- 1,091,013 doses have been administered in Canada, as of writing. 2.388% of Canadians have received a dose and 86.8% of doses delivered have been administered.
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Percent of population vaccinated: 1. Israel: 64.3% 2. UAE: 43.6% 3. Seychelles: 39.8% 4. UK: 18.4% 5. USA: 12.3%.....37. CANADA: 2.3%
- Many LTC workers were hesitant to get vaccinated. Here's why.
- Federal MPs are demanding more transparency into the Government's vaccine procurement plan.
February 08, 2021
To The Moon, Again
It's Tuesday. A very special good morning to the 1,820 new Peakers who have joined us since the beginning of last week.
Is your network missing out on starting their mornings with The Peak? Change it by posting your invite link to LinkedIn, and tag us to be entered to win one of five Yeti mugs.
Markets
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TSX | 18330.26 | 1.07% |
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S&P 500 | 3915.59 | 0.74% |
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DOW | 31385.76 | 0.76% |
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NASDAQ | 13987.64 | 0.95% |
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Gold | 1834.20 | 1.17% |
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Oil | 57.97 | 1.97% |
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Dollar | 0.78 | -0.03% |
Get your 🚀 emojis ready because Bitcoin is surging after Elon Musk's Tesla announced it had purchased $1.5b of the digital asset.
What happened: Buried in an SEC filing, Tesla announced it was buying $1.5b in Bitcoin to "further diversify and maximize returns on our cash".
- Tesla also announced plans to accept Bitcoin as payment for their electric vehicles. As of writing, 0.88 BTC could buy you a new base Model 3 (or 24,838 Coffee Crisps).
The backstory: This won't come as much of a surprise for Elon watchers. Over the past few months, the Tesla chief has been vocal about his support for the decentralized digital currency, going so far as to change his Twitter bio to #bitcoin.
Why did they do it: As Bitcoin becomes more mainstream, institutional investors and corporations are seriously considering moving cash on their balance sheet to Bitcoin as a store of value.
- Analysts predict that Bitcoin could quadruple in 2021 and institutional investors don't want to miss out on those gains.
Tesla isn't the first company to move significant dollars to BTC. Last year, Jack Dorsey's Square purchased $50m and business analytics company MicroStrategy purchased $1b worth of the decentralized currency.
Looking forward: Tesla is the first Fortune 500 company to add a cryptocurrency to their balance sheet and analysts don't expect them to be the last. If they're right, the price of Bitcoin could skyrocket as billions of institutional dollars flows into the digital asset.
Covid rules can be pretty confusing. For example, are you even allowed to travel out of your province? Here’s, hopefully, everything you need to know.
After a woman filed an insurance claim, Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Board secretly filmed her, accusing her of faking it.
Wood You Use It? Scientists have developed a material out of wood that is almost as transparent as glass.
Why are the Beijing Police managing Canada’s visa office in China? A good question the Globe and Mail investigates, and The Peak breaks down.
The Players
- VFS Global, a company headquartered in Zurich and Dubai, holds Canadian government contracts to process visa applications in China and 83 countries around the world.
- China Investment Corp., one of the largest state run financial institutions in the world, is the majority owner of VFS.
- Beijing Shuangxiong is a subcontractor of VFS who operates the visa centre in Beijing. The company is owned by the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau.
Any foreign company doing business in China must partner with a local firm.
The Problem: Experts say China has a “huge interest” in knowing who is getting approved and denied for visas. The info is used to help intelligence agents slip in to other countries or to bar people from exiting the country, particularly the Muslim Uighar population.
The Reaction
- A spokesperson for VFS says local Chinese contractors “have no access to visa-application data. They cannot influence the visa-application process set by the Canadian government.”
- Our government maintains the visa process meets Canada’s privacy laws.
- Canada’s former ambassador to China warns we should assume “there is no privacy” when it comes to visa applications made in China.
The Conclusion
China is known to operate a pretty damn serious surveillance state. If their government can get their hands on this data it’s safe to assume they would. China’s close ties to VFS and Beijing Shuangxiong only make the flow of information more likely.
The once mighty Canadian coffee chain Second Cup has been scooped up at the bargain basement price of $14 million by Quebec’s Foodtastic Inc. Second Cup's stock (TSE:AEG) is trading at less than a tenth of the price it went public at almost two decades ago.
- Second Cup has been in decline for years, but the pandemic did it no favours. On the brightside, it looks like retailers in Ontario are beginning to see some relief.
Meanwhile, Well Health Technologies has acquired fellow Vancouver company CRH Medical Corp. for $292.7-million USD.
Healthcare Handshake
Together Well Health and CRH are a healthcare powerhouse.
- Well runs 27 health clinics in British Columbia, Quebec and California and a network of allied clinics offering health adjacent services, along with a suite of digital clinic tools.
- CRH provides anesthesia services for patients who receive endoscopic procedures at 70 surgical centres and clinics in 14 American states.
Well says the acquisition will increase its 2021 revenue by 120% on a per share basis and increase the practitioners it works with by 3,000.
Zoom Out: For obvious reasons digital healthcare has done well through the pandemic, while retail has not. Well’s publicly traded shares (TSE:WELL) are up about 326% from a year ago.
Ottawa-based tech VC outfit Mistral Venture Partners has raised nearly $50 million for a seed stage fund to invest in startups working on post-COVID opportunities.
What happened: Mistral has raised $41 million for the fund so far (and plans to raise a total of $50 million) with the Business Development Bank of Canada as its lead investor.
- Mistral's Managing Director Code Cubbit says the plan is to deploy the cash in businesses focused on post-pandemic opportunities, like e-commerce and workplace communication: "There’s now a chance for renewal, a fresh look at everything, from digital identity to virtual reality to how we work and play and live.”
Why it matters: The fund is a sign that investors are looking beyond the pandemic to potential business opportunities that COVID has created. And if there's funding to be had, entrepreneurs looking for their next venture will likely gravitate to the space.
- Mistral's raise is also a boon for Canada's startup space which has few seed-stage tech VC firms, making capital raises for startups sometimes challenging.
Zoom out: We don't need to remind anyone how terrible the pandemic has been. But major changes almost always create new opportunities that weren't previously possible. Expect a crop of promising startups to emerge from the wreckage of the past year.
- Here's one of the markets booming thanks to COVID: private luxury jets. Here at The Peak we'd settle for a reliable second-hand car.
- Cordelia’s Locket is the wine bar, deli and pantry that Squamish, BC has been waiting for. And now you can own a piece of this elevated oceanfront experiences starting with just $100! Check them out and invest in them today on Equivesto.*
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Vancouver Peakers: Want to stay informed on the latest tech news out West? Check-out Techcouver for the latest on BC's thriving tech scene.
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Sperm banks across America are running out of supply leading women to unregulated Facebook groups to find willing donors.
- After GameStop, short sellers are fearful for their real life safety.
*This is a paid promotion.
We talk everyday through this newsletter but are we really listening?
Seriously, it feels like we're becoming a family, or at least close colleagues. That's why we're launching a Facebook group for the Peak community to interact with our team and each other.
What's The Deal?
We've got a lot planned to get the conversation going and form connections in our community. We're starting with weekly Q+As with some of the most interesting Peak readers.
- This Week: Launching Uber in Canada with Lucas Samuels. Listen to the podcast interview.
- Next Week: Disrupting Death with Mallory Greene. Listen to the podcast interview.
How Do I Join?
Anyone with three referrals will receive an email with instructions to join the group.