- 12,478,406 doses have been administered in Canada, as of writing. 30.1% of Canadians have received at least one dose and 86.7% of doses delivered have been administered.
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Percent of population who have received at least one dose: Israel: 62.3%, U.K: 49.7%, U.S: 42.1%, Canada: 30.1%, E.U: 21.7%.
- Canada will receive 1.9 million COVID-19 vaccine doses this week, including the first shipment from J&J.
April 28, 2021
Can we not?
Good morning. The Peak team is (virtually) road tripping across the country to get to know businesses outside of Ontario. We introduced you to some neat businesses in Alberta yesterday.
Today, we're off to The Prairies! It's not all open plains and waves of grain here. In fact, Canada's Prairies are home to fast-growing tech companies in the likes of Bold Commerce and Callia.
Tomorrow we're headed to Quebec!
Markets
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TSX | 19175.09 | 0.02% |
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S&P 500 | 4186.72 | -0.02% |
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DOW | 33984.93 | 0.01% |
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NASDAQ | 14090.22 | -0.34% |
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Gold | 1778.80 | -0.07% |
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Oil | 62.94 | 1.66% |
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Dollar | 0.81 | -0.03% |
My mother always said there’s three things you shouldn’t bring up at Thanksgiving dinner: money, religion, and politics.
Well, apparently American tech firm Basecamp agrees with at least part of that guidance: it’s banning employees from discussing politics at work.
- Basecamp CEO Jason Fried made the official announcement via a blog post on Monday.
What’s Basecamp? It’s a software company known for its flagship productivity tool. They also recently launched a premium email platform called HEY.
In the original post, CEO Jason Fried said employees couldn’t have political or societal discussions at Basecamp. Later, Fried edited the post to write that employees are welcome to talk politics on their personal social channels, just not on channels meant for internal communications.
- Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong took a similar stance, also via a blog post, amid the Black Lives Matter movement and political upheaval in the U.S. last September.
- Armstrong praised Basecamp’s move in a tweet.
Workers at Basecamp expressed mixed feelings about the new rules, with one employee tweeting: “I’ve never been more distracted in my seven years here than since those changes were announced.”
Zoom out: Corporations have been under scrutiny in recent years over how they respond to political and societal events.
It’s not limited to American companies either: Shopify officially banned hate groups from hosting stores on their ecommerce platform in 2018 after outcry.
Tech businesses, in particular, often face pressure from their workforces to weigh in on political and social issues as their employees tend to be younger.
Regardless of whether you agree with Basecamp’s decision or not, this is something more and more businesses are going to have to navigate in the future.
Who thinks we should start a counter for Canadian companies that have minted unicorns this year?
It's time to add another one to the board: congratulations to the Clio team as they announce the closing of a $136 million Series E round bringing their valuation to ~$2 billion!
- It helps lawyers spend less time managing their business and more time providing legal counsel by helping them manage cases, organize contacts, and automate documents.
- Over 200,000 lawyers, primarily in the US, use the software.
- The Burnaby, BC-based firm has a team of 575+ employees.
What's next: With the infusion of cash, the startup plans to hire an additional 250 employees, expand to other countries, explore new acquisitions, and plan to go public as early as 2022.
- As law firms were forced to go digital due to COVID-19, Clio experienced significant growth as they helped them make that transition.
Zoom out: Investors are betting that the digital transformation of legal is just beginning and Canadian Clio will be at the forefront of this trend.
You can add Spotify to the growing list of Apple’s foes. Streaming giant Spotify said it’s launching paid subscriptions for podcasts in the U.S yesterday.
- Spotify’s service will expand to other regions within the coming months.
- The streaming company’s announcement comes just a week after Apple said it would launch an in-app podcast subscription service at their Spring Loaded event.
Coincidence? I think not. Both podcast subscription services offer similar features, like ad-free options and exclusive content, but where they differ the most is in pricing.
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Cost for subscribers: Creators on Spotify can charge subscribers $2.99, $4.99, or $7.99 per month, while creators on Apple can charge as little as $0.49 per month for a subscription.
- Cost for creators: Apple will take a 30% cut from creators in their first year and 15% per year after, while Spotify will only take a 5% cut per year starting in 2023.
Spotify users will be redirected to a website to subscribe, preventing app stores from taking any cuts.
Zoom out: Apple and Spotify have had a rocky relationship that’s only become more complicated with time. In a first, the European Union will charge Apple for restricting which apps do or don’t appear in their App Store as part of the ongoing antitrust hearing.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the U.S. approved a modification to SpaceX’s Starlink license.
- The approval means that Starlink’s satellites can operate at a lower altitude than planned.
- SpaceX requested the FCC to let them launch 2,800-something satellites to orbit within 570 km from Earth (down from 1,100 km) in 2019.
Refresher: SpaceX wants to build satellite internet access with their Starlink network. It’ll consist of 3,000+ satellites in Earth’s lower orbit to provide lightning-fast internet access.
- For the Starlink network to work, it has to launch its satellites in a low orbit (aka within 2,000 km) of Earth.
- Starlink plans to launch its 300mbps service in Canada later this year.
The Earth’s lower orbit, as I’ve come to find out, is a competitive piece of real estate: Amazon and OneWeb also want to launch internet networks in space.
- SpaceX competitors weren’t thrilled about the FCC’s decision to let Starlink operate in the lower orbit because it would get in the way of their own satellites.
- The FCC basically told SpaceX it would just have to deal with any interference from Amazon’s network and work around it in the future.
Zoom out: Satellite tech doesn’t just sound cool, but it could be a gamechanger for people that live in rural areas and don’t have access to reliable, high-speed internet. Starlink’s $10 billion price tag and setbacks might be worth it, after all...
- Pruneau is leaving the company to “focus on personal investment projects.”
- The company’s president Pierre Karl Péladeau will take over as CEO.
What’s Videotron? Based in Montreal, Videotron is a telecom and media company that primarily serves residents and Quebec. Its competitors include Bell, Rogers, and Telus.
Why the change? The shuffle comes on the heels of the wireless spectrum auction in June and right after Canada’s telecom regulator ruled that major mobile carriers are required to sell access to regional counterparts, including Videotron.
- Pruneau is also leaving Videotron in the midst of ongoing labour negotiations: 3,000 Videotron workers have been without a contract since 2018.
Bottom line: Péladeau said that Videotron is eyeing Shaw’s Freedom Mobile as a potential acquisition target. A deal like that would help Videotron move up the ranks as a regional telecom provider.
- China reports a population decline for the first time since 1949.
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"Nobody Watched the Damn Oscars."
- Amazon is on track to replace Walmart as the biggest retailer.
- Instagram will launch new features to help influences rake in even more $$$.
- It's official: the Canadian HQ for Netflix will be in Toronto.
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- These students were tasked with illustrating post-pandemic New Yorker covers, and the final products are stunning.
- Check out these suggestions for weeknight vegan dinners.
- With lots of stores closed, finding all the right toys, chews, and treats for your dog can be a big pain. Fortunately, Super PawBox has made it easy with a box tailored to your growing pup. Get a personalized Super PawBox and use the code THEPEAK for 30% off your first box. Life’s ruff, doesn’t mean puppyhood needs to be.*
- SNL cast members aren't pleased that Elon Musk is hosting this weekend.
- This food website will no longer publish beef recipes, citing the climate crisis.
- 15 people lived 40 days in a sunless cave without clocks to study time (no, they weren't in Ontario).