Calgary-based Symend has raised a $73 million CAD ($52 million USD) Series B round of funding for its customer engagement platform designed to better connect with financially at-risk customers.
We take a closer look at the eight innovative virtual banks that are digitally disrupting Hong Kong's financial services industry using technologies like AI, machine learning and Big Data
Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
Category Archives: Personal Finance
With $73 million CAD, Symend closes one of the largest Series B rounds in recent Alberta history
Betakit | | May 7, 2020
Calgary-based Symend has raised a $73 million CAD ($52 million USD) Series B round of funding for its customer engagement platform designed to better connect with financially at-risk customers.
The round includes $47 million USD in equity and $5 million USD in term financing from Silicon Valley Bank. The round was led by Inovia Capital’s growth fund, with participation from a group of returning and new investors, including Ignition Partners, Impression Ventures, BDC Capital’s Women in Technology Fund, Mistral Venture Partners, Telus Ventures, BMO Capital Partners, and angel investors including Plenty of Fish founder Markus Frind.
See: NorthOne announces Series A round of $21M USD
Symend CEO and co-founder Hanif Joshaghani told BetaKit that the majority of the round was primary, with a small portion of secondary investment. In May 2019, Symend quietly raised a Series A round led by Ignition Partners. Symend also raised a prior seed round led by Impression Ventures, and an angel round that included a personal investment from Joshaghani. The Series B brings the start
Hanif Joshaghani at Symend wins NCFA's 2018 VanFUNDING pitch competition in downtown Vancouver #VF2018
up’s total funding to date to more than $85 million CAD ($60 million USD), according to Joshaghani.
The startup noted that its $73 million CAD round marks one of the largest Series B rounds in recent Alberta history. The province’s tech sector has matured at a rapid rate over the past few years, with tech startups comprising 35 percent of Alberta-owned and operated technology companies in 2019.
Alberta was the fifth largest Canadian market for venture capital investment last year, with $227 million across 39 deals. According to PwC Canada and CB Insights’ report for the full year 2019, Calgary deal activity increased from five to 22 deals last year, while funding rose to $132 million.
Symend was founded in 2016 by Joshaghani, a serial entrepreneur who had previously invested in Wave, and Tiffany Kaminsky, a sales and marketing strategist that serves as the company’s chief strategy officer.
The startup has developed an “engagement platform” designed to better engage, treat, and retain financially at-risk customers. Symend’s mission is to digitally transform the engagement experience for those consumers by using behavioural science, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.
Symend works with enterprise organizations such as service providers and financial institutions to help them interact with at-risk customers “with empathy.” The company says it has “treated” more than 10 million at-risk customers to date and is on track for 100 million by the end of 2020.
“We started this company with the north star of, ‘lets help people and help as many people as we can,’” Joshaghani told BetaKit. “The mic drop moment is, if you can measure at an ecosystem or country-level the number of people you’ve saved from this negative credit outcome, and we’re doing that now.”
“It’s not about collecting every dollar, it’s about preserving lifetime value and working with the customers to find a resolution that ensures that they keep their service, and they’re not negatively impacted on their credit,” Kaminsky added.
See: The paradox of 2020 VC is that the largest funds are doing the smallest rounds
Symend sells its offering as a white-labelled software-as-a-service (SaaS) product. The startup helps companies create “treatment strategies” that are meant to positively engage customers who have outstanding debt. The startup’s goal is to replace legacy collection techniques and states that its scientific research confirms that positively engaged customers are more apt to pay debts in full as well as stay with their provider or financial institution over the long run.
“Enterprises that take an innovative approach to solving common business challenges with a human touch catch our attention,” Rich Osborn, managing partner of Telus Ventures told BetaKit. “Symend is a great example of a company doing exactly that, using both data and digital interactions to create thoughtful solutions that consider both immediate and future customer relationships.”
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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, 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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Podcast: When Currencies Fail: A Primer on the Dollar Crisis in Lebanon
Coindesk | Nathaniel Whittemore | Apr 29, 2020
A massive shortage of dollars is instigating economic chaos, including a more than 50% loss of value in the Lebanese pound and what looks like an enormous local premium for bitcoins. Presented in podcast and full-transcript formats.
The Lebanese pound has lost at least 50% of its value against the dollar since last year. About 220,000 people have lost their jobs. Food prices are up 58%. An estimated 75% of the population needs assistance of some kind. And over the last two nights, at least a dozen banks have been torched by protesters.
See: Living on Defi: How I Survive Argentina’s 50% Inflation
The catalyst? Not coronavirus but a massive dollar shortage destroying an economy that relies on inflows of U.S. dollars to function.
In this episode, NLW breaks down how Lebanon models what it looks like for a currency to fail, and why this likely isn’t the last emerging market currency to experience a similar crisis in the months to come.
A few Snippets from the full transcript
It is Wednesday, April 29th and today we are going to be talking about Lebanon, specifically the currency crisis overlapping a political crisis overlapping a larger economic crisis that is engulfing Lebanon and I think has relevance for how we understand the dollar in the world, the dollar's role in the world and the fallout from COVID-19. I wanted to bring this episode to you because I noticed last week Lebanon start to emerge in the crypto sphere and there were two contexts:
The first was Dan Tapiero. He picked up on a piece by newsBTC noticing that Bitcoin seemed to be trading at fifteen thousand dollars in lebanon via localbitcoins.com which is a peer to peer platform for trading Bitcoin between people. He said the classic emerging market funding crisis was made worse by deflationary dollar peg that is breaking. Study this case as it will be modeled for other weak emerging markets. It will be a key part of the macro story behind the upcoming Bitcoin price rally.
Banks start to limit withdrawals, which is exactly what happened.
Banks started to limit how much could be withdrawn in USD and that creates more demand for dollars. All of a sudden that activity moves to the black markets because if banks won't allow people to withdraw money or get access to dollars, black markets will, but the black market price is not going to stay the same as that official peg.
See:
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Could Bitcoin on DeFi displace banks? Yes
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Unstable coins: cryptoassets, financial regulation and preventing financial crime in the emerging market for digital assets
This keeps going on. As people start to see the peg fall further, they want to minimize loss.
They go from, "I don't want to lose the value that I would have had at that official peg going on the black market" to "The black markets, the only place I can get those [US] dollars
if it's 2000 Lebanese pounds to the dollar, now, I want to lock in that loss rather than worry or take the risk of a loss of greater debasement of the value of the Lebanese pound in months to come.
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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, 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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Microsoft And Plaid Should Target Small Businesses (Not Consumers) With Money In Excel
Forbes | | April 6, 2020
Microsoft and data aggregator Plaid announced a partnership to offer a service they’re calling Money in Excel. According to Plaid:
“Money in Excel essentially turns the spreadsheet into a fintech app. It allows users to securely connect their financial accounts, import the data within them, sync balances and transactions over time, and, ultimately, gain greater insights into their financial health.”
See: With Plaid Acquisition, Visa Makes a Big Play for the ‘Plumbing’ That Connects the Fintech World
Here’s how it’ll work: Plaid will provide a permissioned connection to financial accounts from within Excel. After linking their account(s), users will have access to their balance and transaction history. The tool will provide charts and graphs analyzing users’ spending in a “Monthly Snapshot” tab.
According to Microsoft, the tool will also feature proactive alerts about price changes for recurring payments, bank fees, and overdraft warnings.
Although there was no mention of fees by either Microsoft or Plaid, American Banker reported that Money in Excel will will cost $7 a month for individuals and $10 a month for families.
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The Good News: Competition in the PFM Space is Weak (For Now)
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The Bad News: Few People Use PFM Tools
Microsoft and Plaid Should Focus on the Small Business Market
There’s a better market for Microsoft and Plaid to go after with Money in Excel: Small businesses.
That sentiment is shared by Bryan Clagett, Director, Strategic Initiatives at StrategyCorps, who knows a thing or two about this: He’s a former banker, was the Chief Marketing Officer of PFM provider Geezeo, and is a small business owner.
According to Clagett, “An Excel ‘add-in’ makes more sense for small businesses than for consumers. Consumers don’t care about tracking their spending behaviors—small businesses do. In addition, small businesses are already closely tied into the Microsoft ecosystem.”
A survey of small businesses from Cornerstone Advisors confirms this. Roughly three in ten small businesses use spreadsheets to do their accounting, about a quarter use them for invoicing and bill payment, and a little more than a fifth rely on spreadsheets to do payment acceptance.
See: The mindsets and practices of excellent CEOs
And that doesn’t include the number that throw data into spreadsheets to analyze their cash flow and spending trends. A study from Aite Group estimated that about 70% of small businesses are more dependent on spreadsheets than they need to be.
Microsoft and Plaid Missed a Big Opportunity
By not focusing on the small business market, Microsoft and Plaid missed an opportunity to jump start their new service.
According to Derik Sutton, VP of Marketing for Autobooks, a fintech that integrates small business financial management tools into digital banking channels:
“Small businesses owners spend too much time cobbling together data from multiple platforms, or offline record keeping, in order to apply for a loan from a bank. We are seeing this play out with the recent PPP and SBA programs.”
Sutton adds, “Microsoft and Plaid would have been inundated with Money in Excel customers had they recognized the small business need. If they had templates for historical and projected cash flows, income statements, and balance sheets, every bank in the country would be telling small businesses to sign up for the service and add their accounts before applying for loans.”
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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, 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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Central banker bulletin: COVID-19 cash concerns to drive digital currency
Ledger Insights | April 6, 2020
A bulletin from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the body owned by 62 central banks, highlights cash concerns because of the COVID-19 virus. It states that perceived risks, valid or not, brings the potential for digital payments to the fore. And the BIS specifically makes a case for Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC).
In recent weeks, internet searches have shot up relating to COVID-19 and cash, especially in jurisdictions that use small denomination banknotes.
Additionally, research has shown that viruses can persist on banknotes. That’s based on past research relating to influenza and other viruses as well as more recent COVID-19 research, which show non-porous surfaces are better at transferring the illness.
See: Dirty money: The case against using cash during the coronavirus outbreak
However, there are no proven cases of transmission through cash, and scientists found the risks are thought to be low compared to other frequently touched objects. The main risk for COVID-19 is thought to be airborne droplets. Plus, using cards at point of sale terminals also carries some risks, particularly PIN pads. In both cases, washing hands is important.
Examples given of central bank actions include the Bank of England statement: “the risk posed by handling a polymer note is no greater than touching any other common surfaces such as handrails, doorknobs or credit cards”. China disinfected cash in some regions, and South Africa has seen scams claiming money is being withdrawn from circulation in order to relieve people of their cash.
One of the most interesting observations is that in a financial crisis, one usually sees a flight to cash. While cash in circulation has increased in the U.S., so far ATM withdrawals in the U.K. have fallen. Although restricted movement is likely to play a major role in that.
BIS Bulletin: Covid-19, cash, and the future of payments
Key takeaways:
- The Covid-19 pandemic has fanned public concerns that the coronavirus could be transmitted by cash.
- Scientific evidence suggests that the probability of transmission via banknotes is low when compared with other frequently-touched objects, such as credit card terminals or PIN pads.
- To bolster trust in cash, central banks are actively communicating, urging continued acceptance of cash and, in some instances, sterilising or quarantining banknotes. Some encourage contactless payments.
- Looking ahead, developments could speed up the shift toward digital payments. This could open a divide in access to payments instruments, which could negatively impact unbanked and older consumers. The pandemic may amplify calls to defend the role of cash – but also calls for central bank digital currencies.
Continue to the full article --> here
Download the BIS Bulletin (9pg PDF) --> Now
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, 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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Applications OPEN: UNCDF Announces Gig Economy Challenge – Driving Financial Health for Gig Workers
UNCDF | Jia Wei Khor | April 2, 2020
APEC Malaysia, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) launched the Gig Economy Challenge.
The challenge is funded by MetLife Foundation through the i3 (Innovate, Implement and Impact) program.
In light of COVID-19, gig workers are likely to face new and unforeseen challenges which will affect their financial health.
Calling for applications to seek viable solutions for improving the financial health of gig workers in APEC's (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) 21 member economies.
If you have a solution, apply now!
See: Malaysia’s potential as the fintech hub for the ASEAN region
Why participate?
- Technical assistance worth $100,000 to pilot your technology product or service
- Up to $30,000 grant per team as seed capital
- Opportunity to pilot the solution in Malaysia
- Access to enabling partnerships, including financial institutions, technology companies and other infrastructure providers
Questions?
Join the info sessions! Click below to register
14 April (Tue) 10 am ( GMT +8)
23 April (Thurs) 11 am ( GMT +8)
Where can I know more?: www.bit.ly/GigEconomyChallenge
Application Deadline: 27 April 2020
Contact finlab@uncdf.org
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, 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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Eight virtual banks transforming Hong Kong’s fintech sector
Fintech Magazine | By Matt High | March 31, 2020
We take a closer look at the eight innovative virtual banks that are digitally disrupting Hong Kong's financial services industry using technologies like AI, machine learning and Big Data
With a national GDP of $341.4bn, Hong Kong is a rapidly growing economy and a centre of innovation and digital transformation. The special administrative region's history is rooted in the financial sector due to its low taxation, legislation that favours free trade and a currency pegged to the US Dollar.
Despite the financial sector in Hong Kong being dominated by incumbents, it is seeing a rapid rise in fintechs, digital banks and new propositions that are driven by the latest technologies.
The rise of virtual banking
Last year the Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced that eight virtual banks had been selected to receive licenses to operate in the country. Below we look in more detail at those virtual banks.
Ant SME: A subsidiary of Ant Financial, the virtual bank is reportedly going to target the Hong Kong SME market, and is dedicated to providing inclusive banking solutions to smaller businesses in the nation’s economy.
Insight Fintech: A joint venture between smartphone brand Xiaomi and AMTD Group, with Xiaomi owning 90% of the company, Insight Fintech provides capital markets and advisory, asset management, insurance brokerage, and strategic investment services. According to a recent press release, the bank will use Xiaomi’s strong foothold in the IoT technology space to create modern, integrated banking solutions that are easier to use and more accessible than traditional alternatives.
See:
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Hong Kong hits major fintech milestone as half the city’s population signs up for HKMA’s Faster Payment System
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HK’s SFC Finalises New Regulatory Framework For Virtual Asset Trading Platforms
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Minister Morneau announces second phase of open banking review with a focus on data security in financial services
Fusion Bank: The Hong Kong challenger with the most impressive backing is Fusion Bank (originally branded as Infinium), which is a joint venture between Chinese giants Tencent and ICBC, with additional support from Hillhouse Capital. Fusion Bank is reportedly looking to provide a full-service virtual banking experience, particularly highlighting small-value deposit services to the under-banked. The bank’s service also won’t require any minimum account balance, or low-balance fees both to the general public and SMEs.
Livi VB: Another of Hong Kong’s new challengers banks to have backing from mainland Chinese financial giants, Livi VB is a joint venture by the Bank of China, JD Digits and Jardines. Worth an estimated $2bn, the resulting company has huge cash reserves behind it and plans to use cutting edge fintech solutions driven by artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain and Big Data to deliver a truly seamless digital experience comparable to some of the leading European virtual banks.
SC Digital: Backed by global finance giant Standard Chartered (alongside PCCW Limited, HKT and Ctrip Hong Kong) SC Digital is looking to corner the retail banking market in Hong Kong. In addition to standard digital banking solutions, the virtual bank is looking to offer retailers and shoppers better ways of spending and transferring money.
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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, 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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UK fintech community comes together to build Covid Credit and let sole traders self-certify lost income
TechCrunch | Steve O'Hear | March 24, 2020
It all started with a tweet from 11:FS co-founder Simon Taylor. If the U.K. government could be persuaded to provide financial support to the self-employed during the Coronavirus crisis, as it has already pledged for full-time employees, then Open Banking technology could be used to self-certify lost income, and therefore overcome one of the main hurdles of administering potential compensation.
The founders of two other London-based fintechs, Fronted and Credit Kudos, were first to accept the challenge, and soon they were joined by dozens of other volunteers from the wider U.K. fintech community with the aim of turning around a working prototype of “Covid Credit” in just 48 hours.
See: Fintechs getting a boost from coronavirus outbreak
“Like many, we saw a challenge for non-salaried workers who are currently ineligible for government relief,” says Fronted’s Jamie Campbell. “By using Open Banking, we have been able to quickly develop a simple process that allows non-salaried workers to generate a proof statement which details their past income and the impact of COVID-19”.
The Covid Credit team’s hypothesis is that evidencing and validating the income of a sole trader is significantly harder than a salaried worker, and that there was an opportunity to use Open Banking (via Credit Kudos’ existing API) to quickly access and analyse data from the bank accounts of a sole trader and generate a validated income statement, something Campbell frames as a “Covid Credit ‘minted’ self-certification”.
“Using the application, applicants answer a few simple questions relating to their legal status and the impact of COVID-19 on their income,” he explains. “The application processes this information and creates a unique link that (in time) can be shared with the appropriate government body in order to prove loss of income.”
Continue to the full article --> here
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, 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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