Six months after the launch of the country’s first fintech cluster, MaRS announced on August 18 that Interac has become the latest major player to join its collaborative network for startups and already-established companies working on developing new financial technologies.
As a part of the agreement, the Interac Association and Acxsys Corporation, the two organizations behind Interac, the payment system that powers almost all the debit cards in Canada, will join MaRS’s financial technology cluster. According to Adam Nanjee, the head of cluster, Interac will work with startups that are based in MaRS’s College and University campus to collaborate on new technologies like crypto-currencies.
“This partnership indicates that there’s strong interest from Canadian financial services providers to help facilitate innovation,” said Nanjee when asked to touch on the significance of partnership. “For our cluster this engagement is critical — building a global fintech hub requires players in all sectors of financial services – from the banks to the payment networks.”
For Torontonians not immersed in the city’s startup community, Nanjee says it’s partnerships like this that will help continue build Toronto’s reputation as an important financial hub.
“This type of collaboration positions our city to become a global leader in financial services innovation on par with international fintech hubs like New York, London and Hong Kong. Creative new products, digital channels and experiences are developing here at MaRS where financial institutions are working alongside startups and this is something we should be proud of”
Previously, other financial institutions and companies, including CIBC, PayPal, Moneris and UGO, have partnered with MaRS to join the FinTech cluster.
The initiative, which is one of its kind in Canada, provides local area startups with access to the regional innovation centre’s suite of resources, as well as facilitates access to startup capital and the centre’s already established partner and customer networks.
MaRS also has two other clusters located within its building. One is devoted to legal technology; the other is focused on retail and digital commerce technology. They provide many of the same services and resources.