In court testimony Monday, Ilya Sutskever said he voted with other OpenAI board members to fire Sam Altman as CEO because of longstanding concerns about his truthfulness and management style. But after Microsoft offered to hire all of OpenAI’s staff, and most threatened to quit, he supported Altman’s reinstatement. “I felt that, had I not done this, the company would be destroyed,” he said. (Reuters, Business Insider)
Instructure, the Utah-based maker of the widely used education management platform that a ransomware group breached at the end of April, said stolen data has been returned and users don’t have to worry about future extortion attempts. The company didn’t acknowledge paying a ransom, but said it “reached an agreement with the unauthorized actor” to protect its customers. (The Logic)
The deal Canada is negotiating with the South American trade bloc, where currently machinery and equipment are hit with tariffs of up to 20 per cent, could help take the sting out of the U.S. trade war, said Kip Eideberg of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers. (The Logic)
The bank said Monday it will be selling its transportation and vendor financing businesses to Stonepeak—including related loan portfolios in Canada and the U.S. tied to trucks, trailers and equipment financing—in a deal involving roughly $14.5 billion in assets. (The Logic)
The additional funding marks the final close of the $180-million round that the Vancouver-based firm announced in January, bringing this financing to a total of $275 million. Photonic said it is now valued at $2.7 billion. Investors joining the round included BDC Capital’s defense-focused StrongNorth Fund; Export Development Canada; Bell’s venture arm; provincial fund InBC Investment; and Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala. (The Logic)
In a LinkedIn post Tuesday, BMO’s North American head of payments and treasury Derek Vernon said Imran Ibrahim, CIBC’s head of fintech and cross-border payments, will join his leadership team in the newly created position. (The Logic)
Asset manager Blackstone and energy services firm Halliburton made the equity investment into the Houston-based firm, and acquired another US$225 million in shares from its existing backers. VoltaGrid also announced it will acquire Propell Energy Technology, headquartered in Granbury, Texas, for an undisclosed sum. (The Logic)
The Montreal-based aerospace training company wants to focus on its core simulation and training capabilities. (The Logic)
The investment firms will back VCs raising their first few funds, and co-invest in startups alongside those emerging managers. Inovia and Northleaf declined to disclose the size of the fund. (The Logic)
The artificial intelligence company is acquiring AI consulting firm Tomoro, and will work with 19 investment firms to deploy engineers within client companies. U.S. asset manager TPG is leading the initiative, with Advent, Bain Capital and Brookfield serving as co-founders. Other participants include Goldman Sachs, Softbank and McKinsey. (The Logic)