Canadian challenger bank Neo Financial has raised a $185 million Series C round led by Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures.
The financing round brings Neo’s total funding to $299 million since its 2019 inception and values the company at over $1 billion, making Neo one of the fastest Canadian companies to reach the coveted ‘unicorn’ status.
Neo Financial offers a variety of products to its customers, including cash-back rewards and savings. It expanded into investing in April with a private wealth management product, and plans a mortgage offering for later this year as part of its effort to be a “one-stop shop for all financial services for Canadians and retailers.”
“We started Neo to take on a massive challenge – to reimagine financial services for all Canadians. In an industry where the incumbents make up 90%+ of the market, we’ve been able to rapidly earn the trust of over one million Canadians and 7,000+ retailers across the country,” wrote co-founder Andrew Chau on LinkedIn.
Neo currently employs 650+ and according to Chau they are “looking for the best people to join us on our mission”. Neo is currently hiring for more than 100 roles for its Winnipeg and Calgary offices and has plans to expand into Quebec.