Lodavo is Canada's first prize-linked savings app, founded in Montreal in 2024. It connects to your existing bank account, tracks what you save, and gives you free tickets into weekly cash-prize draws. It changes the reward of saving, not its safety, and it's always free to use.

Why prize-linked savings instead of a regular savings account?

Saving is the safest thing many Canadians could do, yet it feels slow and boring, so people chase lottery tickets instead. Lodavo attaches an exciting prize to saving itself: the money you keep in your own account earns you tickets in a weekly cash draw, with nothing to lose.

Is it free, and is my money safe?

Yes to both. Lodavo has no subscription, no fees, and no purchase necessary, with prizes funded by partners and sponsors. The bank connection is read-only through Plaid, so nothing can be moved, withdrawn, or charged, and your savings keep earning whatever interest your own bank already pays.

Introducing Lodavo: Revolutionizing Savings in Canada with Prizes

Lodavo started with a frustrating contradiction. More than a quarter of Canadians say they couldn’t cover an unexpected $500 expense, yet more than half of Canadian adults still buy lottery tickets every year. We chase the thrill of a long shot, while the safest thing we could do, saving, feels slow and boring. Lodavo was built to fix that mismatch: now the safest thing you can do with your money also comes with a chance to win.

Why we built Lodavo: Canada’s savings problem

Lodavo grew out of a real and growing problem. According to Statistics Canada (opens in a new tab), more than a quarter of Canadians would be unable to cover an unexpected $500 expense. At the same time, more than half of Canadian adults buy lottery or raffle tickets in a typical year (opens in a new tab), putting money into long odds that almost never pay back. Why do so many people spend on lottery tickets instead of saving? Because the lottery feels exciting and saving feels boring.

In fall 2022, over one-third (35%) of Canadians reported that it was difficult for their household to meet its financial needs in the previous 12 months. When asked whether their household had the resources to cover an unexpected expense of $500, 26% said that they would be unable to do so […] (Statistics Canada)

For generations, saving has been built around delayed gratification, with none of the immediate rewards that social media, games, and apps have trained us to expect. Lodavo changes the reward, not the safety. You save in your own account, and saving earns you free tickets in a weekly cash draw.

How Lodavo works: save, play, win

Save

Connect the bank you already use, and save as you normally would. Your balance keeps earning whatever interest it already earns, and it’s what your tickets are based on.

Play

Pick your lucky numbers and earn tickets in free weekly draws. Save more one week, and you hold more tickets the next.

Win

Match the winning numbers and you win cash prizes, up to $10,000, with a guaranteed prize of at least $100 going to a user every week. It’s always free, so there’s nothing to lose.

What makes Lodavo different

Completely free. No subscription, no fees, no purchase necessary. Prizes are funded by partners and sponsors, not your deposits.
No switching, no deposits. Lodavo works with the bank account you already have, so there’s nothing to move and nothing to open.
Built for your phone. Manage everything in the app, with no branch visits and no paperwork.
Made for Canada. Lodavo is Canada’s first prize-linked savings app, designed for the way Canadians actually bank and save.

Is your money safe with Lodavo?

Yes. Lodavo never holds your money. When you connect a bank account, the link runs through Plaid (opens in a new tab) in read-only mode. That’s enough for Lodavo to work out your draw tickets from what you save, and not enough to do anything else: it can’t move your funds, withdraw, or charge you anything.

Lodavo isn’t a bank or a deposit account, and it pays no interest itself. Your savings keep earning whatever your own bank already pays, and Lodavo rewards you on top for saving. If you’ve ever wondered whether prize-linked savings is gambling, the short answer is no, and the full reasoning is there.

Why Canada is ready for prize-linked savings

This isn’t an untested idea. In the UK, a prize-linked product called Premium Bonds (opens in a new tab) is one of the most popular savings products in the country, held by millions of Britons. In the US, programs like Save to Win have helped tens of thousands of people save through their credit unions. The model is proven. It simply hadn’t crossed the border yet.

With most Canadians already banking on their phones, prize-linked savings fits naturally here. Our full guide to prize-linked savings in Canada goes deeper on how it works and why it’s legal.

The team behind Lodavo

Lodavo was founded in Montreal in 2024 by two university students with complementary skills, one in finance and one in software.

Benjamin Thomas, CEO: Benjamin brought the idea for Lodavo to life at a pitch competition while studying finance at Concordia University, after seeing how well prize-linked savings worked in the UK and the US and believing Canada deserved the same.
Luke Freund, CTO: Luke leads the engineering behind Lodavo. He studied software engineering at McGill University and has a background in hackathons and entrepreneurship, building technology to solve real problems.

Benjamin Thomas, Co-Founder & CEO

Luke Freund, Co-Founder & CTO

Saving is the safest thing you can do with your money. Now it comes with a prize. Download Lodavo free and collect your tickets for this week’s draw.

Terms and conditions apply. No purchase necessary (alternate method of entry available). Skill-testing question required. Open to legal residents of Canada who are the age of majority. Odds depend on the number of eligible entries received. Full rules and odds at our contest rules.