Canadian Fintech: Central 1 Finds a Buyer 🛍️

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.

Was this forwarded to you? Become one of our 11,860 subscribers by clicking below.

💰 Funding

• The CEO of Hopper, a Montreal based travel fintech company announced that he’s looking to do an IPO on the TSX and Nasdaq that would value the company between $5b - $10b.

• Novacap, a Montreal based private equity firm closed a $1b fund to invest in North American digital infrastructure - payments, wireless connectivity, data centres, etc.

  • Novacap owns large holdings in Canadian fintechs like Nuvei, AGA Benefits, & RateHub

  • Novacap raised $2.4b for their sixth fund in 2021.

• Torram, a Toronto based infrastructure for building apps on bitcoin’s blockchain raised $710k from Draper Associates, Boost VC, Side Door Ventures & others.

🤝 M&A

• Street Context, a Toronto based email marketing platform for capital markets companies was acquired by BlueMatrix, a US based investment research publisher.

  • Both firms help investment banks and brokerages distribute information to their clients.

• Divvy Homes, a US based rent-to-own home buying firm, is being acquired by Brookfield, a Toronto based asset management firm for $950m.

  • The deal gives Brookfield 3,800 single family rentals.

  • In Canada, similar home buying fintechs are Key and Requity Homes.

• PWL, a Montreal based wealth manager was acquired by OneDigital, a US based financial services consultant.

  • PWL manages about $5.5b across 2,300 clients. The firm is popular with Shopify employees thanks to referrals from Shopify CEO (and client) Tobi Lütke.

  • OneDigital is owned by Toronto based private equity firm Onex.

🚀 Product

• Central 1, is selling their digital banking products to Indian firm Intellect Design Arena, a few months after announcing that the products were winding down.

  • Central 1 services Canadian credit unions with payments, treasury, and (previously) digital banking services.

  • Below is abreakdown by my friend Doug Macdonald of where their clients are moving to. VeriPark has been the largest beneficiary so far, however presumably Intellect Design Arena will be able to retain a majority of remaining customers.

• FutureVault, a secure data room tool partnered with PortfolioAid, a compliance platform.

  • Both Toronto based companies target clients in the wealth management industry.

• CapIntel, Toronto based sales platform for financial advisors, has signed on Canada Life, an insurance, retirement and wealth management provider.

⚖️ Policy

• Every big Canadian bank, save for RBC, has left the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, the industry's largest climate finance org.

  • RBC says their membership is also under review.

• TD is selling USD $9b of US mortgages in order to meet their enforced asset cap as part of their punishment for money-laundering.

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 11,860 fintech decision makers? Reply to this email to become a sponsor.

Have a great week! See ya 👋

-Tal Schwartz