Beacon is a new fintech solution facilitating smooth transitions for immigrants relocating to Canada. Our mission is to empower immigrants to seamlessly transition and confidently build their futures in Canada while also empowering them to look after their obligations in their home country.
Tell us about yourself?
Stu: I’m the Co-Founder and CEO of Beacon! Before embarking on my entrepreneurial journey, I held the position of Managing Director at PSP Investments for over a decade, where I had the privilege of serving over 900,000 Canadians and their families who dedicated their lives to service to Canada by helping them ensure that the Government of Canada could deliver them the pension they have been promised. My career has taken me across the globe over the years, and I’m happy to provide my expertise in financial services and private equity to make a real difference in people’s lives. My journey to co-founding Beacon is driven by the challenges of a passion to create a platform that not only simplifies financial transactions for immigrants but also offers support to ease their transition into Canadian life. This is a personal mission for me because my dad immigrated to Canada after growing up in a war zone, and I want to empower future generations of people like my dad to come, settle, and build their lives in Canada.
Aditya: I’m the Co-Founder and CPTO of Beacon! I’ve dedicated my career to launching and growing mobile-first products as VP of Product at Paytm, India’s leading digital payments platform, and as a Co-Founder of PayPay, Japan’s largest mobile payment company. These experiences have sharpened my expertise in fintech and fueled my passion for creating solutions that address genuine customer and business challenges. Beyond my professional accomplishments, my journey to co-founding Beacon is deeply personal. When I immigrated to Canada in 2014, I encountered many challenges and roadblocks when it came to something as simple as accessing the correct information. I could not open a bank account and found it very hard to get money into Canada from India and send money back home. I knew there had to be a better solution to help newcomers like me settle with ease and build their future with confidence. My Co-Founder, Stu, and I created Beacon, the go-to super app, to empower immigrants to confidently build their futures in Canada.
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
Stu: A piece of advice I would give myself is not to give up just because one person tells you it’s impossible. Keep looking for information to learn why something has not been done before because you could solve something people previously thought was impossible. I learned throughout my career in finance that the industry is constantly changing, and there are opportunities and threats around the corner. Being able to pivot and adapt to the needs of future consumers is advice I wish I could have given myself when I started my journey as an entrepreneur. Teaming up with someone with a complementary skill set has helped my career as an entrepreneur, and I’m lucky to have partnered with Aditya.
Aditya: I would tell myself to trust my intuition. When Beacon was just an idea between Stu and me, a part of me doubted the demand for this app. After many conversations with Canadian newcomers, I realized feelings of confusion and uncertainty with the immigration journey in Canada were a common thread between our experiences. These conversations solidified my commitment to empowering immigrants to settle in Canada with confidence.
What problem does your business solve?
Aditya: We plan on eliminating financial service barriers for newcomers by leveraging the Super App’s ability to support someone’s financial needs throughout their lifecycle. The experience of immigrating to Canada can be overwhelming, so people need a combination of tailored information that helps them learn about how to set up their life in Canada and purpose-built financial services. Beacon has both. Those needs change throughout someone’s life in Canada, and Beacon will be there to support our users through that journey. We designed our app to have a user-friendly, multilingual interface that makes Canadian financial management approachable and understandable for individuals from diverse backgrounds.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
Aditya: When I immigrated to Canada in 2014, I encountered many challenges and roadblocks when it came to something as simple as accessing correct information. I was unable to send money back home to my family or open a bank account. Stu and I connected over our struggles with the Canadian immigration system. We knew there had to be a better solution to help newcomers settle with ease and build their future with confidence.
What is your magic sauce?
Stu: We are focused first on human outcomes, not our financial products. We view the financial products as enablers of the outcomes. Beacon’s Super App will specifically address common financial challenges facing newcomers, including offering financial solutions that facilitate account opening with minimal barriers. Traditional banking systems can also often be inaccessible for immigrants due to a lack of local credit history or unfamiliarity with the financial ecosystem. Our secret sauce is the digital onboarding process to provide purpose-built financial solutions powered by technology and the connections that our users will have to the financial systems in their home markets. We also stand out by delivering financial education tailored to the Canadian landscape, helping newcomers understand and navigate their new financial landscape more effectively.
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
Aditya: We have big plans at Beacon. Our vision is to become the trusted brand of choice and preferred financial ally for immigrants, simplifying their journey into a seamless experience. We will continuously adapt our offerings based on user feedback and the changing needs of immigrants in Canada. We will have partnerships that expand our financial services, integrate more planning tools and guidance, and ensure we’re enhancing the financial integration and overall success of immigrants in Canada.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
Stu: I would say we have had three main challenges. First, raising the $5.25m seed round was hard but necessary to ensure we are on track to build a truly transformational company. Second, it takes time to put in place the right relationships to get access to Canadian payments infrastructure. Third, it is always extremely challenging to accomplish something for the first time when no one believes it can be done.
How can people get involved?
Find out more at mybeacon.ca and download our app, which is available on Android and IOS.