Telus Health acquires virtual-care company Akira

TORONTO – TELUS Health has finalized the acquisition of Akira Health, a provider of virtual health services, including video and text. Financial terms were not disclosed. The company said that moving forward, Akira Health will continue to focus on outstanding service to its members, plan sponsors, and partners; there are no planned changes to its staff, business premises, branding, or operations.

Its members and clients will continue to be supported by its current clinical and office teams.

Akira Health’s mission, strategy, and core philosophy are closely aligned with TELUS Health’s and both companies remain committed to improving patient outcomes and experience.

Together, TELUS Health and Akira Health will continue to collaborate on securing opportunities and will explore partnerships to bring mental health and diagnostics to the virtual care platform. Akira Health will also continue to develop products that incorporate market needs and align with emerging technology trends.

Akira Medical was started by entrepreneurs Akira co-founders Dustin Walper, Taha Bandukwala, and Matt Zukowski. It was acquired in 2017 by Right Health, a Toronto-based healthcare company, which then adopted the Akira name. It is run by co-CEOs John Mozas (pictured on left) and Dan Pawliw (pictured on right).

Prior to Akira, John Mozas was the CEO at Medcan, the largest executive health provider in North America, where he grew the company from 30 to 350 employees over 12 years. Before Medcan, John co-founded Grocery Gateway and had roles at GSK, BCG and Warner-Lambert.

Prior to his work at Akira, Dan Pawliw worked as the chief commercial officer at Medcan for 12 years. Before Medcan, Dan worked at Goldman Sachs in New York and JP Morgan H&Q in San Francisco in their investment banking groups.