Plus: Clearco recapitalizes, WonderFi eyes Nasdaq.
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Canadian FinTech companies launch open banking public action campaign as delays continue (BETAKIT)
The Choose More campaign — co-ordinated by Wealthsimple, EQ Bank, Wise, Flinks, Xero Canada, Borrowell, industry group Fintechs Canada and more—aims to persuade Canadians that open banking and payments modernization could improve their personal finances, particularly at a time of high inflation, and create a more equitable financial system.
The campaign launch comes days after the federally appointed leader of Canada’s open initiative, Abraham Tachjian, was intended to conclude his 18-month term. On Oct. 3, Tachjian announced on LinkedIn that his term had been extended to the end of the year, hours after BetaKit contacted the Department of Finance seeking to confirm whether his term had ended.
Fintech Lenders Spiral as Risky Borrowers Struggle
(THE INFORMATION)
The end of an era of historically low interest rates has been a boon for big banks, which can now earn more from the loans they make. But for financial tech startups that sought to challenge traditional lenders, steeper borrowing costs have provoked a reckoning, forcing some to hike fees and cut off their riskiest customers.
Clearco secures new equity financing from existing investors and asset-backed facility as struggling financier recapitalizes (BETAKIT)
Toronto-based FinTech startup Clearco has completed a series of significant financial transactions designed to strengthen the company’s balance sheet, enabling it to continue providing revenue-based financing to e-commerce businesses.
Clearco has now secured a new asset-backed financing facility from Pollen Street Capital and $60 million USD in Series D funding. The company hopes its recapitalization and renewed product and market focus will help it achieve cash flow break-even within the next 12 months.
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FTX Employees Found Alameda’s Secret Backdoor Months Before Collapse (THE WALL STREET JOURNAL)
Months before the collapse of FTX, some of its U.S.-based employees discovered the so-called backdoor that Alameda Research allegedly used to withdraw billions of dollars of customer funds from the cryptocurrency exchange, people familiar with the matter said.
But the problem never got fixed. In the summer of 2022, the leader of the team that raised concerns about Alameda’s special privileges was fired.
Pine acquires Properly to capture more of the Canadian home-buying process (BETAKIT)
Pine has acquired fellow Toronto-based tech startup Properly, including its brokerages and home search and discovery platform, as it looks to expand beyond just mortgages.
The all-cash deal closed in September and followed a separate transaction between Properly and United States (US)-based Compass.
The acqusition price was not disclosed.
Indian fintech unicorn Slice secures rare approval to merge with bank (TECHCRUNCH)
Indian unicorn FinTech Slice is merging with North East Small Finance Bank after receiving the approval from the central bank, in an extremely rare feat that has eluded many tech giants, top financial startups, and tycoons for decades.
Slice, backed by Tiger Global, Insight Partners, Blume Ventures and EMVC, was valued at about $1.5B in its previous funding round last year.
WonderFi files SEC registration statement as crypto firm eyes Nasdaq listing (BETAKIT)
Toronto-based cryptocurrency firm WonderFi has announced that it has filed a registration statement with the United States (US) Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
WonderFi owns three registered Canadian crypto trading platforms: Bitbuy, Coinsquare, and CoinSmart. Earlier this year, WonderFi merged with the latter two in what marked a landmark deal for Canada’s digital asset sector.
Open banking led to a fintech boom — as Brite raises $60M, account-to-account payment grows (TECHCRUNCH)
So-called account-to-account (A2A) payments are on a streak, with the global A2A transaction value surpassing $525 billion in 2022, due to real-time payment rails now being available. Brite Payments is taking advantage of this scene, announcing a Series A raise of $60 million.
Your finance team isn’t immune to digital transformation (BETAKIT)
In a recent conversation with Zoho, a cloud software provider for businesses, Julian Weber, CEO of SELISE Digital Platforms, shared his journey and how he digitized his finance function in a way that helped grow the business.
Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT Creator Yuga Labs Confirms Layoffs (DECRYPT)
Yuga Labs, the $4 billion startup behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club and other prominent NFT projects, announced Friday that it has restructured the company and eliminated certain roles as a result, leading to layoffs.
Ecosystem fears cleantech funding gap as ISED pauses SDTC funding after mismanagement investigation (BETAKIT)
The Government of Canada has suspended Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) from funding new projects following the conclusion of a third-party investigation into allegations of mismanagement at the federal cleantech investment agency.
Canadian investors BetaKit spoke to said even a temporary pause on new SDTC funding could have a significant impact on Canada’s early-stage cleantech startups, at a time when venture and debt financing have become even harder to secure, and cleantech capital and companies are already fleeing south.
Stampli reels in $61M for its AI-powered accounting platform
(SILICON ANGLE)
Stampli Inc., a startup using artificial intelligence to make accounting teams more productive, today announced that it has closed a $61 million late-stage funding round led by Blackstone.
Stampli uses an AI bot dubbed Billy to automatically extract the contents of paper and PDF invoices. The bot can automatically enter the data it collects into a company’s enterprise resource planning application.
Business getaway marketplace RetreatsAndVenues takes first prize in New Ventures BC 2023 startup competition (BETAKIT)
New Ventures BC has given out $250,000 in prize money to the winners of its 23rd annual startup competition, presented by Innovate BC.
The competition brings together the province’s top startups who receive access to education, mentorship, and prize money. This year, Leasey.AI, a platform for property managers to automate the residential leasing process, took home the $10,000 leap to the cloud prize.
Crypto laundered through coin swaps, bridges and DEXs hits $7 billion: Elliptic (THE BLOCK)
When Elliptic published the first edition of its now annual report, the analytics firm had predicted that funds laundered through decentralized exchanges (DEXs), cross-chain bridges and non-KYC exchange services (called coin swaps) “would rise to $6.5 billion by the end of 2023.”
Elliptic’s new report, however, shows that figure had already hit this high mark as of July of this year.
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