Finovate Blog

From the snap election called by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the country’s recently expressed eagerness to accept refugees in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, there have been more than a few reasons for the Great White North to make news headlines of late.

Now fintech fans in particular have another reason to pay attention to what’s going on in the chronically under-discussed nation. FreshBooks, a cloud accounting software company based in Toronto, Ontario, has raised $130 million in new funding. This gives the firm a valuation of more than $1 billion, becoming Canada’s latest fintech unicorn.

FreshBooks CEO Don Epperson said that the funding, which included $50 million in debt financing, was an “injection of confidence” in the company’s mission to help small businesses digitize their accounting operations. Epperson added that the capital will fuel investment in markets that are experiencing significant increases in regulation and help those small business owners better “manage their finances” by “simplifying workflows.”

The Series E round was led by long-time FreshBooks investor Accomplice. Also participating in the funding were J.P. Morgan, Gaingels, BMO, and Manulife. New investor Barclays, one of FreshBooks’ platform partners, was also involved in the financing.

Founded in 2003, FreshBooks is active in more than 160 countries, including Croatia, Mexico, the Netherlands, and the U.S. – as well as its native Canada. The company’s technology has helped more than 30 million people better manage their finances, billing operations, and payments, while increasing customer engagement with its ten-time Stevie award-winning customer support. In July, the company announced that it was teaming up with the Ontario government in a data-sharing partnership to help understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on small businesses. In May, FreshBooks co-founder Mike McDerment was featured in Profiles in Leadership where he discussed the company’s origins from its humble beginnings in “his parents’ basement” to the 500-employee company that is now among the top cloud accounting software firms in the world.

---

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Central and Southern Asia

• KreditBee, a digital lending platform based in India, launches its first credit card.
• With a $90 million Series C round led by B Capital Group, India’s CoinDCX became the country’s first crypto unicorn.
• SimpliFi launched its card issuance platform in Pakistan and the MENA region this week.

Latin America and the Caribbean

• Brazilian fintech Nubank announced plans for a $2 billion IPO on the Nasdaq by the end of 2021.
• Argentina-based PFM app Ualá raised $250 million in Series D funding in one of the largest private fundraising by an Argentinian company.
• Mexico News Daily profiled David Poritz and Allan Apoj, founders of Credijusto.

Asia-Pacific

• Philippines-based FinScore brought its Telco Credit Scoring solution to SB Finance.
• Currenxie, a cross-border payments company based in Hong Kong, secured $10 million in Series A funding.
• Vietnam-based digital bank Timo inked a partnership with banking platform Mambu.

Sub-Saharan Africa

• Bank of Ghana teamed up with Germany’s Giesecke+Devrient (G+D) to support the launch of its central bank digital currency pilot project.
• Digital-only Bank Zero launched in South Africa this week.
• Julaya, a fintech based in Ivory Coast, secured $2 million in pre-Series A funding.

Central and Eastern Europe

• Estonian-based LHV Bank extended its partnership with Nets.
• U.K.-based banking platform Curve introduced new CEO and head of Curve Lithuania, Renata Sumskaite.
• Lexology looked at how new legislation in Ukraine could create opportunities for innovation in payment services.

Middle East and Northern Africa

• Abu Dhabi-based investment platform Sarwa secured $15 million in Series B funding this week in a round led by Mubadala and 500 Startups.
• QNB, a financial institution based in Qatar, announced a partnership with Visa to launch its QNB Visa Life Rewards program for cardholders.
• National Bank of Egypt teamed up with ecommerce platform Jumia

---

Photo by Andre Furtado from Pexels