Monark joins Google’s accelerator for women founders

Welcome to this week's Sunday Briefing. In this issue, read about Google’s latest women founders accelerator cohort, plus seven other stories you've probably missed. Have a great day. We'll see you again Wednesday.

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Monark joins Google’s accelerator for women founders

"The antidote to old school, ineffective training." That's the promise of Monark, a startup that's taking a modern approach to leadership training that its founders say "combines evidence-based content, an on-demand platform, and engaging activities and reminders to drive real, lasting behaviour change."

Started by CEO Kelsey Hahn and chief research officer Amanda Julian, the Calgary-based startup was just chosen for the Google for Startups Accelerator: Women Founders Class of 2023.

The Women Founders program was started in 2020 to provide high-quality mentorship opportunities and support for women in the tech startup ecosystem. Since then, the program has supported 36 women-led startups across North America, who have collectively raised USD $73.46 million since graduating from their cohorts.

Monark's leadership platform has four unique elements: on-demand, personalized learning; reminders, nudges and cohort-based team learning; 360 assessment and real-time insights; and a leadership community of practice so leaders can share knowledge and lived experiences with each other.

Monark was selected for Google’s program with 11 North American startups and two other Canadian companies including BorderlessHR and NLPatent.

🗳️ Question of the Week

🤝 Funding, Deals + Partnerships

• Summit Nanotech and Power Minerals announce a binding term sheet for a strategic partnership. Companies commit to produce economic, high-quality lithium via joint asset ownership at the Salar de Incahuasi to strengthen global lithium supply to EV manufacturers. Summit Nanotech

• Calgary enhances city living with smart technology from Axis Communications. The metadata captured helps with flood mitigation, roadway planning, festival operations, skating rink maintenance, and more. Axis Communications

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📰 Need To Know

• Toast was recognized as a top company to watch without any venture capital. Toast is a membership-based women’s collective founded to flip the hiring dynamic in favour of women in tech. FoundersPress

• Validere launches Carbon Hub, transforming environmental compliance and emissions management in Canada. The platform addresses the complexities faced by companies operating in carbon-intensive industries. Validere

• Legaltech scaleup Athennian navigates growing pains with layoffs, leadership changes. In the past 12 months, the Calgary-based startup has made multiple rounds of staff cuts, and seen its co-founder and COO, CTO, and a pair of VPs depart, while recruiting another two to its team. Betakit

• Goodlawyer provides Q2 investor update. The company broke even for the first time and watched revenues exceed expectations for the quarter. Brett Colvin

• Investing in PhD and Master’s tech startups. Alberta’s government is providing $20 million over five years into the new Innovation Catalyst Grant. Government of Alberta

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