxer content guidelines than YouTube and Vimeo, it ended up attracting the far-right who were banished from YouTube and Vimeo for violating their content guidelines (such as spreading misinformation about COVID-19, vaccines, climate change, and the American election).
AlbertC
Superstar
Wattpad to be sold to South Korean internet giant for US$600 million
Tuesday, January 19, 2021
One of Canada's most prominent technology darlings is being sold to a South Korean internet conglomerate in a US$600-million deal.
Toronto-based online storytelling company Wattpad Corp. said its board of directors unanimously approved a cash and stock transaction Tuesday that will see it acquired by Naver later this year. The company will retain its Canadian headquarters.
"This is the most important day in the history of the company and an incredible milestone," said Allen Lau, one of Wattpad's co-founders, in an interview.
"It is the beginning of a new chapter and using TV show terminology, this is episode one of season two, so I'm absolutely looking forward to this."
Lau and Ivan Yuen, who will continue to lead Wattpad following the sale, started the self-publishing platform after the pair dreamed up the idea on a napkin while waiting for a flight at the Vancouver airport food court in 2006.
Wattpad to be sold to South Korean internet giant for US$600 million
One of Canada's most prominent technology darlings is being sold to a South Korean internet conglomerate in a US$600-million deal.
www.ctvnews.ca
afransen
Senior Member
Another one bites the dust. At least we have one tech proto-titan (though still somewhat fledgling) in Shopify (EV of $140B). Not sure Wattpad rises to status of 'one of most prominent'. I mean, we have several companies that are worth at least an order of magnitude more but are maybe more 'stodgy' areas of technology like Descartes Systems and Open Text.
Johnny Au
Senior Member
Naver owns the Japanese messaging app LINE. It would be interesting to see if Wattpad have LINE integration.Wattpad to be sold to South Korean internet giant for US$600 million
Tuesday, January 19, 2021
One of Canada's most prominent technology darlings is being sold to a South Korean internet conglomerate in a US$600-million deal.
Toronto-based online storytelling company Wattpad Corp. said its board of directors unanimously approved a cash and stock transaction Tuesday that will see it acquired by Naver later this year. The company will retain its Canadian headquarters.
"This is the most important day in the history of the company and an incredible milestone," said Allen Lau, one of Wattpad's co-founders, in an interview.
"It is the beginning of a new chapter and using TV show terminology, this is episode one of season two, so I'm absolutely looking forward to this."
Lau and Ivan Yuen, who will continue to lead Wattpad following the sale, started the self-publishing platform after the pair dreamed up the idea on a napkin while waiting for a flight at the Vancouver airport food court in 2006.
Wattpad to be sold to South Korean internet giant for US$600 million
One of Canada's most prominent technology darlings is being sold to a South Korean internet conglomerate in a US$600-million deal.www.ctvnews.ca
AlbertC
Superstar
Toronto digital textbook publisher Top Hat raises $130-million from Georgian, recruits new CEO
Feb 4, 2021
Toronto online company Tophatmonocle Corp. has hired a new CEO and secured a US$130-million investment from its largest shareholder to pursue its strategy to transform the postsecondary textbook trade into a digital industry.
The company, known as Top Hat, is announcing Thursday that founder Mike Silagadze will cede the chief executive officer job to Joe Rohrlich, previously chief revenue officer with Austin, Tex.-based marketing software company Bazaarvoice Inc.
“We were looking for someone who had a track record” of leading online software companies as they scale up to large enterprises, said Mr. Silagadze, who led the search and handpicked Mr. Rohrlich. Mr. Silagadze, 37, will remain on the board and take an unspecified job within the company. “I’m not done with Top Hat, I am sticking around in a day-to-day role,” he said. “I do plan to contribute as long as Joe will have me.”
In addition, the company said Toronto growth capital firm Georgian has invested US$130-million in Top Hat. Two sources familiar with the deal said about US$50-million would go into the company to fuel its strategy to buy up conventional textbook publishers, while the balance would be used to buy out some shareholders. The Globe and Mail is not identifying the sources as they are not authorized to speak on the matter. The financing values Top Hat at about US$500-million, with Georgian owning close to 50 per cent.
The deal will help Top Hat position itself to be as a leading disruptor in the education sector as publishers shift away from from physical textbooks.
Toronto digital textbook publisher Top Hat raises $130-million from Georgian, recruits new CEO
Founder Mike Silagadze will cede the chief executive officer job to Joe Rohrlich
www.theglobeandmail.com
SunriseChampion
Senior Member
That's great, by the time I finally get my arse back to university, all the text books will be on a screen. 
I have a massively hard time reading text of any serious length on a screen and don't see the success of Top Hat as anything to celebrate.
What's the hell's with the name anyway? These internet companies are suuuuuuper creative and interesting!
I have a massively hard time reading text of any serious length on a screen and don't see the success of Top Hat as anything to celebrate.
What's the hell's with the name anyway? These internet companies are suuuuuuper creative and interesting!
mdu
Active Member
Hey, something I can comment on! I did my organic chemistry course last semester with a TopHat textbook. It was like $120 for my textbook + subscription to their (TopHat) classroom, which would have also covered OChem 2 if I decided to take it this semester, which I did not. Pricing was OK, but I have no idea how much of the money goes to TopHat. Also, it was a mandatory 15% of the weighting on that course, which had 700 enrolled students, so you can imagine that the company has a pretty good cashflow. Their product also seems to cover other parts of the learning experience like assignment submission, "clicker questions", and online tests, but we used other websites for that.
At this point, I feel that I quite prefer the online textbook to paper, but I have no idea how the big publishers are doing with their online software.
Odd British branding aside, it was a pretty decent experience. Unlike downloaded PDFs or paper textbooks, everything from the text to video explanation to homework questions were in the online textbook. The integrated questions were by far the most useful part of the textbook.
Anyway, I can see TopHat being quite successful in the coming years.
At this point, I feel that I quite prefer the online textbook to paper, but I have no idea how the big publishers are doing with their online software.
Odd British branding aside, it was a pretty decent experience. Unlike downloaded PDFs or paper textbooks, everything from the text to video explanation to homework questions were in the online textbook. The integrated questions were by far the most useful part of the textbook.
Anyway, I can see TopHat being quite successful in the coming years.
SunriseChampion
Senior Member
To each their own....I did an online chemistry course from University of Kentucky on Coursera two years ago and couldn't manage staring at the screen that much.
I'm a dinosaur. Rawr.
I'm a dinosaur. Rawr.