Relentless, Limitless Possibilities

The Relentless RoundUp – 4th Edition

 Not a fully blown edition, but a riveting one nonetheless.

Our focus is health. On occasion, we also like to indulge, thus we are having a luncheon the day after Thanksgiving before everyone resets their healthy living goals with a cleanse or some intermittent fasting.

At our upcoming Relentless Thanksgiving Salon we will reveal a few stunning facts about our emerging portfolio, and share some hot off the presses highlights from UBC’s summer research (more on this below). We look forward to catching up with friends over a turkey and stuffing free, free meal on October 15th in Vancouver. Ping me if you would like an invite.  

DOUBLE DELIGHT

Earlier in September we announced our investment in Snapclarity. Doubly delighted to have both a formal mental healthcare business in the portfolio, and to have our venture fund’s first investment in a female founder and CEO, Terri Storey. 

Launched in our nation’s capital, Terri and the Snapclarity team have developed a product offering that boosts the disruptive potential of digital technologies for use in personalized mental healthcare. We live in a connected world and people deserve access to help and resources anytime. Snapclarity uniquely places focus on prevention, awareness and treatment.

SO, WHAT DOES A SOCIAL IMPACT INVESTMENT LOOK LIKE?

Well, simply put, Snapclarity. Number three on the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals list is Health and Wellbeing; SDG #3 specifically promotes the goal to deploy capital toward preventative health programs that include addressing mental wellbeing as a strategy to reduce the potential for premature death.

In Canada alone, one third of hospital stays are linked to mental illness and for employers 70% of disability costs are associated with mental illness.

In a snap, corporate partners are embracing the company’s program to become the ‘go to’ mental health and wellbeing check-in tool for all employees. Snapclarity is advancing smart, effective, efficient, and innovative solutions that revolutionize the way mental health care is delivered. Their rapidly growing list of clients range from Emergency Responders to Veterans Affairs Canada to Employee Insurance Brokerage firms.

THE SILENT EPIDEMIC

Over the summer, Relentless participated in a new initiative by UBC’s Centre for Social Innovation and Impact Investment (S3i); S3i is focused on leveraging business tools to advance social innovation and sustainability, through research, incubation, and application.  We are lucky ducks to have worked with analyst, Alexandra, from the first cohort of interns. She dug deep and uncovered The Silent Epidemic – aka the rise of Non-Communicable Diseases In Canada.

The silent epidemic exposes the undeniable link between aging, and the growth of mental health challenges such as depression as well as cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes. While we can’t hit the EASY BUTTON to pause aging, we believe there can be more innovative options to address and manage the risk factors associated with the most common aging issues: mobility, mental wellbeing, heart health and diabetes.

Bottom-line conclusion from the UBC research, the Relentless Venture Fund is the only fund in Canada that is actively seeking to make investments in preventative, as well as proactive health strategies.

DID YOU KNOW?

Speaking of heart health and activity … a tidbit gleaned from a physician seminar I snuck into ahead of the Whistler Gran Fondo:  it takes one month for the right ventricle to recover following an Ironman. 

RELENTLESS POSSIBILITIES

As highlighted by a presenter at September’s “New Horizons in Cardiovascular Health” symposium in Kelowna, “We are living in a VUCA world: Volatile (rapidly changing), Uncertain (hard to predict), Complex (hard to analyze) and Ambiguous (hard to interpret).” 

At first glance, I thought her opening slide stated that we are living in a VULCAN world. Well, it wasn’t. However, I can still draw from Dr Spock’s infamous wisdom: “When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”

Feels like a great mantra to keep top of mind when assessing the plethora of technology businesses committed to innovation. The Relentless team is tapping into future possibilities for patient-centred healthcare fueled by tech.

Connect here to Subscribe to the Relentless Roundup.  

To get updates between newsletters, please follow us on our LINKEDIN Page.