Canadian Fintech: We Launched a VC Fund ✨
Procurify & SkyCap raise debt rounds. Fintel Connect axes marketing compliance risk.
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.
Today we have a special announcement… we launched a VC fund!
Introducing Exit North Ventures
Exit North Ventures is a $20 million venture fund investing in early stage Canadian fintech.
We write cheques between $250k to $1m into pre-seed and seed stage fintechs based in Canada.
To run this fund, I’ve partnered with a group of Canadian entrepreneurs, who have built and sold fintech businesses that have created thousands of jobs, and billions in investor returns.
I’m thrilled to get to work alongside the founders of Financeit, Paradigm Quest, LendCare, Impact Mobile, SAVVYY, and Beanworks who are joining me as Venture Partners.
We are a group of Canadian fintech experts backing Canada’s most ambitious founders.
In the last year, we’ve made investments into exciting companies like Opal, Arbor, Walter, Baseline & others, alongside incredible US & Canadian funds.
But before I get further into the details of Exit North Ventures, I’m going to quickly explain how we got here.
Hi 👋 I’m Tal
For nearly a decade, I've been embedded in the Canadian fintech ecosystem - building products, writing & hosting events.
I started my career launching the Canadian Lenders Association, where I grew a small trade organisation into the largest financial services group in the country.
During that time, I launched industry-leading conferences like the Canadian Lenders Summit and the Bankers Summit, attended by thousands of founders and industry executives.
Later as a Product Manager, I started sharing the things I was learning about the industry through a newsletter… this newsletter 🙂
What began as a side project has grown into Canada's largest fintech publication.
I've had the privilege of connecting with countless founders, making angel investments, and advising companies of all sizes.
Through these experiences, I've developed a deep understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities facing Canadian fintech entrepreneurs.
With Exit North Ventures, I'm excited to take the next step and make meaningful investments in the next generation of Canadian fintech leaders.
What’s our secret sauce?
Venture capital is a people business.
To build a successful fund, you need to surround yourself with the best people.
That means having:
Dealflow: unique access to founders who have proven their ability to win
Expertise: strong, experienced investors on your team, who have built & sold huge businesses before
We’ve designed Exit North Ventures to have an unfair advantage in both areas:
Dealflow
The Canadian Fintech Newsletter is the largest fintech founder community in the country. Over 11,000 Canadians use this email to track trends in the sector, meet other founders, and launch their businesses.
I have covered nearly every single Canadian fintech launch for the last three years, and have worked with the majority before they have come to market.
Expertise
The best way to guarantee a successful exit is to work with other Canadian founders who have done it themselves.
Exit North Ventures is backed by exited fintech founders who have created billions of dollars in investor returns.
Our Venture Partners include:
Ali Metel, founder of LendCare (acquired by goeasy)
Kathy Gregory, founder of Paradigm Quest (acquired by MCAP)
Catherine Dahl, founder of Beanworks (acquired by Quadient)
Gary Schwartz, founder of Impact Mobile (acquired by Cisco)
Norm Cappell, founder of SAVVYY (acquired by a leading Canadian FI)
Michael Garrity, founder of Financeit (acquired by InterVest)
Along with incredible Limited Partners who have founded Canadian fintechs like FISPAN, Simply Group, Vopay, Lendesk & many others.
Our secret sauce is combining Canada’s largest community of fintech founders with the expertise of Canadian fintech founders who have done it before.
We believe that this type of fund has never existed before and is positioned to become a dominant player in the Canadian market.
Why now?
There has never been a better time to launch a fintech fund in Canada.
As I get to write about every week, the Canadian fintech landscape is bursting with innovation. I’m paying close attention to the following factors:
Market credibility: Canadian fintech pioneers like Shopify, Verafin, and Solium have shown the world what’s possible. Their success has paved the way for the next generation of fintech leaders.
Regulatory tailwinds: The regulatory environment is becoming increasingly supportive of fintech innovation. We’re finally seeing clarity in areas like real-time payments and open banking, which will unlock big opportunities.
Talent: Canada is home to world-class universities and a strong immigration system, attracting top talent from around the globe.
Macro: Rates are coming down way faster than expected.
A massive market: Canada has one of the largest financial services industries in the world. Our top 5 banks are all ranked in the top 11 in North America by assets.
AI: AI is revolutionising the way we build and scale businesses. Founders can get to market faster with less money than ever before.
It’s the best time in history to be a fintech entrepreneur in Canada.
What's next?
Exit North Ventures would not be possible without you. LPs and founders choose to work with us because of your readership - thank you all.
I’ve met so many incredible people thanks to this newsletter. And I’m honoured that many of them have chosen to support this fund.
If you are interested in getting involved as well, please reach out.
Let’s build the future of fintech 🚀
And now back to your regular Canadian Fintech Newsletter…
💰 Funding
Reactiv, an Ottawa based mobile app builder, raised $5m.
The founding team comes from Shopify.
Revyl, a Canadian founded platform to catch and triage software bugs, raised $1.5m led by Panache.
Stack Capital, a TSX traded company that invests in pre-IPO equities, raised a $16m private placement.
Future Money, a Boston based fintech allowing parents to invest on behalf of their children raised $2.5m from Canadian funds Harvest and Mistral
The reason this story made the cut is because the startup’s founder previously started Montreal based Moka, a savings tool to round-up your purchases to the nearest dollar.
Moka was acquired by Mogo in 2021 for $64m.
Procurify, a Vancouver based spend management platform, raised a $28m debt round from CIBC Innovation.
They raised $68m in equity last year.
SkyCap Financial, a Kingston based consumer lender, raised a $50m debt facility.
🤝 M&A
Spark Real Estate Software, a CRM for pre-construction home developers acquired Juniper, a post-construction homeowner management platform for submitting service requests.
Juniper competes with Virtuo, an Alberta based company that raised $3m from TELUS Ventures and ATB in 2023.
🚀 Product
Fintel Connect, a Vancouver based fintech, launched a banking-as-a-service (BaaS) marketing compliance platform for sponsor banks.
In the US, sponsor banks have been recently hit with a wave of consent orders over how they manage their relationships with fintech clients.
Allowing sponsor banks to track what marketing content is posted by their clients, automates a portion of that compliance cost.
Maple, Toronto based a billing & invoicing infrastructure integrated with Float, a spend management platform.
CommonShares, a tool to transfer ownership from retiring business owners to their employees launched.
The company is backed by Simple Ventures.
OneVest, an embedded wealth management platform launched in the US.
PulseFX, an FX management startup launched.
The founding team comes from OFX, an Edmonton based competitor.
⚖️ US Policy Corner
The CFPB, a US regulator published its final rules on open banking to the chagrin of local banks.
Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase had this to say about Rohit Chopra, the head of CFPB afterwards: "Rohit is a very smart guy who has one major flaw, which I told him personally, which is that you use your brains to justify what you already think."
Can you imagine head of RBC CEO, Dave McKay saying that about the head of OSFI 😂
S&P, Fitch, and Moody's have all downgraded TD Bank in the wake of the lender's historic US money-laundering settlement of USD $3.1 billion in fines.
Turns out the Tiktok viral “free ATM money trick” was actually just cheque fraud 😂
Raising money for your fintech? Fill out this form
Want to invest in Canadian fintech? Fill out this form
Want to get in front of 11,200 fintech decision makers? Reply to this email to become a sponsor.
Have a great week! See ya 👋
Congrats. Not many people go from content creator to VC. The only other people that managed to do that a part from you is Michael Arrington of TechCrunch fame and Harry Stebbings of The Twenty Minute VC fame. Congrats!
Congrats! Very exciting and motivating to read your take on the fintech startup ecosystem health. Looking forward to hearing more from Exit North Ventures.