Building the Mortgage Ecosystem for Canada

Nesto's mission has always been straightforward in its ambition and formidable in its execution: modernize how mortgages are originated, funded, and serviced in Canada. The country's mortgage market represents $2.1 trillion in outstanding debt, yet much of the infrastructure supporting it was built decades ago. Nesto, led by co-founders and Endeavor Entrepreneurs Malik Yacoubi, Karim Benabdallah, and Damien Charbonneau, set out to change that.

The company has evolved well beyond its origins as a direct-to-consumer digital mortgage platform. In 2024, Nesto completed the acquisition of CMLS Group, the third-largest mortgage finance company in Canada, a move that nearly tripled the company's size overnight. Today, through its Maestro AI platform, Nesto is bringing AI-native orchestration tools to financial institutions that want to modernize their own mortgage and lending infrastructure. The company's ambition to compress the mortgage underwriting process from a full day to as little as two minutes is a signal of how seriously they are taking technology as a competitive advantage, and how prepared they are to bring that advantage to the broader financial services industry.

Endeavor Catalyst, which co-invested in this round, is a meaningful part of the Nesto story. Catalyst is Endeavor's co-investment fund that allows the global Endeavor community to invest alongside leading venture capitalists in Endeavor Entrepreneur companies. Unlike traditional venture funds, Catalyst is powered by the unique access Endeavor has to a curated network of high-impact founders, and it invests exclusively in companies that have been through Endeavor's rigorous selection process. Catalyst's participation in Nesto's Series E is a signal that Endeavor is in it for the long haul alongside its entrepreneurs, and it matters in another important way too: as a non-profit organization, Endeavor uses its share of carry from Catalyst to fund its operations, meaning that when Endeavor Entrepreneurs succeed, they help sustain the mission that supports the next generation of founders.

How the Relationship Began

Endeavor Canada's relationship with Nesto traces back to 2022, when we were introduced to Malik and his team by Endeavor Canada founding board member Paul Desmarais III. It was immediately clear that Malik and his team were on to something. Nesto was at an inflection point, building out its business-to-business model and preparing for the kind of growth that would require not just capital, but community.

In the fall of 2023, Malik met with the Endeavor Canada board, including Susan Anderson, Jim Estill, Chris Huskilson, Dennis Bennie, Mike Mannix, Joanna Harris, Chen Fong, and Paul Desmarais III. The meeting gave Malik the opportunity to pressure-test his vision with a seasoned group of operators and investors, who in turn gave Nesto the green light to pursue selection at the global level. Panelist Chen Fong captured something that would prove to be a consistent theme in how people describe Malik:

“He has the vision and can execute. Most important: the founder is confident yet has great humility. That allows him to be a good listener and can pivot when needed. Above all, I think he would be a great Endeavor ambassador.”

That instinct proved right.

The Selection Panel

A year later, in November 2024, Nesto's founders went through Endeavor's International Selection Panel (ISP), the global peer review process at the heart of Endeavor's model. Grilled by a panel of accomplished global entrepreneurs and investors including Joanna Lambert, Andrea Baronchelli, Vincent Tjendra, Martín Escobari, Shari Loessberg, and Adetayo Bamiduro, the Nesto team presented their vision, defended their strategy, and earned an enthusiastic unanimous vote.

The panelists were struck by the quality of the founders across the board. They praised the decision to bring all three co-founders forward as Endeavor Entrepreneur candidates, reflecting Endeavor's increasing focus on companies where technical leadership is central to the value proposition. Panelists were impressed by how self-aware the team was about the opportunities and challenges ahead, and by their genuine interest in using the Endeavor network as a sounding board. The CMLS acquisition drew particular attention: Nesto had taken on a company several times its own size and could articulate the integration logic and key success factors with clarity and conviction. Martín Escobari, Managing Director at General Atlantic and one of the most respected voices in global growth investing, summarized the opportunity simply: a scaled, profitable business poised for a new phase of growth.

The selection was a natural culmination of a relationship that had been building for two years. As Trish Redekop, Director of Entrepreneur Experience at Endeavor Canada, who led the Nesto candidacy at Endeavor Canada, put it after the panel:

“Malik's decision to join Endeavor was a strong signal in itself. He is deeply intentional about where he spends his time, and he has built nesto with a clear belief that grit, culture, and execution matter more than experience. For him to see Endeavor as a community worth leaning into speaks to the quality of the entrepreneurs in the network and the caliber of peer support it offers at the highest stages of growth.”

Giving Back, Showing Up

Since selection, Nesto's founders have been a consistent and generous presence in the Endeavor Canada community. That generosity has gone in both directions: learning from their peers and giving back to founders who are earlier in their journeys.

In 2025, Nesto hosted an Endeavor Founder Social in Vancouver during Web Summit Canada, bringing together founders from across the country for an evening of peer connection and conversation. Malik and the team have participated in Endeavor Canada Founder Roundtables from coast to coast, even generously hosting these events at Nesto's offices. These roundtables, which convene some of Canada's leading tech founders for candid, off-the-record conversations about the hardest problems they are navigating, have benefited enormously from Nesto's presence.

The topics Nesto has engaged with reflect exactly the challenges facing the most ambitious Canadian companies right now: how to stay ahead of the AI wave without losing sight of fundamentals, how to structure financing as a company scales, how to integrate an acquired company after Nesto's own historic acquisition of CMLS in 2024, how to take care of employees through periods of rapid growth, and how to build a business that endures. These are not theoretical questions for Malik and his co-founders. They are living them.

What Comes Next

Nesto's Series E and its ascension to unicorn status is a milestone, but it is not the destination. The company is now focused on accelerating its AI development, onboarding financial institution partners faster, and scaling its platform across the Canadian financial services industry and beyond. With Maestro AI in the market and a world-class investor base behind them, the conditions for the next chapter are in place.

At Endeavor Canada, we are proud to count Malik, Karim, Damien, and other senior members of the Nesto team among our Endeavor community. We have been privileged to witness this journey up close, and we are excited for everything that comes next.