Trolley secures $32-million CAD Series B to expand payout platform’s global reach

Growth equity financing for Montréal-based FinTech startup backed entirely by American investors.

Montréal-based payout platform Trolley has raised $32 million CAD ($23 million USD) in Series B growth equity financing to expand the global reach of its payout management software.

New investor and Boston-based B2B SaaS firm Wavecrest Growth Partners led the round, with follow-on support from New York-based Pace Capital.

“Raising investment from US backers while maintaining a strong Canadian presence is a significant point of pride for Trolley and our place in Canada’s tech ecosystem.”

Tim Nixon

The all-equity round, which closed in early October, consisted of “vastly primary capital with some secondary,” Trolley CEO and founder Tim Nixon told BetaKit. Trolley declined to disclose how much of the transaction was secondary capital or the company’s post-money valuation.

Trolley’s payout management platform and application programming interface (API) provide businesses with an automated payout system and tools to mitigate the risk of fraud and non-compliance. Its services now include generating automatic signed tax slips and support for over 36 languages.

Nixon said they will use the new capital to improve upon payout platform features that facilitate quicker and safer transactions and further grow their global footprint via their sales and marketing teams. The investment includes a “significant focus” on Trolley’s Trust product, which automates ID and phone number authentication to onboard new payees.

“We’re continually building out new banking networks and payment capabilities, including instant payments, to offer even greater speed and flexibility,” Nixon said.

The latest funding round brings Trolley’s overall financing to approximately $42 million CAD. The FinTech company now has offices in Montréal, Toronto, Halifax, Miami, Singapore, and London, UK, and wants to expand its customer base in the 36 countries it currently serves. Their client list includes notable startups in the creative and entertainment space, including creative platforms Soundcloud, Bandcamp, Canva, and Wattpad.

As Trolley has expanded its reach to different markets, the regulatory picture for its products has grown more complex. But the platform offers risk management solutions to vet payment recipients and ensure compliance with local financial regulations, including those set out by regulatory agencies such as FINTRAC.

Though most of the team is based in Montréal, Trolley considers themselves more broadly Canadian, just like 83 percent of their staff.

The latest funding round, which is entirely American-backed, marks a departure from Trolley’s Canadian roots—but Nixon sees this as a positive.

“Our story is a testament to the world-class tech talent and potential within Canada, so strong that we’re attracting global attention and investment,” Nixon said. “Raising investment from US backers while maintaining a strong Canadian presence is a significant point of pride for Trolley and our place in Canada’s tech ecosystem.”

Chris Paik, a partner at returning investor Pace Capital, said that Trolley’s “ability to expand the product footprint and meet changing customer needs reaffirms our confidence in their vision and execution.”

Trolley was formerly known as Payment Rails and was founded in Montréal in 2015. It rebranded to Trolley in 2021 when it secured a $7 million CAD Series A, led by Pace Capital.

After Trolley rolled out its global payout API in December 2017, adding former PayPal President Scott Thompson as a board advisor, the company closed a series of bridge rounds worth $1.9 million CAD supported by Toronto-based GreenSky Capital and angel investors.

Though Nixon confirmed that GreenSky did not participate in this latest round, he said that the Toronto-based venture firm “remains a significant investor in Trolley, having made investments across four GreenSky funds since 2018.”

The growth equity financing stands out amid a slow year for later-stage fundraising. The number of later-stage deals in the first half of 2024 hit a record low, despite funding volume staying consistent year-over-year.

Since the pandemic, Trolley’s services have remained in high demand as the Canadian and international gig economies have continued to grow. A 2024 World Bank study estimated that 12 percent of the world’s working population participates in some form of gig work, with demand growing more rapidly in developing countries.

As the internet economy has expanded internationally, Trolley has kept pace, the company said. Trolley operates in 36 countries but facilitates payments to over 4 million recipients across over 210 countries and territories. Cross-border transactions are steadily growing, according to 2023 Statista data, which estimated the value of B2B cross-border payments at $39.3 trillion USD. The number is expected to reach $56.1 trillion USD by 2033.

“What truly sets Trolley apart is their consistent execution around top-line growth and their focus on B2B payments with a differentiated set of high ROI value-added offerings for payers,” Vaibhav Nalwaya, managing partner at Wavecrest Growth Partners, said in a statement. “We’re excited to support Trolley in scaling their go-to-market team and optimizing their product roadmap to capture the significant market opportunity ahead.”

Nalwaya is joining Trolley’s board as an observer, while Wavecrest Growth Partners itself will have a director’s seat through principal Anthony Giannobile.

The FinTech company, which was again featured on this year’s Deloitte Technology Fast 50 ranking, claims it has raked in a 484-percent increase in revenue over the past three years.

“Trolley’s ethos is centred around building responsibly and sustainably,” Nixon said. “We prioritize our customers’ needs over unchecked growth, ensuring that we meet expanding regulatory and compliance standards where others may fall short.”

In 2021, Nixon told BetaKit that he aimed to grow Trolley’s headcount from 40 employees to more than 100 by 2022. The company’s headcount is currently 68, short of that 2021 goal, which Trolley attributed to layoffs last October that occurred as part of a “push towards profitability.”

The CEO added that he envisions Trolley reaching profitability by the end of 2025.

Feature image courtesy Trolley.

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