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We have some exciting news coming from La Belle Province! Station Fintech Montréal, powered by Highline Beta and presented by the TMX Group, has revealed the eight companies that will make up the accelerator’s second cohort. The theme for this session is sustainable finance and environmental, social, and governance (ESG), which attracted startup companies from across Québec, Canada, and even from Silicon Valley. Finance Montréal operates The Fintech Station, whose members include some of Canada’s and Québec’s most significant financial institutions, with a mandate to increase the local, national and international influence of Montréal’s financial services industry.
The call for applications started back in late October 2021, and saw many qualified companies apply. The quality of these applicants was so high that Station Fintech interviewed 75% of them, a staggeringly high figure. In the end, the accelerator selected eight companies from Canada and the US.
The theme of sustainability and ESG is timely in the current climate and something that financial institutions across the globe are paying close attention to. It should be noted that a quarter of the selected companies are based in Quebec, and many were founded by or led by women. Without further ado, here are the new members of the Fintech Station Montréal Accelerator.
Environmental Finance:
Carbon Neutral Club: Toronto-based Carbon Neutral Club offers individuals the chance to offset their carbon footprint and help slow climate change. Members pay a monthly fee that helps fund carbon removal projects, and in return, they get access to year-round savings with a growing list of sustainable brand partners (more than 60 and climbing). The company recently launched the Carbon Neutral Club Employee Program, allowing companies to subsidize their employees and promote a more sustainable society.
Otto Intelligence: Otto has created a platform that helps financial advisors develop purpose-driven investment portfolios for their clients. The software allows advisors to have deeper conversations with the client to understand their values and then invest in companies aligned with their outlook on environmental, social, and governance factors.
Social / Financial Inclusion:
MESH/Diversity: Moncton, New Brunswick-based MESH has developed a diversity intelligence platform for enterprise corporations. The software leverages behavioural sciences to ensure inclusion becomes part of a company’s organizational culture. The platform helps clients maximize their personnel by developing and measuring a culture of safety and belonging throughout the organization.
FrontFundr: Vancouver-based FrontFundr’s platform offers Canadians access to investment opportunities in private companies. It also provides the companies with an online channel to raise capital from seasoned investors and the general public efficiently. They are Canada’s leading online investment platform, helping more than 70 companies raise over $90 million with more than 30,000 users across Canada.
Governance:
Banyan Infrastructure: San Francisco-based Banyan Infrastructure has created a cloud-based SaaS solution for banks and funds looking to invest in sustainable infrastructure like renewable energy projects. The platform aggregates and contextualizes disparate data sources to streamline workflows across multiple counterparties to ensure the contractual compliance of each entity in a deal. This gives project financiers the ability to originate, service and securitize their investments at higher volume and lower costs.
F8th: Montréal-based F8th is a cybersecurity platform designed to protect institutions against cyber attacks like account and session takeovers, web bots, insider threats while operating passively and continuously in the background. This security solution allows companies to authenticate online users and track fraudsters in real-time. It builds behavioural biometrics by tracking typing speed, mouse movement, clicking speed and more from users. The platform is designed to increase companies’ cyber defences without impacting the user experience.
SR AI: Montreal and Toronto-based SR AI uses an artificial intelligence-powered platform for responsible investing. The solution summarizes and extracts actionable insights from sources like the news, social media, company disclosures and more. This enables investors to develop their analysis of potential investment targets to create sustainable portfolios.
Uplinq: Toronto-based Uplinq has created a global credit assessment platform for small business lenders. The company’s software boosts lender confidence and helps them make accurate decisions by using billions of unique and validated data points beyond traditional credit indicators. It allows lenders to gain deeper insights into small and medium-sized businesses and enables them to support the underserved, unbanked, minority and immigrant small business owners.
These eight companies all offer solutions that promise to improve society, from helping the environment, supporting minority businesses, or protecting against cybercrime. Together, Highline Beta, the Fintech Station Montréal Accelerator and the TMX Group will help these startups build their businesses by connecting them to the corporate fintech ecosystem, creating the ultimate unfair advantage.
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