Canadian fintech Neo Financial has successfully secured C$110 million in equity and an additional C$250 million in debt to enhance its competition against the major five high street banks in Canada.
The funding round was spearheaded by an undisclosed Chinese investor, as revealed in documents initially reported by The Logic. The Series D shares were issued at a significantly lower valuation compared to the 2022 Series C round. While the company has not disclosed its current valuation, it confirmed to BetaKit that it is below the C$1 billion mark established in 2022.
Notable participants in this funding round include Shopify co-founder Tobi Lütke, Slack co-founder Stewart Butterfield, and investment firms Valar Ventures, Golden Ventures, Afore Capital, and Thomvest Ventures.
Andrew Chau, CEO of Neo, stated, “Despite being in the lowest period of venture funding that fintech has seen in the last 5 years, we’ve been able to raise one of the largest fintech funding rounds globally this year.”
Founded in 2019 by the creators of food delivery service SkipTheDishes, Neo initially launched with a single product. Now, the company boasts eight offerings, including bank accounts, credit cards, mortgages, savings accounts, investments, and AI-driven budgeting tools.
Neo also provides embedded services and collaborates with companies such as Tim Hortons, Cathay Pacific, and Hudson’s Bay.
“Investing in Neo Financial was about supporting a team that deeply understands Canadians and is relentless in improving their financial experience,” Butterfield remarked. “They’re building a solution that’s more human-centered than anything we’ve seen in fintech.”