Check out the May 2016 edition of the Fintech Five.

PayPal gives people better ways to connect to their money and to each other, helping them safely access and move their money and offering a choice of how they would like to pay or be paid.

The Fintech Five powered by PayPal profiles five of the hottest and most promising financial technology companies across Canada each month. The list is curated by Techvibes editorial staff and reflects who is making waves in our nation’s fintech ecosystem right now.

 

Online bookkeeping service Bench recently closed a $20 million Series B up­round led by Bain Capital Ventures. The round, which brings total capital raised to over $40 million, will go toward product enhancements and the roll-out of a new product.

Originally called 10Sheet, Bench launched in July 2013 after being a part of the Spring 2012 Techstars cohort. Since then Bench has made significant strides in its journey toward automating the job of a bookkeeper. By creating task­-specific algorithms and perfecting tools that can work with bank and payment data, Bench has reduced the labour time of its bookkeepers by 75%.

 

The emergence of fintech in the auto sales has helped Canada Drives become the largest consumer auto-finance company in Canada. Founded in Saskatoon in 2010 by co-CEO Cody Green, the company helps consumers facing all types of credit situations by connecting them with dealer partners that will work to find them an approval.

Now headquartered in Vancouver and 150 employees strong, Canada Drives works with over 300 accredited dealer partners. In 2015, Canada Drives facilitated auto finance on a mass scale through the use of technology, working with over 400,000 Canadians, representing over $7.2 billion in auto loan applications and over $1 billion in funded loans.

 

Toronto’s Plooto is a cloud-based payments platform that enables businesses to send and receive payments in an easy, fast, and secure way. And with the Canadian Revenue Agency’s recent commitment to use direct deposit instead of cheques, Plooto is a timely business payment solution for small businesses.

Plooto was co-founded by Hamed Abbasi and Serguei Kloubkov and has closed a funding round led by Real Ventures. They previously founded Vast Studios, a casual gaming company which was acquired in 2014. Plooto was named one of Canada’s 20 Most Innovative Technology Companies in 2015.

 

Toronto-based RateHub was launched by a small group of bootstrapping founders as a mortgage comparison site in 2010. Led by CEO Alyssa Richard, RateHub goes out of its way to support and showcase women who are leading in the fintech industry in hopes of inspiring the next generation of women to get into tech.

After five years, RateHub saw a major spike in their product offerings, opening credit card, deposit and insurance verticals. They also opened their own mortgage brokerage in 2015, CanWise Financial, and have opened three new offices in Kingston, Quebec and Vancouver.

 

Mobile technologies are the top trend in the hospitality industry and Tacit Innovations allows consumers to order and pay for their meals at their favourite restaurants, in busy food courts or in stadiums. Its maegan platform leverages existing in-restaurant systems to enable seamless operations in the busiest locations.

Starting in June, restaurants on the maegan platform will offer PayPal as a payment option to their customers. maegan is available in some of the best restaurants in Toronto. Tacit lists MTY Group and Compass Group as its clients, and signed its first deals in the US.

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With PayPal‘s 184 million active customer accounts globally and 6.4 million in Canada, we have created an open and secure payments ecosystem that people and businesses choose to securely transact with each other online, in stores and on mobile devices.

 Want to be a part of the next Fintech Five? This list isn’t something you can apply for, but make a splash and you’re certain to get on our radar. 

Check out the April 2016 edition of the Fintech Five.

PayPal gives people better ways to connect to their money and to each other, helping them safely access and move their money and offering a choice of how they would like to pay or be paid.

The Fintech Five powered by PayPal profiles five of the hottest and most promising financial technology companies across Canada each month. The list is curated by Techvibes editorial staff and reflects who is making waves in our nation’s fintech ecosystem right now.

 

Encircle is a provider of real-time documentation and collaboration software for the Property/Casualty insurance industry. With self-service capability to empower policyholders and a slick interface for insurance professionals, Encircle’s platform is improving accuracy and significantly lowering costs in underwriting and claim processes.

With Encircle’s mobile and web apps homeowners can take a pre-loss inventory of their home, restoration contractors and adjusters can document a property efficiently after a disaster, and call center operators to can provision a homeowner immediately after a loss, on the first phone call, allowing them to take photos to be used in documenting the claim.

Kitchener-based Encircle recently hired Velocity Garage Director Mike Kirkup to become its CTO.

 

Formerly known as Grouplend and rebranded as Grow Financial in late 2015, this fintech startup won the Techvibes 2015 Startup of the Year award in January. Grow is combining data science, cutting-edge technology, and people-focused service to reinvent financial services in Canada.

Grow recently partnered with Conexus, Saskatchewan’s largest credit union, to bring online lending to Saskatchewan. This new partnership will allow residents of Saskatchewan to apply for a loan anywhere, anytime, from their computer, phone or tablet, and have the funds in their bank account by the following business day.

Grow has raised $10.2 million since launch and its investor group is led by Markus Frind, founder of PlentyofFish, and Lance Tracey, founder of Peer 1 Hosting and Sutton Real Estate Group.

 

An inconvience of international travel is finding a use for leftover foreign currency and Israel’s TravelersBox is looking to solve this problem. TravelersBox allows users to put foreign currency into a machine to redeem as digital currency, such as PayPal credits.

TravelersBox recently signed a cooperation agreement with Toronto’s Pearson International Airport to install its automatic foreign currency exchange portals as it looks to expand across North America.

Self-described as “the first and only solution allowing travelers in airports to convert leftover foreign currency into usable digital currency,” the startup says it will install 10 kiosks throughout the Canadian airport by the end of the year. TravelersBox already operates in several countries, including Italy, Turkey, and Japan.

 

Last year Vancouver’s Trulioo raised a $15 million venture capital round from American Express Ventures and existing investors – the largetst Canadian fintech financing of the year.

Trulioo is a leading global ID verification company that provides advanced analytics based on traditional information such as public records, credit files and government data as well as alternative sources including social login providers, ad networks, mobile apps, e-commerce sites and social networks.

Trulioo scores online identities as authentic, machine generated or fraudulent and its identity bureau currently covers 3 billion people in over 40 countries. Trulioo enables increased trust and safety online by powering fraud and compliance systems for hundreds of clients worldwide.

 

Likely the highest profile fintech startup in Canada, Toronto’s Wealthsimple is a technology-driven investment manager, also known as a robo-advisor. Wealthsimple, makes investing simple, low cost and accessible by instantly creating a diversified portfolio for clients and allows for automated maintenance.

Since launching their platform in 2014, Wealthsimple has witnessed several notable victories included entering a partnership with Power Financial Corporation last year. Under this agreement, Power Financial invested $10 million in to Wealthsimple and can invest up to $20 million more over the next 12 months, with the option to make further investments over the next three years.

Since then Wealthsimple has announced $400 million in assets with over 10,000 clients in less than a year, acquired a brokerage, and launched a mobile app in Canada.

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With PayPal‘s 184 million active customer accounts globally and 6.4 million in Canada, we have created an open and secure payments ecosystem that people and businesses choose to securely transact with each other online, in stores and on mobile devices. 

Want to be a part of the next Fintech Five? This list isn’t something you can apply for, but make a splash and you’re certain to get on our radar.