Moka CEO on the company’s recent acquisition by MOGO

FROM IDEA TO EXIT

Moka CEO on the company’s recent acquisition by MOGO

On May 5, our portfolio company Moka (previously known as Mylo) was acquired by MOGO, a Vancouver-based publicly-traded digital payments and financial technology company.  The two companies joined forces to create the most comprehensive consumer-facing fintech company in Canada.  Moka says the deal will allow them to help even more people realize their financial dreams and improve the services that they can offer to their existing customers, who can continue to use the Moka app as usual.

Following this announcement, Anges Québec decided to touch base with Moka’s founder and CEO, Phil Barrar, to gather his personal account on how the journey from idea to exit happened.

Hi Phil!  Thank you for accepting our invitation to chat.  First off, can you remind us of how Moka’s journey started, for those who don’t know?

In 2017, we set out to help Canadians achieve their financial goals by making it easy to save and invest. I applied the savings and investing techniques I gleaned from my frugal early days as an entrepreneur into creating Moka (formerly  Mylo), an app that rounds up purchases and puts the spare change into exchange-traded funds. We expanded to France in summer 2020 and rebranded from Mylo to Moka, and became a subsidiary of Mogo Inc., a digital-wallet company, in May 2021. Since launching, the app has been downloaded over 1 million times, and we’ve released additional innovative products to help users save more, spend less and invest smarter.

You have raised $14 million throughout Moka’s journey until its exit.  Can you tell us a bit how what the angel investors and AQC Capital have brought to the table?

The Anges Quebec community is second to none. AQC Capital has always been a huge supporter of Moka. They have helped with our business every step of the way.  They also made introductions in their network.

When entrepreneurs come to pitch at Anges Québec, we ask them to tell us about their exit strategy.  Of course, at such an early stage, we know their answer is more of a guiding light rather than an actual plan.  In your case, was this exit what you had envisioned from the start?

Our thesis has always been our guiding principle: build a sustainable business that everyone wants to own. We have always followed these practices and found great value when doing so, which ultimately helped us with our exit.

How did this acquisition opportunity come about and how long in the making was it?

While we were exploring Series B funding, the opportunity to be acquired by Mogo was brought to our attention. With the two companies sharing a common purpose of wanting to help our users get in control of their financial health, our decision to join forces made sense. Over the course of a few short months we went through the successful acquisition with Mogo. Being acquired by another fintech pioneer has allowed us to really fulfill our overall strategies of bringing the best financial products to the market.

How do you see your role now?

I’m proud to be continuing my role as founder and CEO of Moka, and I’m excited to be the first ever Chief Innovation Officer at Mogo. My focus is ensuring that both Moka and Mogo are at the cutting-edge of innovation, especially as we develop a free stock trading solution for Canadians.

How have you grown from this experience as an entrepreneur?  Are there any insights or best practices you can share with entrepreneurs who will be reading this?

With every project there’s learning to take away and apply to the next one; I can say don’t be afraid to go out there and give it a try. Follow the dream and take the risk. Never give up. The only difference between success and failure is giving up.

What’s next for Moka?

Now that we’ve joined forces with Mogo Inc., a publicly traded company, Moka can help even more people realize their financial dreams, while focusing on innovation and on delivering the best possible customer experience — a freedom that most startups can’t usually afford.

Our teams have also started to work collaboratively on new projects. The one I’m most excited about is a commission-free trading program, coming later this year, which will allow our users to get into the stock market through self-directed accounts.