This week, Canadian fintech company Wave, which is based out of Toronto, Ontario, announced it had closed on $32 million CAD (about US $24 million) of funding for its Series D round. The funding was led by investments from the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and National Austrailia Bank (NAB).
Cloud-based Financial Management for Small Businesses
The Toronto-based fintech company 
provides online financial services to small businesses. Clients can manage their accounting, invoicing, payments, payroll, receipts, and lending all from Wave’s cloud-based application. The company offers most of its services for free with only payroll and credit card processing having a pay-as-you-go fee. After partnering with small business lender Ondeck, Wave now offers small businesses the ability to apply for loans for up to $500,000 which can be used by businesses to fund a host of different operational expenses.
According to the company’s press release, Wave intends to use the bulk of the most recent round of funding for product development. Specifically, the firm wants to invest in artificial intelligence and machine learning in order to automate and streamline many of the services the company currently offers.
Ontario Becoming a Global Fintech Hub
A little over a month ago, Ontario, where Wave is located, released its budget that outlined the province’s strategy for advancing fintech in the region. Ontario is aiming to be a world leader in fintech and wants to promote the growth of fintech through job creation and continued investment in the industry. Wave appears to be a prime example of one of the companies that the province sees as leading the region towards its goal of becoming a global fintech leader.
Mike Dobbins, head of strategy and corporate development at RBC, said of Wave:
We’re proud to support Wave as they continue to bring
solutions to market for entrepreneurs in Canada and around the world. This investment is part of our commitment to support the scale up of emerging fintech companies in our economy, recognizing the critical role they play in Canada’s Innovation agenda.
Hopefully, with this newest round of funding, Wave will be able to continue to increase the number of fintech jobs in Ontario and continue growing the region as a global fintech hub.
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