Continuing from our blog series featuring Canada’s brightest Fintech startups, we’d like to introduce you to 2015 Notable Award winner for “Canada’s Best Online Business,” RentMoola. As one of BC’s leading fintech companies, RentMoola is a global payment network that rewards people for paying rent and condo fees.

Cofounded by twin brothers, Patrick and Philipp Postrehovsky, RentMoola recently raised $5 million to help support expansion efforts in the U.S. and U.K. RentMoola’s fundraising marks the largest equity crowdfunding round in Canadian history. Currently stocked with a talented crew of 26 employees (plus “Prince,” their adorable, yet ferocious Corgi security dog who growls like a big bad Doberman), RentMoola is centrally located in downtown Vancouver.

So how does RentMoola work?

RentMoola wants to help you eliminate the rent check and start paying your rent anywhere, anytime. Just by signing up, you’ll instantly gain access to hundreds of exclusive “Moolaperks”.

• Fast Sign Up: Create your tenant profile effortlessly in minutes. No commitments, no surprises, no sign up fees.
• Pay Your Way: Choose a payment method that suits you. We accept any credit card, MasterCard/Visa debit, and eCheque.
• Flexibility: Set up recurring or one-time payments and split rent with your roommates, too.
• 100% Guarantee: We fully guarantee that your rent is paid on-time to your property manager or landlord.
• MoolaPerks: Access exclusive deals and earn extra points with your favorite rewards credit card.
• Giveaways: Enter for chances to win free rent, prepaid gift cards, and trips around the world.

Patrick (left) and Philipp Postrehovsky (right), founders of RentMoola, a global payment network that rewards people for paying rent and condo fees.

We had a chance to sit down with one of the Postrehovsky brothers, Philipp, to get his thoughts on the future of payment, and how RentMoola fits into the ecosystem.

Trulioo: Is Vancouver a good city for Fintech? Why or Why not?

Philipp: I think Vancouver is a great place for a fintech company to flourish! Firstly, there is a highly supportive tech community and world class talent to help execute your vision. Also, in recent years, Vancouver has seen more and more tech darlings including EA, Vision Critical, POF, Slack, Global Relay, Recon etc. This trend continues to allow access to capital a little easier. Lastly the city just got voted as the best city in North America. How can you go wrong?

Trulioo: What’s Next for RentMoola?

Philipp: We’re always working on new features to take things to the next level. One of those is RM Everywhere which will allow tenants to make rewarding payments even if their property manager or landlord is not signed up. We’ll also be launching in Ireland later this year. With one of our brand colours being green, we should fit right in!

Trulioo: Where do you think Fintech will be in the next five years?

Philipp: Five years can feel like a lifetime in tech especially fintech. In the next 5 years I see large FIs continuing to collaborate and acquiring agile fintech companies to remain competitive and relevant. I also see the phone becoming a mainstream payment device making the traditional wallet redundant. This will help drive the eventual elimination of physical currency around the world. Finally, it’s the Canadian government’s mandate to eliminate cheques by 2020. With companies like ours aligning with that mandate, I predict rent cheques at least will be well on their way to becoming history.

If there’s a fintech company you’d like to see featured in our Fintechs in Canada blog series, please submit your request to [email protected].

We are launching a new blog series spotlighting Canada’s brightest Fintech startups on a mission to make everyone’s life easier, safer, and happier.

The first fintech startup we’d like to spotlight is Payso, one of Canada’s first peer-to-peer mobile payment service helping people send and receive payments from friends easier than ever before. Unlike online money transfer services such as the one offered by Interac, Payso is free. Co-founded by Jake Tyler and Natalie Cartwright, the duo met during their MBA program in Spain, where Jake got the brilliant idea for Payso. They both moved to Canada to build their business, spending time in both Vancouver and Toronto.

So how does Payso do it?

Payso believes that sending and receiving money should be as easy as sending a text message. Fast. Secure. Free.

• Send or request money to any phone number in Canada (plus send them messages) — Payso syncs with the contacts list in your phone or you can manually enter a number.
• When you send a payment, the money comes either from your Payso Wallet or from a Visa or MasterCard (credit or debit). Either way, it’s free for you.
• When you receive a payment, the money goes immediately into your Payso Wallet. You can cash it out from your Payso Wallet to any Canadian Bank Account whenever you want, for free.

We had a chance to catch up with Jake Tyler, CEO & Founder of Payso, and he shared a few thoughts on the future of payments and how Payso fits into the ecosystem.

Trulioo: Is Vancouver a good city for Fintech? Why or Why not?

Jake: Vancouver is a great place for tech generally, punching well above its weight at a global level. We have a great ecosystem of smart, ambitious founders, mentors, investors, talent and fast-adopting consumers here, and this is the real underpinning of Vancouver’s strength in tech. These are the key ingredients to a great fintech ecosystem, not proximity to banks.
In Canada, we are often guilty of comparing Vancouver to Toronto, and I think that’s the wrong reference point. I think if we’re asking if Vancouver is a good city for Fintech, we should be comparing it to London, Singapore, New York, and Silicon Valley. On that scale Vancouver and Canada, in general, still has some maturing to do. Canadian banks and consumers are laggards when it comes to fintech — we’re still excited about being able to take a photo of a check. This is a limiting factor on innovation. To overcome, it we need to be looking at leading global hubs for customers, partners and competitors.

Trulioo: What’s next for Payso?

Jake: In 2015, our focus was creating a great consumer facing product that made it super easy to send and share money with friends. We did pretty well on that front; with over $700,000 shared in the year, over half in the last quarter. In 2016, we are shifting our focus to having as big an impact as possible in this space. For us that means working with banks, credit unions and other large incumbents in Canada and around the world. We offer them our best in class peer-to-peer payments, plus instant messaging platform on a 100 percent white label basis. There is a natural synergy here; banks have a lot of customers and do a pretty good job at core banking and payment infrastructure. But they don’t do such a great job at “user experience” and face increasing competition from large non-bank players.

Trulioo: Where do you think Fintech will be in the next five years?

Jake: The most interesting players in banking over the next five years will be Messenger, WhatsApp, WeChat, SnapChat, Kik, Apple, Google, etc. Banks may have been the default ‘owners’ of consumer relationships in a world where we needed to visit a branch to open an account, but in the digital world this is not the case. The default owners here are social and chat platforms or any number of other players who can create a digital product that solves a problem for people and we enjoy using. As this happens, we will see money and banking baked into other experiences. For example, in the US you can send money to friends using Facebook Messenger. They’ve baked something you traditionally went to your bank to do into their product. Expect to see them bake in payments to merchants, then consumer credit, FX, savings and investment, etc. On the back-end, we will see core payment and banking infrastructure commoditize and consolidate around a few players who essentially offer the “Amazon Web Services” of banking. This is going to deliver a big dividend to consumers, who will get a better, more personalized service at a lower cost. As we head down this path, banks still start in a strong position. Those who move quickly and act like ‘non-bank’ counterparts will be winners. Incumbents who continue to operate business as usual will be losers. The thing to remember about technological change is that it is exponential, not linear.

Thanks for joining us on our first Fintechs in Canada blog series! Next up, we will be featuring Philip Postrehovsky, Co-Founder and COO at RentMoola, the emerging fintech startup making paying rent easier and more rewarding!

The financial technology (fintech) industry continues to heat up globally, as entrepreneurs seek to find new and creative ways to improve access to and delivery of financial services. Many different countries and regions are jockeying for position as the home of the world’s leading fintech hub, including Singapore, Sydney, and London.

In order to nurture further growth within the UK fintech community, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the country’s financial regulator, announced in November 2015 the introduction of a regulatory sandbox that will allow businesses to safely test new financial products and services without having to fear facing disciplinary regulatory actions. This is part of the FCA’s year-old Project Innovate initiative that is intended to encourage innovation and promote competition for fintech in the UK.

Fintech Regulation: Help or Hindrance?

When the subject of industry regulation comes up in discussions about startups, a sense of tension often builds in the room as a result. In the United States, some startups have resisted and fought against regulatory actions because they believed it didn’t support free-market principles and stifled innovation. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the U.S. financial regulator, announced in May 2015 that it was imposing fines on a fintech startup for failure to comply with anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist funding (CTF) requirements. It’s not surprising, therefore, that many startups are wary of the impact of regulations.

However, some startups have a more positive outlook on regulatory regimes. In the UK, in fact, fintech startups have gone so far as to implore the FCA to provide clear regulations for their industry. . Simply put, having regulations in place provides a greater sense of consumer trust.

Why Regulatory Sandboxes?

According to the FCA, there are three key potential benefits that the regulatory sandbox provides for both businesses and consumers.

Faster time-to-market for less cost
Research from other industries has revealed that delays resulting from the regulatory process has a very negative impact on innovative entrepreneurs. This friction can result in time-to-market increasing by nearly 33 percent and cost roughly 8 percent of lifetime product revenue.

Improved access to equity financing
Investors and venture capitalists may be wary of fintech startups due to the risk associated with regulatory uncertainty, thus hurting the prospects of these fledgling companies raising badly needed funds necessary at the growth stage. Insights have shown in other industries that this uncertainty may result in valuations dropping by 15 percent.

Putting more financial innovation in consumers’ hands
Sadly, due to the regulatory challenges faced by many fintech startups, innovative products or services are never tested and fail to see the light of day. It is the FCA’s hope that introducing the regulatory sandbox will provide the means for companies to manage their regulatory risk during the testing stage, which would allow more concepts to eventually be introduced to consumers.

An Idea Worth Copying?

Given the potential benefits that could result from allowing new financial products and services to be tested for compliance before receiving regulatory approval, is the concept of regulatory sandbox something that should be implemented in other countries?

At this point, it may still be premature to cast any judgments upon regulatory sandboxes, as the FCA is still accepting applications for the first cohort of companies to put their products through their paces. However, in principle, the whole concept of regulatory sandboxes makes a lot of sense. After all, one of the biggest hurdles that fintech companies must overcome apart from securing funding is ensuring regulatory compliance. What better way to address this concern than for regulators to provide an environment that allows entrepreneurs with the chance to address any shortcomings before the product is released to the public?

“Anything that supports industry innovation with the end consumer in mind should be welcomed, and credit should be given to the FCA for supporting disruptive technologies,” said Jon Jones, President at Trulioo. “The key will be whether or not a balance in reducing existing regulatory barriers whilst simultaneously maintaining appropriate safeguards can be found.”

It remains to be seen whether or not other jurisdictions will follow the UK’s lead. However, in order to remain competitive, it may be in the best interests of other countries for their regulators to closely track the progress of using sandbox environments. If successful, the regulatory sandbox could help elevate the UK to becoming the global leader for fintech.

Do you think that the regulatory sandbox is a good idea? Why or why not?