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Did Brandon Vlaar co-found Lending Loop?
Yes. An Ivey Business School company profile dated October 5, 2018 lists him as "Co-founder & CTO" and records that Lending Loop was incorporated on April 15, 2014, after he and Cato Pastoll met at Ivey during an IT case competition in 2014. The Personal Finance Show introduced the pair as "co-founders, Cato Pastoll and Brandon Vlaar" on April 20, 2017, and The Carbon Curve wrote on June 11, 2026 that he came up through Canadian fintech, "co-founding Lending Loop, the country's first peer-to-peer lending platform".
What does Brandon Vlaar do now?
He runs Mangrove Systems, a carbon measurement, reporting and verification software company. Mangrove's own press release of November 3, 2025 quotes "Brandon Vlaar, CEO of Mangrove Systems", his speaker page for the Hydrogen Technology Expo North America 2027, checked 2026-09-22, lists him as CEO, and The Carbon Curve described him on June 11, 2026 as a repeat founder who turned to climate. No page checked on 2026-09-22 shows him holding a current role at Loop Financial.
What is Loop Financial?
A Toronto cross-border banking platform for Canadian businesses. Loop's own About page, checked 2026-09-22, says the company "started as a financing provider called Lending Loop" before building "the only truly cross-border banking platform in Canada: Loop Financial", and lists its head office at 1255 Bay St, Toronto. BetaKit reported on April 21, 2022 that the then eight-year-old startup changed course after the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in March 2020.
What did Brandon Vlaar do before Lending Loop?
The Ivey Business School profile dated October 5, 2018 lists him as a Strategy & Operations Analyst at Fusion Homes from 2014 to 2015, a business development intern at INcubes in summer 2013, a business analyst at Manulife Financial in summer 2012 and a finance intern at NetShape Technologies in summer 2011, with an HBA from Ivey Business School in 2014. The same profile notes he and Pastoll quit their jobs in March 2015 to work on Lending Loop full time.