Kris Hansen, former CTO of Toronto-based fintech Koho and Portag3 Ventures, has co-founded a new fintech company with Peter Hazlehurst, the former head of Google Wallet and Uber Money. Synctera matches traditional banks with other fintech companies to make sure both entities are in compliance, and to provide services complementary to one another. (BetaKit, Pymnts.com)

Talking point: The seed round was backed by a consortium of investors including U.S.-based Lightspeed Venture Partners, and a number of angel investors like Max Levchin, founder of Affirm and co-founder of PayPal, as well as Zachary Perret, CEO of Plaid, the fintech company that powers apps like Venmo. Synctera targets community banks that are seeking partnerships with fintechs to increase the speed in which financial institutions can bring tech solutions to market. “What I saw was really an opportunity to decouple that relationship, which is typically bilateral agreements and a one-to-one integration per partner, and just really create more of a marketplace,” Hansen told BetaKit. The company is partnering with Coastal Community Bank, a local bank in Washington State, and One, a digital platform focused on financial wellness. Synctera has operations in both the United States and Canada, but its platform will only be available in the U.S. for now.