FreshBooks and Fidelity Labs Announce Winners of First Reshape the World Challenge

Winning startups ShearShare, CircleLink Health, and Croissant provide modern solutions to make life easier for a growing self-employed workforce

Toronto, Canada —June 12, 2018 — FreshBooks, the #1 invoicing and accounting software in the cloud designed exclusively for self-employed professionals and their teams, in collaboration with Fidelity Labs, Fidelity Investments’ new business incubator, today announced the winners of the first Reshape the World Challenge. The Challenge, which focuses on discovering and supporting innovative companies that help people who work for themselves be more successful, provided an opportunity for startups to win a total of $30,000 USD in cash prizes, mentorship from top business experts, and a fully-paid trip to Durham, North Carolina to showcase their offering at the American Underground, one of ten Google for Entrepreneurs tech hubs in North America.

About the Winners

ShearShare
Winnings:$10,000 USD

Forty percent of salon space goes unused every day. ShearShare monetizes this empty space by enabling freelance stylists to rent space to work by the day in cities all over the world. As more stylists are becoming location-agnostic and opting out of traditional long-term lease contracts, an increasing number turn to freelance. ShearShare is replacing cold calling and Craigslist as the industry standard for how stylists find locations to work on demand. With ShearShare, it’s a win-win for the community: salon owners double their revenue on unused space, and freelance stylists save thousands per year in overhead costs. Founded by Courtney Caldwell & Tye Caldwell, ShearShare is based in Dallas, TX. www.shearshare.com

CircleLink Health
Winnings:$10,000 USD

CircleLink connects self-employed registered nurses to older Americans with multiple chronic conditions who need telephone health coaching on behalf of their doctors. CircleLink serves 30+ medical practices, dozens of doctors and nearly 3,000 patients. By providing a platform that does all the administrative work — scheduling, time-tracking, and health record aggregation — nurses can focus on what they do best, serving patients. CircleLink is enabling freedom and remote work opportunities, so nurses can avoid 90-minute daily commutes and be in control of their lifestyles. Co-founded by Raphael Anstey, CircleLink Health is based in Stamford, CT.
www.circlelinkhealth.com

Croissant
Winnings:$10,000 USD

Croissant is an app that allows freelancers, small teams, and remote workers to bounce between coworking spaces, by the hour, and with a single monthly membership. Members use Croissant because they need an inspiring environment to stay motivated and productive. They want to be part of a community of like-minded people without being stuck at a coffee shop or home office. Croissant is an affordable way to access luxurious and beautiful coworking spaces that inspire great work. Founded by Nisha Garigarn, Dave Idell, Adam Chew and Zoltan Szalas, Croissant is based in New York City, NY. www.getcroissant.com)

Challenge winners were selected by a judging panel comprised of successful freelancers and leaders in venture capital, startup acceleration, and self-employment advocacy. Each winning startup will receive a cash prize of $10,000 USD, mentorship from business experts and a fully paid trip to American Underground, one of ten Google for Entrepreneurs tech hubs in North America.

“Our mission at FreshBooks is to reshape the world to suit the needs of the self-employed, and that’s a huge feat we know we can’t accomplish alone,” said Levi Cooperman, co-founder and VP Operations at FreshBooks. “This challenge was a meaningful way for us to find other entrepreneurs in the ecosystem and lend our support. When self-employed people thrive, we all win.”

Head of Fidelity Labs, Sean Belka, said of the winners: “We’re thrilled to offer our support to these phenomenal startups. This is another way that Fidelity Labs can help to improve people’s financial wellbeing.”

About FreshBooks FreshBooks is the #1 invoicing and accounting software in the cloud designed exclusively for self-employed professionals and their teams. The company has helped more than 10 million people process billions of dollars through its easy-to-use invoicing, time-tracking, expense management, and online payments features. Recognized with eight Stevie awards for best customer service in the world, the company’s mantra is to “execute extraordinary experiences everyday.” Based in Toronto, Canada, FreshBooks serves paying customers in 160 countries. FreshBooks.com

About Fidelity Labs Fidelity Labs rapidly develops new products and businesses to improve the financial wellbeing of Fidelity’s current and future customers. Our small, cross-functional teams include people from startups, agencies, and industry-leading corporations. Together, they identify emerging market opportunities and use human-centered design and agile methodologies to create solutions designed to have impact at scale. (www.FidelityLabs.com)[http://www.FidelityLabs.com)]

Contact Lindsay Lapchuk Email: llapchuk@freshbooks.com Phone: 1-888-705-1218

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