A VC’s perspective on Blockchain opportunities & impacts on Australia
by Victor Jiang, Managing Partner, Sapien Ventures LLP. I was truly honoured to have presented to and judged alongside a distinguished panel (from ANZ, Westpac, UBS, & Northern Trust) and key industry leaders at the inaugural Australian Blockchain Summit 2016 (Melbourne June 28-30th, 2016), and to have a chance to speak about what we felt are the opportunities and impacts of Blockchain on Australia. (The speech was immediately before a pitch/showcase session of 6 excitingly disruptive blockchain startups from USA and Australia, including one dialling in from 3am in their local time!) __________________________________ I’m really excited and honoured to be here, speaking just ahead of some truly exciting startups in the blockchain space. […]
Quantifeed Raises US$4.5 Million in Series A Funding
Quantifeed, a leader in digital wealth management solutions in Asia, has reached a significant milestone by closing US$4.5 million in a Series A financing round. Shanghai-based PGA Venture Partners led the investment. The funds will enable Quantifeed to accelerate expansion in key markets in the Asia Pacific region, including China. “The battle in digital wealth management will be won by the institutions with the strongest distribution and the richest customer experience. We are working with some of the top institutions in Asia to build them a customer investment journey,” said Alex Ypsilanti, CEO and Co-founder of Quantifeed. “PGA Venture Partners has an incredible track record of building successful companies and […]
Fintech startup Edstart launches platform to help parents pay for private school fees
Fintech startup Edstart launched a new lending platform last week to help Australian parents manage the cost of private school fees. The private school market is the first of many education sectors the company is looking to target, offering low-cost, customised loan packages to make paying education fees simple and easy. The loans help parents to spread out the cost of school fees over the period of tuition and beyond, allowing 6 years of high school to be paid over 10 years or more. Co-Founder and CEO Jack Stevens said the company’s focus from day one has been on solving for customer pain points. “Over 35% […]
Forex fintech Airwallex secures US$3m from Alibaba’s VC firm
Fintech startup Airwallex has strengthened its Melbourne and Chinese development teams and accelerated R&D of its international payments platform following a US$3 million pre-Series A investment round led by Shanghai-based VC Gobi Partners. Gravity VC as well as angel investors Huashan Capital One and Billy Tam (CEO of Easylink Payments, the company behind Chinese payment powerhouse PAYECO) also participated in the fundraising. Currently in beta trial stage, the Airwallex platform is powered by a peer-to-peer algorithmic engine that enables businesses to issue and pay invoices in their preferred currency at the mid-market foreign exchange rate, avoiding inflated bank margins and minimising currency fluctuation risks. Airwallex Co-Founder and […]
H2 Ventures Fintech Expo 2016
H2 Ventures Fintech Expo 2016 H2 Ventures are hosting its third annual Fintech Expo, an opportunity to hear from some of the most talked about and exciting Fintech companies in Australia. Tuesday 19th of July 2016 Get your tickets here: http://h2vfintechexpo.eventbrite.com.au/ Save Save
Fintech investment surges in Q1 but does that mean the Kodak moment nears for banks?
There was a resurgence of activity in the financial technology (fintech) universe in the first quarter of the year after signs of potential rapid deflation at the end of 2015. According to KPMG’s latest The Pulse of Fintech report, the March quarter saw funding to the fintech sector rebound with total investment in fintech companies hitting US$5.7 billion. Globally, Venture Capital-backed fintech companies drew $US4.9 billion in funding, rising from just $US1.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2015. The report identified larger deals, concentrated in Asia, played a major role in the rebound with 13 $US50 million+ rounds to VC-backed fintech companies, a slight rise from 10 such deals in […]
Australian FinTech marketplace Valiant announces capital raise
Valiant, member of fintech hub Stone & Chalk announced today that the company has completed their seed round capital raising subscription. The $800,000 capital raise was led by fintech venture capital firm Reinventure, supported by H2 Ventures and a selection of prominent angel investors including Mitchel Harad and Vincent Turner. Co-Founders Alex Molloy and Richard Cotton launched the Valiant business loan marketplace in November 2015, with the aim to minimise the angst associated with sourcing, comparing, and securing business loans. Valiant partners with over 26 lenders from across the lending spectrum with more lenders being added monthly. Alex Molloy: “We built the Valiant marketplace to solve a very particular need. Until now, it has been difficult for time poor business owners to quickly […]
Sydney Stock Exchange’s blockchain system targets venture capital funds, commodities
Two-year-old Sydney Stock Exchange is building a blockchain settlement system to avoid high ASX fees and build a market for venture capital funds to exit their investments and commodities markets. The distributed ledger will initially only be used to settle trades in private companies, but once regulatory approval is gained, it will settle trades in publicly listed stocks. SSX will promote the new settlement system as a low cost alternative to the ASX to try to attract private equity funds to exit their investments by listing on the SSX. Settlement instantaneous Once complete in early 2018, SSX hopes to sell versions of its system – which is being built with […]