Eight Toronto-based technology startups come together to hone their solutions for the most pressing economic challenges consumers and small businesses currently face

Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU), the global financial technology platform that makes TurboTax, Credit Karma, QuickBooks, and Mailchimp, along with Highline Beta, a venture studio and venture capital firm, announced today the 2023 cohort of the Intuit Prosperity Accelerator: Toronto.

The four-month program will help eight fintech startups refine and scale products designed to improve the financial prosperity of Canadian consumers and small businesses and combat their most pressing challenges.

The program involves pairing each startup with an expert at Intuit who will mentor them on the company’s approach to customer-driven innovation, known as Design for Delight. This process has propelled Intuit throughout its 40-year history, and involves extensive customer research and experimentation to identify opportunities for innovation and growth. In addition to the Intuit mentors, known as Innovation Catalysts, the startups will also gain access to experts from Intuit and the broader industry who specialize in areas such as product design and development, partnerships, marketing, sales, engineering, and venture capital.

Furthermore, with startup funding in Canada dropping 70% over the past year, programs like the Intuit Prosperity Accelerator can provide fintech startups with increased visibility in the investment community at a critical time for the industry.

“Startups that graduate from accelerator programs have a 23% higher survival rate than their counterparts,” said David Marquis, vice president and Canada country manager at Intuit. “We’re excited to connect and create with this promising group of innovators at our new Toronto site, and help these entrepreneurs to realize their startup’s growth potential.”

“We're thrilled to be teaming up with Intuit again to tap into Toronto’s burgeoning technology ecosystem and work with some of the city’s most innovative early-stage entrepreneurs,” said Hussam Ayyad, chief accelerator officer at Highline Beta. “Besides their focus on helping Canadians combat some of today's pressing economic challenges, the startups themselves are facing a harsh macroeconomic outlook and need our help now more than ever.”

Meet the cohort

Supporting small businesses & the self-employed:

• Carbonhound is an all-in-one platform that helps small businesses simplify carbon management by consolidating measurement, reduction, offset, and marketing services in one place.
• NetNow is a buy-now-pay-later and checkout platform for B2B transactions, focusing on companies in the construction industry.
• Requity Homes is a real estate platform that’s modernizing the path to homeownership through a rent-to-own program.
• Spruce is an AI-powered loan origination and decisioning software that can collect, analyze, underwrite, and monitor small business data.

Supporting consumers:

• Chexy is a payments platform that allows tenants to earn rewards and build credit on rent, leading to potential homeownership.
• goPeer is a peer-to-peer lending platform that provides low-interest loans to borrowers, while generating interest for investors from excess capital.
• LenderBidding is a licensed platform that offers salaried agents for consumers who seek to borrow from a private lender.
• Parachute offers loans and supports consumers to improve their financial wellness through debt management, financial literacy education, savings strategies, and more.

About the program

The Intuit Prosperity Accelerator: Toronto is an equity-free program in which selected startups benefit from mentorship on product and business innovation toward advancing financial prosperity for consumers, small businesses, and the self-employed. The startup cohort works with Intuit and Highline Beta teams to identify and unlock growth opportunities using Intuit’s design thinking methodology, Design for Delight, and pursue other areas of business and technology mentorship. Over the past two years of the Prosperity Accelerator program, Intuit has worked with 15 startup participants and helped position them to raise over C$24 million.

For more information on the program, visit www.intuit.com/ca/prosperity-accelerator.

About Intuit

Intuit is the global financial technology platform that powers prosperity for the people and communities we serve. With more than 100 million customers worldwide using TurboTax, Credit Karma, QuickBooks, and Mailchimp, we believe that everyone should have the opportunity to prosper. We never stop working to find new, innovative ways to make that possible. Please visit us at Intuit.com and find us on social for the latest information about Intuit and our products and services.

About Highline Beta

Highline Beta is a globally recognized accelerator builder-operator and venture capital firm focused on corporate innovation. We work with Fortune 1000 companies to build new business models inside and outside their organization to unlock new areas of growth, and we work with and invest in remarkable startup founders who are building truly transformative ventures that positively impact industries across the globe. Highline Beta is Intuit’s partner in the design, execution, and oversight of the program, and advises on the selection of startups to participate. Learn more at Highline Beta.

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