New Diagram VC fund focused on building up Canada’s fintech sector

Six Canadian fintech companies have been named among the world’s top 100 fintech innovators in the fourth annual Fintech100 report, compiled by Sydney, Australia-based H2 Ventures and KPMG International.

SecureKey Technologies Inc., Wealthsimple Inc. and League Inc., all of Toronto, earned spots among this year’s “Leading 50” fintech firms, ranked 8th, 29th and 41st, respectively. The Leading 50 ranks the top fintech firms based on innovation, capital-raising activity, size and reach.

Borrowell Inc., Sensibill Inc. and Wave Financial Inc. — also based in Toronto — earned spots on the “Emerging 50” (firms in this category are not ranked). The Emerging 50 lists new fintech companies that are “at the forefront of innovative technologies and practices and are often pursuing new business models.”

“Disruptive fintech companies continue to dominate the Fintech100, representing strong interest from investors in business models and management teams that are seeking to radically change the industry paradigm,” said Ian Pollari, global co-lead of KPMG Fintech, in a statement.

“The importance of ‘enablers’ — companies working in cooperation with financial services institutions to steadily improve products and services — has remained steady,” he added. “Across the 2017 list, there are 27 such enablers working across accounting, insurance and banking.”

Despite Canada’s strong performance, the top three leading fintech firms are based in China, according to the report. Fintechs in China took five of the top 10 spots.

Fintech innovation is a global trend, the report stated, with 29 countries represented this year, compared with 22 countries in 2016.

Companies focused on lending and payments continue to lead the Fintech100 on a sector basis. Thirty-two lending companies and 21 payments companies are on the full list. Fifteen listed firms are in transactions and capital markets, while 12 are in insurtech.

Overall, the Fintech100 report includes 41 companies from Europe, the Middle East and Africa; 29 companies from the Americas; and 30 companies from the Asia-Pacific region (including Australia and New Zealand.

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