The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that Quebec's Caisse pension fund and and Fidelity Investments Canada are backing a $300-million funding round by financial tech company Nesto Inc., which is aiming to drastically reduce its mortgage underwriting time using artificial intelligence. The Globe's Olivia Grandy and Sean Silcoff write that the deal values the Montreal-based online provider of consumer mortgages and business financing products at $1.47-billion. The eight-year-old company has more than $80-billion in mortgages under its administration. This year alone, Nesto has done $37-billion in originations. In addition to the Caisse and Fidelity, other new investors in the financing round include Picton Investments and Endeavor Catalyst. Current shareholders -- such as Power Corp. of Canada affiliate Portage Ventures, Diagram and National Bank's NAventures -- have also backed the financing, some of which will be used to buy out existing investors and employees. The company will invest proceeds from the offering on AI to improve employee productivity and client experience. Nesto aims to reduce the time involved in the underwriting process, so clients can receive approvals in as little as two minutes.