CanCon Podcast Ep. 69: Can Kik’s cryptocurrency save the company from copycat Facebook?

For its 69th episode, the CanCon podcast has money and unicorns on its mind. MobileSyrup broke a story this week that Android Pay will be coming to Canada on May 31st. The CanCon team speculates on whether this attempt at mobile payments will take off or just be like Apple’s and Samsung’s attempts, which have yet to be widely adopted. In bigger news, Kik announced that it has developed a cryptocurrency called Kin for its users to complete transactions within the platform. The CanCon team is asking if this is actually a thinly veiled pivot for a company that can’t seem to get out from under Facebook’s thumb.

Canadian company AgileBits listened to user requests in recent months for secure travel methods and has developed a newly released travel mode for its 1Password app. With one remote team member south of the border, CanCon checks in to see what Rob’s thoughts are on using the new tool for border crossings and travel.

Finally, a study at Stanford argues that over half of all “Unicorn” designated companies are in fact overvalued. The study also reveals that the common shares typically offered to employees are often worthless. These findings are concerning for founders, employees, and investors alike. The CanCon crew wants to know: is valuation just semantics?

Tune in as CanCon’s podcast crew – Erin Bury, Managing Director of Eighty-Eight, Rob Kenedi – TWG’s Entrepreneur in Residence and host of the amazing #smallrooms podcast, Patrick O’Rourke, MobileSyrup Senior Editor, and Douglas Soltys, BetaKit Editor in Chief – crosses borders to talk about cyber security, monetization, and the real value of technology.

Have some hot takes on the topics that were covered? Maybe you want to suggest something for a future podcast! Perhaps you have a burning question about something you read in tech news that we didn’t cover. Email us, post a comment below with the answer or question, or better yet, rate CanCon 5-stars on iTunes and post your thoughts there.