This Flinks company profile covers the company's valuation, revenue, funding rounds, investors and history. Flinks works in fintech infrastructure, with a focus on financial data and open banking. It was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Every figure links to a public source, and anything the company hasn't disclosed is marked as such.
Revenue
| Metric | Value | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Bank equity interest after closing | 85.9% | September 2021 | National Bank filing (SEC) |
Funding history
| Date | Round | Amount | Valuation | Investors | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug–Sep 2021 | Majority stake acquired | $103M ($73M for shares plus $30M of new capital) | Not disclosed | National Bank of Canada (stake rose from about 28–30% to a majority) | The Logic |
| Earlier | Series A | $11M plus $5.2M debt financing | Not disclosed | NAventures (lead) | Private Capital Journal |
Flinks timeline
Key dates from the sources on this page, oldest first. Metric snapshots are listed after the funding events.
- 2016 — Flinks is founded in Montreal by Yves-Gabriel Leboeuf, Frédérick Lavoie and Julien Cousineau.
- Earlier — Series A: $11M plus $5.2M debt financing. Investors: NAventures (lead).
- Aug–Sep 2021 — Majority stake acquired: $103M ($73M for shares plus $30M of new capital). Investors: National Bank of Canada (stake rose from about 28–30% to a majority).
- September 2021 — National Bank equity interest after closing: 85.9%.
Investors
Overview
Flinks is a Montreal company that connects people's bank accounts to the financial apps they use, with their permission. When you sign up for an investing app, apply for a loan online or link your bank to a budgeting tool, a service like Flinks often sits in the middle: it verifies your account, retrieves transaction data and passes it securely to the app. That infrastructure is the plumbing behind much of Canadian fintech.
Flinks was founded in Montreal in 2016 by Yves-Gabriel Leboeuf, Frédérick Lavoie and Julien Cousineau. Its first product launched in 2017. Leboeuf later led the company as CEO.
What "open banking" means in Canada
Open banking means letting consumers direct their bank to share their financial data securely with other providers they choose. In countries like the UK, it's been formalised through regulation that requires banks to offer standard data-sharing interfaces, called APIs. Canada has been slower, and for years most data sharing relied on "screen scraping," where an app logs into your bank account on your behalf, using your credentials, to read the data.
Screen scraping works but has drawbacks for security, reliability and liability. Canada's federal government has been working on a consumer-driven banking framework to move the system towards secure APIs. Companies like Flinks have pushed in the same direction. In late 2021, Flinks launched Outbound, previously called Open Banking Environment, which BetaKit described as Canada's first open banking platform for data sharing between banks and fintechs, with National Bank as its first bank partner.
Funding and ownership
Flinks' ownership story is unusual for a Canadian startup: it went from venture-backed to majority-owned by a major bank.
Early funding: Montreal fintech investor Luge Capital was an early backer and later won a Canadian venture capital industry award for the investment. Flinks raised an $11 million Series A led by NAventures, National Bank's venture arm, along with $5.2 million in debt financing.
August–September 2021: National Bank of Canada announced it would acquire a majority stake for $103 million. According to the bank's filings, it paid $73 million in cash for shares and then invested a further $30 million in new capital, taking its equity interest to 85.9% at closing. Before the deal, the bank already owned about 28% to 30% of Flinks, depending on the source. Flinks said the $30 million of growth capital would support expansion in North America and allow it to double its headcount.
The deal didn't disclose an overall company valuation, so we don't show one.
Why a bank would buy a fintech enabler
Owning Flinks gives National Bank a stake in the infrastructure that connects banks and fintechs across Canada, not just its own customers. As open banking develops, the companies that operate the data connections become strategically important. It also gives the bank technology and talent it would be slow to build internally. For Flinks, a large, stable owner provides capital and credibility with other financial institutions, though some competitors' customers may be wary of relying on infrastructure owned by a rival bank.
Revenue: what's public
Flinks hasn't published its revenue, and we haven't found reliable company-reported figures. National Bank reports Flinks as part of its consolidated results, without separate disclosure of Flinks' revenue in the sources we reviewed. Flinks earns fees from fintechs, lenders and financial institutions that use its data connections, typically based on usage, such as the number of accounts connected or data requests.
Competitive landscape
Flinks competes with other data aggregation and open banking providers, both Canadian and international, and with banks' own data-sharing initiatives. As Canada moves towards a formal open banking framework, the rules on accreditation, liability and technical standards will shape competition. Providers with strong bank relationships and secure API connections are likely to be best placed.
What this means for fintech founders
If you're building a Canadian fintech that needs bank data, account verification or payments, you'll almost certainly rely on a data provider like Flinks. Questions to ask any provider: which banks they connect to and how (API or screen scraping), their reliability, their security certifications, how pricing scales, and how they're preparing for Canada's open banking rules. Our guide to raising money in Canada covers other parts of the fintech ecosystem.
What to watch next
The biggest factor for Flinks is the rollout of Canada's open banking framework: the timeline, the technical standards and who can participate. Watch for new bank partnerships on its platform, expansion in the US, and how National Bank integrates Flinks into its broader strategy.
Key facts at a glance
Flinks is a Montreal financial data and open banking company founded in 2016 by Yves-Gabriel Leboeuf, Frédérick Lavoie and Julien Cousineau. It raised an $11 million Series A led by NAventures, and in 2021 National Bank of Canada acquired a majority stake for $103 million, $73 million for shares and $30 million of new capital, taking its interest to 85.9%. In late 2021 it launched Outbound, an open banking platform for bank–fintech data sharing.
Screen scraping vs APIs, explained simply
With screen scraping, an app asks for your online banking username and password, then uses them to log in as you and read your account data. It works with almost any bank, but it means sharing your credentials, it can break whenever the bank changes its website, and responsibility for any problems is unclear. With an API, the bank provides a dedicated, secure channel. You approve access through the bank itself without giving your password to the app, the app only receives the data you've agreed to share, and you can revoke access at any time. APIs are more secure and reliable, which is why open banking frameworks around the world are built on them.
What this means if you're…
Selling to Flinks: a bank-owned data infrastructure company buys security and compliance tools, API management, monitoring and reliability engineering, and integration services.
A bank or credit union: data-sharing platforms can help you offer customers secure connections to fintech apps while reducing screen-scraping risks.
A fintech: compare data providers on coverage, connection method, reliability and pricing at scale, and plan for regulatory changes in open banking.
Latest developments (October 2026)
Flinks remains majority-owned by National Bank of Canada, which raised its stake to about 80% in a deal valued at C$103 million. In 2026 the Montreal company continued building payment and data products, including faster electronic funds transfer and settlement features and expanded identity verification integrations, according to company listings. Canada's move toward consumer-driven banking rules, which will formalise how customers share financial data, is the main long-term driver of its business.
Sources
Every figure on this page comes from the public sources below. Where sources disagreed, we used the company's own announcement or a primary news report. Private-company data changes; check the date beside each figure.
Frequently asked questions
What does Flinks do?
Flinks is a fintech infrastructure / financial data and open banking company headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was founded in 2016.
What is Flinks's valuation?
Flinks has not publicly disclosed a valuation in the sources we track.
How much revenue does Flinks make?
Flinks is a private company and has not publicly disclosed its revenue. Figures on third-party sites are usually modelled estimates rather than numbers reported by the company.
What was Flinks's latest funding round?
The most recent financing we have verified is a majority stake acquired in Aug–Sep 2021: $103M ($73M for shares plus $30M of new capital). Source: The Logic.
Who are Flinks's investors?
Investors named in public announcements include National Bank of Canada, NAventures and Luge Capital.
Who founded Flinks?
Flinks was founded in 2016 by Yves-Gabriel Leboeuf, Frédérick Lavoie and Julien Cousineau.
Is Flinks a public company?
No. Flinks is a private company (private, majority owned by national bank of canada), so its shares are not traded on a stock exchange and it isn't required to publish its financial results.
Where is Flinks headquartered?
Flinks is headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. See our guide to raising money in Canada for context on the Montreal startup ecosystem.