Experts believe that outside London, Wales has the biggest growth in the fin-tech industry in the second decade of the century.
Historically Wales was very slow when it comes to adapting to new technologies and embracing new business opportunities. Due to the big focus of Wale’s government on the digital world, fin-tech companies started a big movement. Offline businesses are trying to adapt to the online world and the number of those companies is growing every year. That’s where the fin-tech industry comes into the play as companies need different financial technologies to accept various payment options. Canada already achieved a big success in the fin-tech space and Wales has to to replicate the same approach to achieve success.
Canada is a leading country when it comes to the fintech ecosystem. People sometimes say:
“Toronto is the best place in Canada for start-ups”. Is this true though? Let’s see where in Canada does a startup have the most chances of success. The data provided here is based on 400 fintech based in Canada. Toronto indeed has the largest number of startups in its fintech world, 185 startups make up 43% of the total number of fintech. Then come Montreal and Vancouver with 102 startups (24% of the fintech ecosystem) and 65 startups (15% of the whole fintech industry) respectively. However, Toronto and Montreal have the same amount of startups that are in the pre-launch phase.
This might mean that once the startups move from the pre-launch phase to the early stage they move to Toronto. Yet the number of startups in the expansion phase, i.e. when the startups are providing services to new areas or start launching new product lines, is the highest in Vancouver. So you might want to start developing your project in Montreal, then launch it in Toronto and expand it from Vancouver. However, if you have a cryptocurrency and/or blockchain startup you might want to start in Montreal. 38% of those companies and 39% of Compliance startups have HQ in Montreal. Vancouver has a 48% of lending startups and Toronto has a 24%.
Digital charter brought light in Canada’s tech progress
The government of Canada backed the digital economy and curved the pathway for its further development for the decades to come. A very important part of the online world is the fintech industry. A big breakthrough for fintech happened when the government of Canada allowed the iGaming industry to start using fintech on their platforms. iGaming quickly and successfully adopted fintech. The two industries turned out to be a great match and both started rapidly growing ever since. This change attracted international users. Not only is using fintech for online gaming faster than conventional payment methods but it is safer too. Managing funds for gaming in the traditional way was a difficult and time-consuming task for the players who would rather focus on the game than spend days on monitoring international transactions. The engagement of the players outside Canada and from all over the world made a big change for the iGaming world. Online casinos in Canada allowed international gamers to play not only traditional casino games but also creative slots and roulette add-ons. International gamers can play roulette online with latest creatives and add-ons while using the latest financial options like BTC and ETH. The contribution of the industry to the economy of Canada has been growing. In May 2019, Canada’s digital charter was another step forward in the development of a safe online space of Canada. The principles upon which Canada’s digital economy is going to be based will create an equal and safe space for the users. Canada is trying to provide equal access to the information for the users as well as control over personal information. Online gaming platforms are adopting the latest technologies along the way.
Toronto could be a perfect city for the fin-tech hub
Even though the centers of fintech industries have already been established over the last decade, multiple countries are becoming more and more popular for fintech startups. Canada stands out among those countries. The provincial center of Ontario, Toronto, is becoming a new center of the fintech industry and the base of PaymentGenes office. Canada has always been welcoming to new fintech and now Canadians are adopting mobile payments. 81% of mobile phone owners in Canada use smartphones. Around 8 million of them can use NFC. 28% of Canadians use mobile banking. 18% pay for purchases or services with their mobiles. Toronto, which is the world’s 8th most important financial center, has the most employees in the fintech industry after New York. Canada has one of the most stable banking systems and four major banks of the country as well as 80% of international banks are based in Toronto. The province of Ontario is also a new hub for the IT industry and skilled professionals in the field. Half of Canada’s IT workers or 300,000 are employed by 20,000 IT companies in Ontario.
Shopify as A Successful Example
Shopify reported a 47% growth in earnings during the first quarter of this year in comparison to the same period last year. Shopify is based in Ottawa and specializes in retail technology. By the end of December 2019, Shopify’s revenue was US $ 505.2 million while in 2017 it was US$343.9 million. Shopify representatives say that the rise is owed to a considerable number of new clients such as Cirque du Soleil, Mark’s, Toms and a rapper Travis Scott. It seems like Shopify is catching up with Amazon.com. Shopify has a $ 1 billion fund to use for a research and development center to be opened in Ottawa. They will test new technologies and delivery methods there. “We don’t just want to make plans from the periphery, we want to get into it and really figure out what we need to do, and so the best way for us to do that, as Shopify’s always has always done is get our hands dirty and get into the trenches,” said Harley Finkelstein, Shopify’s chief operating officer.
