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TechTO: What is the future of the Canadian tech ecosystem?

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Can Canada own the podium? It seems that every couple of years the Canadian ecosystem worries about our position in the world. Can we beat Silicon Valley? Why are we not producing the winning AI companies? These are the wrong questions to ask. The better ones are what can we do to accelerate the growth of our ecosystem? How can we ensure that our ecosystem benefits all Canadians? How do we ensure that it reflects our values? And most importantly, how do I personally contribute to the growth of the ecosystem?  Wednesday’s TechTO emails try to help you find the answer to the last question by featuring great companies, jobs and examples of career transitions. If you want to share your opinion on whether or not we can be the next Silicon Valley check out this post and share your thoughts. If you know of a great career transition, share the details with me by replying to this email. 
Company of the week: Clearco
 Each week we interview an innovative Canadian company that is hiring.
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Where we’re based: HQ in Toronto, employees in Canada, US, Australia, Europe, UK Where we’re hiring: Globally! We’re looking for folks to join our team in North America, Ireland, Australia, and the UK  The founding team and their storyBuilt by founders, for founders, Clearco was founded in 2015 by Michele Romanow of CBC’s “Dragons’ Den” (Canada’s “Shark Tank”), Andrew D’Souza, Ivan Gritsiniak, Charlie Feng, and Tanay Delima, Clearco is headquartered in Toronto. Clearco co-founders Michele Romanow and Andrew D’Souza deeply understand the pains of building a business. Michele bootstrapped five companies and sits on the other side of the table as a judge on “Dragon’s Den,” Canada’s equivalent of “Shark Tank.”Andrew has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for multiple startups and is an investor and advisor to many others. The idea for Clearco was inspired by their own experiences and struggles in building companies and working with other entrepreneurs. Key facts Hiring in: Engineering, Go To Market (GTM), Finance, Product, People & Ops  Number of Employees: 315 Clearco has invested $2+ billion into 4,500+ companies using data science to identify high-growth funding opportunities in less than 24 hours. This data-driven approach takes the bias out of decision-making and helps Clearco fund 8x more female founders than traditional VCs across 6 countries. Clearco’s portfolio spans small businesses across the United States, Canada, UK, Australia, and the Netherlands to some of the biggest brands today, like unTUCKit, Vanity Planet, Andie Swim, Haus, and Farmgirl Flowers. 30% of Clearco’s portfolio are people of colour. The company has raised $520 million to date and investors include Oak HC/FT, Highland Capital, Emergence, Founder’s Fund, and Inovia. Recently raised a US$100M Series C, bringing Clearco to a near US$2B valuation and Unicorn status 

2021 ambitionsClearco is a suite of performance financing products & services tailor-made to help founders win. A pay-as-you-grow pioneer and the world’s largest ecommerce investor, our mission is to remove the barriers between brilliant ideas, and brilliant businesses. With a recent rebrand from Clearbanc to Clearco, the company shows no signs of slowing down. Clearco aims to continue its expansion plans in Europe, Australia, the UK and North America in order to provide support to entrepreneurs and founders in every corner of the world. Looking to add about 150 amazing new humans to the Clearco family by the end of 2021! Join us: www.clear.co Company CultureClearco’s mission is to empower founders around the world and help them win – this is the same for Clearco helping their teammates win. Clearco has built a positive, inclusive and supportive culture to allow employees to do their best work and be their best selves here. Transparency, responsibility, integrity, and authenticity are the core values at Clearco. The Clearco team consists of diverse people and ideas but all encompass the same values, an entrepreneurial-centric mindset. This way, everyone can come together and focus on one goal. Teams work hand in hand and cross-departmental on innovative projects where everyone can have an impact on Clearco’s goal of being full stack support for founders. Clearco supports employees who have a “side hustle” or are operating their own businesses in their downtime. As a company “By Founders For Founders”, Clearco strives to not only hire founders but cultivate founders during their time working at Clearco. Wherever the next chapter may be, Clearco is a launchpad for their careers.**This is a paid promotion
Great Opportunities
Each week we curate a list of career opportunities at great companies. Opportunities followed by “Insider” have more information on Insider Slack.
Vancouver-based Terramerra is developing sustainable pest control and plant health solutions. They are growing their recruitment & R&D teams.Maestro is looking for a full-stack app developer to build a prototype app to assist businesses with the transition back to full-time and hybrid office work, with an emphasis on enabling collaboration. – Insider onlyHatch Coding helps students learn the basics of coding. They are currently looking for a Growth Marketing Manager.CareGuide is adding a full-stack engineer to take ownership and set technical direction for the team and the company – InsiderUnwrapit is a virtual gifting platform that helps create personalized experiences! They are looking for a Customer Success Specialist.– InsiderStatflow is hiring across their product, marketing & sales teams!  Moves is enabling gig workers to understand their finances and looking to add a full-stack engineer and a growth engineer to their team!Recently acquired Wattpad is growing its Toronto and Halifax Engineering teams! Check out their 20+ roles open.
Insider Profile: Derek Sham
Each week we share the career story of one TechTO Insider
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Derek’s storyDerek spent a decade in the urology diagnostics industry. Starting on the R&D side and moving to a successful PE-backed exit as a GM in 2016.  Starting Cosm MedicalPelvic floor disorders are life-altering. Before Cosm, Derek worked for a decade in urological devices and never really appreciated how devastating these issues can be until it happened to my grandmother. She set the team on a path to creating a microcosm of technology to shift the macrocosm of pelvic health. So Cosm Medical was born. They deliver personalized medicine for women suffering from pelvic floor disorders by reinventing the art of pessary fittings through the science of Gynethotics.  Contact DerekCosm is closing their seed round this year! Be sure to keep an eye on Derek and his team. Request an intro here.
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