Canadian Fintech: Planes, Trains & Automobiles ✈️
Binance is back. Sharia fintech. Online mortgages come to Canada.
Morning!
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💰 Funding
Delphia, an algorithmic trading platform that uses user permissioned data (location, app usage, browsing, etc.) to train their models closed $60m. The company subsidizes their retail users by also operating a hedge fund for institutional investors.
MoneyClip, a cash deposit service, went public on the TSXV. Rather than going to a bank branch, merchants can deposit their cash in a ClipDrop box (found mostly in malls) and be credited the following day.
Digital mortgage lender Pine raised $27m from Greylock to become the Better.com of Canada.
Zenbase, a platform for landlords to offer rent deferrals, raised $4m. I wrote previously about rent-now-pay-laters and similar rental fintech models here.
Personal finance platform Hardbacon crowdfunded $400k after an unsuccessful pitch on DragonsDen. Fintechs Caary, CMI, AssetDirect have looked to equity crowdfunding platforms like FrontFundr since laws were relaxed in 2021. What changed?
The amount a company can crowdfund went from $500k to $1.5m
The amount an individual can invest went from $1.5k to $2.5k, with a max of $10k if deemed suitable by a registered dealer.
Fractional real-estate investing platform Parvis put together $2.6m. Similar to Willow, the fintech allows retail investors to purchase shares in individual properties. This is unlike the traditional REIT model where investors buy into a blind pool of properties.
🤝 Acquisitions
Manzil, a Sharia compliant neo-bank that offers credit cards, mortgages, and auto loans is expanding into estate planning with its acquisition of Muslim Will. The company also announced it had closed $2m in financing.
Nasdaq is acquiring ESG data analytics and reporting platform Metrio. Nasdaq’s last Canadian acquisition was a $3.49b megadeal for fraud software Verafin.
🚀 Product
Sivo, an embedded lender that helps other fintechs offer loans to their clients, has launched a product on the opposite side of the balance sheet - a high yield corporate savings account. This is a smart product move in a rising rate environment. Sivo can bring down their own cost of capital and can provide a more fulsome corp finance service to their lending clients.
Interac e-Transfer use hit 1b transactions in the last year for the first time in its 20 year history.
Wealthsimple has consolidated its stock trading, crypto, and cash accounts into one… don’t say it… ugh… super app! The company plans to also introduce lending, but it is unclear what form that will take.
Shopify now allows merchants to offer Interac e-Transfer at checkout through Toronto based DirectPay.
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✈️ Expansion
QUBER, a employee financial wellness platform that helps employers incent worker savings, has expanded into the US with flagship client Levi’s 👖.
Financial planning software Conquest Planning is expanding into the UK through an exclusive distribution partnership with Fidelity.
Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by volume, is targeting a return to Ontario by 2024, but this time as a federally registered IIROC dealer. The company famously exited Ontario after an OSC crackdown on unregistered crypto platforms in the wake of the $260m QuadrigaCX scandal. Remember that one?
⚖️ Policy
Canada’s planned luxury tax is estimated to hurt sales on auto, boats and planes by $628 million combined *auto lenders audibly gasping*. The new tax is set to go into effect September 2022 on all vehicle and plane purchases of more than $100,000 and new boats costing more than $250,000.
Nine Canadian companies have joined an international coalition developing an anti money laundering standard for moving crypto across borders. Most Canadian crypto exchanges and payment companies are regulated as Money Service Businesses (MSBs) meaning that they must report transactions greater than $10k.
🙈 Boardroom Bluster
Despite some investor push back, Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke was granted a “founder share” that will allow him to effectively control 40% of the Canadian company’s board, even if his ownership stake declines.
In a recent filing, online small business lender Lendified warned that it may not be fit to continue. The lender is running a $52m deficit due in part to forced business closures during Covid that impacted its clients.
🎂 Let’s count!
7% the amount of adult Canadians that have no credit history aka credit invisible.
41% the amount of housing in some provinces held by multi-property owners.
$200m the amount RBC is paying in salary increases to keep staff from leaving for one of those pesky fintechs.
👀 Who’s hiring?
EQ Bank, Sr Commercial Strategy Manager (Toronto)
Clio, Sr Product Manager, Payments (Remote)
Affirm, Lead Product Manager, International Expansion (Hamilton)
Ceridian, Director GTM Strategy (Calgary)
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