Payments & Fintech Acquisitions in Canada

Blockchain developer Polygon Labs acquired Toronto-based Sequence and Seattle-based Coinme in deals totaling more than $250 million to accelerate its stablecoin payments strategy. The purchases bring wallet and developer infrastructure (Sequence) together with fiat on-/off-ramps and US money-transmitter licenses (Coinme) to form an integrated Open Money Stack for on-chain payments.

European payment technology company Paynt has acquired Canada-based E-xact Transactions to accelerate its North American expansion. The deal gives Paynt an operational hub in Vancouver and access to E-xact’s processing volume (over CAD 3.5 billion annually across ~50 million transactions); Paynt also appointed payments veteran JohnPaul Golino to its board to lead integration and go-to-market in the region.

Robinhood is acquiring Canada-based crypto trading platform WonderFi in an all-cash deal valued at approximately $178.56 million (CA$250 million). The acquisition gives Robinhood access to WonderFi’s regulated platforms (Bitbuy and Coinsquare), more than 1.6 million registered Canadian users and roughly C$1 billion in assets under custody, accelerating Robinhood’s expansion into Canada.

Fiserv, through its affiliate 1517452 B.C. Ltd., has completed the acquisition of Payfare Inc. under a plan of arrangement. Payfare’s Class A shares will be delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange and withdrawn from OTCQX, and the company will integrate Payfare’s instant-pay and mobile banking capabilities to expand Fiserv’s payments and fintech offerings.

Primus Capital has made a strategic growth investment in Reach, a Calgary-based Merchant of Record (MoR) provider. The capital will be used to scale operations, accelerate Reach's product roadmap (payments, tax compliance, and fraud protection) and expand its global entity network to support enterprise and mid-market merchants.

Advent International agreed to acquire Nuvei for US$34.00 per share in an all-cash transaction that values the Canadian payments company at approximately US$6.3 billion. Existing major shareholders — Philip Fayer, Novacap and CDPQ — will roll a significant portion of their equity and remain as investors, with Philip Fayer continuing as Nuvei's Chair and CEO; the deal is expected to close in late 2024 or early 2025, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals.

Payroc WorldAccess, LLC has acquired SterlingCard Payment Solutions Inc., a Markham, Ontario-based provider of card-present and payment solutions. The deal adds SterlingCard's team of 11 and card-present capabilities to Payroc's Canadian offering, complementing Payroc's existing card-not-present and ACH/PAD services and expanding its presence in Canada.

Objectway, a global FinTech software and services provider, has acquired Nest Wealth, a Canadian digital wealth solutions provider. The acquisition expands Objectway's product capabilities in client onboarding and financial planning and accelerates its market presence across North America and EMEA.

Preludd Payment Services has acquired Amadis, a provider of EMV card-present payment acceptance software and SoftPOS solutions, to broaden its payment platform capabilities and accelerate global expansion. The deal combines Preludd's cloud-based white-label gateway and POS management services with Amadis' EMV/SoftPOS software expertise to create a stronger global payments solutions provider.

Nav has acquired the assets of fintech app Nuula to accelerate mobile app development and expand its small-business financial-health platform. The asset purchase brings Nuula technology and team members into Nav to enhance cash-flow insights, credit information, and mobile financing features for SMBs.

Battery Ventures has agreed to make a significant strategic investment in Ascendant (AscendantFX Capital Inc.), becoming the company's primary investor to accelerate product innovation, network expansion and growth. Ascendant, a Toronto-based cross-border payments fintech serving over 2,000 financial institutions and corporate customers, said the transaction is expected to close in H1 2023 subject to regulatory approval; Raymond James acted as Ascendant's exclusive financial advisor.

NMI has acquired the payments solutions business of Agreement Express, adding onboarding, underwriting, KYC/AML and risk monitoring capabilities to its commerce enablement platform. Frontier Growth will retain Agreement Express's wealth management arm; terms were not disclosed.

Swiss-headquartered Komgo has acquired GlobalTrade Corporation (GTC), combining their trade finance digitization platforms to create a larger, global offering for corporates and banks. The combined business will offer broader coverage and complementary capabilities across the full range of trade finance instruments and workflows.

Layer-2 blockchain platform Coinweb has acquired FINTRAC-registered OnRamp Technologies Limited, a Canadian money services business, to obtain Canadian fiat rails and MSB permissions. The acquisition enables Coinweb to offer virtual currency exchange and transfer services in Canada and supports the platform's regulated launch into North America.

Paystone, a London, Ontario-based payments and customer engagement company, acquired Canadian Payment Services (CPS), a Canadian merchant services provider. The deal expands Paystone's merchant base and capabilities—adding CPS's ~10,000 merchants and enabling Paystone to offer its proprietary SaaS products and payment services to a larger Canadian footprint.

WonderFi Technologies Inc. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire First Ledger Corp., the parent of Bitbuy Technologies Inc., Canada's first approved crypto marketplace, in a transaction valued at approximately CAD $206 million. The deal (70 million WonderFi shares, $20M upfront cash and $30M vendor take-back note) adds over 375,000 users, CAD $455 million in assets under custody and more than 80 employees to WonderFi, expanding its licensed fiat on‑ramp, OTC capabilities and product suite.

OFX Group Limited has agreed to acquire 100% of Canadian foreign exchange and payments provider Firma Foreign Exchange Corporation for C$90 million. The acquisition adds over 9,600 corporate clients, increases OFX's North America revenue substantially, and is expected to be accretive to EPS while delivering cost and revenue synergies.

Flexpoint Ford led an equity investment of up to C$150 million in PayFacto Payments Inc., with participation from BMO Capital Partners. The growth capital will fund PayFacto's U.S. expansion, product development (including a cloud-based POS), and future acquisitions to accelerate its payments and POS strategy.

Prophecy DeFi Inc. completed the acquisition of 60% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Layer2 Blockchain Inc., issuing 25,000,000 Prophecy common shares to Layer2 shareholders as consideration. The majority stake gives Prophecy control to accelerate Layer2's DeFi operations — including liquidity provisioning, market making, cross-chain arbitrage and staking — as part of Prophecy's broader decentralized finance investment ecosystem.

goeasy Ltd. (TSX: GSY) has acquired LendCare Holdings, Inc. from CIVC Partners to expand its point-of-sale lending capabilities and broaden its near-prime product offering. The acquisition is intended to accelerate goeasy's growth in the Canadian consumer credit market by adding LendCare's merchant distribution network and origination technology.

Orlando-based payments provider Fattmerchant has made a strategic investment in Fusebill, an Ottawa-founded cloud subscription billing and payments platform. The partnership aims to combine Fusebill's subscription-billing capabilities with Fattmerchant's integrated payments stack to expand capabilities and drive international growth.

Affirm entered into a definitive agreement to acquire PayBright, one of Canada’s leading buy-now-pay-later providers, for approximately CAD $340 million. The acquisition expands Affirm’s presence in Canada by combining PayBright’s merchant relationships and local market expertise with Affirm’s U.S. pay-over-time platform.

Mogo Inc. (TSX: MOGO; NASDAQ: MOGO) agreed to acquire Carta Solutions Holding Corporation (doing business as Carta Worldwide) in an all‑stock plan of arrangement to expand into the global B2B digital payments market. The acquisition — reported at about C$24.2 million — gives Mogo a payments technology platform and broadens its addressable market into global digital payments.

Great Hill Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm, completed the acquisition of VersaPay Corporation by way of a statutory plan of arrangement, valuing VersaPay at approximately C$126 million (C$2.70 per share). The deal takes VersaPay private and positions the SaaS accounts-receivable and B2B payments platform to invest in product development and accelerate global expansion under Great Hill's ownership.

Deluxe Corporation (NYSE: DLX) has completed the acquisition of RDM Corporation, a Waterloo, Ontario–based provider of remote deposit capture (RDC) software, hardware and digital imaging solutions for financial institutions and corporate clients. The deal, which required shareholder and Canadian regulatory approval, strengthens Deluxe’s WAUSAU Financial Systems business by adding RDC and payment processing capabilities and expanding its treasury management product suite.