- 13,801,836 doses have been administered in Canada, as of writing. 33.35% of Canadians have received at least one dose and 91.8% of doses delivered have been administered.
-
Percent of population who have received at least one dose: Israel: 62.5%, U.K: 50.6%, U.S: 43.7%, Canada: 33.35%, E.U: 24.2%.
- Canada isn't doing enough to help India through a COVID surge: experts.
- Ontarians over 18 in hotspots can book a vaccine appointment starting at 8am this morning.
May 03, 2021
It's May
Good morning. It's May and most of use are still locked down. On a scale of 10 year old memes to baking bread and texting exes how are you doing?
Markets
|
TSX | 19108.33 | -0.77% |
|
|
S&P 500 | 4181.17 | -0.72% |
|
|
DOW | 33874.85 | -0.54% |
|
|
NASDAQ | 13962.68 | -0.85% |
|
|
Gold | 1772.00 | -0.11% |
|
|
Oil | 63.58 | -2.2% |
|
|
Dollar | 0.81 | -0.14% |
Lookout Bay St., Wealthsimple's outside challenge to the big 4 banks is just getting started. The Toronto based digital bank for millennials is set to raise a fresh $700 million round that will value the company at $5 billion, reports the Globe.
Making money work
The financing would make Wealthsimple one of Canada’s most valuable privately held tech companies, and be the largest amount raised by a private company in Canada.
- The deal is being led by existing shareholders Greylock Partners and Meritech Capital Partners. A host of new investors are joining the cap table including Canada’s Inovia Capital.
- Wealthsimple raised $114 million in the fall of 2020 at a $1.4 billion valuation.
Power Corp. of Canada is Wealthsimple’s largest shareholder, owning 61.7% of the stock and 85.3% of voting rights. They have invested $315 million into the company, which on paper is now valued at $934 million. Power Corp. is controlled by Montreal’s Desmarais family.
Taking on the big banks: Wealthsimple plans to be a serious thorn in the side of Canada’s established big 4, but they have a lot of ground to cover. At $167.09 billion, RBC’s market capitalization is 33.4x that of Wealthsimple and with $1.62 trillion in assets Royal makes Wealthsimple $9.7 billion look puny.
The challenger does have momentum on their side…
- Wealthsimple doubled assets in 2020.
- 43% of all new Canadian trading accounts opened in January were with Wealthsimple. Much of this growth was fueled by the day trading craze that has surged through the pandemic.
- The company now has 500,000 customers, not including the tax clients they’ve picked up through the acquisition of SimpleTax last year.
Big Picture: Wealthsimple doesn’t exactly offer anything new compared to the big banks other than convenience and brand, which goes a long way in attracting younger customers. Ultimately, Wealthsimple and other challengers like Neo Financial and KOHO are limited by the Tier 1 Charter Bank Status that the established four enjoy.
That’s Tim Hortons’ plan to regain coffee supremacy in Canada — and it looks like it’s working!
What’s happening: Last week, Restaurant Brands International released their earnings for Q1 2021. Here are the highlights:
- Tim’s sales fell 2.3% but it was a huge improvement over the 10.3% decline the year before.
- Tim Hortons’ brand closeness, a metric used to determine brand affinity, grew to its highest level in three years.
Comeback season: RBI is attributing last quarter’s success to their ‘back to basics’ strategy, which refocuses Tim’s on their core breakfast and coffee products.
- Their new dark roast blend gave them a 2% bump in Tim’s coffee market share.
- And their revamped fresh egg breakfast sandwich has received praise from Canadians, including Ontario Premier Doug Ford.
Zoom out: These results are good news for the iconic Canadian coffee brand and RBI with Scotiabank analyst saying this was “a quarter we’ve been waiting for.”
Warren Buffett is being a bit of a party pooper. At the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting over the weekend the legendary investor warned against the stock picking trend that's been facilitated by low or no-fee trading platforms and COVID relief programs that have some people feeling flush.
Thus spoke Buffett: Aside from advising us not to YOLO our life savings on GameStop (now you tell me), Buffet also had some takes on the broader economy:
- The U.S. economy is running "red hot" and "business really is very good in a great many segments of the economy."
- Inflation is picking up and Berkshire companies are raising prices to keep up with increased raw material costs. "People have money in their pocket and they’ll pay the higher prices," said Buffet.
- Buffett's partner Charlie Munger had some light criticism of cryptocurrencies: "I should say modestly that I think the whole damn development is disgusting and contrary to the interests of civilization." Now tell us how you really feel.
Zoom out: Buffett has struggled to find new ways to spend his money lately and Berkshire Hathaway is now sitting on over $145 million in cash and short-term investments. If inflation does pick up in a sustained way, it will be interesting to see what Buffett and Munger do to protect that value.
- Sonder expects to raise US $650 million bringing their valuation to $2.2 billion.
What’s Sonder: Started by Canadians Francis Davidson and Lucas Pellan, Sonder is a platform for short term rentals. But unlike Airbnb, Sonder runs the platform and manages the units listed.
- The company signs multi-year leases with building developers and operates over 300 properties in 35 markets.
- Sonder’s raised $560 million to date including from Canadian funds Real Ventures and Inovia.
What’s next: Sonder’s goal is to build a vertically integrated hospitality business where they apply innovation to every step of the process.
- In 2020, 3 of Sonder’s direct competitors exited the market leaving a huge opportunity for the business to aggressively grow.
Big picture: 2020 was obviously a tough year for travel companies but companies that weathered COVID — like Sonder and Snaptravel — are set to reap the rewards of a surge in post-pandemic travel.
It’s a big world out there, so if you want to add a global perspective to your business news repertoire, then you’ll want to check out The Daily Upside.
The Daily Upside is a business newsletter that covers the most important financial stories from around the world in a style that’s engaging, insightful, and fun. Written by a former investment banker, The Daily Upside strips out the fluff and jargon and captures the insights you need to know to stay sharp on global business.
Distressed assets: Cineplex and Air Canada, two companies hit hard by the pandemic, will release their Q1 earnings this week. Both businesses have had to secure additional credit to keep the lights on as the pandemic drags on.
Jobs, jobs, jobs: New job numbers are out on Friday. Analysts expect unemployment to tick up due to new COVID lockdowns implemented in April. Better than expected job numbers could be a sign of a faster than expected recovery.
- U.S. job numbers also drop on Friday, and they're expected to show big gains as most of the U.S. lifts COVID restrictions.
Rate that: The Bank of England will release its key interest rate decision on Thursday. The UK's lockdown is coming to an end (see: this government-approved 3000 person rave on the weekend), meaning their economic recovery — and interest rate trajectory — could be ahead of ours.
- Here's a handy list of Canada's property billionaires.
- Apple takes a different approach than most to M&A.
- Checkingin is a free and simple tool to help you increase self awareness, elevate your mood, and connect more deeply with the people you care about. Join Checkingin's 30-day mental well-being challenge for startups.*
- How the Pentagon started taking UFOs seriously. 👽
- California is running out of water. Check out the photo evidence.
- If you're not baking your Mac and Cheese, what are you even doing?
- Employees and employers in Quebec are unhappy with minimum wage hike.
- Canadian "family values" politician found to be running a massage parlour out of his home.
- Toronto's Heirlume raises $1.38 million to simplify trademarks.
- Canada's top special forces commander is placed on leave amid growing sexual assault scandal.
- The rail wars are heating up.