On September 25, 2019, Verafin, a fraud-detection and anti-money laundering software provider to financial institutions, announced its $515 million financing transaction. This deal will set the record for the largest venture funding deal in Canada’s history, edging out Clio’s US$250M equity financing, which Osler also led. The deal includes an undisclosed debt portion led by Wells Fargo Capital Finance that will fund employee participation, leaving Verafin founders, management and employees as the largest shareholding group.
Verafin is one of Canada’s largest tech companies powered by artificial intelligence. It has close to 3,000 bank and credit union customers in North America, using its software to fight financial crime and comply with regulations and working with one another to prevent fraudsters from attacking multiple institutions.
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP advised Verafin with a team led by Chad Bayne and consisting of Justin Dharamdial, M. Horatiu Porime, Isaac da Silva Aboo and Kosta Starostin (Emerging and High Growth Companies), Martha Martindale and Marta Rochkin (Financial Services), Tom Budziakowski and Yasir Samad (Banking and Financial Services) and Dov Begun (Taxation).