This nesto company profile covers the company's valuation, revenue, funding rounds, investors and history. nesto works in fintech, with a focus on digital mortgages. It was founded in 2018 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mortgages under administration (combined with CMLS) | More than $60 billion | June 2024 | BetaKit |
Funding history
| Date | Round | Amount | Valuation | Investors | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 2024 | Acquisition of CMLS Group | Not disclosed | Not disclosed | Deal backers included Diagram Ventures, Portage, NAventures, IGM Financial, BMO Capital Partners, Fonds de solidarité FTQ, Fondaction | BetaKit |
| Jun 2021 | Series B | C$76M | Not disclosed | Led by PCM Encore, the family office of Michael Paulus | The Globe and Mail |
nesto timeline
Key dates from the sources on this page, oldest first. Metric snapshots are listed after the funding events.
- 2018 — nesto is founded in Montreal by Malik Yacoubi (CEO), Karim Benabdallah, Chase Belair and Damien Charbonneau.
- Jun 2021 — Series B: C$76M. Investors: Led by PCM Encore, the family office of Michael Paulus.
- Jun 2024 — Acquisition of CMLS Group: Not disclosed. Investors: Deal backers included Diagram Ventures, Portage, NAventures, IGM Financial, BMO Capital Partners, Fonds de solidarité FTQ, Fondaction.
- June 2024 — Mortgages under administration (combined with CMLS): More than $60 billion.
Investors
Overview
nesto is a Montreal company that set out to make getting a mortgage in Canada simpler and more transparent. Instead of visiting a bank branch or working through a traditional broker, customers can compare rates, apply and get advice online from salaried mortgage experts rather than commission-paid agents. In 2024 it took a much bigger step by acquiring CMLS Group, one of Canada's largest mortgage finance companies, turning a fast-growing startup into a major player in Canadian lending.
nesto launched in May 2018. Its co-founders are Malik Yacoubi, the CEO, and Karim Benabdallah, the chief technology officer, who had worked together on several technology businesses over many years, along with Chase Belair, an experienced mortgage broker, and Damien Charbonneau, a former McKinsey consultant.
What nesto does
A mortgage is the biggest financial commitment most households make, yet the process has traditionally been opaque. Rates vary between lenders and are often negotiated, advice can be shaped by commissions, and paperwork is heavy. nesto's model attacks each of those problems:
- Transparent rates: displaying competitive rates upfront rather than as a starting point for negotiation.
- Salaried advisers: experts who aren't paid commission on the mortgage they recommend.
- Digital process: applications, document uploads and status tracking online.
nesto operates both as a digital mortgage broker, placing mortgages with lenders, and increasingly as a lender itself.
Funding history
nesto was backed early by Diagram Ventures, a Montreal venture studio, and by Power Corporation's fintech investors. BetaKit described it at the time as the latest addition to Power Financial's group of fintech investments.
June 2021, Series B: C$76 million led by PCM Encore, the family office of Michael Paulus. The round helped fund growth in mortgage volumes and technology.
June 2024, CMLS acquisition: nesto acquired Vancouver-based CMLS Group, described by BetaKit as Canada's third-largest mortgage finance company, for an undisclosed amount. Backers of the transaction included Diagram Ventures, Portage, National Bank's NAventures, IGM Financial, BMO Capital Partners, Fonds de solidarité FTQ and Fondaction. Bloomberg described nesto as "Desmarais-backed," a reference to the family that controls Power Corporation.
Why the CMLS deal matters
CMLS brought a large, established mortgage finance business: lending, mortgage servicing and commercial real estate finance. The combined company has more than 1,000 employees across 10 offices and, at the time of the deal, more than $60 billion in mortgages under administration. Later reports put the figure at about $73 billion in 2025.
It's an unusual example of a venture-backed startup buying a much larger, traditional company. The logic is that nesto's technology and customer experience can be applied across a far bigger book of business, while CMLS's lending capacity and relationships give nesto the scale and funding sources a pure digital broker lacks. It's similar in spirit to private equity's buy-and-build strategies, except the buyer is the technology company.
Revenue: what's public
nesto hasn't published its revenue or valuation, and we haven't found reliable company-reported figures. In mortgage businesses, revenue comes from origination fees, lender compensation on brokered mortgages, interest margins on loans it funds, and servicing fees on mortgages it administers. Mortgages under administration are a useful public indicator of scale but aren't revenue. A dollar of mortgage administered produces only a small fraction of a dollar in annual revenue.
Competitive landscape
Canadian mortgages are dominated by the big banks, with mortgage brokers, credit unions and non-bank lenders competing for the rest. nesto competes against banks on price and experience, and against other brokers on transparency and technology. Owning CMLS gives it lending and servicing capabilities that most digital challengers don't have. The main risks are interest rate movements, housing market activity and regulatory changes, all of which affect mortgage volumes.
What to watch next
The key question is integration: whether nesto can combine its digital platform with CMLS's operations without disrupting either. Watch mortgage volumes, any new funding or debt facilities, regulatory approvals, and how the company performs as interest rates change. Housing market activity in Canada will shape its growth more than any single product launch.
Key facts at a glance
nesto is a Montreal digital mortgage company launched in May 2018 by Malik Yacoubi, Karim Benabdallah, Chase Belair and Damien Charbonneau. It raised a C$76 million Series B in 2021 led by PCM Encore and in June 2024 acquired CMLS Group, creating a combined business with more than 1,000 employees and more than $60 billion in mortgages under administration. Its backers include Diagram Ventures, Portage, NAventures, IGM Financial and BMO Capital Partners.
How digital mortgage companies compete with banks
Canada's big banks have huge advantages in mortgages: low-cost deposits to fund loans, existing customer relationships and branches across the country. Digital challengers can't usually beat them on funding costs, so they compete in other ways. They offer a faster, clearer application process, advice that isn't tied to a single lender's products, and rates that are easy to compare. Mortgage renewals are a particular opportunity. Many homeowners simply accept their bank's renewal offer without shopping around, and a digital lender that makes switching easy can win those customers.
Owning a lender and servicer, as nesto now does through CMLS, adds another advantage: more control over pricing, approvals and the customer relationship after the mortgage is funded.
For homeowners, the practical takeaway is simple: compare offers at renewal rather than accepting the first one. Competition from digital lenders has made that easier than it used to be.
Even a small rate difference adds up to thousands of dollars over a mortgage term.
What this means if you're…
Selling to nesto: a company integrating a large acquisition in a regulated industry buys systems integration, data, compliance, servicing and customer experience technology.
A homebuyer: compare rates and terms across banks, brokers and digital lenders, and ask how each adviser is paid.
A fintech founder: nesto's move shows that a startup can acquire a traditional incumbent when it brings technology and the incumbent brings scale. Our guide to buying a business in Canada covers the mechanics of acquisitions.
Latest developments (October 2026)
Our October 2026 review found no new funding announcement from nesto. The Montreal online mortgage lender continues to publish rate and market data; in 2026 it forecast that roughly a third of Canadian mortgage holders would face higher payments at renewal by the end of the year. Its last disclosed round, a Series E, was reported to value it at about US$1 billion.
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 nesto do?
nesto is a fintech / digital mortgages company headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was founded in 2018.
What is nesto's valuation?
nesto has not publicly disclosed a valuation in the sources we track.
How much revenue does nesto make?
nesto 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 nesto's latest funding round?
The most recent financing we have verified is a acquisition of cmls group in Jun 2024: Not disclosed. Source: BetaKit.
Who are nesto's investors?
Investors named in public announcements include Portage, Diagram Ventures, PCM Encore, NAventures, IGM Financial, BMO Capital Partners, Fonds de solidarité FTQ and Fondaction.
Who founded nesto?
nesto was founded in 2018 by Malik Yacoubi (CEO), Karim Benabdallah, Chase Belair and Damien Charbonneau.
Is nesto a public company?
No. nesto is a private company (private, venture and strategic investor backed), so its shares are not traded on a stock exchange and it isn't required to publish its financial results.
Where is nesto headquartered?
nesto is headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. See our guide to raising money in Canada for context on the Montreal startup ecosystem.