Koho Secures $8 Million Investment from Portag3

Vancouver’s Koho has secured an $8 million investment from fintech focused Portag3, the venture capital investment arm of Power Financial backed by Canada’s notable Desmarais family.

Koho is behind a smart spending app that lets users send e-transfers, pay bills, use ATMs and track their personal finances from a mobile platform. The mostly fee-free service is targeted at millennial users. The startup’s app launched in Canada this March after two years of development and a four-month beta period.

“Since launching Koho earlier this year, we’ve experienced tremendous growth,” said Koho CEO Daniel Eberhard in a release. “Our growth comes on the back of tangible customer benefits; helping people save money and providing them more financial control. It’s the reason people use our app five times more than traditional finance apps.”

The new capital will serve as a scale-up round for the Vancouver-based company as it plans to direct the funding towards its technology platform and expand their engineering and operations team at a new Toronto headquarters.

Koho also sends users a Visa-powered Koho card issued by Vancouver-based Peoples Trust Company to be used for purchases and ATM withdrawals.

The cash from Portag3 is their second largest investment after Toronto-based Wealthsimple. The fintech company received a $50 million boost in May to grow their robo-investment adviser, brining Power Financial’s total investment in Wealthsimple to $100 million.

“We are excited to support Koho’s ambition of reimagining how Canadians can be better served in their daily financial lives,” said Adam Felesky, president of Portag3 Ventures. “Providing access, transparency and low costs in partnership with financial institutions are core pillars of the Koho platform and if successful, we believe Koho can build lifelong relationships with their customers.”

The latest found by Portag3 also saw three new additions to the venture’s board: Paul Desmarais III, senior vice president of Power Financial; Adam Felesky, president of Portag3; and Wealthsimple CEO Michael Katchen.

“We’re thrilled to support this promising fintech company,” said Paul Desmarais III in a release. “We look forward to working with Daniel and the Koho team to bring Canadians more inclusion, transparency and access to great financial services.”

Since March, the venture backed startup has raised $10.6 million from the founders of Hootsuite and Shopify, billion-dollar fund managers, and Portag3 Ventures.