Luge Capital Newsletter

Hope you are all enjoying the beautiful fall colours. Although we are already into our fourth quarter, we wanted to share the noteworthy milestones that occurred in Q3–2019, especially those of our portfolio companies. We hope you enjoy the newsletter.
Laviva selected amongst Top 50 Women in FinTech

In July, the Digital Finance Institute released its report showcasing Canada’s 50 top women in fintech. Hats off to all these exceptional women that are disrupting the financial services space through technology. We are especially proud of our own, Laviva Mazhar, who was selected amongst the deserving leaders. You’ll also find on the list Luge Advisor, Debbie Gamble of Interac. To view the full list, click here.
Portfolio News
The Digital Finance Institute released its list of Canada’s Top 50 FinTech Companies. Two of our portfolio companies, Finaeo and Flinks, were amongst the top 50 fintechs. Congratulations to all the companies that made it to the top 50. View the complete list here.

A big shout to our three portfolio companies (Finaeo, Flinks and Owl.co) for being named to CIX’s Top 20 Early Canadian technology startups. You can see the full list here.

Finaeo
Finaeo, deemed as the “Amazon of the Insurance Industry”, added to its world-class team with Steve Henry joining as Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Steve is responsible for all aspects of the global product and technology organization, including platform and corporate infrastructure, business applications, product engineering and security. Read more here.
The Finaeo team meets with brokers regularly to discuss the future of insurance. Dubbed the “Bionic Advisor Interview Series”, Finaeo highlights the personal stories of advisors and how they are using technology to make insurance more accessible to their clients. Read their stories here.

Flinks
Flinks’ podcast with Alterna’s Robert Paterson discussed “Purpose-Driven Banking in the Digital Age.” Alterna Savings is one of Canada’s oldest financial institutions. Robert Paterson, President and CEO of Alterna Savings and Alterna Bank, talked about how the institution’s 110-year history does business in today’s digital marketplace. Alterna puts community before profit, partnerships before competition, and empathy at the center of its product design. Listen to the podcast here.
Flinks released a guide titled “Making Transactional Data Work For You.” It is a complete knowledge tool for companies looking to harness the power of transactional data in their business. You can read the guide here and learn why harnessing the power of financial data is a big challenge, but it’s also an opportunity you can’t miss.

Owl.co
Owl.co has brought on a number of customers in recent months. It has been working with the Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange to enhance operational efficiency by automating certain due diligence performed in connection with suitability reviews of officers, directors, and insiders of companies listing on the Exchange. Read the press release here.
After two days of live fintech demos from 75 innovative companies, Owl.co won the “Best of Show” at the Finovate conference in NYC in September. View the complete list of FinovateFall winners here.
Fairstone Financial Inc., Canada’s leading non-bank provider of responsible consumer lending solutions, selected Owl.co’s “Know Your Customer” solution to automate the customer verification and authentication process in the Company’s digital loan closing operations, as well as in its high-volume branch locations across Canada. Read more here.
New Portfolio Perks
We are providing our portfolio companies a couple more perks that they can leverage to help their businesses succeed.

Pipedrive
Pipedrive is a leading CRM and sales management tool provider. As the first sales CRM designed for salespeople, by salespeople, you’re able to do more to grow your business.

Commit
Commit is a venture talent agency that gives companies access to engineers and developers to help them with their projects.
To learn more about the many perks we offer, please contact us.
An In-depth Guide to Running Early Stage Startup Boards — Part 2 of 3
Laviva Mazhar, our Investment Analyst, wrote the 2nd part of this blog series, which focuses on Recruiting, compensating and protecting your Board of Directors. From a startup perspective, the blog provides insightful information fintechs should leverage as they consider establishing their Board of Directors.
Part 3 of 3 is coming out in later November so stay tuned!
Fintech Investor Interview by NCFA
NCFA Fintech Confidential spoke with Karim Gillani, our General Partner, on his background, how Canada has evolved, what we should be doing, advice to fintech founders and what keeps him awake at night. Read the interview here.
Events
Luge participated in events both in Canada and the US during the third quarter. We’ve listed some of them below. Follow us on Twitter to know where we’ll be so we can connect!

Startupfest (Montreal)
A summer staple and highlight, Startupfest thrilled its audience with its unique outdoor venue, inspiring speakers, insightful content, and awesome vibe. Canada’s largest startup event gathered thousands of aspiring founders, ground-breaking innovators and veteran entrepreneurs from around the world. Our General Partner, David Nault, presented on “How to Capture an Investor’s Attention.”

David then participated on a panel discussion on “How do we work with startups?” He joined Jan Arp of Holt Accelerator, Nayla Chelbi of CDPQ, Jonathan Theriault and Stephane Bousquet of National Bank of Canada where everyone explained the different ways all the organizations supported the startups.

David ended the sunny day responding to questions from the audience during Espace CDPQ’s Ask-Me-Anything session where he provided the inside scoop on venture capital (VC) fundraising.
Venture Summit | East 2019 (New York City)
Karim participated in the Banking on Fintech Innovation panel with fellow top-tier VCs to discuss the rise of fintech, the integration of groundbreaking technologies within financial services, and the future of digital finance. He was also one of the judges that evaluated the company presentations by to discuss the rise of fintech, the integration of groundbreaking technologies within financial services, and the future of digital finance.
Bank On It Podcast
John Siracusa chatted with our General Partner, Karim Gillani while he was in NYC. Every week, the show host John Siracusa talks with insightful fintech leaders and entrepreneurs, through conversation uncovers the remarkable stories behind them, their creations and the most important topics in fintech. Listen to the podcast here.

Fintech Impact Podcast
Ramin Wright, our Investment Analyst, discussed early stage venture capital and opportunities in fintech with Jason Pereira, award-winning financial planner, university lecturer, writer, and host. Listen to the podcast here.
CIX Mixer (Montreal)
David Nault, our General Partner, had a fireside chat with Steven Arless of Consulmed Inc. during the Montreal CIX Mixer at Fasken’s office. This event supported the #Tech4SickKids with donations going to the SickKids Foundation in Toronto.
DisruptIcons Podcast
FinTech Growth Syndicate invited Karim Gillani, our General Partner, and Aly Dhalla, CEO and Co-Founder of our portfolio company Finaeo, to discuss the democratic requirement of the new digital era, the customer centric movement in insurance, and the next generation of technology. Listen to the podcast here.
Lots of Work Mixed with Fun

Every other quarter our team regroups during a two-day offsite to spend time together as a team. This provides us valuable time with minimal distractions to move further ahead on projects, consider new goals and re-evaluate current priorities. We held our offsite in August at the beautiful Mont Tremblant Lodge. The morning views and watching deer walking by set the tone for the meeting.
Interesting Topics
Here are some interesting articles and a video we found especially interesting.
- Kids Creating the Future Bank (video)- Chris Skinner, author and industry expert, explores the cultural and environmental role fintechs will play in the future and how fintech can be used for the greater good to provide protection, improve inclusion, and increase education.
- What I wish I knew about fundraising as a first-time founder by Preethi Kasireddy of TruStory
- Cash is King: 8 tips to Optimize Fundraising Strategy by David Skok on ForEntrepreneurs.com
- Prospect.fyi is a free career network with the mission to unite the global tech talent pool with Canada’s startup industry.
- Eight in ten Canadians count their identity among their most valuable assets — based on an Interac research study showing Canadians want more convenience and security in managing their identity online
- Why Invisible Will Make 2020’s Payments Innovation Roar — by Karen Webster of PYMNTS.com
- Canada’s Internet Factbook — by Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA)
Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook to get the latest news about our team and portfolio companies.
Luge Capital Team
