KOHO
“Can a prepaid-card challenger graduate into a chartered Canadian bank by stacking embedded credit, remittances, and savings on top of a sponsor-bank-backed wallet?”
Founded2014
HQToronto, Ontario, Canada
Total raised$547.9M
Latest roundSeries D
IndustryFintech / Neobank
The story
KOHO began in 2014 as a Canadian prepaid Mastercard + savings app aimed at offering a fee-free banking alternative, with funds safeguarded at Peoples Trust. Over time it layered on credit-building, Pay Later, and a Propel/Fora-powered line of credit, then expanded into cross-border remittances via NIUM. It is now pursuing a Schedule I bank charter to become a full-service Canadian challenger bank.
Product timeline
2014
KOHO founded as a Canadian fintech offering a reloadable prepaid Mastercard and savings account· banking
2022
Launched credit-building product· lending
2024
Announced exclusive embedded lending partnership with Propel/Fora Credit for line of credit ($1,000–$15,000)· lending
2024
Launched International Money Transfer (remittances to 190+ countries) via Boxo miniapp powered by NIUM· pivot
2024
Pursuing Schedule I Canadian bank licence· pivot
The stack
7 layers disclosed in KOHO’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
KOHO Mastercard Prepaid (self-operated, issued by KOHO Financial Inc.)
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Card issuing
in the full report
Lending
in the full report
Unified APIs
in the full report
Sponsor bank
in the full report
FX & payouts
in the full report
Accounting gap: none
9 more providers across 6 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.