Canadian Fintech: Shopify gets exclusive 💍
Clutch in the clutch. Credivera buys Oliu. Reach gets acquired.
Good morning!
Welcome back to the Canadian Fintech Newsletter, an industry roundup for founders, operators and investors.
Every Monday we break down the hottest topics in your industry in under 3 minutes.
This newsletter is a little bit longer than usual because I was off last week on a US fintech road trip visiting founders and friends across the west coast. I’m back in Toronto this week!
Was this forwarded to you? Become one of our 12,210 subscribers by clicking below.
💰 Funding
Clutch, a digital car dealership, raised $50m from SF based Altos Ventures, Industry Ventures and BMO Capital Partners at a $575m valuation.
The company has 4x revenue over the last 3 years
Glassbox, an fp&a tool for building financial models and evaluating deals raised $1.65m from FinTech Collective, StandUp Ventures and Watertower Ventures.
Alexi, a legal tech software for producing memos and identifying legal arguments, raised $4.5m in debt from TD Innovation Partners.
The company raised $15m in equity in 2024.
Canadian VCs are closing funds:
BDC is allocating nearly $1b to two later stage focused venture capital funds.
GTMfund, a Vancouver based firm focused on early stage US and Canadian software, raised USD $54m.
Last year Luge & Exit North Ventures both announced new fintech focused funds.
🤝 M&A
Reach, a Calgary based cross border payments platform received a majority investment from Primus Capital, a US based private equity shop.
Credivera, a service that verifies workforce credentials, is acquiring Oliu, a digital ID tool incubated by ATB Ventures and used by the Province of Alberta to provide access to government services.
The two Calgary based companies announced a partnership last year.
TD is responding to its USD $434b asset cap penalty in the US by selling:
🚀 Product
iFinance, a Quebec City based online lender partnered with Circle K, one of the largest convenience store chains in the world to offer $750 - $3,000 consumer loans to Ontario shoppers.
Corpay, a cross border payments company, is launching localized foreign currency bank accounts for its customers.
Affirm partnered with Shopify to become their exclusive BNPL provider in Canada / US, with plans to expand to the UK.
RBC partnered with Carbonhound, to allow bank clients to measure & verify their carbon footprint.
Housecall Pro, a home maintenance software platform partnered with Pipe, a US based embedded lender to offer Canadian clients home improvement loans.
Jobber, an Edmonton based competitor is dominant in this market and provides their financing via Wisetack, another US based lender.
Pafin, a Tokyo based crypto tax calculation platform, is expanding to Canada.
⚖️ Policy
The Conservatives say that if elected, they will change open banking accreditation requirements set out by the Liberals to make it easier for fintechs to get regulated.
Canada’s newly appointed fentanyl czar hosted his first meeting between big banks and the RCMP to address money laundering in drug trafficking.
RBC and three non-Canadian banks reached a $180m settlement with British authorities for collusion between 2009 - 2013.
📈 Stat of the week
Canadian fintech funding hit a record USD $9.5b last year, up from USD $1.1b the year before.
Raising money? Fill out this form
Want to invest? Fill out this form
Want to get in front of 12,210 fintech decision makers? Reply to this email to become a sponsor.
Have a great week! See ya 👋