Toronto-born KOHO Financial kicked 2022 off by closing a $210 million Series D funding round.
“I think our growth is evidence that Canadians are looking for something different,” Daniel Eberhard, founder of KOHO, said at the time.
To meet changing consumer demand for fast, flexible, and convenient payments, KOHO followed up the financing with a partnership with Mastercard to improve services and offer better customer experience.
“Our goal for KOHO is simple: we want to make the lives of Canadians easier by giving them better ways to spend and manage their money,” said Eberhard.
Koho crowned the year with recognition from Team True North, representing fintechs as one of Canada’s most promising growth companies.
2023, however, is off to a rockier start for the Toronto fintech.
Amid market turbulence that has impacted hundreds of tech firms, Koho has reduced its workforce by 14%, according to a report from BetaKit—although, interestingly, Eberhard claims the move was made “independent of market conditions.”
Approximately 40 positions were eliminated company-wide, BK reports—part of a broader restructuring of the firm, according to Eberhard, which at its peak flirted with Unicorn status.
Eberhard informed BK that the tough decision moves Koho toward profitability, citing “faith in the metrics and the performance” of his company, whose revenue is on the upswing.
“We have the right business,” the chief executive told BK. “We just need to scale the existing user base under the existing economics.”
Overall, the fintech market is facing forces of change, from pandemic-led changes to the workplace to post-pandemic market shifts that have caught even clever entrepreneurs off guard.
Founded in 2014, Koho offers digital banking solutions across Canada. Currently, awareness of the brand remains below competitors Wealthsimple and Tangerine, but above others such as Mogo and Motusbank.
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