Ricky Lai's path into fintech investing is unusual: he studied biotechnology and accounting at the University of Waterloo, became a CPA, and worked as an early employee at a consumer lending startup, at Mithril360 doing analytics, and at KPMG on software and healthcare deals before joining Portage in 2017 and making partner in 2021. His focus areas—SMB finance, the CFO tech stack, and regtech—show up in his portfolio of companies like KOHO, Nesto, Clark, TheGuarantors, Angle Health, and OatFi, his public comments on embedded lending in B2B transactions, and his board seat at LeapXpert.