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Top 6 Most Impactful Toronto FinTech CompaniesThe financial technology (FinTech) industry is thriving around the world,having received nearly $40 billion worth of global funding last year alone—afigure that has nearly doubled since 2014. In Canada especially, the FinTechstartup ecosystem has witnessed a euphoric growth rate. With Toronto’s FinTechlandscape serving as a hotbed of activity, Toronto Life Magazine recentlydubbed Toronto as “The New Silicon Valley.”Below we take a look at 6 highly influential FinTech companies in Toronto.These successful start-ups not only inspire us, but demonstrate how practicaland creative technological solutions can help ease our financial struggles.## Wave: Helping Small Business Owners EverywhereWave is a free small business accounting website changing the way millions ofsmall businesses make money, spend money and track money. Wave offers anintegrated suite of cloud-based tools to create and send professionalinvoices, manage receipts and payments, effortlessly track income andexpenses, and deliver money to employees with ease.Wave’s software is jargon-free and incredibly easy to use. By bookkeeping alltransactions, Wave functions as an incredibly useful management tool for whentaxes need to be filed. Furthermore, Wave is serious about security, boastinga PCI Level-1 certification for handling credit card and bank accountinformation.According to the Wave website, 2.8 million customers use the app, $200billion+ in income and expenses have been tracked so far, and $19 billion ininvoices are sent annually through the platform. With such widespread success,PCMag praises Wave as “one of the best online resources period for its targetsmall business audience.”Employees: 51-200 Website: https://www.waveapps.com/## SmoothPay: Quick and Easy Phone Payments SmoothPay is a mobile payment, loyalty, and engagement company that deliversvaluable offers and rewards to consumers through the free SmoothPay app. Oncedownloaded, a user can browse all the nearby locations that accept SmoothPayand any incentives they offer. When making a payment, a user simply displaysthe QR code on the pay screen to the retailer’s SmoothPay terminal and inreturn collects rewards, cashes in on offers, and receives an emailed receipt.CEO Brian Deck explains that, while large companies like Starbucks have theresources and brand strength to achieve adoption of a mobile payment andloyalty app, many small businesses can’t afford the costs of developing asimilar app. Furthermore, consumers would prefer not to have a jumble ofdifferent loyalty and payment apps on their phones. Functioning as a singletransaction app, SmoothPay is the perfect way for consumers to pay-in-store atparticipating cafes, shops, and restaurants.Soon carrying a wallet, like wearing a watch, will be an indication of oldage. SmoothPay is convenient, beneficial to consumers and retailers alike, andencrypted with industry-leading security features. As mobile payments accountfor more and more transactions, we predict that SmoothPay will only continueto grow as a FinTech company.Employees: 1-10 Website: https://smoothpay.com/## Quandl: An Ideal Data MarketplaceQuandl is a data platform that delivers financial and economic data to over250,000 users, including analysts from the world’s top hedge funds andinvestment banks. By sourcing, evaluating and productizing undiscovered data,Quandl equips sophisticated investors with an edge that only alternative datacan deliver. The platform has integrations with most major languages andanalytical tools, such as API, R, Python, Excel, and Ruby.Quandl’s mission is to inspire customers to make new discoveries andincorporate them into trading strategies. According to the Quandl website:“The world’s most powerful data lives on Quandl.” It’s no wonder that 14 outof 15 of the largest banks and 8 out of 10 of the largest hedge funds areusing Quandl to make superior investment decisions.The Quandl team predicts that financial data will serve as the primary driverof active investment performance over the next decade and is in fact one ofthe most important resources of the 21st century. Saving data analysts time,effort, and money by delivering data in accessible formats, Quandl boastswidespread use and popularity.Employees: 11-50 Website: https://www.quandl.com/## Hockeystick: A Smart, Transparency SolutionHockeystick operates an online financial data platform for private equityfunds, providing insight, data, and transparency to private markets, such aspeople, companies, investors, limited partners, and researchers. Fund managersuse Hockeystick to accurately track, compare and predict company performance.Hockeystick is an especially useful service for startups, and was in factnamed for the shape of the steep growth curve that startups aspire to reach.Startups often struggle to disclose basic financial information such as cashflow, balance sheets, and profits and losses, making investors nervous orfinicky. Investors and companies agree on what data will be shared throughHockeystick and how frequently.Currently, more than 12,000 private companies and top Canadian funders belongto the Hockeystick network. Smart companies understand the importance ofkeeping investors informed and up to date on business, and Hockeystickpresents a promising solution.Employees: 11-50 Website: https://hockeystick.co/## Sensibill: A Convenient, Digital Receipt ManagerSensibill hopes to put an end to receipt-stuffed wallets by allowing customersto access receipts directly from their bank accounts either on their desktopor mobile banking applications. Customers can use the service to managereceipts for returns, exchanges, expenses, accounting, and taxes.According to a Sensibill case study, 47% of small business banking customerssay they would switch banks if better mobile services were offered elsewhere.Sensibill’s easy-to-use receipt solution helps banks retain their customerswhile providing those same customers with better resources to manage theircash flow and expenses.Sensibill founder and CEO Corey Gross says: “It is important to enablecommunity banks to keep pace with innovation and equip their customers withthe tools they need to manage their finances.” Since the future of documentsis a paperless one, Sensibill’s receipt service is on a mission to helpcustomers’ lead healthier financial lives.Employees: 11-50 Website: https://getsensibill.com/## Wealthsimple: A New Type of Financial AdvisorWealthsimple is an online investment manager that helps individuals buildsmart portfolios and achieve financial goals like paying down debt, saving fora home, or investing for retirement. Users simply sign up on the Wealthsimpleplatform, answer a few questions, and transfer money into their Wealthsimpleaccount. The money is then used to purchase a diversified mix of low-feeExchange Traded Funds (ETFs) optimized for each users’ financial situation.While the term “robo-advisor” was coined by the US media to describe aninvestment strategy with minimal human interaction, Wealthsimple claims theirplatform combines both technological and human elements. Designed by thesmartest humans, Wealthsimple’s system nonetheless removes all the biases thathuman behavior can bring in so as to make the smartest financial investments.Functioning as an intuitive, affordable, and human financial advisor,Wealthsimple takes the guesswork out of investing. Seeking to compete in theincreasingly crowded digital investment advice market, Wealthsimple has justraised $51 million in funding from Power Financial Corp. We envision thecompany continuing to expand as more individuals learn to entrust theirsavings into the hands of “robo-advisors.”Employees: 51-200 Website: https://www.wealthsimple.com/en-ca/Toronto is a dynamic FinTech ecosystem, home to 3 of the world’s top 25 banksand a highly educated tech workforce. These 6 companies inspire us bydemonstrating how digital systems can be used to provide individuals andbusinesses with innovative and practical financial solutions.