Raising the bar for SME lending
For those who work in the finance industry, there appears to be no shortage of lenders and loans in the marketplace. However, for those running Australia’s 2.1 million small and medium-sized enterprises, it can be difficult to see the wood for the trees. With the intention of addressing this, in July six fintechs signed the Code of Lending Practice, a document designed to bring transparency and clarity to the online balance sheet lending space. An initiative of the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO) and FinTech Australia, key elements include the introduction of a pricing comparison tool allowing customers to compare the cost of unsecured loans from the signatories; […]
A mystery $1 billion Bitcoin Whale is active – What could it mean to prices?
A mystery bitcoin whale wallet holding nearly $1 billion worth of bitcoin is suddenly active after lying dormant for more than four years, according to a recent post on Reddit. Does this mean the whale is intending to dump a huge amount of BTC in the market? If you trade crypto you will hear the term “whale” and as the name suggests it is used to describe huge cryptocurrency holders. Bitcoin wallets holding around $1 billion are usually referred to as whales. With the recent activity many investors are questioning whether a dump is on its way. Some of the transactions are being traced back to a wallet address that […]
Singapore crypto exchange KuCoin set to expand after $3m Bitcoin Australia deal
One of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, KuCoin, has invested in local exchange Bitcoin Australia and formed a new joint venture which will see the Singaporean exchange expand locally. The company has invested almost $3 million into Bitcoin Australia, which intends to use the funding to embark on its own aggressive international expansion, as well as to help KuCoin enter the local market. It has previously raised capital from Dominet Venture Partners. Bitcoin Australia chief executive Rupert Hackett told The Australian Financial Review the businesses had clear synergies, with KuCoin targeting sophisticated investors, while Bitcoin Australia aimed to make cryptocurrency trading possible for the mass market. Despite Bitcoin and other […]
Stone & Chalk: The Marketplace for FinTechs Breaking the Mould
Fintech has continued to be one of the dominant focus areas for innovation globally in 2018 and has well and truly established itself as the fastest growing sector in the financial services industry worldwide. As bold new solutions spring up from startups, the industry has seen a massive shift in shaking up the way traditional financial services operate forever. In 2015, Stone & Chalk was born to support the growth of the highest quality fintech startups across Australia. It now has two main innovation hubs in Sydney and Melbourne. Today, Stone & Chalk is home to Australasia’s leading independent fintech hub for startups, scaleups, industry associations and investors. Through Stone […]
What’s the difference between a private and public blockchain?
Blockchain has potential applications in many industries, from accounting to agriculture. It’s essentially a distributed ledger, which records transactions between every user in the chain. There are different types of blockchain: some are open and public and some are private and only accessible to people who are given permission to use them. A public blockchain is an open network. Anyone can download the protocol and read, write or participate in the network. A public blockchain is distributed and decentralised. Transactions are recorded as blocks and linked together to form a chain. Each new block must be timestamped and validated by all the computers connected to the network, known as nodes, […]
NAB Ventures secures another $50 million to invest in fintech startups: Here’s what the fund is looking for
Australian big-four bank NAB has allocated another $50 million to its corporate venture capital fund NAB Ventures, doubling the funds available to bring the total to $100 million. The fund was launched in 2016 with an initial $50 million to invest over three years. It has backed 12 businesses to date, including property investment startup BrickX, real estate communications platform ActivePipe, and data sharing startup Data Republic. It has also made investments overseas into startups in San Francisco and Toronto. NAB Ventures general partner Melissa Widner tells StartupSmart the doubling up of the funds represents an endorsement of the program from the bank. “The board liked the innovation it was […]
“It takes an army”: Co-founder of pocket money app Spriggy Alex Badran on growth, getting some perspective, and securing backing from Mike Cannon-Brookes
Pocket money app startup Spriggy has seen a 380% increase in its customer base, quadrupled its headcount, and secured funding from Atlassian co-founder and Australian startup legend Mike Cannon-Brookes — and that’s all in the past 12 months. Founded in 2015 by Alex Badran and Mario Hasanakos with an initial $300,000 investment, Spriggy provides a mobile app that allows parents to give their children pocket money digitally, by loading cash onto a prepaid card for the children to use. The app also allows kids to monitor their spending, in a bid to teach them good money management skills. The startup was named as an emerging fintech star in the KPMG Fintech […]
Understanding Australia’s fintech ecosystem
Bankers today know that most fintech companies aren’t out there to take away a share of the market. Instead, their raison d’être is to create disruptive solutions that banks can leverage in order to deliver on customer expectations and improve customer experiences. In Australia, the fintech ecosystem has been burgeoning for a few years now, and Sydney and Melbourne have emerged as the two hubs that fintech companies embrace. According to a KPMG study, jointly Sydney and Melbourne account for 75 percent of all VC investment nationally. Further, the study found that the state of New South Wales leads the way in terms of fintech companies with 61 percent of […]
