Page 16 - Investment Advisor September 2022

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

By Timothy D. Welsh

The Next Fintech Movement

Coming to the U.S.

Canadian fintechs are taking a cue from Pamela Anderson

and Justin Bieber and expanding southward.

s the financial technology, or
fintech, industry continues to
A expand and become ever more
important in wealth management, new
and emerging market opportunities are
rapidly shaping how independent finan-
cial advisors will work with clients and
manage their businesses.
One of the more prominent develop-
ments the industry is experiencing is
the latest invasion by Canadian fintechs
targeting the hundreds of thousands of
financial advisors managing the trillions
and trillions of dollars in investable
assets residing in the U.S.
“We are seeing more and more estab-
lished and startup technology compa-
nies from Canada now entering the U.S.
market,” said Joel Bruckenstein, indus-
try tech guru and producer of the T3
technology conferences. “This is hap- fund analysis for financial advisors engaging and presenting investment
pening for a number of reasons, most and is opening up shop in the U.S. solutions to clients along with the prep-
notably the vast size of the U.S, wealth CapIntel recently announced U.S. $11 aration of investment proposals.
markets and a strong U.S. dollar, which million in Series A funding led by the Another example of recent cross-
means they can grow much more quick- New York-based FinTech Collective border fintech investment is Conquest
ly, profitably and achieve higher valua- with participation from Fengate Asset Planning, a financial planning software
tions by targeting financial advisors here Management on behalf of its investor, platform created by Mark Evans, a long-
in the States.” the LiUNA Pension Fund of Central and time Canadian technology innovator.
Plus, he adds, there are “more and Eastern Canada. This is actually Evans’ second financial
more private equity and venture capital Since launching its platform in 2019, planning software venture from Canada
investors focused on the U.S. wealth CapIntel experienced nearly 800% rev- targeting financial advisors in the U.S.
tech space that they can tap into for enue growth in 2021, following 640% His first foray happened over 30 years
growth capital to expand their business- growth in 2020, and it is now used by ago with the launch of the well-known
es beyond their relatively much smaller more than 10,000 advisors serving more NaviPlan, which has subsequently been
home markets.” than 2 million households. passed around by various wealthtech
CapIntel plans to hire at least 150 new platforms and insurance companies
CROSS-BORDER PLAYERS team members over the next two years, via M&A, most recently landing at the
The most recent example of this PE focused on building out its sales and wealthtech supermarket InvestCloud.
and VC money crossing the U.S. and product teams after the recent expan- Conquest recently raised $7.5 million on
Canadian borders is CapIntel, which sion into the U.S. market. Its platform top of $3 million a year ago to expand Adobe Stock
focuses on day-to-day workflows and addresses the perennial challenges of U.S. operations.

12 INVESTMENT ADVISOR SEPTEMBER 2022 | ThinkAdvisor.com