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Dialogue to acquire UK-based Tictrac for up to $56 million (BETAKIT)
Montréal-based Dialogue is set to acquire digital health and well-being company Tictrac for up to $56 million (all numbers CAD), comprising a combination of cash-on-hand and a treasury issuance of common shares of the company.
General Catalyst leads addiction startup Eleanor Health’s $50M series C (FIERCE HEALTHCARE)
The startup’s evidence-based care model offers a variety of services, from psychiatry to peer recovery coaching, to help patients tackle addiction and mental health problems with a tech platform that allows providers to personalize and coordinate care.
Osler releases multi-year study of 300+ Canadian VC and growth equity financings
Osler’s Emerging and High Growth Companies practice has released its first comprehensive study of 332 anonymized venture capital and growth equity financings from 2019–2021, valued at US$5.7 billion, providing data and insights for founders, entrepreneurs, investors and advisors contemplating transactions this year and beyond.
The report is unique as it draws on both publicly available data on venture capital and growth equity financings, as well as Osler’s confidential anonymized data sources. The report authors have distilled actionable insights on the data, including on common terms and structural considerations.
Read the Deal Points Report: Venture Capital Financings
University of Alberta spinout DrugBank closes $9 million from Brightspark, Amplitude, Theodorus to fuel drug discovery with its data platform (BETAKIT)
Training machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms requires quality data. In the pharmaceutical sector, obtaining this data can be tough because most of the knowledge about drugs is contained in scientific publications in an unstructured text format.
Peloton’s plan to staunch bleeding: Slash Bike prices, raise subscription cost (PROTOCOL)
Peloton is significantly reducing the prices of its bikes and treadmill, the company announced Thursday, while also increasing the the price of its monthly all-access membership, which is required to unlock the classes on its Bike, Bike+ and Tread. For Peloton owners who bought their equipment at the original higher prices, the announcement will be tough to stomach.
What businesses are getting wrong about SR&ED tax credit claims (BETAKIT)
The Canadian Government Scientific Research and Experimental Design (SR&ED) program was created to support and reward investments by businesses in innovation. Yet many businesses aren’t utilizing the program to its full potential, and therefore they miss out on all that SR&ED can offer.
Vytalize Health brings in $50M to advance value-based primary care for seniors (MEDCITY NEWS)
The Series B funding round was led by Enhanced Healthcare Partners. Hoboken, New Jersey-based Vytalize has grown its patient base 150% year-over-year and is now partnered with 280 primary care practices across 16 states, according to the company.
CloudMD, Think Research announce changes to executive suites (BETAKIT)
Two prominent Canadian medtech companies have announced changes in their executive suite. CloudMD Software & Services Inc. said its founder and CEO, Dr. Essam Hamza, will step down as of Monday, May 2, while Think Research Corporation announced its CFO, Jae Comelssen, is leaving his post as of April 15.
The five things every Security Operations Centre manager needs to know (BETAKIT)
Security looks different for every startup. This is where the security operations centre (SOC) manager comes in. The focus of an SOC manager is broad risk mitigation: ensuring regulatory and legal compliance, controlling business-essential risks such as encryption or personally identifiable information (PII) protection, and balancing taking action to lower risk with both company risk tolerance and available resources.
Virtual psychiatry company Iris Telehealth scores $40M (MOBIHEALTH NEWS)
Virtual mental healthcare provider Iris Telehealth scooped up $40 million in a Series B funding led by Concord Health Partners and Columbia Pacific Advisors.
Cosm Medical raises $4.7 million CAD for its custom gynecological prosthetics (BETAKIT)
Medtech startup Cosm Medical has secured $4.7 million CAD ($3.8 million USD) in an oversubscribed seed round to create custom medical devices for women suffering from pelvic floor disorders.
Mental health app Real raises $37M Series B (TECHCRUNCH)
Real, a mental health app, has raised a $37 million oversubscribed Series B. The round was led by Owl Ventures, with participation from former Cityblock CEO Iyah Romm and chief health officer Dr. Sylvia Romm. Returning investors include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Female Founders Fund, Forerunner Ventures and BBG Ventures.
Cognito Health secures $1.1 million for cross-Canada expansion of its mental health offering (BETAKIT)
Garage Capital led the round with participation from serial entrepreneur Rasool Rayani, Andrew Wilkinson (co-founder of Tiny Capital), Jason Warner (Former CTO of Git-Hub & Heroku), Scott Lake (co-founder Shopify), Tobyn Sowden (CEO and founder Redbrick), and Rob Fraser (CEO and founder endūr). The round closed in late March.
Allscripts sells hospital business unit in $700M deal with Constellation subsidiary (FIERCE HEALTHCARE)
Harris will acquire a range of assets from the health IT company’s hospital and large physician practices segment, including Sunrise, Paragon, Touchworks, Opal, dbMotion, STAR and Healthquest solutions.
Zymeworks co-founder, former CEO Ali Tehrani joins Amplitude Ventures as venture partner (BETAKIT)
Precision health-focused investment fund Amplitude Ventures has strengthened its team by adding biotech veteran Ali Tehrani as a venture partner. The move comes shortly after Tehrani stepped down as president and CEO of Vancouver-based Zymeworks, which he co-founded over 18 years ago.
Report: Mental health startups raise $5.5B globally in 2021 (MOBIHEALTHNEWS)
That amounts to a 139% increase from 2020, according to CBInsights’ State of Mental Health Tech 2021 Report.
Canadian venture capital investment hits all-time high of $14.2 billion in 2021 (BETAKIT)
Canadian venture capital (VC) investment hit an astounding mark this past year, increasing 215 percent from 2020. VC investment in 2021 hit $14.2 billion, following a trend of record years for venture investment that blew all past years out of the water.
Cigna plans to invest $450M in venture arm for digital health, analytics (FIERCE HEALTHCARE)
Cigna plans to give its venture capital arm a $450 million boost as part of its strategy to increase the company’s shareholder value and deliver long-term growth.
Five tips for startups exploring buy now, pay later (BETAKIT)
PwC’s Andrew Popliger examines Buy Now, Pay Later’s digital adoption and shares tips for startups to ensure their BNPL experience is future-proof.
Health Canada recalls Fitbit watch due to risk of burns (CBC)
The Fitbit Ionic smartwatch has been recalled in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Curv Health closes $5.1 million to connect employers, insurers with healthcare providers (BETAKIT)
In an interview with BetaKit, Curv co-founder and CEO, Shea Balish, said the startup quickly realized that there was a much larger opportunity to apply the remote monitoring tech it had developed to its own full-stack digital clinic.
Ro expands fertility services with Dadi acquisition (MOBIHEALTHNEWS)
The deal comes less than a year after the direct-to-consumer virtual care company scooped up Modern Fertility.
FGC Health acquires Pharmacy Access Solutions to help independent pharmacies automate (BETAKIT)
Since 2020, the startup has been on a tear acquiring pharmacies, medical clinics, and an EMS service. The PASI acquisition closed on February 3.
Warburg Pincus co-leads latest funding round in Israel’s MDClone (BNN BLOOMBERG)
MDClone, a synthetic medical data startup, raised $63 million from investors led by Warburg Pincus and Viola Growth to fund global expansion.
We need to keep talking about founder mental health (BETAKIT)
Eigenspace co-founder Jesse Rodgers emphasizes the need for founders to talk about mental health, and shares tips on where to get support.
Nayya nabs $55M to expand its recommendation and personalization engine for healthcare and other benefits (TECHCRUNCH)
The startup has been on a fundraising tear in the last year, a mark of how its service has grown during COVID-19.
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