The Peak Daily

Venture capitalist (VC) money might be drying up—dropping by a third globally last year—but startups are still fetching billion-dollar valuations by tapping into something that never goes out of style: Matters of national security.Twitter laid off another 200 employees—or about 10% of its remaining workforce—bringing the company’s headcount to less than 2,000 from about 7,500 when Elon Musk officially took over the company in October of last year.Big charities like Oxfam, Unicef, and World Vision are calling on Canada to step up their foreign aid game.Celebrating something? Let us know here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/MNdYA3TO

Air Canada is piloting (and not the in-the-air kind) facial recognition tech for passengers boarding certain flights from Vancouver to Winnipeg.Canada’s inflation rate is cooling, but might prove to be sticky.You may have never heard of Tobias Jesso Jr., but he’s a shining, homegrown example of just how lucrative being a songwriter can be in the age of music royalty sales.Celebrating something? Let us know here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/MNdYA3TO

The head of the Royal Norwegian Air Force has a vision for Arctic security that involves Canada, the US, Finland, Sweden, and (of course) 250 ultra-modern fighter jets.Google is testing ways to block Canadian users from seeing news content on Search, as part of a spat with the feds over the idea that tech giants should pay up for linking articles.JPMorgan has told ChatGPT to clear its desk and head on home.Celebrating something? Let us know here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/MNdYA3TO

Canada plans to bring 1.5 million newcomers aboard over the next three years, over 50% of whom will be economic immigrants. But they will face an uphill battle to reach their full potential.A federal agency has very quietly decided that the government shouldn’t be using TikTok.Celebrating something? Let us know here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/MNdYA3TO

Despite a lacklustre earnings report marred by slowing sales, Home Depot will commit US$1 billion towards wage increases for its hourly workers in Canada and the US, with handy hardware helpers set to receive pay bumps later this month.Canada will deploy two naval vessels to the coasts of Haiti that will be tasked with monitoring the waters around the capital city of Port-au-Prince.Data from the largest-ever 4-day work week pilot shows that the 61 UK organizations participating in the six-month study, 92% said they would stick with the shorter week.Celebrating something? Let us know here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/MNdYA3TO

Portugal will stop offering so-called golden visas—which grant non-EU nationals residency permits in exchange for investments into the country starting at ~$500,000—in an attempt to tackle a lack of affordable housing.You can now add electoral influence to your list of “things the West and China are fighting about” along with spy balloons, research funding, and real estate investing.If you’ve been on social media, you’ve probably come across a pair of red boots that look stolen off the feet of a claymation clown and wondered to yourself: “What are these things?”Celebrating something? Let us know here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/MNdYA3TO

World Bank chief David Malpass will step down over a year before his tenure ends, giving the Biden administration a coveted opening to fill by June of next year.Nestlé, the world’s biggest food maker, saw its real internal growth (a measure of sales and consumer product choices) fall by 2.6% last quarter as the company raised prices by 10.1%, its steepest price hikes in decades per Financial Times.The Canadian women’s national soccer team is playing the US tonight in their first game of the SheBelieves Cup. However, their biggest match-up is happening off the pitch.Celebrating something? Let us know here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/MNdYA3TO

Tired of having needless arguments that don’t go anywhere with your friends, family, and co-workers? Now you can have them with your search engine instead!If there was a list of groups hoping the Bank of Canada keeps its promise to stop hiking interest rates this year, housing developers would be at the very top.Last year, over 40,000 migrants crossed into Canada through an unofficial border crossing into Québec. In the last six months, the feds have relocated over 5,300 to other provinces.Celebrating something? Let us know here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/MNdYA3TO

The EU has effectively banned the sale of new gas-powered vehicles after 2035, after approving a law that will force carmakers to achieve a 100% cut in emissions by that time.Lab-grown diamonds are pretty darn close to the real deal.Complete global dominance of the maple syrup market isn’t enough. Canada wants to be a leader in artificial intelligence (AI) too.Celebrating something? Let us know here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/MNdYA3TO

After 15 years of Bed Bath & Beyond (BB&B), Canadians will have to start looking elsewhere for avocado slicers, onion choppers, and any other bizarre kitchen gadgets under the sun.Real estate developers say new rules aimed at boosting the housing supply may actually have the reverse effect.Technology has come a long way since the phrase catfish entered the cultural lexicon over a decade ago, and now cybersecurity and fraud experts are warning that new and advanced AI tech might have the potential to revolutionize romance scams.Celebrating something? Let us know here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/MNdYA3TO