- Company Overview: Hardbacon, a Canadian personal finance fintech based in Montreal, has shut down after seven years of operation. The company offered a mobile app with investment tools and financial service comparisons, including bank accounts, crypto exchanges, online brokers, robo-advisors, credit cards, and mortgages.
- Funding History: The company raised $706,000 in July 2022 and an additional $819,000 in November 2022 through crowdfunding on FrontFundr.
- Closure Announcement: Co-founder and CEO Julien Brault announced the closure via a blog post on 15 August, stating that all employees were let go, and the company would declare bankruptcy. There is a possibility that third parties may purchase some of Hardbacon’s assets, potentially giving the brand a “second life.”
- Decline in Traffic: The company faced a significant decline in traffic starting in September 2023 due to a Google update that targeted low-quality SEO-driven and AI-generated content. Hardbacon’s traffic dropped by 97%, from 350,000 monthly visitors to around 50,000.
- Interest from Buyers: After announcing the closure, Brault mentioned that about twenty potential buyers expressed interest in the company’s assets.
- Temporary Traffic Surge: Following another Google update shortly after the closure announcement, Hardbacon experienced a brief surge in traffic, which quadrupled in four days. However, Brault acknowledged that this increase came too late to salvage the company’s financial situation.
