I am delighted to announce that our PayPal Canada team will be moving to
MaRS Discovery District in a few weeks. Relocating our Canadian headquarters to MaRS Discovery District, North America’s largest urban innovation hub, is a strategic move for us for several reasons.
Hotbed of Innovation
For more than 17 years, PayPal has been pushing the boundaries of the payments industry by consistently delivering innovative solutions and amazing products and experiences for our customers. Ten years ago, we launched PayPal in Canada. A decade ago, we processed the first mobile payment in Canada. Our move to MaRS puts us at the centre of a globally-recognized innovation hub allowing us to foster deeper connections with the community at MaRS to deliver meaningful innovation for our 6.4 million active customers including iconic Canadian retailers and 250,000 small business customers across the country.
Fostering FinTech
PayPal Canada was one of the first partners of the
MaRS Financial Technology (FinTech) Cluster. The MaRS FinTech Clusterconnects the financial services sector with over 200 startups developing next- generation technology in emerging payments, financial services, peer-to-peer transactions, alternative lending and crypto-currencies.
This move provides more opportunities for us to team up with the country’s leading startups and consult on cutting-edge disruptive solutions and technologies. We will make our Canadian team and our visiting experts from across the globe easily accessible for mentorship and problem-solving sessions with start-ups at MaRS. We’ve already hosted feedback and mentoring sessions with some of Canada’s most promising FinTech companies associated with MaRS.
In speaking with Salim Teja, Executive Vice President of Ventures at MaRS, he shared, “We’re thrilled to welcome PayPal to MaRS as we have a shared goal of driving greater innovation and unlocking the true potential of the digital economy in Canada. The startup community will benefit immensely from this move.”
Customer Champion and Collaboration
PayPal’s core commitment is to serve as a Customer Champion, making it easier, secure and more affordable for people and businesses across the globe to access financial services. The best way we can deliver on our values of being Customer Champions—is to be closer to where our customers are. MaRS is home to some of our prominent customers and partners – Airbnb and Etsy, and Facebook.
Being co-located will help us foster deeper collaborative ties with our customers and also open the door to forge new innovation and partnerships that offer greater choice and value to Canadian consumers and businesses.
Industry-leading events, workshops and enriching learning sessions that are held around the year at MaRS will also provide learning and development opportunities for our employees.
My team and I look forward to this next exciting phase of PayPal Canada.