Canadian Fintech: Insurance for Babies 🍼
TIMIA sold to Round13. Hiive hits $1b. Swipe fees simmer down.
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💰 Funding
Trustii, an employee background check provider, raised $2.8m led by AQC and Accelia. The startup raised $1.8m in 2023.
Certn, the leader in the Canadian market raised $40m in 2023 led by EDC.
Blockstream, the Montreal based bitcoin infrastructure company, raised $289m in debt from Fulgur Ventures.
Flora, a fertility insurance startup, raised $1.5m led by Highline Beta.
Fertility insurance, which covers qualifying expenses related to conceiving, are typically only offered through corporate benefits at large companies.
Flora is a lower market solution sold directly to consumers by partnering with a carrier and distributing the product as an MGA (the equivalent of a specialized broker in the insurance industry).
🤝 M&A
DeFi Technologies, a publicly traded crypto investing firm acquired Stillman Digital, a crypto trading desk. Both companies are Canadian.
Round13 Capital, a late stage VC firm founded by Bruce Croxton, is acquiring TIMIA, a venture debt firm from Montfort Capital for $6.5 million.
Montfort is a Vancouver based holding company for private credit businesses. The group owns Langhaus, an insurance policy lender for the high net worth, Brightpath a mortgage lender and Pivot a small business lender.
A MESSAGE FROM THE BANK OF CANADA
The Retail Payment Activities Act (RPAA) is coming into force
Get ready to submit your registration application November 1-15 to continue providing payment services in Canada.
Under the RPAA, the Bank of Canada is responsible for supervising payment service providers to build confidence in the safety and reliability of their services while protecting end users from specific risks.
Find out if you are a payment service provider subject to the RPAA, if you should apply to register with the Bank of Canada, and what the requirements are to prepare for registration.
🚀 Product
Hiive, a Vancouver based marketplace for private company shareholders to sell pre-IPO shares, hit $1b in transactions
Toronto based APX, will facilitate crypto backed loans for US clients on the Netcoins crypto exchange.
CapIntel, a sales tool for wealth advisors to create client proposals integrated into FactSet, a 40 year old analytics platform for advisors and hedge funds. Both fintechs are based in Toronto.
Tab Commerce, a Toronto based tool for restaurants to manage invoices and pay suppliers, launched expense reconciliation. The startups raised $1m in 2023.
Inverite, a Vancouver based bank data aggregator partnered with Mortgage Automator, a loan management system for private mortgage lenders.
Mortgage Automator received a majority investment from the private equity arm of Bessemer Venture Partners earlier this year.
⚖️ Policy
Visa & Mastercard are reducing interchange fees for Canadian SMBs by up to 27% under a deal with the federal government.
Shereen Miller was named commissioner of Canada’s open banking oversight agency. The Liberals expanded the mandate of the FCAC to include open banking in the last federal budget.
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Have a great week! See ya 👋