Canadian Fintech: Business Banking is Booming 💳
Opal raises pre-seed. Shopify redomiciling? Cybrid gets registered with OSC.
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 the industry in under 3 minutes.
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💰 Funding
Opal, a Vancouver based vertical software to run advertising agencies (contracts, invoicing, payments, accounting, etc.) raised over $2m from Founders Co-op and Exit North Ventures.
Buying ads on Instagram, Linkedin & TikTok are some of the largest expense line items a company can have. $300b of that spending is done through ad agencies today.
Funding for Canadian business banking startups is popping off:
Corpay, a Toronto based publicly traded FX company increased their credit facility by $750m.
Quadshift, a private equity firm rolling up b2b vertical software raised $23m from BDC and Celtic House Venture Partners.
Certn, a Vancouver based background check provider raised $30 million from BDC.
Merchkit, a Vancouver based inventory cataloguing platform for retailers raised $2m from Afore Capital and Antler Canada.
🤝 M&A
Surecomp, a Toronto based trade finance management software acquired ELCY, a UK based competitor.
Vancity, Canada’s 2nd largest credit union is considering a merger with fellow BC credit union First CU.
Dye & Durham, a Toronto based legal tech company best known for their corporate registry databases received a take-private offer valuing the firm at $1.3b.
The twist is that the potential acquirer is run by Matt Proud, who was recently removed as CEO of Dye & Durham.
Proud left following clashes with activist investors over a poorly performing stock, pace of acquisitions, a competition bureau investigation and a forced divestment. He agreed to stay on for three months to help find a new executive before leaving.
🚀 Product
Shopify seems likely to redomicile from Canada to the USA after filing a 10-K form with the SEC (a disclosure doc for domestic issuers) and listing New York City as their HQ alongside Ottawa for the first time.
Hyyve, a marketplace connecting home sellers with real estate agents partnered with Frank, a marketplace connecting borrowers with mortgage lenders.
Shakepay, a bitcoin banking platform (crypto exchange, cash accounts, bitcoin cashback card, etc.) launched accounts for businesses.
Aryza, an Irish debt collection software company launched a platform for Canadian insolvency trustees.
Inovatec, a Burnaby based loan origination system popular with Canadian automotive lenders is integrating into Dabadu, a CRM for Canadian auto dealers.
Zpayd, a Toronto based bill pay platform is expanding into the US.
Temu, the Chinese Amazon competitor, is allowing Canadian merchants to sell items on their marketplace to local buyers.
⚖️ Policy
Cybrid, a Toronto based platform connecting traditional payment rails to stablecoin rails, received registration with the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC).
Bybit, a Dubai based crypto exchange was hacked for a record setting $1.5b, but Canadians have mostly been spared from damages.
Bybit exited Canada in 2023 after clashing with the OSC.
Re/Max Canada will pay $7.8m to settle two lawsuits related to agent commissions driving up the cost of homes and reducing competition.
Low fee agent models like Bōde, KeyPR, & Zown or for-sale-by-owner (FSBO) models like HonestDoor have become popular ways to reduce agent commissions in Canada.
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Have a great week! See ya 👋