Dialogue

Dialogue started in 2016 in Montreal, co-founded by CEO Cherif Habib and CTO Alexis Smirnov. Presenting at TechTO in June 2017, when the company was one year old, Smirnov described the model as a corporate benefit: employers buy a subscription priced per employee per month, and members start by chatting with a nurse before a consultation with a doctor, prescription included. At the time Dialogue operated in four provinces. Smirnov framed the company as a 'med tech hybrid' — from the outside it looks like a medical clinic, from the inside like a software startup — and said that owning the full technology stack, building privacy and security in from day one, and merging clinical and engineering teams were the things that made it work. Dialogue has since grown into an integrated health platform spanning primary care, mental health, employee assistance, and wellness. It IPO'd on the TSX in 2021, and Sun Life agreed to acquire it in July 2023 at $5.15 per share, valuing the equity at roughly $365 million CAD; the deal closed in October 2023 and Dialogue operates as a standalone entity with its head office in Montreal. Its own site says over 8 million Canadians have access to its services, across 52,000+ Canadian organizations.