CPE Media News (8/14/2018) – impak Finance Inc., the first fintech to launch a marketplace to make buying from businesses with a positive social impact easy and rewarding, has raised $1.1 million in seed funding from Anges Québec, Anges Québec Capital, as well as private investors from Canada and France.
In connection with the financing which closed in May 2018, Claude Chagnon from the Fondation Chagnon, Didier Kuhn from the French ride sharing app BlablaCar, Michel Lozeau, a former National Bank of Canada executive, and former Quebec cabinet minister Daniel Paillé, have joined its board.
Co-founded by Paul Allard and Tima Gros, impak Finance seeks to channel capital towards the social impact economy and bolster its growth. It has developed an application that makes responsible buying easy and rewarding through the usage of the impak Coin, the first digital currency dedicated to the social impact economy.
photo credit: impak Finance
News Release
impak Finance closes $1.1m from Anges Québec, Anges Québec Capital, and well known figures from the investment world in Canada and France.
Montreal, Canada, August 14th 2018 – impak Finance, the first fintech to launch a marketplace to make buying from businesses with a positive social impact easy and rewarding, announces today the closing of a $1.1 million angel financing round with Anges Québec, Anges Québec Capital, as well as private investors from Canada and France. The company is also proud to announce that seasoned investors Claude Chagnon from the Fondation Chagnon, Didier Kuhn from the French ride sharing app BlablaCar, Michel Lozeau, a former National Bank of Canada executive, and former Quebec cabinet minister Daniel Paillé, have joined its Board.
“The support we are getting from well known entrepreneurs and investors is a demonstration of the enthusiasm behind our project: to channel capital towards enterprises that take to heart the welfare of people and the environment, while generating a profit. Business as a force for good, an alternative to the traditional way of doing business, has increasingly been gaining ground in Canada and worldwide”, says Paul Allard, co-founder and CEO of impak Finance. “impak allows people to use their money for social and environmental good”, he adds.
“The impak platform is innovating, highly disruptive and will federate the forces behind the impact economy, a sector showing 20% yearly growth”, adds François Gilbert, CEO of Anges Québec Capital. “Furthermore, we are proud to work shoulder to shoulder with the impak Finance team and bring fresh and new solutions to the pressing social and environmental issues our society faces.”
A marketplace dedicated to responsible consumption
Impak Finance has created impak: an application and a marketplace (www.impak.eco) that facilitate and reward responsible purchases from impact enterprises. Individuals and professional buyers alike will be able to find qualified like-minded impact businesses able to provide them with the products and services they need. Furthermore, they will be rewarded for everyone of those purchases with impak Coins, a crypto-currency they will be able to use within the ecosystem.
Also, businesses that join the ecosystem will benefit from reduced transaction fees, an additional storefront to a highly motivated client-base, a reward program for which they do not have to pay, rewards in impak Coin for their own purchases in the marketplace, and a complete real-time report of their impact. As of today, 10,000 account holders have suggested more than 40,000 enterprises they would like to transact with.
About impak Finance
Impak Finance is the fintech that seeks to channel capital towards the social impact economy and bolster its growth. It has developed an application that makes responsible buying easy and rewarding through the usage of the impak Coin, the first digital currency dedicated to the social impact economy.
The impak users – individuals and professional buyers – have access to a marketplace of qualified social impact enterprises. Each time they buy, they are rewarded in impak Coins while having traceability on their social impact thanks to the blockchain.
Impak Finance has the support of several investors from the social impact and FinTech space, including Claude Chagnon, (Quebec philanthropist), Didier Kuhn (Board member of BlaBlaCar and Bankin), Michel Lozeau (former EVP at National Bank of Canada), and Daniel Paillé (former Québec cabinet minister).
For more information: www.impak.eco
About Anges Québec
Anges Québec’s mission is to help its angel investors make profitable investments in innovative companies in a wide range of industries and in all regions of Quebec.
About Anges Québec Capital
Anges Québec Capital is an investment fund created to provide financial support to Anges Québec members. The fund is mainly sponsored by Investissement Québec, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Fonds de solidarité FTQ, to support angel investors who invest in innovative start-up companies in Quebec. This joint effort by the angels and Investissement Québec has made $85.8 million available to entrepreneurs, allowing them to benefit from more substantial financial leverage in order to considerably increase development of their business.
For more ’information : www.angesquebec.com
Contacts
Impak Finance
Clara Leurent, Communication
clara.leurent@impakfinance.com
514-553-2226
Paul Allard, President
paul.allard@impakfinance.com