Canada

November 6, 2015 @ 10:36 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Toronto has all the ingredients necessary to become a major fintech hub but is failing to compete with the likes of London and New York because it has not developed a proper ecosystem, according to the new report, “Current State of the Financial Technology Innovation… Read More

November 4, 2015 @ 8:45 am By JD Alois  |  

KoreConX has launched a new service just as new equity crowdfunding rules, under Title III of the JOBS Act, were revealed last week by the SEC. The KoreConX product is offering a “free, all-in-one solution to help companies navigate the process of raising equity capital”…. Read More

October 28, 2015 @ 2:56 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Lendified, a Canadian alternative lending platform, announced on Wednesday its induction into MaRS Discovery District’s FinTech Cluster. The MaRS FinTech Cluster was established in February 2015 and is dedicated to supporting startups and entrepreneurs who develop next generation technology in emerging payments, financial services, peer-to-peer… Read More

October 20, 2015 @ 6:19 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) and Nunavut Securities Office have published a new exemption for startups in the province.  The document is now open for a 60 day comment period. The ASC states; We have heard that in the case of some small, early-stage businesses… Read More

October 12, 2015 @ 10:04 am By JD Alois  |  

  Lending Loop, a new peer to peer lending platform, has launched in Canada to allow ordinary Canadians the ability to invest in small businesses across the country. The site actually went live this past June. The creation of co-founders Cato Pastoll and Brandon Vlaar,… Read More

October 8, 2015 @ 10:46 pm By JD Alois  |  

Bondora has crossed the Atlantic. This is according to multiple reports that the Estonian based platform has entered North American, skipping the US, and heading due North. Quoted in the Globe & Mail, Partel Tomberg, Bondora co-founder and CEO, stated; “We are able to provide investors… Read More

October 8, 2015 @ 10:08 am By JD Alois  |  

CoPower, an investment crowdfunding platform that targets the clean energy sector, has announced that it has raised $850,000 in seed financing led by RBC and Innovation Support. The company has been in operation for several years and has helped to raise over $1 million in… Read More

October 7, 2015 @ 10:18 am By Bret Conkin and Alixe Cormick  |  

Real estate investment is a consistently hot news topic.  Open any newspaper or news website in Canada and coverage of the real estate market is easy to find, particularly in Vancouver and Toronto.  Fortunes are made investing in residential and commercial properties. Speculation, offshore investors,… Read More

September 28, 2015 @ 2:07 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Kicking off the new school year with a competition, crowdfunding platform Tilt announced the Top Party Schools in Canada Challenge. The Tilt team shared in a recent blog post: “Last month we announced the top 10 party schools in Canada with Queen’s taking top spot…. Read More

September 18, 2015 @ 9:51 am By JD Alois  |  

All aspects of finance are quickly moving online capitalizing on the intrinsic efficiencies of the internet. Reviewing and completing financial transactions, be they large or small, are far more easily managed in a single repository where documents may be housed and progress tracked.  OfferingPoint is… Read More

September 17, 2015 @ 2:03 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Avant, a fast-growing marketplace lending platform, announced on Thursday that it is expanding to Canada, the company’s newest international market. Headquartered in Chicago, Avant has empowered more than 300,000 consumers in the United States and United Kingdom. The recent launch of AvantCredit in Canada will bring… Read More

September 10, 2015 @ 1:29 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

After being diagnosed with several medical conditions, Epicured Market Founder and President Jillian Bowman discovered the challenge of eating well, finding the correct ingredients for delicious recipes and preparing meals.  She searched for recipes and meal plans for hours every day, then spent just as long… Read More

September 2, 2015 @ 5:00 pm By Bret Conkin and Alixe Cormick  |  

Causes and Lessons to be learned from more Developed Markets In this three-part series, we examine whether “conservative” Canadian business culture is having a negative effect on equity crowdfunding taking hold in Canada.  In Part I of this series we took a snapshot of equity… Read More

August 26, 2015 @ 10:38 pm By JD Alois  |  

The investment crowdfunding push is a global movement. In the US multiple platforms have cropped up to take advantage of the evolving regulatory environment regarding general solicitation.  Across the border in Canada things have moved a bit slowly.  But earlier this year Canada took a… Read More

August 24, 2015 @ 5:47 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Last month, President of  C.Y.C.I  (The Liberation of Christian and Yazidi Children of Iraq) and Québec resident, Steve Maman, took to crowdfunding platform GoFundMe with a mission to raise $2 million to free the Christian and Yazidi children in Iraq from the horrifying conditions they are… Read More

August 20, 2015 @ 3:20 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

On Thursday, Colborne Communications announced that it has acquired Pubslush. This acquisition will go into effect on Monday, August 24th, and crowdfunding platform will continue to take submissions for book funding and pre-order campaigns. Since 1977, Colborne Communications has provided a variety of editing, design… Read More

August 19, 2015 @ 11:09 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Grouplend, Canada’s peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform, announced on Wednesday that it has closed an additional round of financing, having raised $10.2 million since launching ten months ago. The round is being led by Markus Frind, CEO of PlentyofFish, and Lance Tracey, founder of Peer 1… Read More

August 17, 2015 @ 12:30 pm By Bret Conkin  |  

  American culture is known for celebrating “winners.”  Canadians are known for being modest and risk averse.  Could this cultural difference explain why Canadian equity crowdfunding appears to be relatively underdeveloped so far?  We checked out the funds actually raised in 2015 and talked to some of Canada’s… Read More

August 11, 2015 @ 1:13 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

  While shares of Mogo Finance Technology Inc. have slid from $10 to $6 since the IPO–the company was the first Canadian online lender to go public–all is far from lost. After the $50-million IPO on June 25, Cormark research analysts Jeff Fenwick and Richard Tse believe the stock will… Read More

July 20, 2015 @ 5:23 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

In an effort to fund their way to the Pan Am games, a group of Canadian handballers reportedly launched crowdfunding campaigns to help with the rather expensive trip. According to Yahoo! Sports, the handballers decided to looking into the funding method because of the high… Read More