This Shakepay company profile covers the company's valuation, revenue, funding rounds, investors and history. Shakepay works in fintech, with a focus on bitcoin and crypto. It was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its latest valuation on record is C$313 million (January 2022). Every figure links to a public source, and anything the company hasn't disclosed is marked as such.
Revenue
| Metric | Value | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customers | Grew from 187,000 to 913,000 during 2021 (reported) | January 2022 | The Globe and Mail |
Funding history
| Date | Round | Amount | Valuation | Investors | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2022 | Series A | C$44M | C$313M | QED Investors (lead); Boost VC, BoxOne Ventures, Golden Ventures, Broadhaven, and angels including several Shopify product leaders | The Logic |
Shakepay timeline
Key dates from the sources on this page, oldest first. Metric snapshots are listed after the funding events.
- 2015 — Shakepay is founded in Montreal by Jean Amiouny (CEO) and Roy Breidi (CTO).
- Jan 2022 — Series A: C$44M, valuing the company at C$313M. Investors: QED Investors (lead); Boost VC, BoxOne Ventures, Golden Ventures, Broadhaven, and angels including several Shopify product leaders.
- January 2022 — Customers: Grew from 187,000 to 913,000 during 2021 (reported).
Investors
Overview
Shakepay is a Montreal app that lets Canadians buy, sell and hold bitcoin and ether, and spend through a prepaid card that earns bitcoin back on purchases. It describes itself as a "bitcoin neobank": a simple, mobile-first account built around bitcoin rather than traditional currency. Its design is deliberately straightforward compared with crypto exchanges aimed at active traders, which helped it attract a broad base of everyday users.
Shakepay was founded in 2015 by Jean Amiouny, the CEO, and Roy Breidi, the CTO. It's one of the best-known Canadian crypto companies and one of the few that has kept a strong position through several boom-and-bust cycles in crypto markets.
How Shakepay makes money
Shakepay doesn't charge a separate trading commission in the way some brokers do. Instead, according to coverage of its business model, it earns revenue from the spread: the difference between the price at which it buys and sells cryptocurrency for customers. Its card program also generates interchange fees from merchants when customers spend.
That model means revenue is closely tied to how much customers trade and spend, which in turn follows crypto market sentiment. When bitcoin prices rise and attention grows, trading volumes and new sign-ups surge. In downturns, activity falls sharply. Managing a business through those swings is the central challenge for any crypto platform.
Funding history
Shakepay raised relatively little capital compared with many fintechs of its size.
Early funding: a seed round in 2018, with total funding reported at around $32 million before its Series A.
January 2022, Series A: C$44 million at a C$313 million valuation, led by QED Investors, a US venture firm focused on fintech. QED's Matt Burton joined Shakepay's board. Existing investors Boost VC and BoxOne Ventures participated, along with Golden Ventures, Broadhaven and a group of individual investors, including several Shopify product leaders and other well-known Canadian tech figures.
The round was raised near the peak of the 2021 crypto boom, when Shakepay's customer base had grown from about 187,000 to 913,000 during the year, according to The Globe and Mail. The company said it would use the money to launch new products.
Regulation in Canada
Crypto trading platforms in Canada are regulated by provincial securities regulators, coordinated through the Canadian Securities Administrators. Over the past several years, regulators have required platforms to register, meet custody and investor protection standards and sign commitments while they complete full registration. Several international exchanges left Canada rather than comply. For Canadian platforms like Shakepay, meeting these requirements is costly, but it also creates a barrier to entry and can build trust with users.
Revenue: what's public
Shakepay hasn't published its revenue, and we haven't found reliable company-reported figures. Because revenue depends on trading volumes and crypto prices, it can vary dramatically from year to year. A single year's revenue tells you much less about a crypto platform than its user base, engagement and ability to stay efficient through downturns.
Competitive landscape
Shakepay competes with Canadian crypto platforms, international exchanges that are registered in Canada, and general investing apps that offer crypto alongside stocks, such as Wealthsimple. Some traditional banks and brokerages have also started offering crypto exposure through funds. Shakepay's advantages are its simple, bitcoin-focused experience, its card and rewards program and a loyal user base built over many years. Its biggest risks are crypto market cycles and competition from larger, broader platforms.
Lessons from Shakepay's path
- Capital efficiency matters in cyclical markets. Raising relatively modest amounts helped Shakepay avoid the extreme over-expansion and cuts seen at some crypto companies.
- Peak-era valuations need care. A valuation set during a boom can be hard to match in a downturn. See our guide to down rounds.
- Simplicity can be a moat. Many users want an easy way to buy bitcoin, not a complex trading terminal.
What to watch next
Watch user growth and engagement through crypto cycles, new products such as savings, rewards and payments features, regulatory developments for crypto platforms in Canada, and any new funding, partnership or acquisition activity. As traditional financial institutions offer more crypto access, the competitive pressure on standalone crypto apps is likely to increase.
How to evaluate a crypto platform as a user
If you're choosing where to buy bitcoin in Canada, look beyond advertised fees. Check whether the platform is registered with Canadian securities regulators, how customer assets are held and protected, what the effective spread is on trades, how easily you can withdraw to your own wallet, and what support is available if something goes wrong. Those factors matter more over time than small differences in headline pricing.
Key facts at a glance
Shakepay is a Montreal bitcoin and crypto app founded in 2015 by CEO Jean Amiouny and CTO Roy Breidi. In January 2022 it raised a C$44 million Series A at a C$313 million valuation, led by QED Investors, with Boost VC, BoxOne Ventures, Golden Ventures and Broadhaven. Its customer base grew from about 187,000 to 913,000 during 2021. It earns revenue mainly from the spread on crypto trades and from card interchange.
Why bitcoin-only focus matters
Many crypto platforms list hundreds of tokens to attract traders. Shakepay has taken a narrower approach centred on bitcoin and ether. That has trade-offs. It gives up some trading volume from users chasing newer tokens, but it reduces exposure to speculative assets and the regulatory scrutiny that comes with them, and it fits users who see bitcoin as a long-term savings asset rather than something to trade daily. In periods when regulators crack down on riskier tokens, a narrow focus can become an advantage.
It also makes the product easier to explain to first-time buyers, who are a large share of Shakepay's users.
Simple products tend to keep beginners.
What this means if you're…
Selling to Shakepay: a regulated crypto platform buys compliance, custody and security services, fraud prevention, and customer support tooling that can scale up and down with market cycles.
A fintech founder: Shakepay's lean funding history is a model for building in volatile markets. Keep burn low enough to survive the down years.
An investor: crypto platform valuations swing with markets. Look at user retention and efficiency through a full cycle, not just at peak growth.
Latest developments (October 2026)
Shakepay became a direct participant in Interac e-Transfer in July 2026, according to Interac, which said the Montreal company serves more than 1.5 million Canadians. Customers could already use e-Transfer, so the change mainly gives Shakepay more control over how transfers are processed. It follows the company becoming a member of Payments Canada in 2025. See our largest private crypto companies guide.
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 Shakepay do?
Shakepay is a fintech / bitcoin and crypto company headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was founded in 2015.
What is Shakepay's valuation?
Shakepay was valued at C$313 million as of January 2022, according to The Logic. Private company valuations are set at funding rounds or share sales and can change significantly between them.
How much revenue does Shakepay make?
Shakepay 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 Shakepay's latest funding round?
The most recent financing we have verified is a series a in Jan 2022: C$44M, at a valuation of C$313M. Source: The Logic.
Who are Shakepay's investors?
Investors named in public announcements include QED Investors, Boost VC, BoxOne Ventures, Golden Ventures and Broadhaven.
Who founded Shakepay?
Shakepay was founded in 2015 by Jean Amiouny (CEO) and Roy Breidi (CTO).
Is Shakepay a public company?
No. Shakepay is a private company (private, venture backed), so its shares are not traded on a stock exchange and it isn't required to publish its financial results.
Where is Shakepay headquartered?
Shakepay is headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. See our guide to raising money in Canada for context on the Montreal startup ecosystem.