Venn launches product to make incorporation easier for Ontario entrepreneurs

Toronto-based FinTech startup Venn has rolled out a new offering designed to help Ontario entrepreneurs incorporate their businesses more easily and affordably.

With its incorporation product, the Canadian business banking platform hopes to make formally establishing a company in Canada cheaper, faster, and simpler.

“We hope this acts as a catalyst to push more Canadians into entrepreneurship.”
Saud Aziz, Venn co-founder

Incorporating a business requires name searches, filings, and banking set-up. Direct government incorporation can cost up to $300 CAD: $199 for federal incorporation and $299 for provincial. Venn claims entrepreneurs using the company’s offering can file to incorporate their business federally or provincially in as little as five minutes through a single, online application, while simultaneously applying for a Venn business account.

Venn does not charge any extra service fees and provides up to $350 as a welcome bonus ($250 federal and $350 provincial) to customers who fund their Venn business account within 30 days of opening, more than covering the cost of incorporation. Venn claims this is a first for Ontario.

“New businesses are the lifeblood of our economy … By making the process to incorporate fast, free, and easy, we hope this acts as a catalyst to push more Canadians into entrepreneurship,” Venn co-founder Saud Aziz told BetaKit via email.

Canadian entrepreneurship has been declining, and recent data indicate that some of the country’s most ambitious founders are choosing to build their companies outside of the country.

“We have some of the brightest and most talented minds in Canada, and we’d love to see them building more businesses,” Aziz said. He noted that Venn is working quickly to expand geographic coverage under this product and hopes to spread across Canada soon.

Venn’s incorporation offering appears similar to Stripe Atlas in the United States. The startup’s domestic competitors include Toronto-based Ownr Canada. Unlike Venn, Stripe Atlas charges a one-time setup fee of $500 USD, while Ownr charges $499 CAD—though it also helps clients save $300 when they sign up for a business bank account with owner RBC.

Venn was founded in 2021 by Aziz and Ahmed Shafik, a pair of former Revolut employees. Earlier this year, the FinTech startup rebranded from Vault and closed $21.5 million CAD in Series A financing to develop more products and advance its plans to build an all-in-one financial platform for Canadian businesses.

Aziz said that the company has since expanded its suite of banking and software offerings to include CDIC-protected accounts, Google Pay support, FX limit orders, Interac e-transfers, expense policies, greater automation, and multi-factor authentication. He noted that the FinTech startup has also begun attracting some larger clients beyond its base of small and medium-sized businesses.

Feature image courtesy Venn.