This week, several Canadian startups have made announcements, launching new features, partnerships, and more. Here’s the latest on Canada’s movers and shakers.
Flexiti Financial appoints COO and CRO to its executive team
Toronto-based Flexiti Financial, which provides point-of-sale financing and payment technology for retailers, has appointed Jerome Peeters as its chief operating officer (COO), and Colin Franks as its chief risk officer (CRO). These are two latest additions to its senior executive team.
Peeters was formerly the vice president of operations and client services at B2B Bank. Before that, he served in various senior marketing and operational roles within Sears Financial Services and SEARS Canada, and was also the senior director of marketing and change management at CIBC.
Franks was previously the CRO of Canadian Credit Cards at JP Morgan Chase, where he managed risk across several retail partners like Sears and Best Buy. Before that, he spent over nine years managing aspects of the risk lifecycle at MBNA.
As COO, Peeters will be responsible for the overall operations of Flexiti Financial, and oversee its evolving business practices, effective deployment of resources, and help position it for growth. As CRO, Franks will work on developing a firm-wide vision, strategy, and governance framework for various aspects of risk management.
“Jerome and Colin are two exceptionally well-respected senior executives in the financial services industry and we couldn’t be more excited to bring their calibre of talent and experience to the Flexiti Financial team,” said Peter Kalen, founder and CEO of Flexiti Financial. “They join us at an important time for the company as we manage rapid growth while staying true to our goal to be the leader in POS financing for retailers. Their expertise will play a critical role in our continued journey and future success.”
Integrate.ai appoints members to its leadership team and advisory board
Toronto-based Integrate.ai has announced the appointment of Kathryn Hume, Tyler Schnoebelen, and Jason Silver to its leadership team.
Hume will be joining as Integrate.ai’s VP of product and strategy. Hume was the former president of Fast Forward Labs, where she helped Fortune 500 companies apply machine learning and data science technologies to their businesses.
Schnoebelen will join Integrate.ai as the principal product manager. In the past, Schnoebelen was the principal product manager at Machine Zone. He has also held roles at Decoded AI consulting and Microsoft, where he developed an expertise in data science, natural language processing, and user experience.
Silver is joining Integrate.ai as its chief operating officer. Silver was formerly at Airbnb, where he led sales and operations as territory manager for Canada, the Midwest, and the eastern United States.
“The wealth of knowledge and expertise that Kathryn, Tyler, and Jason bring to our team will greatly benefit our clients and position us for immediate growth,” said Steve Irvine, founder and CEO of Integrate.ai. “One of the fundamental tasks of our leadership team is to ensure we successfully bring relevant products to market and we’re confident this is the group.”
In addition to expanding its leadership team, Integrate.ai announced that David Court is joining the company’s advisory board to help shape its strategic vision. Court is the global director of technology, digitization, and communication at McKinsey & Company.
“David adds tremendous value to our growing organization, both bring highly valuable industry insights and counsel to Integrate.ai and we’re pleased to have him join our team,” said Irvine.
Lightspeed launches Lightspeed Analytics to give retailers insights and recommendations on sales, inventory
Montreal-based Lightspeed, which provides cloud-based point-of-sale solutions for retailers and restaurants, has launched Lightspeed Analytics.
Lightspeed Analytics will provide retailers with insights and recommendations into core business components including sales, inventory, employee performance and customer behaviours.
Lightspeed said the new solution breaks down complex data to make it more accessible, understandable, and actionable for business owners and store managers. Specifically, Lightspeed Analytics, which costs $205 CAD ($150.00 USD) per month, per location, provides insights about customers by showing users how customers can be targeted based on their individual shopping history. It also provides employee optimization by allowing users to understand their staffing needs and share data-driven feedback with employees.
“Access to complete analytics and business insights will empower independents with the tools they need to effectively grow, allowing our customers to dream bigger about the future of their business,” said Dax Dasilva, CEO and founder of Lightspeed. “Lightspeed Analytics is simple to navigate and makes the value of data easy to understand, which will give our customers the time and ability to make smarter business decisions.”
Overbond adds swap price calculator to corporate bond intelligence toolkit
Toronto-based Overbond, a platform for digital bond issuance, announced it is launching the Corporate Bond Intelligence Tool (COBI) Swap Pricing calculator, offering a wide range of analytics and visualization capabilities for capital markets participants.
Overbond said the digital tool will help treasurers navigate structural changes in the fixed income market, evaluate funding costs in multiple currencies and markets simultaneously, and provide better access to offshore bond markets. COBI Swap, which is powered by Thomson Reuters data, was developed as a result of the increase in Canadian corporations issuing bonds offshore in the US and Europe.
“Timely and accurate swap pricing is an essential tool that enables treasurers to more opportunistically access international markets to meet their debt funding requirements,” said Vuk Magdelinic, CEO of Overbond. “This app is a continuation of our fresh, innovative, and transparent approach to providing bond market participants with a diverse offering of critical capabilities and insights. We are pleased to offer this new technology industry-wide as an open platform, accessible on a non-subscription basis.”
COBI Swap’s features include real-time swapped equivalent rates as well as instantaneous computation of CAD and USD single currency interest rate and cross-currency swap rates. Users can price up to five swaps in different tenors and rate types simultaneously, and also download and export reports.
Overbond said COBI Swap will be expanded to include US and European currencies.
StackAdapt partners with Contobox by Crucial Interactive to provide advertisers interactive video capabilities
Toronto-based StackAdapt, an omnichannel advertising and content platform, is partnering with Contobox by Crucial Interactive to provide its users with interactive video capabilities.
Through the partnership, StackAdapt’s customers will gain access to Contobox Video, which allows them to add an interactive layer to their video content. Advertisers can use features like video hotspots, 360-degree video, shoppable video, and customized narratives.
StackAdapt said the features will help advertisers “enhance” their videos, as well as better understand how their users are engaging with their product and their message, providing them with actionable insights about their audience.
“As a technology company focused on the distribution of brand messaging, we are limited in how much we can help our clients develop content,” Vitaly Pecherskiy, co-founder and COO of StackAdapt. “This partnership with Contobox addresses just that, being able to create engaging and interactive content tied into some of the largest distribution pipelines on the web.”
StackAdapt raised a $1 million series A in January 2016.