Bay Street hasn’t figured out SMB banking. Venn has the answer.

“The U.S. is a marketing play, no problem, but Canada is the real fintech play,” says Ahmed Shafik with quick confidence that translates over a Zoom call. “This is where we actually have to build infrastructure to have a successful business model.”

Shafik (Accounting ‘18) comfortably plays the role of co-founder-turned-LinkedIn thought leader as he helps lead Venn (external link) , a growing Canadian fintech startup that offers a digital banking platform for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Venn was founded in 2021 (as Vault) to serve SMBs in ways the big five banks in Canada did not, such as using a digitized process that eschews branch-based banking. With a team of 20 employees and a C$21.5M Series A funding round (external link)  under their belt, Shafik and his co-founder, Saud Aziz are planning their longer-term growth strategy. 

“It’s a hands-off management style, but the expectation is for everyone to push each other,” explains Aziz (Accounting ‘16). “We hire smart and hungry generalists, not specialists in a specific function because we are an early stage company and our roles change every month.” 

While Shafik takes on product road mapping, engineering and recruitment, Aziz looks over the operations side of the business, including relationships with banking partners. Working at Venn is a two-way bet; “we’re taking a bet on employees earlier in their career, but they are also taking a bet on us,” says Aziz.

“There are quite a few challenges in the sector, for one, Europe is more advanced than the U.S. and Canada in offering different licenses for fintech that enables them to operate like a bank,” says Shafik. Experts point to the pandemic and turbulent interest rates (external link)  as recent explanations as to why Canada lacks open banking, but the challenges are more structural. 

“Canada is monopolized by the big five banks, which sees a lack of innovation on the business-facing side,” explains Aziz. “It’s too fragmented,” adds Shafik. “SMBs have to stitch together financial service products rather than have one sole provider.” 

“SMBs are treated like second-class citizens, when they have their own business needs that are different from consumer banking needs,” says Aziz. 

It’s an uphill battle not only against RBC, TD and their peers, but other fintechs circling a glaring market gap. In 2025 alone, Goldman Sachs led a C$70M Series B funding round (external link)  for Float, a Toronto-based fintech company that offers expense management services for SMBs. Keep, which describes itself as Canada’s “first all-in-one financial platform built exclusively for small businesses” announced C$108M in new funding (external link)  in May 2025. And earlier this spring, BetaKit reported that Revolut was recruiting talent (external link)  to try and re-penetrate the Canadian market after exiting in 2021 (external link) .

“The multi-currency angle is unique to us—corporate cards we issue are connected to four accounts, whereas competitors offer cards per currency,” says Shafik. “And because we build infrastructure in-house, we have speed of execution.”

Both Aziz and Shafik worked at Revolut during the company’s short-lived stint in Canada, crediting their time at the British neobank with teaching them how to hire a team, build a product and the importance of localizing. “Like any Canadian founder, the top question we face from investors is whether Canada is a big enough market. The answer is yes, it absolutely is,” says Aziz. 

“Investors question if they should bet on someone tackling Canada [as opposed to] California,” explains Shafik. “Venn is focusing on one market and going deeper, so when they realize how profitable the banks are, they realize you can build a multi-billion dollar business here rather than go surface-level across the States.”

“Working in London was like night and day. The problems they are solving for in banking in the U.K. were ten years ahead of what we’re dealing with in Canada,” admits Aziz. 

Venn has more to come for the rest of 2025 and into 2026. An Axios story earlier this year (external link)  on cross-border transactions reported that the company was looking into offering lending services for SMBs. A forthcoming announcement set for October 1, 2025, has both Shafik and Aziz tight-lipped about what’s to come. 

“What I’ll say is this—every year, there are 100 to 110K businesses created in Canada (external link) , but 90K fail, and one of the top three reasons is access to financial services,” says Aziz. 

Both co-founders see the goal of fixing SMB banking as a “multi-year” process, with problems that can’t be solved with the quick turnaround many fintechs strive for. 

“We’re helping businesses move faster and smarter,” says Shafik. “And,” adds Aziz, “I genuinely believe we’re going to increase the number of businesses in Canada with what’s coming.” 

On October 1, 2025, Venn announced the launch of Venn Corporation (external link, opens in new window) . The new offering enables business owners to incorporate their company federally or provincially in Ontario in just minutes, while simultaneously applying for a Venn business account. Venn is making history: for the first time ever, Ontario entrepreneurs can incorporate online for free.