$1Mfor 10%
Protein Candy
Valued at $10M
The pitch
Tefari Bailey from Toronto, ON, pitched Hutsy in Season 16, Episode 8, asking the Dragons for $500K for 6% of the company.
- Asked for$500K for 6%
- Valuation$8.33Mimplied by the ask
- OutcomeDealwith Wes Hall and Michele Romanow
- Final deal$500K for 25%valued at $2M
Offers in the Den
| Dragon | Offer | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Vincenzo Guzzo | Concerned the cost of funds math does not work | Out |
| Manjit Minhas | Admires the mission but the math does not work | Out |
| Arlene Dickinson | Does not know the space well enough | Out |
| Wes Hall and Michele Romanow | $500,000 for 25% | Accepted |
Tefari Bailey, from Toronto, Ontario, asked for $500,000 for 6% of Hutsy, a free reloadable pre-paid card and companion app offering no-fee banking, early access to payroll, savings, and financial tracking for underbanked Canadians. The company is pre-revenue, plans to make money through interchange fees of 1.5% per transaction, a $10-per-month premium card, a credit-building service charging $10 a month, and loans earning 6% of volume, with a projected customer acquisition cost of $5 and expected average spending of $700 a month per customer.
Vincenzo Guzzo, Manjit Minhas, and Arlene Dickinson went out over concerns about the cost of funds and lack of familiarity with the fintech space. Wes Hall and Michele Romanow jointly offered $500,000 for 25%, which Tefari Bailey accepted.
Pitch details from CBC’s Dragons’ Den pitch page.
Hutsy today
- StatusStatus unknownLast checked September 2026
Tefari Bailey, founder of Hutsy, a no-fee online digital banking service for underserved and under-banked Canadians, secured a deal with Wes Hall for $500,000 for 25% in season 16. In this season 17 update, Tefari Bailey reported the launch converted about 5,000 signups from a waitlist of over 20,000 people, with projections of 60,000 users and about $5 million in revenue in year one, and the company became the title sponsor for the Niagara River Lions basketball team.