Montréal-based Dialogue is partnering with Canadian insurance company iA Financial Group to facilitate access to virtual healthcare.
The partnership comes as COVID-19 has emphasized the need for access to virtual care. iA Financial Group insurance clients will have access to Dialogue’s telemedicine platform, which provides benefits specifically tailored to large organizations. Clients whose group insurance plan includes supplemental health insurance will receive a preferred rate to add Dialogue to their plan.
The partnership is the latest in a string of deals between Dialogue and Canadian insurance providers.
Organizations that commit to offering Dialogue for at least 12 months will get the platform free of charge until July 31.
The partnership is the latest in a string of deals between Dialogue and Canadian insurance providers. In April, the Montréal startup partnered with Sun Life Financial and in March entered into a similar partnership with Canada Life, making virtual healthcare a standard benefit for employers with Canada Life group benefits plans.
Jean-Nicolas Guillemette, COO of Dialogue called the iA Financial deal a “strategic partnership” that is “a key step toward achieving our ambition of helping Canadians be more healthy.”
Earlier this year, Dialogue acquired Argumed Consulting Group, a German-based Occupational Health and Safety services company. In December, Dialogue partnered with Doctor On Demand to give enterprise clients the ability to offer virtual healthcare to employees visiting the US. Last year also saw Dialogue close a $40 million funding round in order to fuel a European expansion.
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Amid COVID-19, Dialogue has taken its own steps to support individuals looking to access virtual healthcare services. In early March, the startup launched a free tool to give Canadian access to the latest public health information and resources pertaining to the virus.
Dialogue recently received an investment of $500,000 from federally-funded Supercluster Scale AI to improve the service of its automated public chatbot. The system aims to facilitate quick access to information for citizens and allow healthcare professionals to focus on tasks that require their expertise.
iA Financial has been active in the Canadian startup scene, specifically in regards to FinTech investments. The insurance group is an investor in FinTech firms Luge Capital and Portag3 Ventures, and has directly backed the likes of PayBright and Owl.co.