Growing Fintech Industry in Atlantic Canada: Top 5 Things Companies Should Prioritise
As our economy is starting to shift from response to recovery mode post the pandemic, fintech innovators and companies have started leading the charge. Every company, even those that have nothing to do with financial services, now see tremendous potential in the digital economy. Fintech is no longer an industry by itself. It is evolving into the backbone of all other industries, like cybersecurity and cloud computing.
What is unique with this disruption is there does not have to be one winner and some loser, as generally happens in this circumstance. Fintech is both driving and harnessing the potential of change in such a way that everyone can participate and grow.
Checking every box for growth in Atlantic Canada
There have been some positive indicators of growth in fintech over the past year in Atlantic Canada including an increase in the number of fintech start-ups and investors, rise in valuations, and the fast pace of digitalisation in other industries. Verafin, Four Eyes Financial, Proposify, CreditCardGenius, Snap AP and OliverPOS are examples of this growth.
One of the biggest changes in the investment landscape over the past year has been the willingness of investors to meet start-up founders virtually. Investment opportunities becoming less fixed on location of the company opens the doors for our startups to have access to capital from outside the region.
While fintech companies are responding to their own set of unique challenges, we have plenty of indicators that there will be more fintech innovations in the future, impacting how companies of all sizes, across industries, serve their clients.
With great powers come great responsibilities
Given the potential and opportunities, what should fintech companies prioritise on as they move from a response mode to stabilisation and growth?
1. Focus on agility in technology and solutions: This is your main advantage as a fintech company that serves B2B clients, as it removes the barriers that come with in-house innovation, for your clients.
2. Think outside the box: Your solutions do not have to only work for banks, e-commerce sites and other financial services companies, limiting your your market potential and client base.
3. 'Think export' right from the beginning: Creating and delivering solutions that work for the digital economy means that a solution developed within Atlantic Canada can serve clients anywhere in the world, right from the start. The emphasis is on validating product market fit, preparing for scalability and mapping your growth strategy, which bring us to the next point.
4. Develop a networking and partnership strategy: The demand will always be more than the supply when it comes to capital, infrastructure, resources, and partnerships that can open doors. Seek out other fintechs, founders, entrepreneurs, organisations and mentors, both within fintech and other industries, locally and globally.
5. Pay it forward: As other small businesses are trying to survive and thrive in the post pandemic world, e-commerce is only a part of their bigger and unique challenges. Design solutions to support their growth, solving the most pressing problems in operations, logistics, management, credit access and more. Being a part of the larger community's recovery action plan is vital for every industry to grow.
Fintech is rapidly becoming the backbone of other sectors, and it is essential to get it right with the comprehensive objectives, larger vision and bigger strides from the beginning.