Montréal-based healthtech company Carebook Technologies has announced the appointment of Canadian healthcare executive Michael Peters as its new CEO.
Peters is set to replace Pascale Audette, who has served as Carebook’s CEO since 2016. According to Carebook, Audette is leaving the company “to pursue new opportunities.” Following a brief transition period, Peters will take over as CEO in mid-September 2021.
Peters brings over a decade of healthcare experience to Carebook.
Founded in 2012, Carebook offers digital health and virtual care solutions to pharmacies, employers, and insurers. The company currently trades on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV) under the symbol ‘CRBK.’ The company made its TSXV debut in October 2020, following the completion of a reverse takeover.
Carebook’s growth strategy involves a combination of organic growth initiatives and mergers and acquisitions (M&A). According to Peters, under his leadership, the company will “continue to execute against [its] current strategy” by focusing on acquiring and developing technologies that expand Carebook’s current service offerings and help it develop new long-term customers.
Peters brings over a decade of healthcare experience to Carebook. He has most recently served as senior VP and chief business officer at Markham-based SE Health, a home health-focused not-for-profit social enterprise.
According to Sheldon Elman, executive chairman of Carebook’s board of directors, Peters’ “extensive experience in healthcare corporate strategy and development, sales and operations, and digital health investments will serve [Carebook] well.”
At SE Health, Peters led different growth initiatives, helping the organization implement go-to-market processes that “substantially increased [its] acute care and direct to consumer sales in just three years.” Peters also orchestrated SE Health’s strategic investment in Maple.
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Prior to joining SE Health, Peters served as VP of commercial development and associate general counsel for Cardinal Health Canada’s medical segment, and corporate counsel and senior director of corporate development at Celestica.
As CEO, Audette helped Carebook launch its pharmacy app, acquire InfoTech and CoreHealth, list on the TSXV, and expand its global client base to over 3.5 million license holders. “I am proud to have begun Carebook’s journey towards defining a new healthcare model,” she said.
Carebook stated that Audette “will be leaving the company to pursue new opportunities.”
Neither Audette nor Carebook have shared any further detail regarding her future plans or why Audette is leaving the company.
“It is critical to recognize how much Carebook has achieved under [Audette’s] guidance,” said Elman. “She has led us through a time of development, growth and transformation at Carebook, which saw the company become the leading Canadian provider of innovative digital health and virtual care.”
Carebook recently announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2021. In Q2, Carebook drew in revenue of $1.14 million, compared to the $857,000 it generated during the same period in 2020. Carebook attributed this nearly 33 percent increase in revenue to its acquisition of Winnipeg’s InfoTech, which operates as Wellness Checkpoint, for $14 million in April.
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InfoTech’s analytics-powered proprietary software platform, Wellness Checkpoint, focuses on employees’ physical health, mental health and well-being, and their impact on work and business effectiveness. According to Carebook, the InfoTech acquisition marked the company’s first revenues from the employer vertical. Last year, Carebook’s total revenue “was driven almost entirely” by its pharmacy vertical.
The company also experienced a total comprehensive loss of almost $2.43 million in Q2, a decrease relative to its $2.91 million loss in the second quarter of 2020.
During Q2, Carebook also launched its new caregiver solution for the pharmacy vertical, and moved its medication adherence solution into the testing phase.
Following the close of Q2, Carebook acquired Kelowna’s CoreHealth Technologies last month for $9 million. Carebook financed this deal through an $11.28 million private placement.
Feature image from Carebook Technologies