Helcim, a Calgary payments company that serves small and mid-sized merchants, raised a C$53m Series C (roughly US$38m) led by the Growth Venture Fund of BDC Capital, the investment arm of the Business Development Bank of Canada. The round values the company at C$250m, up from C$97m at its 2024 Series B, according to the company's announcement and FinTech Global.
BetaKit reported the round on 21 August 2026; the Business Wire copy that 01net carried bore a 27 August dateline. The amount, lead and valuation are the same in all of the reports opened.
Helcim said it will invest in its payments platform, add financial services for merchants and build partnerships with regional banks and credit unions.
BetaKit linked the timing to changes in the Canadian payments market: the country's largest banks have gradually sold off their payment-processing divisions, TD sold part of its merchant solutions business to Fiserv last year, and in August 2026 Moneris, which is owned by BMO and RBC, announced a sale to a US private-equity firm. Beique said the Moneris sale and related sovereignty concerns coincided with a rise in inbound calls to Helcim.
“There's a real void in the market right now”Nic Beique, Founder and CEO, Helcim
What Helcim does
Helcim was founded in 2020 and is based in Calgary, Alberta. It processes card payments for small and mid-sized businesses in Canada and the United States. The company says it has more than 22,000 active merchants, annual recurring revenue above C$150m and annual payment volume approaching $10bn, and about 200 employees. These are company figures.
Founder and chief executive Nic Beique said there is a real void in the market right now. FinTech Global's headline framed the round as coming as banks retreat from payments for small and mid-sized businesses.
BetaKit reported that Helcim criticises what it calls walled-off payment systems, in which a platform restricts access to outside payment workflows, and that its product line includes a payment extension add-on that it says will give merchants more flexibility and ideally reduce costs. The article named no specific customers.
Beique told BetaKit by email: "There's huge momentum in the business right now, and the market shifted in our favour at the same time." He said it felt like the right moment to raise and put capital behind what is already working.
Who invested
BDC's Growth Venture Fund led. Two investors are new: Curql, a strategic fund backed by more than 160 North American credit unions, and Gold House Ventures. Headline, Aquiline, Information Venture Partners, Vesey Ventures, Clocktower Ventures and the Alberta Accelerate Fund, all existing backers, also took part.
Jack Fraser, a partner at BDC Capital's Growth Venture Fund, said Helcim is having a unique moment, growing fast and building a real advantage in the market. Nick Evens, president and chief executive of Curql, said Helcim's payment hub is the best his organisation has seen.
What the money is for
The company listed three priorities: continued investment in the core payments platform, additional financial services for merchants, and partnerships with regional banks and credit unions.
Helcim did not say how much of the round would be spent on each area.
The funding so far
With the Series C, total equity raised since the company's 2022 Series A comes to C$100m, the company said. The Series B in 2024 valued Helcim at C$97m. The sources opened for this article did not give the sizes of the Series A or Series B.
FinTech Global, which published its report on 28 August, gave the same valuation and the same investor list.
Company website: helcim.com