The Peak Daily

Despite a Canadian horse being one of the favourites, Canadians couldn’t bet on last Saturday’s Kentucky Derby through single game sports betting apps because the government excluded it from new regulations. One in five container ships globally are currently stuck at major ports due to service and route disruptions stemming from lockdowns in Shanghai and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. One of Canada’s biggest maple syrup companies has been taken over by Bain Capital-owned Valeo Foods Group, with the aim of tapping into the global market. The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Calgary’s Neo Financial has raised C$185 million led by billionaire Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures—launching the challenger bank into Canadian unicorn status, or a valuation of over $1 billion. Shopify missed profit estimates and announced the largest acquisition in its history, a US$2.1 billion deal for startup Deliverr to expand its warehousing and delivery services for merchants that would rival Amazon. Apple, Google, and Microsoft want to kill off passwords for good—within the coming year, all three companies will build support for a cross-platform passwordless sign-in where your phone is the password. The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Markets are trying to connect the dots on the future of ride-sharing, as Uber doubles its revenue from last quarter but Lyft’s weak earnings outlook has dragged both companies’ stock prices down. Canada has become one of the first countries in the world to hold crowdfunding platforms to the same reporting standards as banks for large or suspicious transactions. Thanks to boosts from recent acquisitions, The New York Times added 387,000 net digital subscribers in Q1, bringing its total subscribers to 9.1 million The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

The United Church of Canada has plans to create new rental apartments for 34,000 people over the next 15 years by revitalizing its properties to find new uses for old churches across the country Restaurant Brands International (RBI) reported a net income of US$183 billion in Q1, much of it driven by Tim Hortons which boosted its year-over-year sales by nearly 13% and saw the largest earnings of any RBI restaurant. Canada’s Pension Plan (CPPIB) has built stakes in several late-stage Indian startups, including a news app with over 350 million daily users Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Turns out, the majority of mental health and prayer apps are pretty creepy—tracking, sharing, and capitalizing on users’ most intimate personal thoughts and feelings. Canadian conglomerate Thompson Reuters is launching an independent assessment to align itself with the UN’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights Stellantis—the world’s sixth-largest automaker, with brands including Chrysler and Jeep—will announce a new $2.54 billion deal to revamp existing plants in Southern Ontario for the production of electric vehicles (EVs) Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Social media and camera company Snap announced a mix of new platform features this week—some that bet on bringing augmented reality (AR) into daily life, and others that fly. Tesla has recalled 48,000 vehicles in the US over concerns about speedometer displays, marking Tesla’s tenth recall campaign of the year. French social media app BeReal is betting that social media users tired of filters and perfectly curated ‘lewks’ on apps like Instagram and TikTok feel the same way. Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Meta’s stock surged yesterday after adding more users than expected but posted its slowest revenue growth since going public a decade ago Canada has joined 55 other countries in signing a pledge to promote connectivity, democracy, and “the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms” on an internet that is open, reliable, and secure. Block (formerly Square), the digital-payments company run by Dorsey, has expanded its small business loans program to Canada, available as of this week*.* Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Spotify gained two million new paying subscribers over Q1 and its total monthly average of paid and unpaid users rose to 422 million, representing a net gain of 16 million in the period—but the news wasn’t enough to stop the stock from hitting an all time low. Canada’s Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development released five new reports and taking the Canadian government to task on its climate initiatives. And the most damning finding was that carbon emissions fell just 1.1% between 2005 and 2019, and since 2015 emissions have actually risen. Boston-based Fidelity Investments is planning to let investors put a Bitcoin account in their 401(k)s, the first major retirement-plan provider to do so Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Elections Canada is undergoing a digital makeover that includes virtual offices and modernizing record-keeping. The EU has issued a warning to Elon Musk over Twitter’s (still feels weird saying that), making it clear that, free speech plans aside, Twitter must comply with the EU’s new digital regulations or risk being fined up to 6% of their total revenue or even banned outright in the Eurozone. Canada is caught between two calls: to boost oil and gas production to help with the global energy crisis while simultaneously meeting its ambitious climate targets and achieve net-zero by 2050. And RBC says Canada can do both but it won’t be easy or cheap. Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

As China continues to keep much of Shanghai in lockdown as it combats a mass Covid outbreak, Chinese stocks have fallen to their lowest levels in over two years with two main stock indexes falling 5% Monday. Beekeepers across Canada are buzzing with concerns over alarmingly high bee mortality rates owing to damages from the (menacingly named) Varroa destructor mite, with some keepers in Manitoba and Ontario seeing losses of up to 90%, much higher than typical mortality rates of 20-30%. Twitter has accepted Elon Musk’s bid to take over the company for $45.5 billion, closing out days of discussions between Musk and the company’s board after the billionaire presented a “best and final” offer days ago. Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.