Toronto just lit up the grid. Electric Mind, once known as Intelliware, just landed a $100M strategic growth investment from Motive Partners, the fintech architects behind some of the most sophisticated platforms in global finance. This isn’t a funding round; it’s a power surge for a firm that’s been fine-tuning its circuits for 34 years, and now the current’s running straight through North America’s financial core.
Founded in 1990 by Greg Betty, an engineer who built a business before startups were even called startups, Electric Mind evolved from a boutique software shop into an AI-led transformation powerhouse. After decades of building systems for the world’s top financial institutions, Betty passed the torch in 2024 to Chris Ford, an engineer-turned-operator with a résumé that reads like a blueprint of Canada’s digital banking evolution. From early online banking at RBC to major tech transformations at Capco, Ford has made a career out of turning complex, outdated infrastructure into performance machines.
The 2024 rebrand wasn’t a cosmetic play, it was a shift in philosophy. Electric Mind isn’t talking about “digital transformation”; it’s doing it. The firm fuses AI with enterprise engineering to modernize legacy systems, codify privacy and compliance policies, and wire data with measurable outcomes. They build for CIOs who need proof, COOs who need stability, and CISOs who need control. That kind of precision has made Electric Mind a trusted partner for 150+ clients, including tier-one banks, insurers, and asset managers across North America.
Now, with Motive Partners stepping in, the voltage rises. Rob Heyvaert’s firm doesn’t just write checks, they build ecosystems. Their Investor-Operator-Innovator model pairs capital with operational expertise and a global fintech network that includes InvestCloud, FNZ, CAIS, and Accordion. Adding industry heavyweights like Richard Lumb (ex-Accenture) and Sreeram Visvanathan (ex-IBM) to Electric Mind’s board turns this into more than funding; it’s alignment between experience and execution.
The $100M infusion will accelerate Electric Mind’s U.S. expansion beyond its Chicago base, deepen its AI and data engineering capabilities, and expand its footprint in wealth and alternatives, an area where Motive sees the next seismic opportunity. As Chris Williams, Partner at Motive, put it, Electric Mind’s impact on financial institutions is just getting started. Translation? The current’s live, the grid’s stable, and the next phase of fintech transformation is officially powered by Electric Mind.
