A new online marketplace hopes it can help close Canada’s pet care accessibility and affordability gap. Furble has launched everywhere in Canada except Quebec to help pet parents fill prescriptions for their furry companions online (or browse other food and wellness products) and get them delivered to their door. The company was founded earlier this…
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In a sweeping expansion of women’s health services, the National Health Service (NHS) made the morning-after pill available for free across nearly 10,000 pharmacies in England. The change, which began this week, means anyone who needs emergency contraception can walk into their local pharmacy and receive it at no…
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Brazil, a country at the heart of the world’s climate future, has taken a major step by creating 10 newly recognized Indigenous territories. The announcement came at a moment of heightened emotions and protests both inside and outside the COP30 conference, underscoring how deeply land rights and climate justice…
The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Technology Innovation Institute (TII) is set to open a new corporate research lab within Mila, Montréal’s artificial intelligence (AI) research centre, thanks to a new partnership. “Working this closely with Mila’s scientists will accelerate foundational discoveries and strengthen the global research ecosystem.” Najwa Aaraj, Technology Innovation Institute Mila and the…
The Canadian country manager of crypto exchange Coinbase wants the federal minister of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital innovation, Evan Solomon, to add blockchain technology to his portfolio. The federal government has already moved quickly on legislation governing stablecoins, a digital asset, in response to industry demands. However, Lucas Matheson, CEO of Coinbase Canada, believes…
Faire co-founder and chief architect Marcelo Cortes argues that his company, a privately held online wholesale marketplace based out of Kitchener-Waterloo and San Francisco, has the numbers of “a very good public company,” but he won’t say when it might make the leap. Cortes said market conditions would need to be aligned for Faire to…
An AI chatbot built by one person as a proof-of-concept on a Friday afternoon, with no guarantee it’ll get off the ground. Has a government project ever sounded so much like a startup? That’s what I was thinking listening to Canadian Digital Service’s Michael Karlin at the Ottawa Responsible AI Summit this week. His team…
“Valley or Bust.” It has been a common refrain amongst Canadian entrepreneurs over the years, but recently it sounds more like a rallying cry. New data shows that only one-third of “high-potential startups” created in 2024 are still headquartered in Canada in 2025, with half of those companies fleeing to the US. “In the beginning,…
Episode Description: In this week’s episode of The Optimist Daily’s Weekly Roundup, Arielle and Karissa return from a fall break with a fresh wave of uplifting stories, diving right into two standout solutions of the week. First: the “bike bus” phenomenon turning school mornings into joyful, community-powered parades across the world. Next: surprising new research…
TikTok is facing a proposed class-action lawsuit that alleges the social media app did not disclose the scale or scope of personal information it collects from Canadian users, or disclose how that data was used to sell targeted advertising. The proposed lawsuit alleges no TikTok privacy policy disclosed to users that “TikTok was combining and…
