The equity financing was co-led by Canaccord Genuity Corp. and Gravitas Securities Inc. and included Eight Capital and Paradigm Capital as part of the syndicate. The equity capital allows Progressa to unlock a new forward-flow whole loan purchasing program for up to $72 million, with Vancouver-based credit fund Cypress Hills Partners.

The equity financing was largely supported by the Canadian investment banks who see the potential for Progressa to complete a go-public transaction (“IPO”) before the end of 2019. Ali Pourdad, Progressa’s co-founder and CEO, commented, “Progressa is proud to have developed first-to-market technology solutions for the Canadian non-prime credit consumer market. Today’s enterprise business partners are utilizing the Company’s Powered by Progressa solutions to improve their customer experience, while enhancing collections recoveries and mitigating significant risk, a true win for both enterprise and Canadian consumers. We are pleased with this broad level of support from Canadian investment banks who see that Progressa is making a positive difference in the lives of Canadians.”

This latest financing round is anticipated to be Progressa’s last private round, as it has now raised over $15 million of equity capital since inception and begins to prepare for an IPO. Kia Besharat, Senior Managing Director and Head of Capital Markets Origination at Gravitas Securities commented, “We are incredibly excited to have supported Progressa over both its bridge and pre-IPO rounds in 2017 and 2018. Ali has assembled a world-class management team and has operated the business like a public company for as long as we have been working with him. We look forward to continue watching Progressa’s success in tackling the vastly underserved collections debt and retail point-of-sale finance market in Canada.” Gravitas has acted as Exclusive Financial Advisor to Progressa since May of 2016.

In the past 5 years, Progressa has established itself as a market leader in Canada by developing innovative software solutions for enterprise business that tackles a traditionally negative collections process in a positive and socially responsible way. Progressa’s solutions ultimately protect the enterprises' brand reputation, among other things, utilizing non-traditional credit evaluation techniques to improve lending outcomes. With additional lending capacity, the Company can onboard new banking partners and continue on its mission to help Canadians borrow for the right reasons and improve their financial well-being.

Miller Thomson LLP, a leading national law firm with expertise in, among other things, technology and financial services, assisted with the legal aspects of the Company’s equity round and loan purchasing program. Kevin Refah, who is the lead relationship partner for Progressa, commented, “Progressa’s new financial capacity will help position it well to continue its ascent in the Canadian FinTech space, and we certainly look forward to continuing to support Progressa and its excellent management team on the company’s impressive growth trajectory.”

“Cypress Hills Partners is proud to have been a part of Progressa's impressive growth over the past 3 years and is excited by our continued financial relationship. Progressa has proven to be a leader in serving Canadian unbanked and underbanked consumers with their highly successful instalment loan program,” said Kelly Klatik, Managing Partner with Cypress Hills Partners. “They have demonstrated steady and continued growth in consumer underwriting practices and significant advancement in their adjudication technology required to further scale their lending business. We are proud to work with them as they continue their expansion and innovation in the Canadian FinTech industry.”

Progressa is experiencing a truly transformative year, expected to near $100 million of loan funding before the end of 2018. With offices in Vancouver and Toronto, the Company has over 100 team members and continues to make significant investments in its proprietary credit score that drives all of its enterprise software solutions.