HOLT FINTECH BUSINESS ACCELERATOR: Outstanding international partnerships to support the program in its success

MONTREAL, Quebec (July 11, 2018) – The success of the Holt FinTech Accelerator is contagious; major high-quality partners have joined this major project for the FinTech industry. The program was launched in Montreal but aimed at the global industry and will support the next generation of talented entrepreneurs in the financial technology sector.

Brendan Holt Dunn, founder and managing partner of the Holt FinTech Accelerator program and great-great grandson of Sir Herbert Holt, explains: “We are proud to announce these partnerships which promise to be very successful. Thanks to our combined know-how in the field of FinTech, more and more startups will benefit from our services and expertise to ensure their development. These partnerships will make our program the ideal infrastructure to integrate FinTech and exponential technology industries.”

The majority of the program’s partners work in venture capital funds. They are located around the world, which will support the aura of Holt FinTech Accelerator internationally. They will also provide advice to the 10 startups that will be selected from the next 400 rising stars in the financial technology sector.

Here are some of the companies that have joined the adventure:

BCF Ventures, Montreal

The BCF Ventures Super Angel Fund works alongside the other investors in the industry in order to multiply the fundraising capacity of the companies that are selected. By means of investments of a maximum of $50,000 per company, the actions initiated by BCF Ventures complement the strategies deployed based on grants and soft loans already offered by government programs operating in pre-seed and seed stages.

Finance Montreal, Montreal

Created in 2010, Finance Montreal, Quebec’s financial cluster, has a mission to make Montreal a world-class financial hub, and foster cooperation among its member institutions to accelerate the industry’s growth. The organization engages in international business development activities to attract foreign financial companies to Montreal by promoting various tax incentives. It also administers the Montreal FinTech Station, a development centre for businesses in the financial technology sector.

Good News Ventures, Montreal

Good News Ventures operates as a venture capital firm and the team consists of passionate serial entrepreneurs who have built businesses from scratch with multiple successful exits as well as experienced investment management professionals.

Impression Ventures, Toronto/Montreal

Impression Ventures is a leading independent fintech focused VC firm with offices in Toronto and Montreal. They lead late seed or early Series A rounds by making a first investment of approximately $1.5M. Post financing they follow up with extensive and ongoing support to help companies achieve their vision.

Information Venture Partners, Toronto

Information Venture Partners is a Toronto-based venture capital group investing out of its $106M second fund. Information Venture Partners is focused on fast-growing enterprise FinTech and enterprise software companies based in North America.

Panache Ventures, Montreal

Panache Ventures is Canada’s most active seed stage venture capital fund. Panache is led by a team of experienced operators, with a strong angel investor track record, years of institutional VC experience and a strong network in Canada, in Silicon Valley and worldwide. The fund has a founders-first philosophy, a commitment to diversity and strategically co-invests with smart angel investors and seed stage funds.

Super Charger, Hong Kong/Kuala Lumpur

SuperCharger is an Asian leading accelerator program build in partnership with the public and private sector. They are currently active in Hong Kong and Malaysia. The program provides participating FinTech companies with market entry resources, experienced mentorship, and strategic access to industry experts, venture capitalists, and key stakeholders.

Sway Ventures, San Francisco

Sway Ventures is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm investing in early to mid-stage technology companies. The firm invest in high performing teams, building revolutionary technology, and creating the next enterprise or consumer category.

Undiscovered Ventures, Atlanta

Undiscovered Ventures’ name comes from the Blue Ocean Strategy, which touts the simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low cost. Instead of entering into fierce industry competition, they help their investment companies discover new markets, processes, and products to allow them to create their own categories, and thereby compete uninfluenced by price.

Other partners include:

• BDG
• Budgeto
• FormFintech
• Fundica
• Holdun
• Luge Capital
• Montreal International
• Osler
• Sillicon Valley Bank
• Stradigi AI
• Valtech

Holt FinTech Accelerator and its collaborators are extremely eager to start working hand in hand on such a game changing project. Not only is it a way to engage with some of the best startups in the world but it is also an opportunity to build solid and long lasting relationships between major players of the finance industry.

About Holdun

The Holt-Dunn family is the direct legacy of Sir Herbert Holt, and one of Montreal’s finest. Their ancestor immigrated to Canada in 1873 and built the Montreal Light, Heat & Power Company, which would later be expropriated and is now known as Hydro-Québec. Business people at heart, members of the family founded or owned over 300 companies locally and internationally. At one time, the family possessed assets accounting for about three billion dollars (equivalent to forty billion dollars in today’s currency). That amount was 10 times larger than the Canadian government’s circulating currency. Sir Herbert Holt was inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame in 1979 and is, to this date, the longest-serving chairman and president of RBC (from 1908 to 1934). His participation was crucial in turning RBC into the country’s largest bank and the third largest in North America.

Holdun, a 5th generation family business is comprised of Holdun Family Office, Holdun Wealth, Holdun Trust, Holdun Corporate Services, Holdun Financial Services, Holdun Concierge Services and Forte Fund Services. Much like Sir Herbert, the leaders at Holdun are business-savvy, entrepreneurial and proud of their roots.

For more information, contact:

Geneviève Sorel, Citoyen Optimum, genevieve.sorel@citoyenoptimum.com, 514-973-2135