Category: Venture Capital

NCFA Fintech and Funding Conference and Expo begins March 14

Posted on by The LARI Team

This is the 8th annual event hosted by the National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA). Labeled FFCON23: REGEN, the event begins March 14 and runs through to April 4, 2023. There are both in-person events in Toronto as well as digital sessions.

Having attended last year’s event, I can say it’s a great way to connect with transformative fintech business leaders. This year’s event promises experts from a long list of fintech topics including:

  • open banking
  • blockchain
  • digital assets
  • web3
  • metaverse
  • decentralized finance
  • virtual commerce
  • capital markets innovation
  • payments
  • wealthtech
  • regtech
  • crypto
  • alternative finance

The once-a-week sessions bring together entrepreneurs, investors, financial institutions and government officials. The events will feature over 50 speakers. To name a few, Alex Tapscott, co-founder of the Blockchain Research Institute, and King Leung, Head of Fintech for Invest Hong Kong.

Tickets are available here. You can buy a full access pass or choose from these individual weeks:

  • Week 1: Digital Finance Innovation
  • Week 2: Alternative Investing and Fintech Draft Competition
  • Week 3: Regenerative Finance, Sustainability, Purpose
  • Week 4: Metaverse, Web3, Digital Assets, DAOs
  • Week 5: In-person Mixer and Networking

Hardbacon exceeds $500k funding target on FrontFundr

Posted on by The LARI Team

Longueuil, Quebec-based fintech Hardbacon obtained it’s latest round of financing through public crowdfunding platform FrontFundr. With a funding target of $500k, the platform is open for funding for another 11 days and has already reached $574k.  With interest rates at historic lows, it’s generally not hard for start-ups to find financing these days, but we applaud the approach of taking this to the public rather than venture capitalists. 

For one, the financial app/platform capitalizes on an opportunity to turn existing users into investors. Those who love the app experience will be among the pool of finaciers. When your most loyal users have skin in the game as investors, that drives product loyalty to new levels.

We plan to review Hardbacon in an upcoming LARI report where we specifically explore financial planning and comparison tools. For now, if you’re unfamiliar with the platform, a commonly known comparison would be Intuit’s Mint. Hardbacon engages Canadians with their finances, budgets and planning, and then allows them to compare and connect with providers in a number of categories: robo-advisors, chequing accounts, online brokers, savings accounts, credit cards, mortgages, and personal loans.