HashChing eyes white label mortgages
The mortgage marketplace has launched a crowdfunding campaign in a bid to help facilitate its growth plans, which include rolling out its own white label loans. On Tuesday (15 May), mortgage marketplace HashChing launched a crowdfunding campaign with the target of raising $5 million to fund its growth ambitions. HashChing has invited interested parties — including brokers, investors and borrowers — to invest a minimum of $250 in the mortgage platform via Sydney-based crowdfunding platform Equitise. Speaking to The Adviser, HashChing CEO Mandeep Sodhi said: “[The] company chose to raise capital via equity crowdfunding to provide an opportunity to the loyal members of the HashChing community to own a part […]
Afterpay lands in the US, keen for a slice of $3.8 trillion market
Afterpay (ASX: ATP) has taken its first steps into the United States market through a landmark deal with the parent company of consumer lifestyle brand Urban Outfitters. This week the company launched its payment plan services across the URBN network, which includes brands Anthropologie, Free People and Urban Outfitters, comprising one of the largest fashion and lifestyle retailers in the US. URBN boasts a total sales volume of US$3 billion across its bricks and mortar and digital channels, a figure equal to roughly the size of the entire Australian online fashion market. Afterpay says the US market represents a substantial opportunity for its business, as retail sales exceeded $3.8 trillion […]
Fatfish Internet Group secures new cryptocurrency mining site
The new cryptocurrency mining site is expected to be operational within three months. Fatfish Internet Group Ltd’s (ASX:FFG) 51%-owned APAC Mining Corp has secured a new industrial site in Montreal, Canada, that will be converted to a cryptocurrency mining operation. APAC Mining currently mines Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dashcoin and Litecoin through its mining operations in Malaysia. Mining cryptocurrencies is electricity-intensive and Montreal is located in a hydro-powered state with one of the lowest energy rates in the world. The new Quebec site will have a total energy capacity to power up to 700 cryptocurrency mining servers. APAC plans to secure more sites with the region Fatfish’s CEO Kin Wai Lau said: […]
These Aussies are flying the flag at the US’s biggest crypto and blockchain conference
Blockchain companies and cryptocurrency traders are in overdrive this week as the industry’s most hyped conference gets underway in New York. The CoinDesk Consensus 2018 conference has tripled in size from last year with 250 speakers. And it’s even sparked a boon for bitcoin holders — with the digital token’s price climbing up from a three-week low as soon as the lambos rolled in. At about $2000 a ticket, the conference brings together the industry’s best and brightest — including a contingent of Aussie companies on an Austrade tour. Austrade senior investment specialist Kevin Cryan points to major blockchain projects in Australia by the ASX, Australia Post and CommBank. “There […]
HashChing puts its hand out to go it alone
Online mortgage marketplace HashChing is looking to raise up to $5 million by the end of June through the power of crowd-funding, in a bid to ensure that it is immunised from the influence of any big bank, says CEO Mandeep Sodhi. Instead, HashChing has partnered with equity crowd-funding platform Equitise to issue its first round of shares to interested investors. According to Mr Sodhi, the crowd-funding route will help HashChing remain an independent voice in the mortgage market. “Unlike many other online mortgage platforms who are backed by a lender, we are and will continue to stand separate from the banks,” he said. “We want our customers to become […]
Westpac puts another $50 million into VC fund Reinventure
Westpac Banking Corp has triple-downed on its corporate venture capital fund Reinventure Group, investing a further $50 million into a third fund to bring its total commitment to early stage fintechs to $150 million. A week after Westpac CEO Brian Hartzer described the 20 start-up investments made by Reinventure’s first two $50 million funds as a new “strategic asset” for the bank, Westpac is providing Reinventure co-founders Danny Gilligan and Simon Cant with an additional $50 million to be invested under a more flexible structure. The third fund will consist of a unit trust stapled to an early stage venture capital limited partnerships (ESVCLPs), a new structure that will allow […]
Three disruptive forces driving Aussie neobanks like volt, as fintech startups get serious
There are hundreds of fintechs offering financial services, from budgeting tools to financial advice to loans, but it wasn’t until last week that a start-up was authorised in Australia to offer the product sitting at the heart of banking – deposits. In a significant milestone for the local fintech scene, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority said last week volt bank would become the first recipient of a “restricted license” under its new regime, created after the federal government indicated it wants to see more competition in banking. In the UK, more than 30 “challenger” banks have been approved by its equivalent regulator since the licensing regime changed there in 2014. […]
Labor warns ASIC cuts threaten Australian fintech sector
Spokesman for the Digital Economy, Ed Husic, has slammed the Coalition’s budget cuts to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, saying it would hamper the regulator’s ability to keep on top of technology-led disruption occurring in the financial services sector. Mr Husic told The Australian Financial Review it would also likely slowdown the process of reforming crowdsourced equity funding laws to open it up to unlisted public companies, and mean that it would be ill-equipped to properly monitor initial coin offerings. “At a time when the banking royal commission is exposing massive shortcomings in the way banks are behaving with customers, cutting budget of the watchdog is a big concern […]
