🥬 Agritech Closing Soon, Fintech Milestones & Media Features

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🥬 Fieldless closing next week!

There are 8 days left to invest in Fieldless. Be a part of their mission to bring food sovereignty, sustainability and high quality products to Canada. Read more about their investment opportunities and growth roadmap.

Invest in Fieldless | $2.5M Raised | 97% of target

🔔 Alumni updates

🌸 Blossom Social reached 400,000 members! In just one year since hitting 100,000 members, their growth has compounded thanks to hard work, dedication, and a thriving community.

💛 joni Co-Founder and CEO Linda Biggs was interviewed on the More Money Podcast as one of the latest winners of Visa She’s Next Grant Program. Linda shares joni’s mission to revolutionize the period care industry and more.

🚗 HOVR Founder and CEO Harrison Amit was featured on The Best of Moore in the Morning with John Moore. He sat down with former Toronto mayor John Tory to share his journey and vision on the future of ride share.

🤔 What’s on our minds

✊ When Labour Stops: What It Means for Markets, Workers, and the Public

Labour strikes often stem from deeper structural issues within industries. While rooted in workers’ rights, their impacts can be far-reaching. Especially in today’s global economy, where just-in-time services and cross-border supply chains are the norm.

A recent example is the Air Canada flight attendants’ strike that began on August 16, 2025, which was caused by months of negotiations without a resolution. The strike was driven by roughly 9,500 flight attendants who cited growing workloads, stagnant compensation, and cost-of-living pressures as key issues. It disrupted travel for over 130,000 passengers daily and led to thousands of cancellations. A tentative deal was reached on August 19, with flights gradually resuming that evening and full service expected within 7 to 10 days.

⛓️ The Chain Reaction

The immediate effects of strikes are often localized and industry-specific: services halted, production paused, and deliveries missed. But the ripple effects can be much broader:

• Disrupted Supply Chains: A strike at a transport hub can delay shipments, affecting manufacturers, retailers, and exporters.

• Lost Productivity: When employees and customers can't access essential services like flights, transit, or healthcare, the resulting delays often translate into tangible economic losses.

• Investor Uncertainty: Companies caught in prolonged labour disputes frequently face stock volatility and reputational damage, particularly if perceived as unprepared or inflexible.

In the case of Air Canada, financial markets responded swiftly. The airline’s stock declined by nearly 3%, forecasts were suspended, and consumer confidence dipped just as summer travel peaked.

👀 The Outcomes

While labour strikes often bring immediate disruption, history has shown the long-term economic and social benefits for workers and the industries that strikes occur.

🔧 1965 Canadian Postal Strike
This illegal strike by postal workers led directly to the formal recognition of collective bargaining rights for public sector employees in Canada. It paved the way for more structured labour relations and long-term stability in public service employment.

📦 1997 UPS Workers’ Strike (U.S.)
A 15-day strike by 185,000 workers cost the company hundreds of millions—but resulted in significant gains for part-time workers, including increased wages, more full-time positions, and stronger job security. It also drew public support for union-led efforts to protect precarious labour.

📚2022 Ontario CUPE Strike (Education Support Workers)
After a brief walkout and considerable public attention, the strike helped secure wage increases after years of wage caps and led to greater awareness of support workers' roles in education.

💬 Final Thoughts

Labour strikes are often a last resort. But when they happen, they expose tensions in systems that rely on both profit efficiency and human labour. The Air Canada strike is a reminder that in sectors tied to national infrastructure, labour actions can quickly escalate into broader economic issues.

In a world where growth often outpaces protections, strikes remain a costly but powerful reminder that people are still the backbone of every economy.

🎙️ Hear from our latest founder feature

KIIMA: Sustainable skincare for a zero-waste future with Samuel Lemire Dupont, Co-Founder and CEO

Q: What was the spark that led to founding KIIMA?
A: It really began with a conversation between my co-founder Jenny and me. We realized that the deodorant sticks we use for maybe 30 days would sit in a landfill for 300 years. That was shocking and it didn’t align with the way we wanted to live. From there, the idea grew into a mission: to completely rethink daily personal care so it’s just as effective, but never ends up in a landfill.

Q: How did you land your first customers?
A: From the start, we knew collaboration was the way forward. Instead of just focusing on our own refills, we opened our marketplace to other brands. One of the first companies to believe in us was Green Beaver in Ontario. I still remember leaving their office feeling like something had shifted. They not only agreed to work with us, but also shared insights about the industry that gave us a real head start.

Q: Raising capital is always a big part of a startup’s growth story. How has that process been for you so far?
A: To date, we’ve mostly worked with private investors at the pre-seed and seed stages, which made sense for where we were as a company. There aren’t many consumer goods–focused VCs in Canada, and the few that exist typically want companies at $10M+ in sales before they’ll step in. So we’ve been strategic, keeping conversations open for the future while focusing on partners who believe in us now. What’s exciting about this FrontFundr campaign is that it allows us to bring our community into the journey—to let everyday Canadians invest in a homegrown, fast-growing CPG brand before we hit that VC stage. It’s about growth, but also about ownership and belonging.

🎧 Want to listen to the full episode?

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📌 FrontFundr bulletin

FrontFundr’s Founder and CEO Peter-Paul Van Hoeken’s featured in The Future Economy

In recognition of World Entrepreneur day, Peter Paul Van Hoeken explores why entrepreneurship matters for Canada’s future, the barriers holding back our startups, and how we can unlock new growth with democratizing the private market. With insights from a founder’s perspective, it offers a compelling look at what it will take for Canada to lead on the world stage.

Read the full op-ed here