Canadian fintech Neo Financial has raised C$110 million in equity and another C$250 million in debt to fuel its efforts to take on the country's big five high street banks.
The round was led by an unnamed Chinese investor, according to documents first reported by The Logic.
Series D shares have been issued at a fraction of their value during a 2022 Series C round. The company has not disclosed its current valuation but confirmed to BetaKit that it is below the 2022 C$1 billion-plus tag.
Shopify co-founder Tobi Lütke, Slack co-founder Stewart Butterfield, Valar Ventures, Golden Ventures, Afore Capital, and Thomvest Ventures, joined the round.
Andrew Chau, CEO, Neo, says: "Despite being in the lowest period of venture funding that fintech has seen in the last 5 years, we’ve been able to raise one of the largest fintech funding rounds globally this year."
Founded in 2019 by the co-founders of food courier company SkipTheDishes, two years ago Neo offered a single product. Today it has eight, including bank accounts, credit cards, mortgages, savings accounts, investments and AI-powered budgeting tools.
The firm also offers embedded services, working with the likes of Tim Hortons, Cathay Pacific, and Hudson’s Bay.
"Investing in Neo Financial was about supporting a team that deeply understands Canadians and is relentless in improving their financial experience,” says Butterfield. “They’re building a solution that’s more human-centred than anything we’ve seen in fintech."
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