Thinking Capital acquires Ario, finance-as-a-service builder

By Pavithra R

Thinking Capital, a leader in the Canadian Online Lending space, leveraging technology to be at the forefront of the FinTech industry has announced the completion of the acquisition of Ontario based Ario, a modern digital banking platform built for enterprises.

Thinking Capital’s parent company Purpose Financial was an investor in Ario prior to this transaction. Through the acquisition, Thinking Capital aims to better support Canadian small businesses (SMBs) through their recovery and renewed growth from the pandemic.

“In an economy that became substantially more digital over the last months, the Ario transaction will allow us to build on a cutting-edge cloud-based financial platform, designed from the ground up to serve small businesses. As part of the Purpose Financial ecosystem, we have been partners with Ario for several years, and we are thrilled to welcome the Ario team comprised of some of the country’s top engineers and developers,” said Stéphane Marceau, CEO of Thinking Capital.

Founded in 2017, Ario is a FinTech company that builds tools designed to make small business lending easier. The Ario platform leverages proprietary data and algorithms to offer cost efficient digital lending and cash flow management solutions for SMBs.

“From our inception in 2017, we assembled a top team to build the next generation of FinTech services with an aim towards helping small business owners manage their cashflow. We are excited to have become one company dedicated to empowering small businesses as they either find their way back to growth after a difficult period or to simply accelerate their continued growth momentum,” said Avinash Chidambaram, co-founder & CEO of Ario, and now Chief Product Officer at Thinking Capital. 

“This last year has been challenging for many of the entrepreneurs we serve. Nonetheless, over 80% of those we worked with through payment deferral plans since COVID hit, are now back on normal plans and rebuilding their business, some of them thriving in new ways. We are inspired every day by the resilience of the small businesses we serve in every province all across Canada; that is what fuels our team’s continuous efforts to be there for them when it counts and to innovate on their behalf,” added Marceau.

Established since 2006, Thinking Capital is a leading non-bank lender to small businesses. The company has provided over $1bn in funding to over 16,000 SMBs in Canada, empowering them to conveniently, securely and quickly access capital to grow.