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The latest fundraising round included participation from multiple Canadian entrepreneurs such as the CEOs of Roblox and Shopify.
Canadian challenger bank Neo Financial has secured CAD$360m through a Series D funding round, which involved the CEOs of popular video game Roblox and retail platform Shopify.
The company, which was founded in 2019, has raised more than CAD$650m in funding since its inception. The latest funding round included CAD$110m of equity and CAD$250m of debt.
As well as investment from Shopify’s Tobi Lütke and Roblox’s David Baszucki, the latest round also included investment from former CEO of Slack, Stewart Butterfield.
In addition, the raise saw participation from Neo Financial’s existing investors Valar Ventures, Golden Ventures, Afore Capital and Thomvest Ventures.
The fintech’s CEO, Andrew Chau, said that its growth over the last four years “reflects Canadians’ strong demand for alternatives to traditional banking”.
“Despite being in the lowest period of venture funding that fintech has seen in the last five years, we’ve been able to raise one of the largest fintech funding rounds globally this year,” he said.
“This growth capital allows us to continue winning the hearts and minds of Canadians, serving them when they need it the most.”
Version One Ventures also invested in Neo Financial, despite it being beyond the company’s “typical early-stage sweet spot”.
Boris Wertz, founding partner of Version One, said: “We have known the Neo co-founders – Andrew Chau, Jeff Adamson, and Chris Simair – for many years, since they grew their previous company, SkipTheDishes, into a top 10 brand in Canada.
“We have long admired how relentless they are in pursuing the mission of bringing a better banking experience to Canada.”
At present, Neo Financial offers eight products, which include premium credit cards, artificial intelligence money insights and automated savings options.
Fintech is a rapidly expanding sector and could become a $1.5trn industry by the year 2030.
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