The Saskatoon-based firm, which sells software for small businesses, plans to use the money to expand to 650 employees from its current staff of 285. (The Globe and Mail)

Talking point: With this deal, tech companies in Saskatchewan have secured more VC funding in 2019 than in the past four years combined. In 2018, the province introduced a 45 per cent tax credit for angel investors and opened its first tech incubator as part of an effort to stimulate its innovation economy. Saskatchewan’s tech sector is dwarfed by its energy, mining and agriculture industries, which together account for 42 per cent of the province’s GDP, compared to the tech sector’s two per cent. Saskatoon, in particular, has historically lagged far behind Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver in both attracting VC money and in tech as a percentage of GDP. Several Vendasta employees said that Saskatoon’s short commute times and low cost of living relative to other major Canadian cities are part of the draw.  Other recent tech success stories out of Saskatchewan include SkipTheDishes, an online food-delivery service that works with 16,000 restaurants across Canada, and Solido Design Automation, which had just over 70 employees before being sold to Siemens in 2017.