Toronto-based FinTech startup Vault has received a new deposit of $21.5 million CAD in Series A and locked down a new name: Venn.
The all-equity Series A round was led by New York City-based Left Lane Capital, with participation from XYZ Venture Capital, Intact Ventures, and return investor Gradient Ventures. Left Lane Capital managing partner Dan Ahrens is joining Venn’s board as a result of the round.
Venn claims it has onboarded over 4,000 businesses to date.
According to a blog post by co-founders Ahmed Shafik and Saud Aziz, the funding will help the company expand its team and product offerings to create an all-in-one financial platform for Canadian businesses.
According to Axios, Venn plans to support credit card payments for accounts receivables and potentially offer lending services this year. Aziz told BetaKit in an email statement that Venn intends to hire across the board to triple its current headcount of 12 employees. In an X post, Aziz indicated that the sales department is at “the top of the list.”
Like many Canadian FinTech startups, Venn was created in 2021 (as Vault) to address the pain points of traditional banking for small businesses. The company launched with multi-currency bank accounts, but grew to include global accounts, spend management, transfers, and accounting automation on its platform. Aziz said that the rebrand reflects its broadened mission.
Vault didn’t officially launch until 2023, built on $5 million in funding from Gradient, as well as a number of undisclosed founders and executives of financial-service companies like Paypal, Google Pay, Affirm, Airbnb, BNY Mellon, Coinbase, Revolut, and Robinhood.
RELATED: What Vault’s co-founder learned at Revolut
Now, as Venn, the startup claims it has onboarded more than 4,000 businesses to date, including partnerships with companies like Sherpa, MedEssist, and Alan.
“We launched 2 years ago and it’s been non-stop since then,” Aziz said in the X post. “We grew revenue [more than 400 percent] last year but that’s only a by-product of this time spent truly understanding our customers and building solutions to their problems.”
Venn isn’t the only FinTech company building out in Canada, and it’s in competition with some big players. Fellow Toronto-based company Float, which offers corporate card and expense management solutions, secured a $70-million CAD Series B round earlier this year to increase its footprint in Canada. Another Toronto-based finTech platform, Loop, announced a $6.4-million CAD seed extension round this past September after making a similar pivot from peer-to-peer lending to international financial management.
As a company that supports the international finance operations of Canadian business, Venn has a front row seat to the effects of Canada’s strained economic ties to the United States under the threat of tariffs, and the weakened Canadian dollar. Aziz said that it’s unique how Canadian businesses across all industries and sizes require support, and that they’re seeing more Canadian companies become global rather than focusing on North America.
“We need to continue focusing on creating solutions that help businesses navigate financial complexity, reduce costs, and operate with confidence,” Aziz said. “Things change fast, finances are critical, and businesses need a partner they can rely on.”
Aziz and Shafik are both former employees of British neobank Revolut, and witnessed its failed Canadian expansion firsthand. Aziz joined The BetaKit Podcast last August to discuss what he learned there and what it takes to build a locally-grown business banking platform in Canada.
Feature image courtesy Venn.