This translation has been automatically generated and has not been verified for accuracy.Shares in telemedicine startup MindBeacon Holdings Inc. jumped by more than 50 per cent in their debut on the Toronto Stock Exchange Friday.
The stock opened Friday at $15 – or 88 per cent above the issue price – before settling back. It was trading at around $12.40 around 11 am. With 23.6-million shares outstanding, that gave the company a market capitalization of more than $280-million.That makes MindBeacon the latest in a slew of technology companies to get an enthusiastic welcome from public investors this year on Canadian stock exchanges. Several issues on both the TSX – including Nuvei Corp. and Dye and Durham Corp.
Mr. Duboc, who co-founded private equity firm EdgeStone Capital Partners as well as Air Miles parent LoyaltyOne Co., has been open about his past struggles with depression. In a letter included with MindBeacon’s prospectus, Mr. Duboc explained how the sudden death of his brother in 2011 led him to become “deeply depressed.” He struggled to find a good therapist and felt “stigma and discomfort with each appointment.
The Dubocs teamed up starting in 2015 with CBT Associates, a private Toronto provider of cognitive behavioural therapy to treat people with mental-health issues, including anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder – a form of treatment that Mr. Duboc has said helped him. They later formed MindBeacon to develop a digital service for patients to access practitioners remotely. CBT co-founder Peter Farvolden is chief science officer.MindBeacon’s services are provided by Telus Corp.