Toronto FinTech firm aims to build “financial command centre” for self-made small businesses.
Toronto-based FinTech startup Relay announced on Tuesday that it has closed $50 million USD ($69 million CAD) from Silicon Valley’s General Catalyst to accelerate customer acquisition.
This money comes out of General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund (CVF), which Relay co-founder and CEO Yoseph West said provides non-dilutive growth capital tied directly to customer acquisition performance.
“This investment is the spark that will ignite our brand footprint and market presence.”
Yoseph West, Relay
West told BetaKit over email that Relay will put this money towards performance marketing, sales, and partnerships that allow the company to reach more small businesses. Meanwhile, it will concentrate its existing capital on product development as it continues to build out its small business banking and money management platform. He said General Catalyst will be repaid from the lifetime value generated by those customer acquisition investments, up to a fixed cap.
“The model is designed to align the cost of capital with measurable growth outcomes while allowing Relay to preserve equity capital for product innovation and long-term strategic investment,” West told BetaKit over email.
This financing comes two years after Relay closed $32.2-million USD ($4.4-million CAD) in Series B funding. The company, which did not share its exact sales, said it is on track to more than triple its revenue since then by the end of 2026. It also closely follows Relay surpassing 150,000 small business customers and $1.3 billion USD in managed deposits through Thread Bank. West said these milestones reflect “not just customer acquisition, but increasing engagement and trust.”
Founded in 2018, Relay focuses on self-made small businesses in the US market. The company describes itself as a unified financial platform that helps entrepreneurs monitor and manage their cash flow by connecting accounts, bills, capital, cards, and invoices in one place. The 250-person company aims to build what West describes as “the financial command centre for self-made small businesses.”
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“Relay has proven its deep understanding of what small business owners actually need to succeed, with a product that clearly resonates based on the strength of its customer acquisition machine,” Andrew Ziperski, partner at General Catalyst’s CVF, said in the news release. “We’re excited to help them step on the gas with CVF and enable this next phase of growth.”
According to its website, the CVF helps late-stage companies that have achieved product-market fit acquire new clients without “solely relying on equity or debt.”
In practice, that means pre-funding businesses’ sales and marketing budgets, and getting paid back via capped share of those new customers acquired, allowing recipients to scale without equity dilution, while also owning the downside if things do not pan out as expected.
West said “Relay has continued to see strong growth momentum” since closing its Series B, but declined to disclose any specific profitability or revenue figures.
During this time, Relay has also expanded beyond business banking and into broader money management and cash flow tools, including its recent launch of Relay Capital term loans, provided in direct partnership with Fundbox and its originating bank partner, Lead Bank. West said that Relay has additional product launches planned for later this year.
Feature image courtesy Relay.
