Canadian Fintech: Fresh Funding for Freshbooks 🫘

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.

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💰 Funding

• Freshbooks, a Toronto based small business accounting and invoicing platform raised USD $125m in debt from Morgan Stanley. The company last raised:

  • In 2022, USD $100m in debt from BMO & JP Morgan.

  • In 2021, USD $130m in debt & equity at a valuation of over $1b from Accomplice, Gaingels, BMO & Manulife.

• Doormat, a platform to close Canadian residential real estate transactions online, rebranded to Ownright and raised $4.5m from Relay Ventures and Alate.

  • Ownright raised $1.25 in 2023 from Alate, The LegalTech Fund and various angels.

  • Canadian fintech Deeded also competes in this space.

🤝 M&A

• DeFi Technologies, a Toronto based publicly traded crypto investing firm acquired Neuronomics AG, a Swiss algorithmic asset management firm

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🚀 Product

• Canada Post launched their previously announced spending & savings account via KOHO.

• Sun Life will start offering their life insurance clients Empathy, a US based estate planning and probate platform.

  • ClearEstate is a Canadian competitor in this space.

• Shopify moved its US public listing from NYSE to the Nasdaq.

  • Last month the Canadian fintech added NYC as a second HQ, sparking rumors that it was domiciling.

• Venturevest, a Montreal based alternative investment marketplace for retail investors launched their beta.

• Addy, a Vancouver based platform to invest in fractional real estate properties & mortgages was fined $100k by BC’s securities regulator.

  • Addy avoided registering as a securities dealer under BC’s “crowdfunding” exemption.

  • Canadian regulators have increased their scrutiny of online trading platforms in the wake of major crypto platforms going bust in recent years.

  • Fractional real estate trading is a very mature industry in the US, but an emerging one in Canada. Instead, Canadian investors have been able to get exposure to the asset class through REITs, which allow you to buy into a pool of real estate properties (vs a specific property).

⚖️ Policy

• OSFI released their annual risk outlook. New themes this year include concerns over the condo market; AI governance and fraud; and global macro instability.

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Have a great week! See ya 👋