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Investment in Canadian fintech remained robust in a relatively weak year for global investment, KPMG Pulse of Fintech shows

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2 years ago

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Canadian fintechs poised for further growth and investment in 2025

TORONTO, Feb. 18, 2025 /CNW/ – Investment in Canadian fintechs remained robust in 2024 despite a global drop in investment, KPMG International’s H2’24 Pulse of Fintech report shows.

A record US$9.5 billion was invested across 121 fintech deals last year, compared to US$1.1 billion invested a year earlier across 129 deals, according to data compiled by PitchBook. One large investment accounted for two-thirds of last year’s total – the US$6.3 billion take-private deal for Montreal-based Nuvei – the largest deal in Canada and second largest globally. A US$1 billion private equity investment into Montreal’s Plusgrade also helped boost last year’s total.

Stripping out the Nuvei and Plusgrade deals, total investment in Canadian fintechs – including venture capital, private equity and mergers and acquisitions – totalled US$2.2 billion last year, nearly double the year prior, and higher than the US$1.4 billion invested in 2022. That’s despite a drop in deal volume in the last six months of the year – with 45 deals in H2 compared to 76 in H1.

“Canada’s fintech sector is punching above its weight globally, with strong interest from venture capital and private equity investors – significant achievement in a year where global investment was weak,” says Dubie Cunningham, a partner in KPMG in Canada’s Banking and Capital Markets Practice who leads technology transformation.

Ms. Cunningham notes five deals closed at US$140 million or more last year – four of which were private equity buyouts. “It’s clear that private equity firms see established Canadian fintechs as keys to their growth strategies, and we believe this trend is likely to continue this year. With a strong pipeline of startups, growth-stage companies and near-exit-ready players, investment in Canadian fintech in 2025 looks promising,” she adds.

Venture capital-backed deals

Venture capital investors poured more money into Canadian fintechs last year, investing a total of US$1.09 billion across 90 deals, compared to US$737.8 million invested across 103 deals in 2023.

In the second half of the year, venture capitalists invested US$744.9 million across 33 deals, compared to $340.5 million across 57 deals in the first half.

The three largest VC-backed investments last year included Neo Financial’s US$260 million Series D funding, led by a number of high-profile tech founders and entrepreneurs; a US$210 million convertible note financing round into Blockstream by Fulgur Ventures; and Koho’s US$140 million financing led by PROPELR Growth as well as Rockefeller Capital, Drive Capital, TTV, and BDC.

Corporate venture-capital backed investments totalled US$24 million across 19 deals last year, and mergers and acquisitions accounted for US$8.4 billion across 27 deals (including Nuvei).

Fintech investment trends in 2025

Georges Pigeon, a partner in KPMG in Canada’s Deal Advisory practice in Montreal, expects fintech investment activity to increase this year, with an uptick in go-private deals and fintechs acquiring traditional financial services providers.

“We’re seeing some publicly-traded fintechs contemplating privatization because it’s easier to manage growth without the regulatory burden of public markets. Also, the lofty valuations of 2021 have come down, and that’s proving difficult for fintechs that went public around that time, so they might be looking at the private market again,” Mr. Pigeon said.

“We’re also seeing more transactions where fintechs are buying incumbent players because they see it as an easier way to replace their tech stack, or they see a path to replacing the tech stack. We expect to see continued activity in these types of transactions,” he adds.

Deal type/stage

Vertical

32 late stage VC

34 cryptoasset/blockchain

27 early stage VC

19 AI/machine learning

26 seed round

14 payments

14 mergers and/or acquisitions

9 regtech

13 buyout/LBO

8 insurtech

5 angel investments

6 proptech

4 PE growth/expansion

3 wealthtech

28 other

Outlook for fintech sub-segments

For the third year in a row, the largest number of fintech investments was in the cryptoasset and blockchain vertical (34 deals in total). Fintechs in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) also drew investors with 19 deals, followed by the payments space, which garnered 14 investments.

Mr. Pigeon expects to see continued interest in those areas in 2025 – especially in AI and ML – but says investors will be more discerning about where they invest.

“Investors have capital to deploy in Canadian fintech, but fintechs will need to have a very strong value proposition to get funding,” he says. “The fintechs that can demonstrate an ability to solve a problem for financial institutions and their legacy technology, that can acquire and retain clients, and that report decent profits will be more attractive to investors,” he adds.

Ms. Cunningham agrees investors will be more selective in 2025 and expects fintech valuations to increase. She also says regtech will be a vertical to watch in 2025 because of increasingly complex and evolving regulations around anti-money laundering and environmental, social and governance factors.

“Canada’s fintech ecosystem will see a market shift towards regulatory tech and ESG in 2025,” she says. “Other sub-segments such as neo-banks and insurtechs that continue to expand their product offerings will see growth as well. Overall, the market is well-positioned for strength this year, with valuations likely trending upward.”

About KPMG in Canada
KPMG LLP, a limited liability partnership, is a full-service Audit, Tax and Advisory firm owned and operated by Canadians. For over 150 years, our professionals have provided consulting, accounting, auditing, and tax services to Canadians, inspiring confidence, empowering change, and driving innovation. Guided by our core values of Integrity, Excellence, Courage, Together, For Better, KPMG employs more than 10,000 people in over 40 locations across Canada, serving private- and public-sector clients. KPMG is consistently ranked one of Canada’s top employers and one of the best places to work in the country. 

The firm is established under the laws of Ontario and is a member of KPMG’s global organization of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International, a private English company limited by guarantee. Each KPMG firm is a legally distinct and separate entity and describes itself as such. For more information, see kpmg.com/ca 

For media inquiries:

Roula Meditskos
National Communications and Media Relations
KPMG in Canada
(416) 549-7982
rmeditskos@kpmg.ca

SOURCE KPMG LLP

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Karma Automotive Announces Eximius, the Bespoke Vehicle Program for Elite Clients Seeking Singular Expressions of Extreme Performance and Bold Craftsmanship

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6 hours ago

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October 31, 2026

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The First Eximius Creation, “Eximius 1,” is a Menacing Four-Seater Built for the Track which Makes its World Premiere at the 2026 Concours at Wynn Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS, Oct. 31, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Karma Automotive builds vehicles in the hundreds rather than the thousands, attracting a highly individualistic clientele seeking a unique statement. For those who wish to go further still, and explore new possibilities beyond the extensive options for personalization available through the Studio program, Karma has created the Eximius bespoke vehicle program. Eximius clients may modify the vehicle’s body, performance and powertrain, collaborating with Karma’s design and engineering teams to build a One-of-One statement which will never be repeated.

Karma Eximius clients may modify the vehicle’s body, performance and powertrain to build a One-of-One statement

The first vehicle from Karma Eximius debuts today at the 2026 Concours at Wynn Las Vegas. A menacing four-seater purpose-built for the track, “Eximius 1” is in ongoing development with its commissioning client, who is not revealed at this time. Upon delivery in 2027, “Eximius 1” will be fitted with an extreme-performance Plug-in Series Hybrid utilizing a 6.2 Liter V8 producing nearly 1200hp (550hp ICE, 645hp battery), delivering acceleration from 0-60mph in 2.7 seconds and a top speed in excess of 200mph (estimated). As these parameters would demand, “Eximius 1” will be equipped with carbon-ceramic brakes and two-piece slotted brake rotors, and Ohlins semi-active suspension.

“‘Eximius 1’ began as a conversation with an elite client who loves their Karma Revero, but wanted something more extreme and unexpected, which was music to our ears,” says Marques McCammon, President and Chief Executive, Karma Automotive. “The Eximius program effectively deletes the word ‘no’ from conversations about what’s possible,” he continues, “and as a four-seat track weapon packing what’ll be the most powerful Plug-in Series Hybrid powertrain and vehicle ever developed, ‘Eximius 1’ shatters expectations and further establishes Karma as a manufacturer of exotic, uniquely American vehicles.” 

Exterior Design
“Eximius 1” is an imposing vehicle to behold, exhibiting the muscularity and eyepopping strength of a superhero. Every panel – excluding the body surface outer – is constructed of pre-impregnated carbon fiber, and the vehicle is 50mm wider due to its wheel arch extensions. The front doors and hood have a unique technical fade from glossy, exposed regular carbon fiber to signature Borealis Blue paint.

The front carbon splitter sets an aggressive tone and is flanked by massive side air intakes incorporating Karma’s Target Acquisition Lighting, rotated 45º to create a distinctive ‘><‘ DRL graphic identity. On the hood, the dramatic arc of the Comet Line – which is inspired by Halley’s Comet is it streaks across the evening sky – widens from its apex towards the base of the windshield; vents above the front fenders release air pressure from the wheel housings and add further visual intrigue. Moving to the side of the vehicle, the front fenders aft of the wheels feature Karma’s signature “Backslash” bearing the number “5,” which is of particular significance to the commissioning client. 21″ Magnesium wheels with center-locks reduce rotating and unsprung mass, and are finished in satin black. Aft of the driver’s side front wheel, twin exhaust tips announce the fearsome new powertrain.

The full-width rear GT wing maximizes stability and downforce at high speeds, and continues the distinctive ‘><‘ DRL graphic identity established at the front of “Eximius 1.” The rear fascia also boasts large side air intakes which are connected by a dominant diffuser to manage underbody airflow.

Interior Design
An aura of intensity continues to the interior of “Eximius 1.” In concert with the exterior, blue-tinted carbon-fiber adorns the seats, flat-bottom steering wheel and doors; for aesthetics and weight-savings, all four doors are manufactured in exposed carbon fiber with one purposeful arm pad on each door. The seats, which are Recaro carbon fiber buckets up front, are trimmed with blue Alcantara and blue Italian leather with Moondust Alcantara upper sections, creating an articulated, form-fitted feel. To support high-speed driving and intense braking force, the accelerator, brake pedal and dead pedal are billet machined aluminum.

The instrument panel is reimagined in glossy carbon fiber and incorporates anodized billet aluminum HVAC vents. The carbon fiber center console is simplified to include the essentials only: the PRND gear selector, window switches, key fob holder, and Emergency kill switch. This console extends through to the rear compartment, to which the client’s custom-fitted carbon fiber racing helmet is held in place by a center-latched strap matching the blue seat belts.

About Karma Automotive
Karma Automotive is America’s only full-line ultra-luxury vehicle manufacturer, and a pioneer of Plug-in Series Hybrid vehicles which it manufactures at its Karma Innovation and Customization Center (KICC) in Moreno Valley, CA. Its Executive, Product Development, and Design headquarters are located in nearby Irvine, CA. The Karma portfolio embodies California’s spirit of innovation and entrepreneurial boldness, reflected by the signature Comet Line which is the central hallmark of Karma’s new design language. The Gyesera Grand Coupe, a Plug-in Series Hybrid four-seater, arrives at dealerships in December 2026; and the Amaris GT 2-Door Plug-in Series Hybrid arrives in Q4 2027. The Karma Kaveya Super Coupe, with over 1,000HP and butterfly-doors, will arrive in Q1 2028, to be followed by the Karma Ivara GT-UV: both EVs will incorporate SDVA (Software-Defined Vehicle Architecture) developed with leading technology partners. For more information, visit www.karmaautomotive.com) 

Media Contact:

Joe Richardson, (917) 716-6617
Joe@BeautifulNoisePR.com 

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SOURCE Karma Automotive

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ModelBest and OpenBMB Open-Source MiniCPM-OCR Series, Delivering High-Performance Document Parsing and AI-Powered Quality Control

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8 hours ago

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October 31, 2026

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BEIJING, Oct. 31, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — ModelBest and OpenBMB jointly announced the release and open-source availability of the MiniCPM-OCR series, a family of models for efficient document parsing and parsing-quality assessment. The launch includes two models: MiniCPM-OCR 1.0 (1.3B) and MiniCPM-OCR Jev (2B).

As the first OCR-focused model in the MiniCPM family, MiniCPM-OCR 1.0 brings top-tier parsing accuracy to a compact 1.3-billion-parameter architecture optimized for edge deployment, pushing forward the balance between efficiency and performance for open-source OCR models. Built for real-world conditions, it accurately parses scanned, photographed, curved, tilted and screen-captured documents without cumbersome image pre-correction, lowering the barrier to large-scale document digitization.

The model handles dense bilingual Chinese-English content, complex mathematical formulas, and multi-level or borderless tables, consistently performing at a leading level across a broad range of mainstream industry evaluations. Beyond full-page reconstruction, it supports key information extraction (KIE), pulling specified fields from invoices, IDs and financial statements according to business instructions.

Powered by DSpark decoding acceleration, MiniCPM-OCR 1.0 significantly increases end-to-end throughput while lowering per-page latency. For enterprises processing millions of pages—such as financial contract archives, academic libraries and government records—this means processing far more documents with the same hardware and time budget, at a substantially lower computing cost.

To address the long-standing need for page-by-page manual review, ModelBest and OpenBMB also introduced MiniCPM-OCR Jev, the first OCR result decision model that acts as an “AI quality inspector.” Rather than performing OCR itself, Jev compares the source image with OCR output and rapidly assigns confidence scores to text, LaTeX formulas and tables, detecting missing characters, errors and formatting misalignments. Despite its compact 2B-parameter size, Jev delivers judgment accuracy typically associated with far larger models.

Jev supports cross-model deployment and can be integrated into existing OCR workflows without replacing the underlying OCR engine. It can automatically identify reliable results for direct processing, flag potentially inaccurate outputs for human review and select the best result from multiple OCR systems. This enables enterprises to move from full manual inspection toward risk-based, automated quality control.

The MiniCPM-OCR series is available on GitHub, Hugging Face and ModelScope, and supports vLLM, SGLang, llama.cpp and Ollama, along with SDKs, APIs, Agent Skill plugins and open-source fine-tuning code. Day-0 hardware adaptation covers AMD, Arm, Houmo AI, Intel and NVIDIA. Through the FlagOS software stack, it also has Day-0 support for AI and edge chips from CIX Technology, Huawei Ascend, Hygon, Iluvatar CoreX, Kunlunxin, MetaX, Moore Threads, Sunrise, T-Head, TsingMicro, NVIDIA and Apple Mac (Arm).

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/modelbest-and-openbmb-open-source-minicpm-ocr-series-delivering-high-performance-document-parsing-and-ai-powered-quality-control-302925594.html

SOURCE ModelBest

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Wulcea Elevates Consumer Trust in Heated Apparel Through Multi-National Safety Certifications and Rigorous Technical Testing

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11 hours ago

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October 31, 2026

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NEW YORK, Oct. 31, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — As smart heated clothing gains broader adoption, consumers are paying closer attention to the safety and reliability of the technology behind these products. Wulcea, a brand specializing in graphene-powered heated apparel, combines its flexible GrapheneNano™ heating technology with documented safety compliance and durability testing for its heating components and battery systems.

“Trust in smart heated apparel goes beyond warmth—it comes down to confidence in battery safety and heating element reliability,” said John C, Founder of Wulcea. “Our goal is to give users peace of mind through certified technical standards.”

Advanced Graphene Heating Elements Supported by Global Standards

At the core of Wulcea’s thermal architecture is its GrapheneNano™ heating technology. Engineered to eliminate garment stiffness, Wulcea integrates flexible graphene elements that deliver balanced warmth across key upper-body zones while preserving natural garment drape and full freedom of movement.

Wulcea supports its heating components with applicable compliance documentation for major markets. These include CE and FCC compliance documentation addressing relevant electrical and electromagnetic compatibility requirements, as well as PSE compliance for applicable products in Japan. RoHS compliance further addresses restrictions on specified hazardous substances in applicable electrical and electronic components.

Multi-Certified Battery System for Dependable Power

To power its heating elements, Wulcea pairs its heated apparel with rechargeable battery systems designed for convenient everyday use. Featuring a compact design and housed in dedicated interior pockets, the batteries provide portable power while maintaining a streamlined garment profile and comfortable fit.

Wulcea backs its battery options with comprehensive third-party accreditations. UL certification demonstrates that the battery system has been evaluated against recognized power bank safety requirements, covering key areas such as overcharge protection, short-circuit protection, and thermal safety. The battery systems are also supported by applicable CE and FCC compliance documentation, addressing relevant regulatory requirements for electrical and electromagnetic compatibility.

For daily handling and travel, RoHS compliance validates that the battery system meets stringent global standards for material safety. The battery models have also undergone applicable UN 38.3 testing, supporting compliance with international requirements for lithium battery transportation.

Real-World Durability and Practical Usability

Component compliance forms Wulcea’s foundation, but reliability is defined by real-world performance. Built for high-flex endurance, Wulcea’s flexible graphene heating elements are tested through 10,000 active flexing cycles to maintain steady thermal output through repeated bending and everyday body movement.

Everyday convenience is equally essential. Built for hassle-free care, Wulcea’s heating elements withstand 100 machine-wash cycles under standard care guidelines, maintaining internal conductivity and structural stability under repeated laundering.

Integrated NTC temperature sensors provide thermal monitoring and are designed to stop heating if temperatures exceed 131°F (55°C). Combined with runtime of up to 10 hours on the low setting and a discreet interior control button, these features support practical everyday use in cold-weather conditions.

Aligning Technical Standards with Everyday Warmth

By combining graphene-based heating technology with documented battery safety compliance and durability testing, Wulcea continues to focus on the technical foundations of dependable heated apparel. This approach reflects the brand’s emphasis on bringing together safety considerations, practical functionality, and everyday comfort for cold-weather use.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wulcea-elevates-consumer-trust-in-heated-apparel-through-multi-national-safety-certifications-and-rigorous-technical-testing-302925554.html

SOURCE Wulcea

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