Mogo Inc. is adding some firepower in its fight for fintech dominance, announcing plans to snap up Montreal-based Moka Financial Technologies Inc. in a $64 million all-stock deal. 

In a release Tuesday, Mogo Founder and Chief Executive Officer David Feller hailed the deal as a key plank to the company’s growth ambitions and a significant step towards its ultimate goal of launching a free stock trading platform.

“By adding these digital saving and investing products – along with Moka’s technology platform and experienced fintech team – we will dramatically enhance what is already one of the most compelling and differentiated value propositions in Canadian finance,” Feller said. 

“Moka will complement our existing MogoCrypto account and form the core of MogoWealth, making Mogo’s digital wallet the most comprehensive solution in Canada.”

The transaction will bolster Mogo’s user base by about 500,000 monthly active users and add about $250 million to the company’s assets under management, the company said in the release.

Mogo estimated the domestic wealth management business has an addressable market north of $4 trillion, making it a key priority for the company’s expansion plans.

Under the terms of the deal, Mogo will exchange five million of its shares and assume $3 million worth of debt in exchange for 100 per cent of privately-held Moka. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of this year.

Moka’s main differentiating factor against other digital saving platforms is its round-up feature– the app automatically rounds up clients’ everyday purchases to the nearest dollar, then automatically invests the difference in low-cost exchange-traded funds. 

The deal comes amid unprecedented retail investor interest in fintech platforms and managing their own finances. Since the onset of the pandemic and subsequent implementation of work-from-home measures, retail investors have flooded into the public markets, sending trading volumes on the Toronto Stock Exchange to record highs.

The phenomenon has been pronounced south of the border as well, where a retail investor frenzy sent shares of the likes of GameStop Corp., AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. and BlackBerry Ltd. on a wild ride.