Welcome to the official newsletter of CIBC’s Tech & Innovation Capital Markets Group
A curated monthly report to keep our readers abreast on relevant and recent developments within the Canadian tech ecosystem.
Canadian technology sector performance and valuation
| EV / NTM revenue multiples 1 | LTM sector price performance 1 |
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Source: FactSet and Pitchbook; as at November 30, 2022; in C$ unless otherwise noted.
1 Please refer to the end of the document for technology group constituents.
Canadian Venture Capital market update 2
2 23 deals with no announced value are omitted from deal value.
3 13 deals with no announced value are omitted from deal value.
Noteworthy Canadian deals
T&I @ CIBC
Deal Activity
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Podimetrics – $25 Million Debt Financing CIBC Innovation Banking provided $25 million debt financing for Massachusetts-based Podimetrics Inc. (“Podimetrics”), an integrated clinical care service company that helps prevent amputations in patients suffering from complex diabetes. Podimetrics plans to use the debt financing to expand its commercial operations.
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SupportLogic – Growth Capital CIBC Innovation Banking provided growth capital facility for San Jose-based SupportLogic, Inc. (“SupportLogic”), a support experience (SX) platform designed to proactively improve customer experience and revenue retention. SupportLogic plans to leverage the growth capital facility to continue building new features and products to further assist support teams, management, and executives. |
Announcements
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Outlook for Software M&A and Growth Equity 2.0 Colin Ryan, Managing Director and Head of Technology at CIBC Capital Markets hosted an industry workshop for private equity investors alongside Daniel Lee, Managing Director, Technology and Innovation, who provided an outlook on the software M&A and growth equity markets. Industry panelists included Thomas Krane, Managing Director at Insights Partners and Shubnam Datta, VP Corporate Development & Ventures at Clio with Paul McKinlay, Managing Director at CIBC Innovation Banking moderating. |
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The Hon. Navdeep Bains, Vice-Chair for Global Investment Banking at CIBC Capital Markets was invited as keynote speaker for the annual 2022 Degroote School of Business Insights Lecture at the McMaster University. The Insights Lecture is Degroote’s premier speaking engagement for faculty and students, bringing together renowned speakers from academia and alumni in industry leadership. The keynote address, titled “Doubling Down on Innovation and Skills to Navigate Economic Headwinds” focuses on the influences of human capital, immigration and the Inflation Reduction Act to the Canadian Economy. Read his remarks on CIBC Capital Markets Insights
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AMA with Harley Finkelstein Earlier this month, Harley Finkelstein (President, Shopify) joined tech entrepreneurs for an ask me anything (AMA) session hosted at CIBC Square. It was great to hear Harley’s insights on how Shopify is navigating current economic conditions, flexible working and shifting consumer trends. |
Podcasts
Technology & Innovation in‘sites’ with CIBC Equity Research
T&I ‘Bits & Bytes’
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Calling for Cuts – Activist investors latest target: Alphabet A wave of layoffs has been hitting Silicon Valley in recent weeks, with Meta and Amazon the latest of the big tech names to join the trend. So far, Alphabet has managed to avoid cutting headcount, but a recent letter by activist investor TCI might be the catalyst for change, as TCI called on Alphabet to emulate headcount cuts introduced by its competitors and to normalize workforce salaries to the levels of its peers. In its letter, TCI also referenced conversations with former Google executives who suggest that the company could be operated much more effectively with significantly fewer employees. |
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Trust issues – Taking fake news to another level The technology for computer-generated “deepfakes” has evolved since the term was first coined in 2017, to become much more convincing today. From advertisers using unauthorized, computer-generated, celebrity endorsements to bad actors creating fake videos from political leaders, the possibility for harm is only increasing. Detecting deepfakes has been challenging, with unbiased data sets difficult to develop and cyber-attacks potentially leading deepfakes to be classified as “real”. Technology companies continue to look for solutions, with Intel announcing this week that it has developed a real-time deepfake detector, which analyzes blood flow in video pixels. |
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An instructive case study on ESG integration within tech – How a leading Canadian Investor incorporates ESG This year, ESG-related shareholder proposals increased 37% Y/Y among ~100 of the largest North American tech companies we reviewed. To aid investors as they consider their own approach to ESG, this case study provides insights into how a prominent Canadian investment firm integrates ESG into its investment process. These findings come from our in-depth interview with Jennifer Coulson, BCI’s Senior Managing Director of ESG, and should be a helpful case study for investors as they reflect on their own treatment of ESG factors. |
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U.S. Earnings Recap – Mixed results with outsized share price movements Results from the U.S. tech giants have been slightly positive, with overall revenue coming in 1% above consensus and EBITDA 2.5% above expectations among the names that we track. The focus in the quarter has been on regulatory pressures on Big Tech, the global demand environment, and forward guidance/commentary. Despite a solid Q3 print, some U.S. tech names have started to feel an impact from the uncertain macro environment, with several firms noting a softer advertising market and Microsoft and Amazon also announcing softer cloud revenue than expected. Inflation remains a focus, with many tech companies trimming headcount and focusing on expense management. Similar to Q2, we have seen an outsized market reaction on earnings misses and beats. Both SNAP and Meta were down 30% given Q3 misses and weak forward commentary. By contrast, Netflix was up 12% on better-than expected results. |
Recent technology news
“How Sam Bankman-Fried’s Crypto Empire Collapsed”
After a run on deposits leaving a $8 billion shortfall, Sam Bankman-Fried’s $32 billion crypto-exchange company FTX dove into bankruptcy. The collapse of one of crypto’s biggest empires has shaken the industry and has cast further distrust on the technology. The New York Times investigates the events leading to the collapse and its questionable relationship with the CEO’s other company Alameda Research. FTX is currently the target of investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department.
Read the full article at The New York Times.
“Inside Meta’s oversight board: 2 years of pushing limits”
It has been two years since Meta installed the Oversight Board – an independent body to help quell misinformation and hate speech while still upholding civil freedoms of expression on their social media platforms. While the intent of board is to arbitrate on individual pieces of content, current board members have their sights set on changing Meta’s corporate policies.
Read the full article at Wired.
“There will never be anything like Twitter again”
Although former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo was the first to do so, Elon Musk has repeatedly described the platform as the “global town square”. Shira Ovide of The Washington Post posits that humanity is far too divergent, complex and fractured for any social media platform, let alone Twitter, to serve this purpose.
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CIBC Capital Markets Insights Leverage leading insights and stay abreast of developments in the markets with CIBC Capital Markets Insights. |
Tech & Innovation Key Contacts
Canadian Technology Constituents
High-Growth Canadian SaaS – Ceridian, Copperleaf, Coveo, Descartes, Dialogue, Docebo, Kinaxis, Lightspeed, Magnet Forensics, Q4, Shopify, Thinkific
Large Cap Canadian Tech – Altus, Blackberry, Celestica, CGI, Constellation Software, Converge Technologies, Dye and Durham, Enghouse, Evertz Technologies, Nuvei, OpenText, Sierra Wireless, Softchoice, Well Health
Mid Cap Canadian Tech – Absolute Software, Calian, Computer Modelling Group, D2L, E Inc., Payfare, Real Matters, Sangoma, TECSYS
Small Cap Canadian Tech – Alithya, Baylin Tech, BBTV, Blackline Safety, Farmers Edge, Kneat, Optiva, Pivotree, Quarterhill, Sylogist, Terago, Vecima, Vitalhub, WeCommerce
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