PlentyofFish Founder Adds To $10.2m Funding Of Canadian Lending Startup

Following the forthcoming sale of PlentyofFish to The Match Group for $575m, founder Markus Frind is getting into the investment game in his home country of Canada.

Frind has teamed up with other investors to lead Canada-based online lending platform Grouplend‘s latest round of funding.

The PlentyofFish CEO and Lance Tracey, founder of Peer 1 Hosting and Sutton Real Estate Group, led the company’s latest funding round, taking its total financing to an impressive $10.2m, just 10 months after its launch.

Commenting on his interest in the lending company, Markus Frind said: “Grouplend is one of the most promising and innovative startups in Canada. Its technology-anchored approach has the potential to revolutionize banking in this country.”

Earlier this year Frind also invested $21m in Canadian software developer and e-commerce company Cymax.

The lending platform plans to use the funding to expand its team to almost double its size by the end of this year, employing additional software engineers, data scientists, marketers and operators.

It also plans to stretch its presence in the Canadian market to confirm itself as Canada’s leading online lending platform.

Speaking about the latest funding round, CEO of Grouplend Kevin Sandhu said: “A Canadian company going from zero to this stage in 10 months is nearly unprecedented, and we are only getting started.

“This round of financing will provide Grouplend the necessary ammunition to accelerate our reinvention of lending in Canada, through new products and strategic partnerships.

“I’m incredibly excited about what we have accomplished over the past year and even more excited about what is ahead of us.

“We set big goals when we launched and I am happy to say we are not only achieving those goals, but setting even bigger ones as we continue to grow.”

The promising new startup is benefiting from both the investment and guidance from individuals with a successful history in startups, with recent liquidity events creating new millionaires who then invest back into startup projects.

Markus Frind’s involvement in Grouplend’s financing follows shortly after he sold free online dating website PlentyofFish.com for $575 million to The Match Group.

Find out more about Grouplend here.