From day one, LaBarge Weinstein has always supported our clients and we hope you have come to know that we are committed to providing you consistent, pragmatic and up-to-date information. Our team is here to inform you, guide you and most importantly celebrate you and your successes throughout your business journey.
Our office doors may be physically closed, but our staff are more present than ever. From day-to-day huddles and client consultations to video meetings and online conferences, LaBarge Weinstein pledges to continue to provide our clients the highest level of service, no matter what.
We know there is a lot going on in the headlines right now. There has been uncertainty and there has been loss. To our trusted business partners, colleagues, families and friends, we want you to know that you are valued. While LaBarge Weinstein does not have all the answers for you, we are here for all of you.
We encourage everyone to acknowledge, recognize and speak out against racism. This is an opportunity for all of us to reshape the landscape to ensure inclusion and equality for all. LaBarge Weinstein promises we are here to listen, to learn, to be kind and most importantly to show up for you.
If you are a startup or founder who is just starting out, let us know – we want to help. Starting a business can be an exciting and terrifying time. LaBarge Weinstein was built on helping you remove barriers to get you started on the right track. Contact us today to get started.
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Digital Networking
The event landscape has been changed drastically over the course of the past few months.
Although we miss seeing the faces of our clients, colleagues and partners, we are thrilled to see our communities dedication to providing the same meaningful connections while keeping us safe.
LaBarge Weinstein has been a proud sponsor of SAAS NORTH from inception, and are pleased to continue that support with SAAS NORTH NOW. The first virtual conference to be held September 9-10, 2020.
Tickets are on sale NOW. Learn more by visiting their website here.
We hope to connect with you there!
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Client News
We love getting to celebrate the success and dedication of our clients, and it is no surprise that throughout these past few months, our clients have been hard at work.
Check out these client highlights we've collected:
- Bioelectronic medicine company, Epineuron Technologies, recently announced additional support for its break-through Nerve Regeneration Device after closing a financing round!
- CIIRVE released a new series 'Parenting in a Pandemic: Practical Tips for Guiding (and Surviving) your child's digital education. Learn how they are designing engaging learning experiences for children here.
- Enterprise-grade virtual and in-person community events platform Bevy recently raised $15 million in a Series B funding round after seeing demand explode throughout the past few months! Read more about the raise here.
- Modern-day digital pharmacy solution, Pillway made their debut, available at pillway.com and via Apple and Android apps. Read more about their pharmacy solution here.
- Text recruiting solution Rectxt recently announced a partnership with Greenhouse, allowing texts to be saved in real-time to candidate's Greenhouse profile!
- Great Place to Work released their 2020 list of Best Workplaces for startups, which included many of our clients! Congratulations Ada, CareGuide, CrowdRiff, Opencare and Thinkific!
We are incredibly proud of the achievements that we continue to see from our clients each and every day! Congratulations to all - keep up the amazing work!
Do you have news to share? Email us and your update could appear in a future newsletter.
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Deals & Transactions Report
While our physical offices remain closed to the public, our team is still hard at work to make sure that your deals are getting done.
Here is a sample of publicly-announced deals that we have worked on over the last few months:
Want to see more? Check out the Deal Flow section of our website.
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Featured Article
EssayJack Inc.
These unprecedented times have left many of us in the tech communities at a loss. It is that same technology community that has provided us countless tales of resiliency and left us confident that together we can emerge from this challenge stronger. Today, LW would like to introduce you to our client, EssayJack.
Dr. Lindy Ledohowski and Dr. Rueban Balasubramaniam, co-founders of EssayJack Inc, are no strangers to the power of technology. Their scrappy, bootstrapped startup in the EdTech space was created by award-winning educators and has shown to be an excellent essay software that provides support to everyone’s writing goals. Yet even EssayJack has seen Covid-19 to be both a blessing and a curse.
Join us in celebrating them by reading their most recent success story.
In the first few months of 2020, they had finally reached enough internal milestones - product maturity, refined product-market fit, polished go-to-market strategy, stabilised revenue growth, continued new user acquisition - to begin their first SEED round to invite external investors into the EssayJack adventure to bring their academic writing software to a broader user base and grow at scale.
Then in mid-March all of that came to a screeching halt.
- Their B2B institutional adoption sales conversations (some of them months and years in the works) stopped as schools, colleges, and universities scrambled overnight to move to online learning and were not interested in budget or sales conversations.
- Investment conversations began to slow as funds and investors prioritised existing portfolio clients rather than net-new conversations.
- They opted to provide the EssayJack platform for free for all new users until June 30, 2020 to be able to support this unprecedented move online.
In the short term, their bottom line was seriously impacted.
But that's only part of the story.
Luckily, they’ve always been a remote-first workplace, so they moved to 100% work-from home easily and without any business continuity hiccups.
As well, they have another serious silver lining in all this. While they turned their focus to providing additional resources - videos, blogs, teacher activities etc. - to their existing client base, they also began running surveys and responding to market needs as more and more users turned to online and remote learning, shipping new-and-improved features in real time and prioritizing others.
- Where they typically see stable month-over-month new user growth around 20%, from March onwards they’ve been seeing 50% month-over-month new user growth.
- April 2020 saw nearly 60% new users compared to April 2019.
- They’ve been getting countless testimonials and thank yous from parents and teachers alike for being a trusted source for academic writing during this time.
They’ve also been able to work behind the scenes to bring to market some of the features that they’ve been working on, and now know they have a real market demand for. So, over the summer, when they re-open pay gateways, users will get greater value - including automated feedback and custom courses - as a premium offering.
These changes also mean that they’ve knuckled down to rework financials and get ready for a delayed SEED investment. With a different aim and ask - things look even better now than they did before.
With 9 out of 10 students worldwide in some form of remote learning and universities across the globe looking at online options for the fall semester, suddenly the market that they had to fight for is open to tools just like theirs.
As co-founder Dr. Lindy Ledohowski said in a recent article:
"Before the pandemic, online learning and EdTech tools were seen as something nice to have. Today, they are required. People can no longer be resistant to online education and the newer technologies in the field. They need to familiarise themselves with it because the change is here to stay."
With time and hindsight, Covid-19 may just be a blessing in disguise for EssayJack and for EdTech more broadly.
Want to be featured in our next edition? Contact us today and your update could appear in a future newsletter! |
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Covid-19 Resources Updates
The Government of Canada continues to release ongoing measures in support of Canadian businesses, so we have compiled an updated list of resources that may help you and your business below:
- The government has provided $20.1 million in support for Futurpreneur Canada - allowing payment relief for its clients for up to 12 months.
- $15 million in new funding was provided through the Women Entrepreneurship Strategy (WES), available through existing WES Ecosystem Fund recipient organizations.
- Unsure what support you need for your business? Find Covid-19 support and other programs and services, personalized to your needs by filling out these questions.
- Ontario Government enacts temporary relief to layoff regulations
Have additional questions that you want answered? We would love to help. Reach out to a member of our team today! |
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Taking Care of Business
Adapting and managing work flow during unprecedented times can be stressful on your employees.
So a few weeks ago, we treated our staff to a lovely surprise on their doorsteps.
Thank you Bar From Afar for your creative and delicious treats!
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