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Alright Ian here I go. Why @Neo_Financial is geared to win in Canada and tackle the big 5! 
First off though, are you even a REAL neo-bank if Valar didnât lead your A?
https://twitter.com/iankar_/status/1339435661691035648
First off though, are you even a REAL neo-bank if Valar didnât lead your A?
https://twitter.com/iankar_/status/1339435661691035648
2. The team is world-class. Andrew and Jeff started @SkipTheDishes, which is massive in Canada and sold for $200M+ to just eats. They embrace my favourite strategy which is go where no one else is going and working with banks that others wonât ever think about.
3. They are the first neo-bank in Canada that is not working with Peopleâs Trust and just doing a pre-paid visa debit. They took the hard path of finding bank partners that allow you to build out rails to them... Since Canada doesn't have BaaS yet.
4. They are are working with ATB for their CC which is a provincial bank owned by Alberta Province. They are not regulated by the federal government but by Albertaâs provincial government under the ATB Financial Act⊠imagine being a bank and writing your own bill.
Less regulation but full coverage⊠with drawbacks like no CDIC insurance however, its backed by the Alberta government...Hence they are only doing CC with them, allowing them to utilize ATBâs balance sheet for giving out credit. ATBâs own history is very interesting. Future
5. For their savings account, they are working with Concentra. Another interesting organization in 
. Concentra brought together most of credit unions in Canada (85% of them) and turned itself into a wholesale bank and became scheduled one charter bank under federal government.
. Concentra brought together most of credit unions in Canada (85% of them) and turned itself into a wholesale bank and became scheduled one charter bank under federal government.
This allowed them to take deposits and get CDIC insurance and plugging into the banking network (interac e-transfer, etc) which Neo is utilizing. Neo now have the highest interest rate in Canada, which is 1.55%. Here comes hot money but fast growth!
6. Their strategy mimics Nubanks where they are building the whole stack themselves (core banking included) and started with CC⊠going a bit further with a savings account too. (No debit card right now, just CC + savings account.. a bit like Zero). Interac e-transfers included
7. They are running their SKIP playbook again where they are starting with smaller suburban cities like Winnipeg, Calgary, Saskatchawan, etc. Low CAC with high customer need.
8. Being good entrepreneurs that they are, they are focusing on their strengths which are their relationships with local restaurants. They are going to each restaurant and signing them up for their rewards program, giving more incentives to their customers to use Neo CC.
And for the restaurants to nudge their customers to get Neo-credit card. Reminds me a bit of early AMEX strategy.
These rewards are juicy and that feedback loop is 
. Similar to Cash App drops and boosts. The incentives are aligned with restaurants and future merchants. Their rewards network is already in smaller cities.
. Similar to Cash App drops and boosts. The incentives are aligned with restaurants and future merchants. Their rewards network is already in smaller cities.
Overall, I am VERY excited for them to be tackling this market and going out on their own, without Power Corp or Peoples Trust. Also their investor roster is incredible and they will build something massive for Canada! Very bullish on this team and product!
