Welcome to our weekly Canadian start-up news segment where we bring you the most critical events in the world of Canadian start-ups. We cover all major cities in Canada, mainly Toronto, Montreal & Vancouver and other emerging start-up scenes.

TELUS HEALTH DEMANDS MONTREAL’S EQ ASSISTANCE IN THE MODERN MOVE TO ENHANCE THE INFLUENCE OF VIRTUAL CARE

BetaKit has discovered that Canada’s virtual care leader, EQ has become a part of Telus Health. 

A mediator for Telus forwarded the inside information to BetaKit, on Friday. However, the deal hasn’t been announced to the public yet, but some sources have indicated that the contract would be shared with the world in the coming year. Still, nothing is confirmed because both EQ Care and Telus Health are not sharing any form of insight.

“This combining of forces eventually enhances TELUS Health’s existing balance of patient-centric virtual care.”

“The possession of EQ Care will create a diverse path to digital healthcare services and develop exceptional health upshots for Canadians, making the overall patient care experience bearable and much improved,”

said the mediator. 

EQ Care has been a compelling candidate in the virtual healthcare space for over 30 years. It has successfully created a platform that offers patients with day-and-night bilingual and national virtual care from any portable Wi-Fi enabled device. As said earlier, EQ Care is the king of virtual care in Canada and claims to have been the first to provide virtual services in both French and English in all regions and provinces. 

This superb acquisition represents a neverending push to be a significant all-rounder in the Canadian healthcare section. Telus Health is Canada’s largest electronic healthcare provider with various virtual care services and medical solutions via its own expansion and achievements. In 2019, the enterprise credited part of its return growth to “improved Telus Health revenues motivated by business acquisitions and versatile services for prevailing customers.”

Based on its Q2 and Q3 reports of 2020, the telecommunications giant reported a sudden downfall in incomes from its in-person clinics because of increased demand for virtual health care. 

For further info: https://betakit.com/telus-health-acquires-montreals-eq-care-in-latest-move-to-increase-virtual-care-reach/?utm_source=BetaKit+Newsletter&utm_campaign=d0c51af4c5-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_BK_12_13_2020_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_2ec531721a-d0c51af4c5-199852057

ABCELLERA PERMANENTLY SHUTS START-UP PUBLIC OFFERING WITH $555.5 MILLION GROSS PROFITS

Vancouver’s biotech enterprise AbCellera Biologics has permanently shut its initial public offering, IPO, on the Nasdaq with an income rate of $555.5 million.

A part of the profit belongs to the company’s underwriters doing their hardest to purchase $3.6 million external shares at $20. As far as the $555.5 million is concerned, it is the final total before subtracting underwriting commissions, discounts and, not to mention, the estimated expenses.

AbCellera Has Managed to Design a Drug Discovery Platform that analyzes the Immune System to Diagnose Antibodies 

AbCellera started trading on the Nasdaq this Friday morning with the symbol ‘ABCL’ and fantastic initial success rates. In a matter of minutes, Biotech’s stock boosted in value by the initial IPO price: $20. By the afternoon, the shares were augmented by $70. 

The declaration of its gross proceeds makes Abcellera the most successful and largest IPO in the Canadian biotech industry, proving to be the most valuable in the coming years. On prime of that, its market capitalization of $12.65 billion makes it the latest Canadian tech enterprise to conquer the $1 billion assessment milestone. 

All of the investors were anxious to witness success. Before listing, AbCellera improved the dimensions of its IPO thrice. The company’s starting plan was to raise $200 million, but AbCellera uplifted its shares on Monday and did it again on Thursday. According to reliable estimates from The Globe and Mail, the business transaction was “20 times oversubscribed by potential buyers.”

In terms of the discovery, AbCellera was discovered in 2012. Since then; it has been trying to develop a drug discovery platform that analyses and searches immune systems to locate antibodies that can treat and prevent illnesses. Now, the research is complete. 

This Vancouver-based biotech start-up attained the San Fransicso-bassed Trianni in November for $90 million, its fourth and most significant strategic technology to this date. The acquisition shadowed AbCellera’s $144 million Series B subsidy in May. The investors were DCVC Bio, OrbiMed, and an investor syndicate that involved Viking Global Investors, Presight Capital, the University of Minnesota, and Peter Thiel of Founders Fund. The round also discovered a major contribution from Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly), a groundbreaking American pharmaceutical company that took part in the multi-layer strategic research and signed a license agreement with AbCellera. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, AbCellera has played a satisfying role in discovering and creating treatments. Before addressing the public, the company was given interim approval by Health Canada for a human antibody, and it was finally developed with Lilly’s collaboration. The treatment proved to decrease lingering symptoms, viral load, and hospitalizations for patients with typical to moderate COVID-19 effects in clinical assessments.

After witnessing the system’s success, American VC and billionaire entrepreneur Thiel also joined AbCellera’s executives’ board. 

COLLISION TO BE HOSTED ONLINE AGAIN FOR 2021

Collision 2021 is set to be hosted online again in the coming year, due to the prevailing uncertainty near in-person events caused by the pandemic. 

The decision was declared on Wednesday, with attribution to “ambiguity surrounding public events the world.” The emails were sent to past attendees, in company with the City of Toronto and taking the Public Health Agency of Canada’s advice. 

Collision was Originally Designated in Toronto since 2019

“With the upheaval of COVID-19, so many aspects of our lives are disrupting. Therefore, we feel the need to host colision online this year,”

– a statement in the email.

2021 will be known as the second year for hosting the North American tech conference, making it viable to move future meetings online due to COVID-19. Although it was supposed to be a physical event, the pandemic had other plans.

The initial hosting-arrangement was to conduct Collision in Toronto, which was up and running since 2019. No doubt, the event was a big-ticket product for the city, gathering thousands of prospects worldwide. 

Unfortunately, Collision was held from Home this year, reportedly gaining the attention of more than 32,000 people from over 140 countries. The event includes several important personalities. If we’re going to give a number, it’d be 600, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the CTO of Twitter: Parag Agrawal, and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of WHO. 

To successfully conduct the online event, the team designed an “exclusive online conferencing platform” currently being used for its peer event, Web Summit. Thanks to the successful spread of the hosting software, the organization is looking for ways to create a new business line using the conferencing software, with an innovative strategy to share the platform with other partners. 

Stay tuned for round-the-clock updates and up-to-the-minute news from the world of Canadian start-ups.