Toronto-based FinTech firm Koho Financial is close to taking the next step in its journey to become Canada’s “next great bank,” and a whole lot more, according to CEO Daniel Eberhard.
Koho first revealed its plans to become a bank in 2024, later securing $190 million CAD in equity and debt to bolster its efforts to secure the necessary Schedule 1 banking licence. In a fireside chat at the NACO Summit on Wednesday (which NACO supported BetaKit’s travel to attend), Eberhard told NACO CEO Claudio Rojas that his company will soon secure that licence.
“We just look at it from the lens of, like, why would we only limit ourselves to offering you financial products?”
Daniel Eberhard, Koho
“We are imminently going to get a bank license, which will give us the lowest cost of capital of any FinTech in the country,” Eberhard said.
Eberhard said his company is doing more than $200 million in revenue, growing, and “in good shape.” He claimed Koho has turned down two acquisition offers from global FinTech companies trying to enter Canada.
Eberhard says Koho won’t stop at banking. “We’re going to launch a telco, we’ve said this before, we’ll probably launch a telco in the next six months,” Eberhard said. He added in a later comment to BetaKit that while a telecom product is something Koho is considering, it has not yet made firm plans to launch one. A Koho spokesperson confirmed in an emailed statement that the company has no announcement to share at this time.
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“In China, these are called ‘super apps,’” Eberhard said. “We just look at it from the lens of, like, why would we only limit ourselves to offering you financial products?”
Founded in 2014, Koho’s financial services app is used by over 2.5 million Canadians. The company has widened its features over the years to include a prepaid Mastercard, a line of credit offering, and international money transfers, as well as credit history building and tenant insurance for renters. Last week, Koho launched a crypto offering allowing its users to buy, hold, and manage cryptocurrency in the app.
While those may seem like bank-like offerings, like many FinTech firms, Koho has to rely on third-party partnerships with regulated players like Peoples Trust to deliver its financial products until it gets its own licence.
Feature image courtesy Alex Riehl for BetaKit.