Scaling beyond borders: Growth of cross-border fintech collaborations

The Atlantic Canada advantage

- By Alicia Roisman Ismach, Head of Atlantic FinTech

Europe and Canada have strong ties that go back hundreds of years, with many intertwined linkages of a geopolitical, business and personal nature.

As a region, Atlantic Canada New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island) has a rich history in the financial industry, going back to the early 1800’s with the establishment of Canada’s largest banks: The Bank of Nova Scotia and RBC.

Today, the Atlantic Canadian provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island) attract skilled workers and innovators from across the globe. It is home to over 500 businesses operating in the finance sector, with a workforce of over 35000 professionals who have a deep knowledge of back-office processes and operations. Combining knowledge, infrastructure, and expertise, we can solve challenges with a focus on operational efficiency.

Entrepreneurs and tech innovators thrive here, with world-class technology infrastructure, a highly educated workforce, accessible programs to boost innovation, highly networked international workforce, and a cost-efficient operating environment.

Supporting your partnership strategy

Financial institutions are increasingly using more external third-party fintechs to strengthen their operations and corporate offerings. With fintech innovations essentially being digital, we don’t have the need to be tied to a physical location or a natural resource. There should be no reason to not explore a cross-border collaboration model for partnerships, investments, mentorship or more.

By working with innovators in Atlantic Canada, you work with partners who are well equipped to understand your needs, are closest to your time zone, and has the expertise across a number of domains, including payments, cybersecurity, compliance and more. Not just that, many of our entrepreneurs are also fluent in French, and there is no overlooking the part language and cultural familiarity play in strengthening remote ties.

Furthermore, a partnership between Eurpoe and Canada will also mean alignment on vital aspects like culture and goals, personalities, and standards and norms.

Scaling up and making sense of cross border partnerships

In just the last year, there have been many positive indicators of fintech growth, including an increase in the number of fintech startups and investors, rise in valuations and the growing pace of digitalisation in other industries. Verafin, Four Eyes Financial, Proposify, CreditCardGenius, Snap AP and OliverPOS are examples of this growth.

NL based Verafin, which helps to detect activity like fraud and money laundering, made news when Nasdaq bought it for $2.75 billion US. Another example of successful collaboration is New Brunswick's SnapAP, a cloud-based procurement-to-payment platform that streamlines workflow for mid-tier and enterprise market clients. They are Atlantic Canada’s first-ever example of a fintech startup receiving funding from primarily Israeli investors, and working with them remotely throughout the deal.

According to Jean-Daniel (JD) Drapeau, SnapAP’s founding CEO, "Our investors were not aware of the region or the company before we connected. My team benefited from valuable connections we made at the Money 20/20 conference in Las Vegas in 2019, as a part of the mission led by Venn Innovation and Atlantic FinTech. We benefited from a warm virtual introduction to the investors and built the relationship virtually."

Let's keep the doors open

As seen from SnapAP's story, conferences are an excellent way to forge meaningful connections. I'll be at the DFS '21, one of the few places that puts large financials, startups and technology experts at the crossroads between Tech Talent, Regtech, Cloud Computing, Big Data, Blockchain, Crypto-assets, Artificial Intelligence, Crowdfunding, Cybersecurity and Banking. This is the best place to meet fintech stakeholders, leaders and entrepreneurs right where they are looking to explore new partnerships and opportunities.

If you’re an investor who’s interested in learning more about fintech companies in our region, or a fintech founder who wants to learn more about what Atlantic FinTech does, please feel free to contact me.

Location doesn't matter if we focus on the potential, the work and ideas. What’s important is we build a pipeline for partnerships and new opportunities to flow between two regions that have their own unique, individual strength.