After raising substantial financing, including more than $200 million in 2022, things went south for Koho.
That year, Koho was recognized by Team True North, representing fintechs as one of Canada’s most promising growth companies. But 2023 saw layoffs and a lack of profitability.
Resilience has been a crucial component of any company that has endured the global market turbulence of the past several years. KOHO is no exception.
In December, the company raised another $86M in a Series D extension, valuing the fintech at $800M, and reached the milestone of one million users. They started hiring again.
Moving forward, KOHO aims to become a bank. Earlier this year, the Toronto firm announced progress in the application process that could make it Canada’s first fintech startup to secure a banking licence.
“If we want to build the best products in the country, we need the best infrastructure in the country,” CEO Daniel Eberhard stated in January. “This is a crucial next step in that journey.”
Part of what has made KOHO a venerable and resilient institution since its founding in 2014 is the corporate culture that has been cultivated over more than a decade of deliberate work by its leadership team.
“We try to be really intentional about the culture we’re building at KOHO,” Eberhard shared recently on LinkedIn.
The fintech chief says his company does some things differently, offering some examples. One is the combination of a six-month probation and a six-month “cliff.”
“Hiring is hard,” writes the entrepreneur. “By six months, we have a much higher signal on fit [than three months]. On the flip side, we pulled forward vesting to start at six months instead of 12, because once you’re in, you’re in.”
KOHO also changed how they handle options-based compensation, offering 10-year expiries on options. The CEO previously called the options expiry “the most misunderstood and underrated clause in startup compensation.”
Beyond comp, KOHO encourages constant learning with a $300-per-year book budget. It also offers an in-house coach, which Eberhard suggests companies consider.
“[The] math is pretty simple,” says the CEO.
One coach can work with up to 40 people at a cost of roughly 2.5% of those 40 salaries. Eberhard is “Confident we get much greater than 2.5% back in terms of retention, performance, development, etc.”
All of this, and KOHO isn’t expecting workers to retire there. But speaking openly about attrition is just another differentiator.
“Most people who work at KOHO will not retire at KOHO,” admits Eberhard. “We try to destigmatize this so we can have honest conversations about alignment between what the individual wants and what the company needs.”
