Australia to develop national blockchain strategy
The federal government will develop a national blockchain roadmap in a bid to position Australia as a global leader in distributed ledger technology. Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews announced the strategy and $100,000 in accompanying funding on Monday to nurture a “burgeoning” industry. It comes just weeks after advice from the Digital Transformation Agency urging “pragmatism” from agencies around the use of blockchain in government. The roadmap is expected to focus on policy areas like “regulation, skills and capacity building, innovation, investment and international competitiveness and collaboration”, the government said. It will be developed in consultation with experts from industry and academia, as well as CSIRO’s digital […]
What’ll Waddle do with $4m injection?
Small business lender fintech start-up Waddle will step up its efforts to crack overseas markets and take a larger share of the big four bank’s local market share after closing a $4 million series A funding round. The funds, sourced from tech venture capital firm Allectus Capital, will be used to grow the fintech’s footprint in Australasia and push forward with its plans to integrate with overseas banks. “We are seeing strong demand from banks looking to digitise their working capital product offerings by partnering with fintechs with proven models,” said Simon Creighton, co-founder of Waddle. While it is the first major external venture-style funding round, co-founder Simon Creighton is […]
A fintech wanting to be ‘Australia’s leading migrant bank’ has launched a $4 million placement
There are plenty of fintechs and plenty of small caps seeking money from Chinese consumers, but few companies that are both. Novatti (ASX: NOV) is one of them. The ASX-listed small cap is a holding company for half a dozen fintech platforms. One of these is chinapayments.com which allows Chinese people in Australia to pay Australian utilities bills through AliPay. They receive fees on a per-transaction basis for payments through the platform. In December, the volume was around $200,000 a month but in January this rose to $460,000. For those with loved ones back home, they can send money overseas through TransferBridge or MoniSend, or alternatively pay bills on their behalf. […]
Doshii-PosPay integration connects the digital and offline worlds to drive customer engagement
Doshii is pleased to announce an integration with mobile customer engagement and payment platform PosPay. Doshii’s API, which connects Apps with POS in real-time, links PosPay with access to thousands of venues to provide an enhanced customer experience for large hospitality operations. PosPay delivers seamless, location-based ordering for customers at restaurants, hotels and festivals by customising their personal preferences when they are in range of a venue. This provides a strong branding experience for any venue wanting to promote itself to customers in a particular geographic location. Once in-venue, PosPay allows customers to enjoy meals and entertainment hassle-free, with payments transacted quickly and easily on their mobile phone. The Doshii-PosPay […]
Regulatory regime for initial coin offering on the cards
The federal government is considering regulating initial coin offerings, a niche form of private fundraising for the technologically sophisticated developer community, in a move that could give blockchain-based start-ups an alternative to traditional capital raising. With ICOs around the world largely unregulated, they are considered the “wild west” of capital markets where scams and fraud are rife. But a growing list of global regulators and governments consider regulation could bring advantages, including providing a faster, lower-cost form of fundraising – an alternative to initial public offerings, venture capital, crowdfunding or bank loans – for entrepreneurs wanting to retain full equity in their start-ups. Unlike an IPO or venture capital raising, […]
Digital wallet payments surge on Apple Pay: CBA
The Commonwealth Bank says the number of digital wallet transactions has nearly tripled since it launched Apple Pay earlier this year, as strong growth in tap-and-go payments continues to displace cash. After CBA in late January became the second big four lender to offer the payment service — which allows consumers to make purchases by tapping their phone on a merchant terminal — there has been a clear surge in people paying with iPhones. “Since we’ve introduced Apple Pay, we’ve seen the number of wallet transactions that are linked to a card increase 2.7 times. So it’s really increased quite dramatically since we’ve introduced Apple Pay for our consumer customers,” […]
The investment millennials are turning to instead of property
Millennials now make up 29% of all exchange traded fund investors in Australia, compared to 19% five years ago. The number of Australians invested in exchange traded funds (ETFs) continues to rise, with more than 385,000 investors as of October 2018 representing a 20% increase for the year prior. Of these 385,000 Australians invested in ETFs, 29% are millennials which is up from just 19% in 2013. An ETF is an investment product that tracks the performance of an index, for example the ASX200. ETFs are traded on an exchange like regular shares and offer investors instant diversification. “The ETF industry has continued to grow and mature in Australia, and […]
“Play to your strengths”: Why Airwallex’s Lucy Liu rejects labels in startupland
She may be a leading woman in Australian startups, with her business pegged to become another local unicorn, but Airwallex co-founder Lucy Liu doesn’t like to think in labels, preferring to focus on her strengths and successes than her gender. Founded in Melbourne in 2015, Airwallex secured $109 million last June, in one of 2018’s biggest capital raises. Since then, Liu and co-founder Jack Zhang have been focusing on growing the team, and have opened three new offices. The business has been moving quickly, Liu tells StartupSmart. “Startup years are like dog years,” she says. “You have seven years’ worth of stuff in one year.” Last year, Liu took home […]
