On the TechTO stage ×1
First seen on the TechTO stage in 2021. Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Rasha ↗
In their words
At the outset, Brim, we really wanted to be our own issuer, to have our own issuer licence — because that globally really enables you to build your own independent stack and not have to depend on someone else.
I'm a binary person that way. It's either going to get done and get done extremely well, and I'm going to give it my all — or I wasn't going to bother.
Around the web ×1
Quick answers
Who is Rasha Katabi?
The founder and CEO of Brim Financial, a Toronto fintech that runs its own credit-card issuing and loyalty platform for banks and merchants. Before founding Brim she spent about two decades in financial services at TD, CIBC and Merrill Lynch, where she built a large non-bank residential mortgage funding business.
What does Brim Financial do?
Brim is a licensed card issuer that sells its whole stack as a platform. Katabi told TechTO in 2021 that holding the issuer licence was the point: it lets Brim merge loyalty, issuance, payments and debit in one place and stay live at every point of sale, rather than renting infrastructure from someone else.
What did Rasha Katabi speak about at TechTO?
She joined Impression Ventures' Christian Lassonde on TechTO's Founders & Funding podcast in June 2021 to walk through how Brim got built and financed — why she chased the issuer licence first, what the heavy lifting cost, and how the company was moving from consumer cards to B2B partnerships.