Canadian startup Beacon has opened the waitlist for its purpose-built digital wallet for immigrants moving to the country.
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Immigrants from around the world can open, fund and use Beacon Money prior to their arrival in Canada. Users can set up an account without having to visit a branch, or provide Canada-specific documents like Social Insurance Numbers, ID, local address or credit history.
Once in Canada, new arrivals can use the the wallet for salary disbursement, money transfers and bill payments. They also get a prepaid Visa card for online and offline payments and ATM withdrawals.
The wallet can be funded globally via the Swift network, with a specific Beacon Remit tool available for users from India.
The Beacon Money waitlist is now open, with a public launch set for January.
Beacon – which recently closed a C$5.25m seed funding round – was set up by co-founder Aditya Mhatre after he experienced a host of financial roadblocks while immigrating to Canada.
“When I immigrated here in 2014 and again in 2021, it was very difficult to both move money out of India and to set up a functional bank account in Canada. Beacon Money and Beacon Remit solve these pain points before people land in Canada so our users can settle with confidence,” says Mhatre.
