Canadian Fintech: Private Markets 💸
EQ makes another acquisition. Fig launches. Gov regulates bank fees.
Morning!
Welcome back to Canadian Fintech, a newsletter for founders, operators & investors. Was this forwarded to you? Become one of our 7,632 subscribers by clicking below.
💰 Funding
Canadian private equity markets are getting a fintech makeover:
Hiive, a market for trading stock in VC backed private companies raised $5.7m. Hiive launched in Canada earlier this year after receiving its exempt market dealer license.
Hiive is helping employees sell stock during an IPO dry spell - great timing.
DealMaker, a fundraising platform for private companies raised an undisclosed sum from CIBC Innovation.
Waterloo based Faire, a platform connecting Shopify merchants with brands raised an undisclosed amount of financing from… Shopify. I wrote about their VC track record in my last newsletter.
🤝 M&A
Equitable Bank acquired ACM, a $5b asset manager in the Canadian commercial mortgage industry. The deal adds to EQB’s existing $28b commercial loan portfolio and also brings in new investors - pensions, foundations, etc.
✌️ Peace of mind for CFOs
So you raised debt capital for your lending company - bravo! Now for the nuts and bolts: making sure you can access the capital when you need it. That’s where Finley’s debt capital software comes in.
Finley fosters a CFO’s peace of mind by simplifying credit facility management. From streamlining funding requests to tracking covenant compliance, Finley’s software helps teams automate crucial financial processes.
CFOs already using Finley manage over $3b in debt capital with private credit lenders and rest easy while doing it. And now, Canadian Fintech Newsletter readers can get a $100 gift card just for chatting with a Finley expert.
Don’t miss out. Register here.
🚀 Product
Recently launched small business loan marketplaces are finding demand as the deadline to repay the government’s covid era business loans nears:
Swoop just passed $2.5b in requested loans.
Boundless crossed $1b.
Levr hit $200m.
Fig Investments, software for structuring principal protected notes received regulatory approval to launch structured bitcoin notes in Alberta and BC. This allows investors to get exposure to crypto without taking on the volatility risk of owning it directly.
Canada has a history of firsts when it comes to making crypto more accessible: Purpose Investments launched the first bitcoin spot ETF in 2021.
Hopper, the digital travel agency rebranded its b2b fintech business to HTS. HTS represents 40% of Hopper’s revenue.
⚖️ Policy
Canada’s Finance Minister, Chrystia Freeland plans to make banking more affordable by regulating bank fees.
Another way to reduce bank fees? Promoting industry competition. Open Banking has stalled under Freeland for years.
Finance Canada is considering further reducing the maximum allowable interest rate a lender can charge. The current APR cap is 47%. The last federal budget proposed reducing it to 35%. This consultation is exploring whether it can go even lower than that.
📈 Stat of the week
Cash is not king according to Payments Canada. Over a 5-year period, cash payments have declined by 59%, while the usage of online transfers have expanded by 328%.
Raising money? Pitch hundreds of Canadian fintech investors here.
Investing? I’ll send you 5 actively raising fintechs every week here.
Interested in sponsoring? Yay! Just reply to this email.
Have a great week! See ya 👋