Welcome to this week’s Sunday Briefing. In this issue, meet the local cleantech company that’s transforming transformers, mark your calendars for the iWIST Summer Party, celebrate alongside AOT Technologies, and plenty more.

Now, onto today’s briefing. It’s 651 words, a three-minute read.

-James, @jimmermatthews

By the way, if you're not already subscribed, you can fix that here.

Checkfront merges with Aussie company, Rezdy

Checkfront, the Victoria-based software company crafting booking sites for tourism, has merged with a fellow tourism software outfit: the Australian company Rezdy. The deal was signed at travel extravaganza Arival’s Bangkok stop in June. But, the link-up has been in the works for five years.

“We always felt that we were two really well-suited businesses to come together, two really strong trusted brands, each having the industry at heart in terms of what we’re trying to achieve,” Rezdy CEO Chris Atkin told Arival.

“At every conference, we would make sure [to] connect and talk about making this happen,” Checkfront CEO Jason Morehouse wrote on LinkedIn. “Our company cultures, industry perspectives, and scale aligned so closely despite being on opposite sides of the world. We know this was the right move; it was just timing. We are stronger together, and combining our companies will benefit our shared customers, team, products, industry, and strategic position, with extensive regional presence and diverse verticals. And now, we finally find ourselves here, ready to embark on this journey together. How cool is that?”

Atkin and Morehouse also confirmed to Arival that both businesses will continue to operate as their own brands. What the two companies will focus on, then, is improving customer support and adding new features, given their new collective might. Further, the terms of the merger are undisclosed. But, Pender Ventures principal Kenndal McArdle noted involvement in a LinkedIn post and teased that more announcements are forthcoming.

🏙️ Community catchup, powered by VIATEC

Delta-X Research, a Victoria-based cleantech company and VIATEC member, provides Transformer Oil Analyst: a tool for managing and interpreting data in high-voltage apparatus. Its diagnostic software is a critical-decision support tool that delivers accurate and timely assessments about the health of transformers.

Transformers are among the most expensive assets. Yet, interpreting test data on it is complicated. So, Delta-X Research invests in scientific research and development of its extensive test history database to thoroughly understand a transformer’s performance.

📰 More Victoria innovation news

👀 Well-monitored: Local oceantech outfit MarineLabs signed a partnership with multinational Kongsberg Discovery to launch BerthWatch: a first-of-its-kind, real-time berth depth monitoring and reporting system.

👏 Well done: AOT Technologies, the Victoria-based IT consulting company, celebrated several significant milestones in its ongoing freedom-of-information project.

⛴️ Well, Hullo!: Fast-ferry service Hullo will start its Nanaimo to Vancouver round-trip route on August 14.

🕴️ Tech jobs of the week

Find your next career:

• Digital Marketing Specialist at Bear Mountain Resort

Hiring in Victoria? Reply to this email and let us know!

📅 Upcoming events

July 29 | In-Person Ladies Learning Code: JavaScript for the Web (18+): This workshop is designed to be a hands-on experience for JavaScript, for female-identified and male-identified, trans, and non-binary adults.

August 11 | iWIST Summer Party: Prepare to be inspired as Victoria's STEM community gathers for an evening of networking, engaging conversations, and high-quality canapés.

Have an upcoming event? Reply to let us know.

🙋 I need a…

We at Victoria Tech Journal know you, our community, pretty well. Are you searching for someone in your field to have coffee with, a hiring hookup, a lead on local investors, or a suggestion for a great Victoria tech tool? Whatever you’re hunting for, let us know. We’ll post it in this section and make it happen.

Email your requests to [email protected].