Equisoft has closed a $125 million equity investment on March 1. The digital life insurance and wealth and asset management solutions provider raised $70 million from Investissement Québec and the Québec government, in addition to $55 million from Export Development Canada (EDC) and Fondaction.
Investissement Québec and the Québec government have thus become new partners of Equisoft. Their $70 million contribution is made up of $36 million from Investissement Québec’s own funds and $34 million from the Fonds pour la croissance des entreprises québécoises (FCEQ). EDC and Fondaction each provided $27.5 million. Both entities have partnered with Equisoft for over 14 years. RBC Capital Markets was the exclusive financial advisor to Equisoft in this transaction.
Selective acquisitions
Equisoft says the new funding will fuel its global expansion, both organically and through strategic acquisitions. The fintech serves more than 250 financial institutions in 17 countries across North America, Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe. The company says it operates in eight of those countries. It characterized its organic growth as “double digit” for the past 10 years.
Equisoft CEO Luis Romero told The Insurance Portal that he intends to continue to make selective acquisitions, particularly in the Americas and Europe. Canada will remain a pillar for the company founded in Quebec in 1994. “We will not hesitate to make acquisitions in Canada that support our business strategy. For example, in January 2023, we concluded the acquisition of CompuOffice, a leading developer of independent life insurance analysis and research software,” he says.
Pipeline development
Equisoft has set its sights on advancing its end-to-end platforms. “The financing will be channeled into accelerating the development of our integrated life insurance software platform and our wealth products in order to better serve our global customer base. This development is largely taking place in Quebec,” the fintech’s CEO says.
CompuOffice’s product line and deep penetration of the Canadian market are steps in this direction, Romero continues. These qualities enhance the end-to-end technology capabilities for advisors, he believes. He emphasizes that through this acquisition, Equisoft’s ecosystem has gained 28 Canadian insurers, more than 50 MGAs and thousands of new advisors that CompuOffice was working with.
Data-intensive sectors
Equisoft’s CEO describes the company as a leading provider of end-to-end cloud-based solutions with deep expertise in life insurance, and wealth and asset management. “These industries are complex, data-intensive and require significant technology investments,” he says.
In Luis Romero’s view, these sectors still have a long way to go in their transformation. “They remain notably under-digitized, often relying on manual processes and disparate legacy systems, at a time when they are increasingly expected to innovate, automate and improve the customer experience while adapting to changing regulatory requirements,” he explains.
Equisoft’s solutions can propel this transformation, he continues. "Over the past few years, all of our customers have accelerated their digitization process and increased their technology investments due to changing customer expectations and the realization that their old, outdated back-office systems are no longer sufficient,” Romero says.
Unavoidable transformation
“Projects related to digital transformation and customer experience are no longer optional; they have become a necessity,” Luis Romero stresses. He says he supports his clients in this process with solutions tailored to the challenges of the financial services industry. He points out that his customer-centric approach has earned him the trust of “some of the largest financial institutions in the world.”
Romero adds that his financial partners’ focus on domestic and international growth “aligns perfectly with our global expansion strategy and our desire to continue to invest in our people, solutions and international acquisitions.”
Ministerial priority
“The digital transformation of Quebec businesses is a key priority for us. This investment in Equisoft will accelerate this transformation in the life insurance and wealth management sectors and help businesses become more efficient,” said Pierre Fitzgibbon, Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy, Minister Responsible for Regional Economic Development and Minister Responsible for the Metropolis and the Montréal Region.
Guy LeBlanc, President and CEO of Investissement Québec, believes that Equisoft has become a world leader as financial institutions around the world race to digitally transform themselves to meet high customer expectations. He says that Equisoft’s project will accelerate the digital transformation of companies in their industry.
