These Canadian fintech moments have surprised me over the years

Image by Nancy McRae from Pixabay

I’ve been following the Canadian fintech ecosystem very closely since 2016. At the time I was tasked to perform market research on that particular segment on behalf of my employer.

When this working relationship ended, I continued to monitor the space. I’ve seen a lot of startups come and go, changes in the regulatory landscape and even drama.

And then there are developments that I simply didn’t expect…

Lightspeed’s back to back IPOs

Lightspeed has been around a bit longer than people realize: the Montreal-based point of sale (POS) software company was founded in 2005.

Julien Brault, formerly of Les Affaires, wrote about the company’s high potential in a French-language article entitled “LightSpeed deviendra-t-elle la première licorne québécoise?” Rough translation: Will Lightspeed become the first Quebec unicorn?

Back then, the question appeared rather speculative, especially for a startup located east of Ottawa.

But Lightspeed made key acquisitions and secured a treasure chest full of VC money (notably through Inovia Capital).

Towards the end of the decade, an IPO seemed attainable. In March 2019, Lightspeed went public on the Toronto…