Venture firm raises $15 million from tech leaders to support new Canadian businesses

Letters, Oct. 8

Computer scientist Melvin Conway once stated, “Any organization that designs a system (defined broadly) will produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organization’s communication structure.”

Venture firm raises $15 million from tech leaders to support new Canadian businesses

TORONTO - A venture firm backed by a who's who of the tech industry says it's raised $15 million in funding with the aim of building a new generation of Canadian companies.

Simple Ventures says the cash came from a division of TD Bank, insurer Sun Life Financial Inc., grocer Sobeys, Wealthsimple founder Mike Katchen and Shopify Inc. president Harley Finkelstein.

Rounding out the list of backers is Knix founder Joanna Griffiths, serial investors Joe Canavan and Sam Duboc and an unnamed group of Canadian angel investors and family offices.

Simple Ventures hopes the funding will help develop businesses that otherwise wouldn't exist because it will allocate the cash toward entrepreneurs creating new Canadian companies.

Canadian Mennonite University students, staff victims of cyberattack

Canadian Mennonite University fell victim to a cyberattack that compromised the data of current and former students and employees last month.

School officials became aware of the cybersecurity incident, in which an “unknown third party” accessed its information technology systems without authorization, on Sept. 18, university president Cheryl Pauls said in a recent statement.

The university has since confirmed the third party used that access to steal information from its systems.

“We immediately initiated our incident response plan, retained expert assistance, and informed the university community whose workflows were affected as soon as we became aware of the incident,” Pauls said. “We also reported this incident to law enforcement and will be filing a report with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.”

Bombers still control post-season destiny

Jake Ceresna was confident he was putting pen to paper with a Grey Cup contender.

When the star defensive tackle signed with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in free agency back in February, did he foresee any scenario in which they’d be under .500 at this point in the season and in danger of missing the playoffs?

“That’s a good question,” Ceresna admitted after Wednesday’s closed practice.

“Obviously, at the beginning of the year, you think you’re gonna go 18-0. But the reality of life is there’s roller-coasters. There’s going to be hard times, there’s going to be good times. We’re in the valley right now and we just have to come out of it and get back to the peak.”

Alberta’s gopher museum closed until further notice as owners find new facility

A quirky Alberta roadside attraction that has delighted travellers for decades with its stuffed rodents in tiny costumes is closed until further notice. 

The World Famous Gopher Hole Museum, located in Torrington, a hamlet about 120 kilometres north of Calgary, made the announcement online earlier this week.

Laural Kurta, museum director, said she was forced to close the doors because the two historical buildings that house the exhibits need to be replaced. 

"We have done every patch repair, staple, spackle, everything we could possibly do, and it is just at its end," Kurta said in an interview Tuesday.