This isn't your grandfather's Buick. For the past decade, the automotive industry has been undergoing a technological transition. Two financing events yesterday capture the shift.

Rivian goes big: Electric car manufacturer Rivian announced that they raised $2.65 billion dollars to build a SUV and pickup truck.

The firm has been developing their tech for the best part of a decade and they're expected to release their first vehicles this year.

Just Cruisin': Another big trend in auto is self-driving. Cruise—the autonomous division of GM—announced they closed a $2bill round including investors Microsoft, GM and Honda.

Zoom out: As one of the world's top ten auto producing nations, Canada is going to have to keep up as the industry quickly shifts to self-driving, electric vehicles. Last week's announcement by GM was a good start.

The Globe is reporting that a deal has been struck by South Korean internet giant Naver Corp. to acquire Toronto based Wattpad for $600mil USD.

What's Wattpad: The company provides a free platform for amateur writers to publish their work.

Who's Naver: They're the Google of South Korea. Naver is the country's dominant search engine and handles 74% of all South Korean web searches. They also own LINE, the popular messaging app that claims over 700 million users worldwide.

Why the partnership: Wattpad has significant operations in Asia, especially Southeast Asia, where 17 million of the app's 65 million users live.

Bottom line: Known for its diverse team and unique work culture, Wattpad was a truly Canadian success story and—while we congratulate CEO Allen Lau and the team on the exit—we can't help but hope Naver retains the Canadian qualities that make the company so special.

Green is the new green (get it?). Montreal's Desmarais family announced that their holding company, Power Corp., is launching a $100 bil fund to invest in renewable energy.

What is it: The fund, also backed by Great West Life, National Bank and Desjardins, will invest in solar and wind projects around the wold.

Why now: Breakthroughs in green tech and regulatory pressure are driving investment in the space.

Bottom line: Along with Mark Carney's $100bil Brookfield fund and CPPIB's focus on the sector, Canadian capital is starting to take a serious look at green energy—and environmentalists hope that the cash will reduce global dependency on fossil fuels.

Yesterday, Bold Commerce, a Winnipeg-based e-commerce app developer announced they raised $35mil in venture capital.

What is Bold: The startup builds apps on top of popular e-commerce platforms such as Shopify, BigCommerce and WooCommerce.

Over 90,000 retailers use Bold Commerce's products, including Harry Rosen and Staples Canada. Last year, Bold customers did over $1bill USD in gross merchandising volume—ah, that's where all my money went.

What about Shopify: As you can imagine, Bold's business is heavily dependent on Shopify. Bold started with developing apps on Shopify, and it's still the most popular platform among their clients. This leads some analysts to wonder if Bold is on a collision course with Shopify.

Zoom out: Bold's huge Series B raise is a big win for Winnipeg's tech ecosystem and solidifies Canada's rightful place as the 'Emirs of E-Commerce' (working title).

The US State Department declared that it found that the Chinese government committed genocide against its Uighur minority in what's seen as the Trump Administration's last move against China.

Prime Minister Trudeau announced that he plans to keep up the fight for the Keystone XL pipeline after President-Elect Biden's announcement that he will kill the project.

Fast food chain Subway got the go-ahead to proceed with a $210mill defamation suit against the CBC over a segment on Marketplace that claims that the chain's chicken is half soy.

Conservative leader Erin O'Toole plans to remove backbench MP Derek Sloan from caucus after it was found he accepted a donation from a white supremacist.