financial start-ups (fintech)

TD announces exclusive Canadian agreement with Flybits

September 16, 2015
Susanne Staer
Flybits

Companies to collaborate on creating enhanced personalized mobile experiences for TD customers

TORONTO, Sept. 16, 2015 — TD Bank Group and Flybits today announced an exclusive agreement within the Canadian financial services industry to collaborate on providing TD customers with more personalized mobile banking experiences.

This announcement was covered in Forbes, BetaKit, TechVibes, IT Business.ca , Marketing Magazine, CAN Tech Letter and Strategy online.

The Flybits cloud-based software program transforms mobile apps to deliver rich, contextual experiences to each user, including personalized financial advice—where and when they need it.

Flybits is a Ryerson University start-up created in partnership with MaRS Innovation. Read more about their growth and development in our news archive.

“A key focus for TD’s digital roadmap is to create more intuitive, personalized experiences that make customers’ lives simpler,” said Rizwan Khalfan, senior vice president and chief digital officer, TD. “Our agreement with Flybits is another example of TD demonstrating its commitment to enriching customers’ lives through innovation. We’re elevating our customer-centric approach by bringing in-the-moment experiences to each individual depending on their situation and needs.”

UTEST company Nvest listed in Omers’ Canadian #FinTech Infographic

August 28, 2015
Susanne Staer
Media Coverage

“Over the past few weeks, a few members of our investment team took the seopportunity to map out FinTech companies from coast-to-coast, focusing on those that are developing next generation technologies or technology enabled services,” wrote the OMERS Venture team in a blog post accompanying a new #fintech infographic that lists 89 Canadian businesses operating in the financial start-up sector.

Nvest, part of the third UTEST cohort, in included in the graphic (see below). The infographic’s release was also covered in BetaKit in a story by Doug Soltys noting the sector’s growth in just six months:

What a difference six months makes. Today, Canadian VC giant OMERS Ventures released a similar infographic, tracking 89 different Canadian FinTech startups from Vancouver to St. John’s, essentially a 40 per cent increase. OMERS also noted that these 89 companies have attracted over $1 billion in capital since 2010.

Here’s where OMERS Ventures’ take on where the sector going:

How to get accepted into the UTEST start-up incubator: Drive and differentiation

April 1, 2015
Susanne Staer
CoursePeer

UTEST is now accepting applications to Cohort 4

Editor’s note: As of today, the University of Toronto Early-Stage Technology (UTEST) program, which MaRS Innovation co-directs with the University of Toronto, is accepting applications for Cohort 4. The full application is available on the UTEST website.

In meantime, it’s our pleasure to reprint Brianna Goldberg’s “day-in-the-life-of-an-entrepreneur” feature on Cohort 3 company Nvest, published for U of T News.

Jackie Yan focuses on tweaking his PowerPoint slide deck despite the chaos unfolding around him.

Nvest team at work in front of a computer

Near the entrance to the office space he shares with teams from the six other startups that are part of the UTEST accelerator program, a phone spits distorted tones of an investment-related conference call at Hanna Tomory, CEO of a fatigue-management start-up called Syncadian, as she scratches a list of notes.

A few steps down the hall, Marissa Wu, founder of the digital sports coaching wearable startup called Onyx Motion, goes over presentation notes with her co-founder Vivek Kesarwani. They discuss the finer points of athlete training with the intensity of so many layup drills performed on the basketball net propped against the wall of their desk space.

Across the table in the conference room where Yan is feverishly editing his slides, James McCrae pieces together 3D sculptures of horses, wasps and dinosaurs created with software from his start-up, FlatFab.

“We’re hoping to make more stable structures with our 1.0 design, maybe integrating finger-joints,” McCrae explains as he prepares to demo FlatFab’s wares for a video crew from the Privy Council Office in Ottawa, Ontario.

The videographers are producing a video about MaRS Innovation today, which co-directs the UTEST accelerator program with the University of Toronto, and are capturing b-roll of UTEST founders at work on their ventures. With seven companies currently sharing the working space, there’s always something happening.

UTEST company Nvest is bringing accountability to investment recommendations

March 30, 2015
Susanne Staer
Media Coverage

Nvest Logo Nvest, a University of Toronto company, is gaining traction as a financial technology (or fintech) start-up to watch. Nvest is part of the third UTEST cohort, which is an early-stage technology incubator program co-directed by MaRS Innovation and U of T (read more about the UTEST program in our portfolio section).

In the last month, Nvest has been profiled in both TechVibes and Investment Executive as a company to watch both as a social network for stock picking and as a tool to bringing accountability to investment recommendations.

Jacob Serebrin writes for TechVibes:

Fredrick Zhou says there’s something wrong with the way people recommend stocks online.

“People don’t take responsibility for their actions, their words and their recommendations,” Zhou says.

He’s the co-founder and CEO of Nvest, a new social network for stock pickers that he says will bring accountability and transparency to a broken system.

Portfolio round-up: UTEST, Nvest and Whirlscape news

February 26, 2015
Susanne Staer
Media Coverage

Sometimes there’s so much happening with the MaRS Innovation portfolio that it’s hard to stay on top of all the news. Here are a few UTEST program stories that we missed in February.

UTEST was named to FundThrough.com’s list of “6 Exciting Canadian Startup Accelerators to Watch in 2015.” Program co-directors Mike Betts and Kurtis Scissons point out that UTEST does take an equity position in the incubated companies and does not run on a grant basis as mentioned in the article. (It’s a sweetheart deal, but not that sweet.)

UTEST company Nvest was featured in a Globe and Mail story, “Next big sector to face disruption? Financial services” by Brenda Bouw. Here’s a quote:
“Another emerging fintech startup is Nvest, an early-stage, crowd-sourced stock recommendation platform. Nvest compiles recommendations from its users, many of which are average retail investors, and builds a performance history others can track. The credibility of recommendations is based on a user’s past performance. Nvest co-founder Fredrick Zhou likens it to LinkedIn for stock recommendations. ‘Nvest is a place where investors post their trading resume.’ Investors are taking notice. Nvest recently received funding from the University of Toronto Early Stage Technology program and it is in the process of pitching the business to angel investors.”