00:05.279 --> 00:10.529
Frederick Lavoie: So Flinks, we
started in 2016. So we're a 22,

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23 months old company. And we're
an open banking enabler for

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companies. So we allow users of
financial apps, whether in

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banking, or in FinTech to
connect their bank account to

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the app they're choosing.

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Speaker 1: Incredible. And where
are you guys based?

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Frederick Lavoie: So yeah, we're
based out of Montreal. So all of

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our development team is there.
And we have also a business

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development team in Toronto.

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Speaker 1: Great, great, I'll
check the next question to you.

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So what are some of the major
challenges or problems that you

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face within your company?

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Miles Schwartz: So major
challenges we faced is scaling.

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So even though we've done a
really good job, we, as Fred

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said to be commercialized just
over a year ago, and we already

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have over 40 people at the
company, but keeping the

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traction going at the same rate,
same level and constantly

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innovating, is not really a
challenge, which it's more of a,

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something that comes along with
having a business that grows as

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quickly as Flinks has.

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Speaker 1: Awesome. What really
excites you about your business?

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Frederick Lavoie: The, the the
potential, the untapped

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potential of a couple of
elements in the in the lending

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space, specifically in, in
finance, in general, but in the

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lending space, specifically,
where there's, there's not a lot

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of usage of machine learning and
artificial intelligence, a lot

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of companies are exploring it.
And a lot of companies are

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talking about it, but not many
entities are actually using

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machine learning and artificial
intelligence in production for

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to enhance their services. So in
lending, it's, it's, it's very,

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it's also something that that
it's a bit new and larger

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entities are yet to really
deploy it at scale. And so

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that's, that's one of the two
main things that Flinks is

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tapping on is, is bringing
machine learning to, to lending

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and to production to have it
live with, with with loan

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decisions being enhanced by
that. And the the other aspect

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that's very exciting is a lot of
the lending, historically has

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been based in terms of risk has
been based on credit bureau

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data, we're talking about
consumer lending mostly. And

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there's a huge amount of data
that typically is called

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alternative data that is not
used by most lenders to, to make

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decisions. So there's a lot of
improvements that can be made

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with leveraging alternative
data, we're talking about mostly

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transactional data and
behavioral profiles that we can

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access from having access to the
to the bank transactions, which

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is what Flinks does, as well as
machine learning. So these two

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combined are very, very exciting
for the next couple years in

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that in terms of innovation.

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Speaker 1: That's great. Would
you like to add on anything? Or

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respond to the question?

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Miles Schwartz: No, so he
touched on it. So it's just

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really exciting that we're able
to leverage the data, we have to

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build AI machine learning tools
to build better analytics and

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decision for lenders. And we're,
it's cool to be a fintech that

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helps other fintechs thrive and
not compete against other

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fintechs as we're an enabler and
giving better decisioning and

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onboarding for all fintechs
especially for lenders.

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Speaker 1: Great answer. Okay.
Perfect. Do you have any goals

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that you'd like to talk about?
Long term? Aided that's a

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broaden question.

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Frederick Lavoie: Yeah. So in
terms of if we formulate that,

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in terms of vision, the vision
for us is to, to accelerate the

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usage of machine learning and
lending. And fundamentally,

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there's innovate innovating
aspects to allowing companies to

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access user data, which is a
which is the core product that

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Flinks has built initially was
was that the the ability of

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users to quickly in one click
synchronize their their bank

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info to the app, so it
simplifies the experience. And

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so the story goals, yeah, the
goals. So. I'm sorry.

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Speaker 1: Or the vision.

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Frederick Lavoie: Yeah, well,
it's in terms of vision, which

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is a I think it's an touching
on. So that's, that's the first

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sort of first phase for us was
to, to distribute that ability

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to as many companies as we
could. And so in less than two

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years, we've managed to deploy
our technology in more than 200

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fintechs and banks alike, and
most recently, we've worked

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with, with banks more. Hey.

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Speaker 1: Okay okay, feel free?

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Frederick Lavoie: Yeah, sure. So
so to get back to the to the

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vision, the big the bigger goals
for us is to, to continue to

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deploy that. It's a bit of a
foundation for innovation to

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enable access to user data. And
as well as to deploy the

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enhancement of, of the data to
as many entities in lending and

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lending in Canada and in North
America.

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Speaker 1: That's great. And
just to end off, if there's any

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final thoughts or one underlying
principle that you would

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describe to a layperson about
your company, what would you

05:50.740 --> 05:55.450
like to say to one person or to
the general public layperson?

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Yeah.

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Frederick Lavoie: Yeah, sure. So
the one thing that they can

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expect from finance and finance,
finance is typically is boring.

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It's like most people don't like
finance, when they don't have to

06:06.370 --> 06:10.510
think about it. And the future
of finance is more of that is

06:10.510 --> 06:16.450
more of a better finance, easily
accessible. So better products

06:16.450 --> 06:22.420
and, and more and more simple
products. So in that, in that

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comes from from every aspect of
the financial industry, bank and

06:26.440 --> 06:30.730
fintechs alike, so the the, for
consumers, it's quite, it's

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quite exciting. What's what's
ahead in terms of the quality

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and the, how easy the products
are, are going to be to use.

06:42.780 --> 06:44.775
Miles Schwartz: Sure, yeah, just
to say like, it's gonna be so

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frictionless, like people say,
like, the thing that hit them,

06:47.508 --> 06:50.198
like they hate you on the bank
is more than they hate going to

06:50.241 --> 06:53.018
the dentist. That's all going to
change with all the innovations

06:53.061 --> 06:55.751
that are happening in fintech
and instant decisioning. Instant

06:55.794 --> 06:58.311
adjudication, no more walking
into branches. So the entire

06:58.354 --> 07:01.174
financial landscape is changing.
And we're a big part of that and

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we're happy to be a part of that
and we're happy to see the

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evolution happen and be part of it.