Small businesses are facing challenges as major Canadian banks have been selling or outsourcing their payment services for small and medium-sized enterprises over the past year. This has resulted in thousands of merchants facing higher fees, poorer support, and a lack of contact when issues arise.
In response to this situation, Helcim raised $53 million CAD in a Series C round to become a new platform for small and medium-sized enterprises that are no longer served by banks.
The $53 million CAD funding round was led by the BDC Growth Venture Fund. New investors joining were Curql Collective and Gold House Ventures, while existing partners such as Headline and Aquiline also supported the company.
Thanks to these funds, Helcim's valuation increased to $250 million CAD, significantly higher than the $97 million CAD achieved in the Series B round in 2024. The total amount raised by the company since 2022 amounts to $100 million.
Helcim's business activity demonstrates rapid growth: the company has exceeded annual recurring revenue of $150 million. It currently has 200 employees and over 22,000 active customers in Canada and the US. It is planned that the company will process nearly 10 billion payments this year.
Banks have decided that small business payments are not profitable enough, leading them to either sell relevant divisions or outsource them to third parties, which has created difficulties for merchants. However, this has opened opportunities for Helcim.
In 2020, Helcim developed its own payment system from scratch, unlike most competitors who simply resell others' technologies. Since Helcim owns the entire system, it can apply 'interchange plus' pricing—the customer pays the actual card fee plus a small transparent markup, avoiding inflated fixed rates.
Furthermore, Helcim focuses on three areas where banks perform poorly: transparent pricing, an open platform for online and offline payments, and quality customer service.
In January 2026, Helcim released the AI Payment Extension to solve a critical problem. Now, any software can integrate Helcim payments in minutes. Previously, most businesses were restricted: if the store ran on Shopify, they had to use Shopify Payments; if accounting was done in QuickBooks, QuickBooks Payments were used. The Helcim tool eliminates this lock-in, allowing merchants to choose Helcim regardless of the software they use.
The adoption speed has been high, and investors see this as proof of real demand. Jack Fraser from BDC simply noted: 'Their recent AI-based integration tool is exactly the fast-growing innovation we back.'
Nick Evans, CEO of Curql, stated: 'Credit unions must improve their product offerings for small business members. The Helcim payment hub is the best we have seen.'
As banks move away from this sector, Helcim is moving to a higher level. The company's goal is to create such a superior payment company that no business can surpass it. For small business owners, this means more choice: they won't have to use their bank's cumbersome payment system or pay high fixed fees. They can get transparent pricing and receive help from a real person when needed.