Financial planning FinTech startup Conquest Planning has raised $3 million CAD in seed funding in anticipation of bringing its software to market sometime this year.
The financing came from Portag3 Ventures and the FinTech strategic investments group at Eight Roads. Conquest marks the first Canadian investment announcement for Portag3 since the venture capital firm closed $427 million CAD for its second fund in December. Eight Roads, an investment firm backed by Fidelity “with strategic adjacencies to Fidelity International,” also marks a significant investor on the table for Conquest.
“The ethos of Conquest Planning is to get more people into financial plans.”
Founded in 2018 and based in Manitoba, Conquest is developing financial planning software that uses artificial intelligence to help advisors and consumers easily understand the impact of financial planning decisions and develop personalized plans.
“The ethos of Conquest Planning is to get more people into financial plans,” said Mark Evans, president and CEO of Conquest and the former head of EISI, a Prairie-based financial planning software company that was acquired in 2011.
“With a long history in the financial planning technology space, our founding team was able to leverage our experience to re-imagine a more engaging and efficient financial planning process for advisors and customers,” Evans added. “This industry is ripe for change and we are fortunate to be initiating this journey with such great partners in Portag3 Ventures and Eight Roads. I am excited to be back.”
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The idea behind Conquest is to simplify the financial planning process, making it “more approachable” for consumers. The startup argues that existing financial planning software is complex, despite advances in technology, forcing advisors to solve plans through the trial and error of applying various financial strategies.
Conquest joins the growing number of Canadian FinTech companies that are looking to disrupt the traditional financial industry and are backed with Power Financial-affiliated capital. Borrowell, supported by Portag3, provides the lending, Power-backed Wealthsimple the investing, Koho the saving and spending, and Nesto the mortgage side. Conquest rounds that out with its financial planning platform.
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“We have been looking for a team with a solid plan to truly modernize the financial planning space,” said Adam Felesky, CEO of Portag3. “We believe we have found that in Conquest. Mark and his team’s mission to make financial planning more accessible is the innovative change this industry – and consumers – desperately need.”
The $3 million in seed funding brings Conquest’s total funding to date to $4 million; founding team raised $1 million to get the company off the ground. This marks Conquest’s first outside raise and the startup plans to use the financing to bring its product to market later this year. Conquest also plans to grow its current team of around 20 employees in anticipation of its market launch.
As part of the funding round, Stephanie Choo, partner at Portag3, and Michael Sim, vice president at Eight Roads, will join the board of Conquest.
Image source Unsplash. Photo by Carlos Muza