After selling her previous performance marketing technology firm to payments giant Paysafe, Fintel Connect founder and CEO Nicky Senyard is ready to apply the same playbook to a different industry.
Self-financed and founded by Senyard in 2002, MontrĂ©al-based Income Access helps online gambling companies with digital customer acquisition. Following an âovernight success of 14 years,â Income Access was acquired by Paysafe in 2016 for $40 million CAD.
âWe’ve had the experience in the industry.â
-Nicky Senyard, Fintel Connect
Now, Senyard is taking what she learned in building Income Access to another highly-regulated space: financial services. She is now using her performance marketing experience to drive safe and cost-effective digital growth for financial services firms through Fintel Connectâthis time with the help of venture capital.
Vancouver-based Fintel Connect raised its first venture financing late this summer, securing over $4.8 million CAD ($3.75 million USD) to fuel tech development and its United States (US) expansion plans. The all-equity seed round was led by Californiaâs BankTech Ventures (BTV) with support from Export Development Canada (EDC).
As the financial services space has become increasingly crowded, Senyard said the sectorâs appetite for performance marketing solutions and Fintel Connect as a digital customer acquisition tool has increased. âWe’ve had the experience in the industry and ⊠we’re able to capitalize on this acquisition type in a way that the industry hasn’t seen before,â Senyard told BetaKit in an interview.
Launched in 2020 by Senyard, Fintel Connectâs proprietary technology delivers specialized tools designed to help North American FinTech firms, insurtech companies, banks, and credit unions acquire customers quickly, safely, and cost-effectively.
The startup helps financial institution customers scale their business by connecting their products to hundreds of publishers willing to promote them to potential customers on a results basis. On the publisher side, Fintel Connect links sites like Forbes, NerdWallet, Business Insider, CreditKarma, and Borrowell to financial industry players.
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Fintel Connect offers a suite of products, including a tracking and reporting platform, a curated network of financial publishers and influencers, and artificial intelligence-driven marketing and compliance tools. âThose are the three things that we provide,â said Senyard. âScale, content compliance, and cost-effectiveness.â
Though Fintel Connect faces marketing tech competitors in each sub-category, from tracking and reporting to compliance, Senyard noted that Fintel Connect hasnât encountered any other companies geared specifically towards financial services firms that offer all three of these components.
Since Fintel Connect focuses exclusively on financial services firms, Senyard argued that the startup has a strong understanding of the compliance requirements facing companies operating in the industry. These requirements extend to how they represent themselves in marketing materials. âWhen youâre a financial institution, content compliance is key,â said Senyard.
To date, Fintel Connect has amassed a list of Canadian customers that includes RBC, CIBC, National Bank, and Sun Life.
For smaller financial services players like community banks looking to compete with better-capitalized giants by revamping their digital customer acquisition strategies, Fintel Connectâs performance marketing tech could prove an attractive option.
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Fintel Connect chief revenue officer Alana Levine told BetaKit that she sees an opportunity for the performance marketing tech startup to help âlevel the playing fieldâ for community banks. This is part of why BTV has invested in Fintel Connect through this round.
âCommunity banks need to be armed with the right capabilities and partners to reach their growth potential,â said BTV managing director Carey Ransom. âIt was quickly apparent to our team that Fintel Connectâs digital marketing expertise and technology were unparalleled, and their commitment to helping community banks to succeed was evident. Weâre proud to have them within our ecosystem of high-impact solutions.â
For her part, Levine expects BTV to help Fintel Connect better understand the US financial services landscape as the latter looks to expand its presence south of the border.
Jacqueline Ovens, managing partner of mid-market lending and investments at EDC, noted that Fintel Connectâs solutions are âdisrupting the way financial institutions approach digital growthâ by helping them acquire customers online in a more effective and cost-efficient fashion.
âIt was quickly apparent to our team that Fintel Connectâs digital marketing expertise and technology were unparalleled.â
-Carey Ransom, BTV
âThe fast-growing, woman-founded company is exactly the type of business that EDC’s Inclusive Trade Investments Program aims to elevate,â said Ovens.
As budgets tighten heading into what could be a prolonged economic downturn, Fintel Connect sees an opportunity to help financial services firms to improve their approach to digital customer acquisition.
Having bootstrapped a business before, Senyard noted that the startupâs mentality has always been that every dollar counts, regardless of broader economic conditions. As a company, Fintel Connectâs goal is to reach cash flow breakeven as quickly as possible.
As broader market conditions have worsened, Senyard noted that Fintel Connect has been paying close attention to client conversations. Amid the downturn, the CEO said they have shifted towards how they can do more with lessâwhich is just what Fintel Connect enables.
âThis is always the [marketing] channel that tends to get the most love because it is more of a guaranteed results-based tactic,â said Levine. âAnd it generally is the most efficient channel second to organic in terms of the cost of acquisition and volume that it can deliver.â
Feature image courtesy Fintel Connect.