Investment

Ottawa's tech companies seeing a sudden burst of investment – Ottawa Citizen

Published

3 years ago

December 14, 2021

Harry Miller

Author of the article:

James Bagnall

Publishing date:

Dec 14, 2021 • 46 minutes ago • 3 minute read • Join the conversation

Doug Carwardine, co-founder and CEO of Rockport Networks jpg

We haven’t seen anything like this since the capital region was the epicentre of a global boom in fibre-optic technology.

With Tuesday morning’s revelation by Kanata-based Rockport Networks that it has secured US$48 million in fresh equity, the region’s tech sector has accumulated nearly US$500 million in venture capital just since October.

Adjusted for inflation, that’s just shy of the US$540 million landed by Ottawa’s tech firms during the blowout fourth quarter of 2000.

No quarter before that or since had come close. Until now.

The contrast between then and now is stunning. Two decades ago, the emphasis was on Internet hardware and wavelengths of light. Now, investments are targeted at e-commerce, software and the many uses to which the latter can be put.

That’s true even of Rockport, whose co-founder Doug Carwardine spent the early part of his career steeped in communications hardware at Newbridge Networks, the legendary Kanata startup that was snapped up by Alcatel for US$7 billion in 2000.

After he helped to launch Rockport in 2012, Carwardine pushed the development of clever software for reducing congestion on communications networks. By making do without hardwired switches, Rockport’s products can move data more quickly, while consuming less energy.

Certainly, these were the attributes that convinced Northern Private Capital of Toronto to lead Tuesday’s investment.

Carwardine and his colleagues are patient builders. So, too, were British immigrants John Roberts and Girvan Patterson, the co-founders of Kanata-based GaN Systems, which last month finalized a US$150 million venture investment. Pioneers in Ottawa’s tech scene, Roberts and Patterson spent a decade developing semiconductors built with gallium nitride rather than the traditional silicon and selling these to automakers and consumer electronics firms, among others. Gallium nitride chips are lighter and consume less energy, making them ideal for many green applications.

By the time Roberts and Patterson retired in 2016, they had sold the technology to more than 500 customers and established the firm as the globe’s number one supplier of gallium nitride chips. GaN Systems continues its expansion under CEO Jim Witham who announced the recent venture financing deal aimed at accelerating the momentum.

The biggest local investment in the fourth quarter to date — US$250 million — was hauled down by Fullscript, which physicians and other wellness practitioners use to personalize nutrition regimes for more than half a million patients.

Fullscript, too, has been many years in the making but has grown at great speed. Co-founders Kyle Braatz and Brad Dyment launched their venture in 2011 and quickly developed an enthusiastic following — helped along by a merger with an Arizona wholesaler of nutritional supplements. The company’s base of practitioners tops 30,000. Revenues this year are expected to reach US$300 million.

Rounding out the venture capital recipients is a pair of relatively young software companies with the missions of making life easier for online corporations. Knak and Fellow.app raised US$25 million and US$24 million respectively in the current quarter.

Knak, run by Pierce Ujjainwalla, has developed products for measuring the effectiveness of corporations’ global marketing campaigns.

Fellow.app, led by Aydin Mirzaee, has developed a software assistant to help managers focus their relations with employees throughout the year, and never lose sight of commitments. His all-important first customer? Local e-commerce giant Shopify.

With any luck, this blowout quarter for venture financing will turn out much differently than the last one.

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Investment

Tesla shares soar more than 14% as Trump win is seen boosting Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company

Published

6 days ago

November 6, 2024

Anne Joseph

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Tesla soared Wednesday as investors bet that the electric vehicle maker and its CEO Elon Musk will benefit from Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Tesla stands to make significant gains under a Trump administration with the threat of diminished subsidies for alternative energy and electric vehicles doing the most harm to smaller competitors. Trump’s plans for extensive tariffs on Chinese imports make it less likely that Chinese EVs will be sold in bulk in the U.S. anytime soon.

“Tesla has the scale and scope that is unmatched,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, in a note to investors. “This dynamic could give Musk and Tesla a clear competitive advantage in a non-EV subsidy environment, coupled by likely higher China tariffs that would continue to push away cheaper Chinese EV players.”

Tesla shares jumped 14.8% Wednesday while shares of rival electric vehicle makers tumbled. Nio, based in Shanghai, fell 5.3%. Shares of electric truck maker Rivian dropped 8.3% and Lucid Group fell 5.3%.

Tesla dominates sales of electric vehicles in the U.S, with 48.9% in market share through the middle of 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Subsidies for clean energy are part of the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. It included tax credits for manufacturing, along with tax credits for consumers of electric vehicles.

Musk was one of Trump’s biggest donors, spending at least $119 million mobilizing Trump’s supporters to back the Republican nominee. He also pledged to give away $1 million a day to voters signing a petition for his political action committee.

In some ways, it has been a rocky year for Tesla, with sales and profit declining through the first half of the year. Profit did rise 17.3% in the third quarter.

The U.S. opened an investigation into the company’s “Full Self-Driving” system after reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian. The investigation covers roughly 2.4 million Teslas from the 2016 through 2024 model years.

And investors sent company shares tumbling last month after Tesla unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi at a Hollywood studio Thursday night, seeing not much progress at Tesla on autonomous vehicles while other companies have been making notable progress.

Tesla began selling the software, which is called “Full Self-Driving,” nine years ago. But there are doubts about its reliability.

The stock is now showing a 16.1% gain for the year after rising the past two days.

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Investment

S&P/TSX composite up more than 100 points, U.S. stock markets mixed

Published

4 weeks ago

October 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 100 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in base metal and utility stocks, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 103.40 points at 24,542.48.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 192.31 points at 42,932.73. The S&P 500 index was up 7.14 points at 5,822.40, while the Nasdaq composite was down 9.03 points at 18,306.56.

The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.44 cents US on Tuesday.

The November crude oil contract was down 71 cents at US$69.87 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down eight cents at US$2.42 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was up US$7.20 at US$2,686.10 an ounce and the December copper contract was up a penny at US$4.35 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

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Economy

S&P/TSX up more than 200 points, U.S. markets also higher

Published

1 month ago

October 11, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 200 points in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets were also headed higher.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 205.86 points at 24,508.12.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 336.62 points at 42,790.74. The S&P 500 index was up 34.19 points at 5,814.24, while the Nasdaq composite was up 60.27 points at 18.342.32.

The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.71 cents US on Thursday.

The November crude oil contract was down 15 cents at US$75.70 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down two cents at US$2.65 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was down US$29.60 at US$2,668.90 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents at US$4.47 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

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