Welcome to our weekly Canadian start-up news segment where we bring you the most critical events in the world of Canadian start-ups. We cover all major cities in Canada, mainly Toronto, Montreal & Vancouver and other emerging start-up scenes.

Montreal startup’s high-tech camera to help NASA search for exoplanets

For six years, Montreal based startup Nüvü Cameras has been working on tech that can capture images with almost no light available.

After their work caught the attention of NASA, a partnership was formed that will see their camera aboard the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, in 2025 for their next mission.

This new camera technology will play an integral role in NASA’s future space observatory’s search for planets outside our solar system that possibly could sustain life.

“It’s the Holy Grail of science to figure out if we’re alone in the universe,”

“It’s so exciting to be a part of this big team working on this greater objective.”

said Olivier Daigle, astrophysicist and co-founder of Nüvü.

Daigle, who is originally from Lévis, a small city near Quebec City, studied in Montreal, first at École de technologie supérieure and then at Université de Montréal. As the chief technology officer of Nüvü, Daigle told CBC’s Breakaway that the camera is able to work with very little light — just a few photons, in fact.

“It’s impossible to grasp how little light this represents,”

he said.

The camera will be used to detect exoplanets that previously were found only when they passed in front of a star, briefly blocking out the light with an eclipse.

“The planet is so dim there’s almost no light that comes from it that we can detect,” said Daigle.

The first prototype is complete, Daigle said there is a lot of work still to be done before the launch in 2025.

For further info: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/the-holy-grail-of-science-montreal-startup-s-high-tech-camera-to-help-nasa-search-for-exoplanets-1.5842207

COINBASE TO OPEN CANADIAN OFFICE, LAUNCHES HIRING INITIATIVE

San Francisco-based digital currency exchanges startup Coinbase will open a Canadian office in 2021 and will begin hiring, starting with technical and recruiting roles.

In his most recent blog article, Grant D’Arcy, vice president of talent at Coinbase, stated the company is committed to becoming a “remote-first company,” meaning that new hires in Canada will have the opportunity to work anywhere in their country of hire. Due to the complications with the COVID situation, the location of the office was not announced.

Coinbase’s website has a list of 9 positions for their canada office in 2021.

Founded in 2012 Coinbase facilitates the exchanges of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Tezos, and other cryptocurrencies. 

According to Capital.com, Coinbase has traded more than $320 billion USD in volume and has raised more than $500 million USD in equity financing.

 Coinbase has been described as America’s most valuable crypto company by the New York Times and was valued at $8 billion after their $300 million Series E funding round two years ago.

Coinbase is available in over 100 countries, and offers the ability to convert, buy and sell cryptocurrencies in Canada. Canadians have been able to use Coinbase’s exchange services in Canadian dollars since 2015.

The move by Coinbase to open a Canadian office increases competition in an already crowded marketplace. Canadian FinTech unicorn Wealthsimple launched a cryptocurrency platform in September, providing commission-free trading of Bitcoin and Ethereum under a two-year exemption from the Canadian Securities Administrators 

Toronto-based crypto startup Coinsquare is also racing to be the first regulated marketplace for digital assets

For more information visit: https://betakit.com/coinbase-to-open-canadian-office-launches-hiring-initiative/

Tesla Full Self-Driving Beta Hits Canada ‘Very Soon’ Says Elon Musk

Tesla released its latest software update on Christmas, which brings a variety of new features, including a new ‘Boombox’ function which lets your electric vehicle be used as a mobile speaker.

When asked about when Telsa’s Full Self-Driving  beta would hit Canada, CEO Elon Musk provided an update on Saturday morning.

“There are manydifferences between US & Canada traffic rules, but the Full Self Driving beta test will be extended to Canada very soon.”

Elon Musk, CEO & Founder of Telsa

Musk previously said he hoped the Self Driving beta would “hopefully” land in Canada in December, but now it seems to be delayed until 2021.

Full Self Driving beta is currently only available to a few lucky number of testers in the US, and allows for driving from one destination to another without any interventions.

Tesla owners need to pay extra for the Autopilot add-on, as Full Self-Driving is priced at a whopping $10,600 CAD (it’s $10,000 USD in the U.S.).

You can check out a demo of the most recent beta of FSD in this video.

Recent rumours have said Apple’s autonomous car efforts may start reaching the market around 2025 and apparently, Apple claims they have novel battery technology that could set them appart from the competition.

For more information: https://www.iphoneincanada.ca/tesla/tesla-full-self-driving-beta-hits-canada-very-soon-says-elon-musk/

Stay tuned for round-the-clock updates and up-to-the-minute news from the world of Canadian start-ups