TOGETHER WITH
Welcome to this week's Sunday Briefing. In this edition:
A Calgary fintech raises millions for securitization program
Agtech startup secures seed funding as dealer adoption grows
Invest Alberta CEO unexpectedly steps down
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Neo Financial raises $68.5M to fund Canada's first fintech securitization program
Calgary-based Neo Financial has closed a $68.5 million equity round to launch its first securitization program—something the company says no other Canadian fintech has done. The oversubscribed round brought in over 100 Canadian investors, founders, and entrepreneurs, plus institutional money from Alberta Investment Management Corporation, Northleaf Capital Partners, Plaza Ventures, Sandstone Asset Management, and Caldwell Growth Opportunities Fund.
Securitization essentially means Neo can bundle its credit assets and sell them to investors, using the same playbook that major banks rely on to fund lending. Instead of being limited by how much equity capital they have on hand, the company can scale its lending portfolio into the billions. It also means Neo's credit modelling and risk management need to meet the same standards as Tier 1 banks.
Neo's AI-driven credit models are what make this work. The technology lets the company dig deeper into risk assessment while keeping the underwriting tight enough for a program of this size. CEO and co-founder Andrew Chau says the point is to shake up a financial system that's been holding Canadians back for decades.
"Having the backing from over 100 of our country's most successful entrepreneurs and institutional leaders is a massive vote of confidence as we enter our next phase of growth," he said.
Founded in 2019, Neo has now raised more than $700 million and serves over one million customers with credit cards, savings accounts, investing, and mortgages. The company operates out of Calgary, Winnipeg, and Toronto, and also provides financial tools for over 10,000 business partners nationwide.
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🤝 Funding, Deals, and Partnerships
Brilliant Harvest secures $4M USD seed financing as commercial adoption hits 50% of CNH large dealer locations. The round includes new investors FTW Ventures, Alpaca VC, Automotive Ventures, SVG THRIVE and NYA Ventures, alongside existing backers Builders VC and AltaML. Brilliant Harvest
Calgary startup launches tech platform to help ‘illuminate risk before disaster strikes.’ Traverse Analytics, founded in 2024 by Amber Rushton, unveiled Resilisight, a cloud-based platform designed to transform disaster insight into foresight through the power of human intelligence, technology, and data. Calgary.Tech
📰 Need To Know
Carbon Upcycling appoints Markus Kritzler as CEO to accelerate global commercialization. As the company targets deploying 5 million tonnes of annual clean cementitious capacity over the next five years, it is aligning leadership to focus on operational excellence, project delivery, and scalable growth. Carbon Upcycling
Invest Alberta’s Rick Christiaanse unexpectedly resigns as CEO. Crown corporation’s former COO is now acting CEO. Betakit