Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
Category Archives: Enterprise, Scaleup
Wealthsimple Expands Banking Stack At Live Event
May 22, 2026 | NCFA Market Activity | Banking And Credit Infrastructure, Payments And Market Infrastructure, Lending Consumer Credit And BNPL, Artificial Intelligence And Data
Wealthsimple Expands From Investing Into Daily Money Management
On May 21, 2026, Wealthsimple unveiled a major expansion of its financial services platform during its live product event, “Wealthsimple Takes Over Your Life”. The announcements included family accounts, business chequing, USD accounts, portfolio backed credit, spend insights, overdraft protection, and a monthly $1M client rewards program. The company said more than 4 million Canadians now use Wealthsimple and hold $150B in assets on the platform.
Wealthsimple isn't a Schedule I bank, but it delivers banking style services through regulated Wealthsimple entities, infrastructure access, and partner financial institutions. Wealthsimple says chequing balances are held in trust with CDIC member institutions, while Wealthsimple Payments Inc. and Wealthsimple Investments Inc. are not CDIC member institutions. Power Corporation disclosed a controlling interest in Wealthsimple through Power Financial, Great-West Lifeco, and IGM. In Q1 2026 results, Power valued its Wealthsimple ownership at $3.8B as of March 31, 2026.
NCFA also covered Wealthsimple’s $750M financing and $10B valuation, which gave Canadian fintech markets one of the rarest and strongest scaleup stories.
Wealthsimple Expands Everyday Money Tools
The event hit home how far Wealthsimple has moved beyond investing and trading. The company now wants a larger share of daily financial activity across deposits, payments, borrowing, business banking, and household finance.
This builds on earlier product expansion when Wealthsimple added credit and loan tools in 2025, including a cash back credit card and low interest credit line. The latest event pushes that same strategy further into operating accounts, secured borrowing, and household controls.
Business Banking Targets SME Pain Points
The business banking launch carried the clearest fintech impact. Wealthsimple introduced business chequing with online setup in less than 20 minutes, virtual cards, automated CRA payments, recurring transfers, interest bearing balances, and higher e transfer limits.
- Business clients can send up to $25,000 per e transfer with a $50,000 daily limit
- The account pays up to 2.25% interest with no balance cap
- Its average business chequing balance is $40,000
- Announced USD business accounts for firms with US suppliers or customers. The accounts will include no account fees, no cross border transfer fees, interest on balances, and access to US payment rails
See: Wealthsimple Taps X To Capture Trade Intent At Source
Those features target familiar problems for Canadian SMEs. Many owners still deal with low transfer limits, little or no yield on operating balances, manual tax payments, and weak cash management tools.
Portfolio Credit Adds Secured Borrowing
The Portfolio Line Of Credit may become one of the company’s most important financial products. Wealthsimple said eligible clients can borrow against portfolios at rates as low as prime minus 0.5%, or about 3.95% at the time of the event.
Clients can borrow up to 35% of portfolio value. A client with $200,000 on the platform could access up to $70,000 in credit, subject to eligibility and risk controls.
The product gives clients a way to fund business expenses, inventory purchases, major purchases, or debt refinancing without selling investments. This type of secured liquidity has historically been more common in private banking and wealth management.
For Wealthsimple, portfolio credit also deepens the customer relationship. The more assets clients keep on the platform, the more useful the credit product becomes.
Family Accounts Add Household Controls
Wealthsimple introduced three family finance products. Kids and teens accounts give parents card controls, alerts, limits, instant transfers, and parent paid interest. Households lets partners choose what they share, track accounts inside and outside Wealthsimple, and view family finances in one place.
See: Prediction Markets Tighten As Wealthsimple Enters
Authorized traders lets a trusted family member make trades on another person’s behalf without password sharing. That addresses a practical issue. Many Canadians already help spouses, parents, or relatives manage investments informally. Wealthsimple is formalizing that process with permission based account access.
Payment Access Supports New Services
Wealthsimple also pointed to deeper access across Canadian payment systems. The company linked that access to cheaper wire transfers, free incoming wires, faster payroll deposits, lower FX costs, instant virtual card issuance, cash deposits through Canada Post, and ATM fee reimbursements.
Wealthsimple gained direct Swift access, becoming the first Canadian fintech to do so. It supports the company’s push into wires, cross border money movement, and lower cost global payments.
The Canada Post cash deposit feature gives clients access to more than 5,000 deposit locations. Wealthsimple said it processed cash deposit transactions in more than 900 communities during the first two months after launch.
Infrastructure access increasingly matters for large fintech platforms. It can improve speed, pricing, product flexibility, and customer experience while reducing dependence on older branch based banking workflows.
Monthly Millionaire Targets Deposits
Wealthsimple’s Monthly Millionaire program will award $1M each month to one client. Every dollar deposited or saved creates an entry, while direct deposit doubles entries. Move over 'roll up the rim to win'!
See: Wealthsimple Earns CIX Innovator Of The Year
The structure encourages clients to move payroll deposits and savings activity onto the platform. For Wealthsimple, that supports higher deposits, stronger engagement, and more primary account usage.
Takeaway
Canadian fintech competition is increasingly focused on who controls the broader financial relationship, not just a single product category. Wealthsimple now spans deposits, payments, investing, borrowing, family finance, business banking, and cross border accounts.
That puts the company into more direct competition with incumbent financial institutions across several revenue areas at once. The company's expansion shows how quickly a Canadian fintech can move when scale, capital, trust, and distribution come together.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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National Bank Adds Sardine For Fraud Controls
May 21, 2026 | NCFA Fintech Market Activity | Artificial Intelligence And Data, Risk Compliance And Regtech, Banking And Credit Infrastructure
AI Risk Scoring Targets Digital Banking Fraud
On May 20, 2026, National Bank of Canada partnered with Sardine to strengthen digital banking security and improve fraud operations. National Bank selected Sardine after a live evaluation where the platform improved fraud detection and reduced false positives.
The bank will deploy Sardine’s device intelligence and real time risk scoring across retail, commercial, and wealth solutions. Fraud controls are no longer only a back office defense. They now also affect onboarding, payment approvals, customer friction, and trust across the full digital banking relationship. National Bank serves approximately 2.7 million clients globally and reported $606 billion in assets as at January 31, 2026.
National Bank is also leading a $25 million Series C extension in Sardine, bringing Sardine’s total funding to $170 million. That makes this a commercial partnership with one of Canada’s six systemically important banks.
See: AI Spending Rewrites Jobs And How Firms Operate
Soups Ranjan, CEO and co-founder of Sardine:
“Sardine was built for banks that need to stop fraud without slowing down their loyal customers,”
False Positives Are A Growth Problem
Banks need to stop attacks without blocking good customers. False positives creates unwanted friction, cost, abandoned journeys, and damages trust. Sardine’s platform combines device intelligence, real time risk scoring, fraud controls, and financial crime automation.
It also uses a fraud consortium, a shared risk network built from activity across many customers and channels. That network spans more than 6 billion profiled devices, 800 million consumers, and 3 million businesses worldwide. For banks, outside risk data can help spot suspicious behaviour faster than internal data alone.
Fraud infrastructure is evolving from rule based screening toward live risk decisions across the customer journey. The optimum systems will reduce losses without punishing legitimate customers.
Agentic Risk Moves Into Banking Operations
Sardine describes itself as an agentic risk platform for fighting financial crime. That means software that helps risk teams detect fraud, score behaviour, and automate parts of fraud and AML operations. National Bank’s release also references agentic AI in the risk and compliance sector.
The need for AI in banking is now well beyond customer service chatbots and internal productivity tools. Some of the strongest use cases are within risk operations, where firms need speed, evidence, and better decisions under pressure.
See: Cybersecurity Bill C8 Raises Fintech Security Bar
Joshuah Lebacq, Partner, NAventures, National Bank of Canada's corporate venture capital arm:
“After closely following Sardine’s growth and hearing strong feedback from existing customers, we decided to conduct an extensive evaluation of their platform. The results gave us confidence to make Sardine a strong addition to our financial crime prevention operations and expand our commercial relationship.
We’re excited about the potential of agentic AI, especially in the risk and compliance sphere, and Sardine’s financial crime agents are setting the standard for the category,”
The release didn't disclosure any loss reduction or false positive reduction rates from their evaluation, so keep your eyes out for those metrics in the future.
Talking Point
As AI driven fraud systems enter deeper into banking, will the best institutions win by blocking more bad actors, or by approving more good customers with less friction?
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Private Market Valuations Get Prediction Odds
May 21, 2026 | NCFA Insight | Capital Markets And Market Infrastructure, Digital Assets Blockchain And Tokenization
Polymarket Turns Unicorn Milestones Into Tradable Probability
On May 19, 2026, Polymarket launched prediction markets tied to private company milestones, using Nasdaq Private Market data to resolve the contracts. Users can trade on events such as valuation milestones, IPO timing, and secondary market activity.
This isn't a gamble on private company ownership, since traders don't get shares, voting or information rights, or access to a company’s cap table. They get a tradable contract with a public price that reflects the market’s view of whether a specific private company event will happen. While the product doesn't open up private equity to everyone. It enables the public to take odds around private market outcomes.
See: United Efforts to Expand Access to Private Markets
Nasdaq Private Market says nearly 1,600 global unicorns now hold more than USD $5 trillion in combined value, while access remains mostly limited to institutions and high net worth investors. Private markets keep getting larger. Public visibility still lags.
Shayne Coplan, Founder and CEO, Polymarket:
“Prediction markets are one of the most powerful tools we have for democratizing access to financial information and opportunity.”
Private Market Signals Go Public
Private market pricing often arrives late. A funding round may show what investors paid albeit months ago. A tender may show one clearing point for one group of sellers. A secondary trade may reflect scarcity, transfer limits, or a specific share class. But the fact is none of those inputs gives the public a continuous read on what people think will happen next.
A contract price shows the market’s view of a future event, not the company’s fair value. If a contract trades near 70 cents, traders are roughly pricing a 70% chance that the event occurs. That doesn't necessarily make the odds right, but it makes the belief visible.
See: The Rise of Private Markets and Opportunities for Fintechs
That in itself could move the needle for founders, employees, late stage investors, secondaries desks, and allocators. A live probability can show:
- Whether IPO expectations are cooling
- Whether a valuation target still looks credible, or
- Whether a company’s last private valuation measure is losing support
Nasdaq Data Gives The Odds A Reference Point
The Nasdaq Private Market (NPM) brings private market data from primary and secondary market activity, which gives the contracts a stronger reference point than rumours, social posts, or loose valuation chatter.
NPM also brings scale, and with that trust. The company says it's executed nearly USD $80 billion in secondary liquidity for more than 200,000 eligible employee shareholders and investors across more than 1,000 company sponsored liquidity programs. It's an important point because typically private market data is thin and opaque:
- Share classes differ
- Transfer restrictions matter
- Some companies rarely trade
- A secondary price might not even reflect the whole company
See: Prediction Markets Tighten As Wealthsimple Enters
Prediction odds will be strongest where the underlying data is deep, current, and easy to verify. Or as Tom Callahan, CEO, Nasdaq Private Market puts it, “When retail participants enter any market, high-integrity data matters.”
Company Valuations May Face More Pressure
This product could make private valuations harder to ignore and harder to defend. If a company carries a high valuation but prediction odds show weak confidence in a future valuation milestone, investors begin to lose confidence or ask sharper questions. If odds move right after a fundraise, product launch, regulatory event, or IPO rumour, the market gets a faster read on sentiment.
Secondaries may feel the effect first.
- Buyers may use prediction odds as another input when pricing employee shares or late stage positions
- Sellers may use the same odds to push back against stale discounts
- Funds may use them to test whether a markup still looks credible
Prediction market odds don't replace diligence. But they add a public probability signal to a market that still depends on financials, contracts, board materials, customer data, and negotiated access.
Thin Odds Can Mislead Investors
One of the risks of course is a false signal. A small market can falsely produce a strong probability that rests on weak liquidity. A contract price may reflect a few motivated traders, not a deep view of private company value.
See: UK Private Markets Add Liquidity Canada Still Lags
Information gaps also matter. Employees, early investors, brokers, lawyers, customers, and suppliers may know more than the public. As private company prediction markets grow, market integrity will become a bigger issue. Volume, open interest, spreads, trader concentration, and resolution rules will matter as much as the headline odds.
Regulators will be watching. These contracts straddle several policy lines at once, such as derivatives, gambling, securities, consumer protection, and private company information. The more these odds affect private market behaviour, the more scrutiny they will attract.
What Private Market Platforms Should Watch
The strongest use case is private market intelligence. Prediction odds could augment traditional signals, such as secondary market data, valuations and company reported events. Together, the combined inputs may give investors a better view of timing, sentiment, and confidence before an IPO or liquidity event.
Private market infrastructure is becoming more transparent and data driven. Platforms that help investors understand price, risk, liquidity, and timing will have an advantage.
For founders, it adds a new pressure point to manage. Once the public can trade on company milestones, valuation becomes a public narrative before a public listing. That can create attention. It can also expose weak communication, inflated expectations, or a gap between private marks and public belief.
See: How Fintechs Are Unlocking Value in Private Markets
Bottom line: More companies are staying private longer, and more value is being created before public investors can participate. Prediction markets won't fix access on their own. But they may push the market toward better pricing tools, cleaner data, and more honest conversations about private company value.
Talking Point
If the odds become liquid enough, will private marks start answering to public probability signals?
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Tether Backs LemFi For USDT Stablecoin Remittances
May 18, 2026 | NCFA Fintech Market Activity | Payments And Money Movement, Digital Assets Blockchain And Tokenization
USDT Settlement Enters Live Payment Corridors
On May 18, 2026, Tether announced a strategic investment in LemFi, a cross border payments platform serving people who live and work across borders. The investment is focused on integrating USD₮ as a settlement layer across LemFi’s key corridors, especially across Africa and Asia.
This is a separate from LemFi’s USD $53 million Series B, which was announced in January 2025. Tether wants USDT deeper inside remittance infrastructure, where payment companies manage liquidity, settlement, and payout timing.
Tether says LemFi serves senders in the UK, U.S., Canada, and Europe who move money to Africa and Asia. It also says the investment aims to replace multi day SWIFT chains with near instant, lower cost settlement. That is the market issue. Remittance platforms don't compete on app design, but how quickly money arrives safely, and at a fair cost.
See: Stablecoins Split Into Issuance And Service Layers
Paolo Ardoino, CEO, Tether:
“Our investment in LemFi reflects our shared vision on how money moves across borders, prioritizing speed, cost, and transparency. By supporting LemFi’s growth and innovation roadmap, we are helping bring the benefits of a stable digital asset to more people who rely on remittances in their daily lives.”
USDT Is Moving Behind The Payment Flow
The practical change is settlement. USDT is not being positioned only as a crypto asset for users to hold. Tether is backing a payments platform so USDT can help move value behind the scenes across active corridors, which is valued to not only senders but to PSPs, MSBs, and banks.
Faster settlement can reduce delays and working capital pressure. But stablecoins don't solve the whole corridor. Remittance providers still need fraud controls, sanctions screening, clear FX, customer support, licensing, and reliable local payout.
Ridwan Olalere, CEO and Co Founder, LemFi:
“Integrating USD₮ into our infrastructure brings us closer to that reality, enabling faster, cheaper, and more reliable financial services for the millions of people who depend on us every day,”
While the announcement doesn't disclose the terms of the deal like Tether’s investment size or rollout timing, the business case is clear enough.
If USDT settlement shortens settlement time or reduces banking friction, LemFi could improve corridor economics. The customer impact will depend on whether those gains lead to better pricing, faster payout, or more reliable transfers.
See: Visa Canada And RemitBee Speed Up Cross Border Payments
Stablecoin issuers are actively integrating into live payment flows and partnering with platforms that have users, corridor demand, and payout networks. Traditional providers will need to build, partner, or risk losing margin.
For fintech operators and investors, the key insight is that stablecoin remittances are becoming an infrastructure strategy.
Talking Point
As stablecoin issuers invest directly in remittance platforms, will banks and PSPs still control the economics of cross border payments, or will stablecoin networks capture more of the settlement layer?
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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How Payment Innovation Is Cutting Costs for Cross-Border Senders
May 19, 2026
Image: Unsplash/Vitaly Gariev
Sending money across borders has always been expensive.
Banks, wires, and legacy money transfer operators have made sending money expensive for years. Decades of outrageous fees have cost migrants, families and small businesses billions each year just to send their own money abroad.
But here's the good news...
Cross-border payments innovation is finally starting to deliver. Cutting-edge technology, innovative platforms, and intelligent routing are beginning to reduce cross-border costs like never before. Here's exactly how payment innovation is slashing costs and what it means for anyone who needs to make a secure international wire. Whether you're sending $50 to a relative or $5,000 to a vendor, learn how what's going on in the world of payment innovation will save you money today.
Here's what's inside:
- Why Cross-Border Costs Stayed So High For So Long
- 5x Ways Payment Innovation Is Cutting Costs Today
- What Senders Should Look For In A Modern Provider
Why Cross-Border Costs Stayed So High For So Long
Cross-border payments used to follow one path:
Sender's bank → correspondent bank → another correspondent bank → recipient's bank.
Each hop in that chain takes a fee, adds latency, and marks up the exchange rate. When the funds arrive, the recipient may be missing a substantial portion of the sent amount.
The stats don't lie. The worldwide average price to send money is still approximately 6.36% of the amount sent. That's twice the target set by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of 3%.
It can be even worse in certain areas. Sending $200 to Sub-Saharan Africa cost 8.78% on average of the transfer value in Q1 2025. So if you sent $200, nearly $18 is taken in fees.
Think about what sorts of secure money transfers people actually need today. Speed, transparency, and pushing money directly to card or wallet are important to most senders. That's why learning how to send money to a Visa card has become such a popular method. Card rails cut out the sluggish correspondent banking middleman completely.
That's where payment innovation kicks in...
5x Ways Payment Innovation Is Cutting Costs Today
Payment network disruption has arrived. Here are five game changers for reducing costs paid by consumers.
1. Card-To-Card Transfers
Card networks have already laid the groundwork with instant push payments. Visa and Mastercard have led the charge by enabling funds to move from card to card. Instead of passing through three or four banks, money is sent directly in minutes. Compare that to the 3-5 business days for traditional wires.
What does that mean for senders?
- Lower fees because fewer middlemen take a cut
- Faster delivery (often under 60 seconds)
- Better exchange rates because routing is more direct
It's a complete rewrite of how cross-border money should move.
2. Mobile Wallets and Super Apps
Digital wallets are booming. Juniper Research predicts global digital wallet adoption will grow 15.3% by 2029 from 52.6% in 2024.
This is important because wallets allow senders and receivers to conduct transactions without a bank account. Users in underbanked communities can now receive funds instantly to a wallet on their phone. Eliminating:
- Bank account fees
- Currency conversion markups
- Long wait times
In short, more people get more of their money, faster.
3. Fintech Competition
Old-school banks used to dominate the cross-border space. Not anymore.
FinTech newcomers have built leaner systems from the ground up. They utilize true exchange rates (not inflated ones) and charge flat or low percentage fees that are 100% transparent. Some are even starting to offer total cost ratios of less than 1% on popular corridors.
The consequence? Competition. Banks have no choice but to compete against each other. International fees are gradually decreasing for everyone.
4. Real-Time Payment Rails
Countries across the globe are deploying fast payments infrastructure and interoperability between them. India has UPI. Brazil has Pix. Europe has SEPA Instant.
When connected internationally, that's when things get interesting. Cross-border payments that used to take days can be settled in seconds. And all those savings go directly back to you, the sender.
5. Smarter FX Pricing
Foreign exchange is where senders have always been silently overcharged. A markup of 1-2% over the interbank rate destroys any "low fee" claim.
Senders are now being shown the exact mid-market rate they will receive by modern providers. That level of transparency is game-changing — because once senders can see rates compared side-by-side, the most expensive providers will no longer be able to fly under the radar.
What Senders Should Look For In A Modern Provider
Not all borderless payment services are created equal. Here are the key things to look for if you want to maximize payment innovation:
Transparent pricing: A quality provider is upfront about what the fee is and what exchange rate they will apply. There are no surprises and no hidden FX markup included in the conversion.
Various payment methods: Top services allow users to receive money how they want; bank account, debit card, mobile wallet, cash pick up, etc. The more options available the better.
Quick settlement times: Transfers should occur same day or instantaneously, they shouldn't be a "premium feature".
Great security: Cross-border fraud isn't uncommon. Ensure the provider offers 2-factor authentication, secure encrypted transfers, and is licensed in both countries.
Extensive country coverage: Some providers only cover 10-15 countries. Others provide service to 100+. Be sure your destination is covered, and that the rates are competitive.
Today's cross-border payments market is large – and growing. It's expected to hit USD 320.73 billion by 2030, according to one report. The market is already at USD 212.55 billion in value for 2024. When there's billions of dollars at stake, companies are fighting for your business. Beneficial news for senders.
The Bottom Line
Cross-border payments are no longer the slow, expensive mess they used to be.
Card rails, digital wallets, fintech disruption, real time settlement, transparent FX pricing…these are all factors combining to lower costs for consumers. And it all adds up – particularly for consumers sending home month after month.
Here's a quick recap of what payment innovation is delivering:
- Lower fees thanks to fewer middlemen
- Faster transfers with near-instant settlement
- Better exchange rates through transparent pricing
- More options for how money is sent and received
- Wider access for the unbanked through mobile wallets
See: Canada Tipping Backlash Payments UX Takes Heat
Before making your next secure money transfer, spend a few minutes comparing providers. Don't just look at the advertised fee. Check the FX rate, speed of delivery and overall cost. It can mean the difference between losing US$20 or US$2 on the same transaction.
Payment innovation is finally on the sender's side. Use it to your advantage.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Relay Secures $50M To Grow SMB Finance Platform
May 19, 2026 | NCFA Fintech Market Activity | SME Finance And Business Banking, Capital Markets And Funding
Cash Flow Control Drives Small Business Banking
On May 19, 2026, Toronto founded fintech scaleup Relay secured $50 million in growth financing from General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund. Relay serves U.S. small businesses with banking and money management tools. The financing is meant to accelerate customer acquisition while Relay keeps existing investment focused on product development.
Relay now supports more than 150,000 small business customers and oversees more than $1.3 billion in managed customer deposits through Thread Bank, Member FDIC. Since its $32.2 million Series B in May 2024, Relay says it is on track to grow revenue by 3.2x by the end of 2026.
The funding isn't a traditional equity round, since the General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund gives Relay capital for customer acquisition. That lets the company spend on growth without pulling the same dollars away from product, compliance, support, and reliability.
Yoseph West, Co Founder and CEO, Relay:
“Every dollar invested in Relay supports passionate folks who work hard to build their businesses and realize their ambitions. This investment is a vote of confidence in the true value we deliver to those self-made entrepreneurs, so they can put every dollar to work,”
Growth Capital Without Product Drift
Relay already has customer scale, deposit traction, and a clear revenue growth target. The investor question is whether paid acquisition can keep working as Relay expands its brand footprint in the U.S. small business market?
See: Float Secures $100M to Expand SME Finance in Canada
Growth can damage a financial product if the operating base isn't ready. Small businesses need stable banking access, clear cash flow views, reliable support, and simple money movement. If acquisition gets ahead of service quality, trust can break quickly.
Andrew Ziperski, Partner, General Catalyst, Customer Value Fund:
“Relay has proven its deep understanding of what small business owners actually need to succeed, with a product that clearly resonates based on the strength of its customer acquisition machine.”
Cash Flow Control Is The Product
Relay is trying to own more of the small business finance workflow, not just the bank account. Its platform brings together accounts, cards, bills, invoices, capital, and other money tools. That gives owners a clearer view of cash coming in, cash going out, and what they can safely spend.
Recent product activity supports that strategy. Relay’s site now highlights receivables tools for invoices and payments, while its support pages show invoice tracking, accepted payment options, automatic reminders, and recurring invoices. Relay has also added Relay Capital term loans, offering small business lending alongside the same platform where owners already manage money.
That's where SMB banking is heading. Cash flow clarity helps them decide when to pay bills, hire, buy inventory, chase receivables, or seek financing. Relay’s strategy is to turn that daily operating pressure into the product.
See: Canada’s SMBs Deserve Better Banking. Lessons from US Fintechs
Important caveat is that Relay's a financial technology company, not an FDIC insured bank. Banking services not related to Relay Capital term loans are provided by Thread Bank, Member FDIC.
Relay Capital term loans are provided through Fundbox, with business loans originated by Lead Bank. That partner model is common in U.S. fintech, but it puts pressure on compliance, disclosures, customer experience, and operational control.
Talking Point
SMB finance remains a large market, but the winning product is no longer just an account. It's the operating system that helps owners see cash, move money, access capital, and make faster decisions when conditions get messy.
If customer acquisition can be funded separately from core product investment, do stronger platforms gain an edge by scaling distribution without weakening banking reliability, support, and product depth?
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Reg CF At 10 Shows Equity Crowdfunding Works
May 19, 2026 | NCFA Insight | Capital Markets And Funding, Crowdfunding, Regulation And Policy
A Decade Of Data Makes The Case For Smarter Crowdfunding Rules
On May 16, 2026, U.S. Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) marked 10 years since eligible companies could start raising capital under the SEC’s final crowdfunding rules. Our colleagues at Crowdfund Insider posted New 10 year Reg CF data from Crowdfund Capital Advisors (CCA) providing the market with a full decade of evidence, certainly something rare in early stage finance.
For NCFA and its community, this milestone deserves attention, since the association has supported investment crowdfunding through advocacy, education, market intelligence, and ecosystem building for well over a decade. In 2022, Fintech Fridays hosted a special episode on 10 Years of Investment Crowdfunding, focused on the JOBS Act. This 2026 anniversary is different because it's been 10 years since Reg CF actually went live.
A Decade Of Market Evidence
The data suggests that a meaningful portion of companies using Reg CF were not just raising money once and disappearing. CCA reviewed 10,771 offerings by 8,955 issuers, and 6,063 issuers completed 7,459 offerings. Those numbers show a market with repeat activity, not just one off campaigns.
The revenue data sends a stronger business signal. Among issuers with three or more revenue data points, CCA reports 27% median annualized revenue growth, with 70% growing revenue and a 1.81x median revenue multiple. This means many companies with enough reporting history showed measurable operating growth after raising capital through crowdfunding. That supports the case that Reg CF financed real businesses, not only speculative startups.
See: Equity Crowdfunding Breaks Records in Canada
Among issuers that raised multiple rounds, CCA reports a 24% median valuation CAGR, a 1.54x median valuation step up, and valuation increases for 79% of multi round issuers. That suggests many repeat issuers returned to the market with stronger investor validation and higher implied company value.
The repeat raise numbers are important too. More than 7,400 successful offerings from about 6,000 issuers suggests a meaningful number of companies returned to the market more than once. That points to crowdfunding evolving beyond one time community fundraising into an ongoing capital formation channel for some businesses.
Sherwood Neiss, Principal, Crowdfund Capital Advisors:
“A decade of actual market data tells a completely different story.”
That sentence captures why this milestone matters. Reg CF didn't replace venture capital like many suggested. It didn't solve every funding gap, but it democratized and proved that regulated online capital formation can support real issuers, real investor participation, and measurable growth over time.
Data Reveals Compliance Gap
The strongest data point is not only the growth metrics. It's now also about discipline. CCA separates issuers that keep reporting and return to the market from those that disappear from the data. It's important because transparency creates trust. A crowdfunding market cannot mature if investors, platforms, regulators, and researchers cannot track performance after the raise.
See: CCA Report: State of Investment Crowdfunding 2025
CCA reports that there's a large compliance gap in reporting. Among 5,077 Reg CF issuers with active annual reporting obligations, only 301, or 5.9%, are fully current. Another 32.4% are partially current, while 61.7% are not current. It's a gap that needs to be fixed. It is a reason to modernize reporting, reduce unnecessary friction, and build better data infrastructure.
Canada Should Treat This As A Policy Moment
Canada should use the Reg CF 10 year milestone to modernize investment crowdfunding. The current $1.5 million 12 month issuer cap under National Instrument 45-110 now acts as a real constraint for stronger companies, especially when campaigns can approach the limit before meeting full market demand. NCFA has long argued that Canada risks falling behind international peers that raised their crowdfunding limits years ago, including the U.S., which increased the Reg CF cap to USD $5 million in 2021.
Canada should raise the issuer cap, index it to inflation, and create a higher fundraising tier for issuers that meet stronger disclosure, financial reporting, and portal due diligence standards. NCFA has also previously advocated for right sized disclosure rules, including director and officer certified financial statements for smaller raises, reviewed financial statements for mid sized raises, and audited financials only for larger raises where the added cost is proportionate.
Investor participation rules also need modernization. Canada should review the current retail investment limits, allow greater participation from experienced and repeat crowdfunding investors, and explore a knowledge based or self certified investor category with appropriate safeguards. A modern private capital market should not assume that all retail investors have the same risk profile, sophistication, or investing experience.
See: UK Crowdfunding Caps Lift As EU Pushes €12M
Structural incentives would help strengthen the market further. Canada should explore clearer pathways for TFSA and RRSP eligibility where appropriate, support secondary market liquidity after holding periods, and encourage co investment structures that allow funds, angels, and retail investors to participate together in compliant online financings.
Canada needs standardized campaign data, stronger post raise reporting, issuer education, and technology enabled compliance for KYC, background checks, risk warnings, issuer updates, and ongoing disclosure. NCFA previously covered why Reg CF data quality matters. If regulators and policymakers rely on incomplete reporting data, they risk misunderstanding how capital actually forms, performs, and scales through online private markets.
A stronger crowdfunding market doesn't require weaker oversight. It requires smarter rules, better data, and a funding framework that reflects how modern private capital forms online.
Crowdfunding Has Earned Its Place In Private Capital
The 10 year Reg CF story is evidence that digital investment markets can widen participation, support early stage companies, and create a more transparent private capital market. The next phase should focus on quality, not just volume. Better issuer readiness, clearer post raise reporting, credible data, secondary liquidity experiments, and stronger investor education can help crowdfunding move from alternative finance into core capital formation infrastructure.
See: Fintech Fridays EP57: 10 Years of Investment Crowdfunding: Past, Present & Future Since the JOBS Act
For NCFA, this is also a moment to recognize the builders, platforms, lawyers, advocates, educators, investors, and founders who kept pushing when the market was dismissed as too small or too risky. Reg CF at 10 shows that the model works when policy, platforms, and market discipline move together. Canada should not watch from the sidelines at a time when more capital needs to flow.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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