- Canada’s Neo Financial closed $145 million ($185 million CAD) in funding.
- The round brings the three-year-old company’s total funding to almost $240 million ($299 CAD) and boosts its valuation past $785 million ($1 billion CAD).
- Neo is now one of only a few Alberta-based tech companies to become a unicorn.
Canada-based Neo Financial’s newest funding round has boosted the company up to unicorn status in Canadian dollars. The $145 million ($185 million CAD) investment was led by Valar Ventures and saw participation from Tribe Capital, Altos Ventures, Blank Ventures, Gaingels, Maple VC, and Knollwood Advisory.
Today’s investment boosts Alberta-based Neo Financial’s total funding to almost $240 million ($299 CAD). It also marks the company as one of just a few tech companies in the region to become a unicorn.
Founded in 2019, Neo Financial differentiates itself with its user-friendly banking technology. The company boasts one million users of its four main products, which include a credit card, high-interest savings account, and investment tools. Additionally, Neo Financial is slated to launch a mortgage offering by the end of this year.
“We’re constantly challenging the status quo,” the company said in a blog post, “and asking the questions that should be asked: What if you only needed one loyalty card instead of 20? What if your financial services experience was as seamless as Netflix or Spotify? What if getting a mortgage could be a fully digital experience? What if the future of banking wasn’t a bank?”
With 650 employees under its roof, a number that has doubled in the past year, Neo Financial is growing. The company has added more than 11 products and features in the past year alone. To fuel this growth, the company adding 100 people to its workforce in Calgary and Winnipeg.
“The pace at which this team releases new products and grows its customer base is among the fastest we have seen in our careers,” said Valar Ventures Founding Partner Andrew McCormack.
Maple VC’s Andre Charoo echoed those thoughts. In an interview with TechCrunch, he said, “Neo is the fastest growing company I have seen in Canada… I believe Neo has a shot at owning at least 10% of the aggregated $550 billion banking sector in Canada (ie. $50 billion) due to the network effects it has created with its unique merchant loyalty program.”