Australia's first neobank, Xinja, raises more than $1 million via equity crowdfunding

Xinja, which is building the first independent, Australian 100% digital neobank designed for mobile, has raised over $1 million, a week after opening the nation’s first retail equity crowdfunding campaign through Equitise, the crowdfunding platform.

“The investor response has been incredible,” said Xinja CEO and founder Eric Wilson. “We’ve seen extraordinary support from more than 500 people who want a share in Xinja at this early stage.”

The offer is scheduled to remain open until the end of March but may close sooner.

Mr Wilson said retail investors have invested as little as $250 and as much as $10,000.

This capital raising forms part of Xinja’s second round of fundraising, which is targeting $10 million from a range of small to large investors. Of this, Xinja has already raised $5 million, with some from repeat investors. Xinja completed its first capital raising round of almost $3 million in May 2017.

This month’s equity crowdfunding was launched after the regulator, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) granted licences on January 11 to seven companies, including Equitise, authorising them to raise funds as intermediaries.

ASIC said its new crowdsourced funding regime is designed to provide start-ups and small to medium companies with a new means to access capital to grow. There are fewer restrictions on crowd-sourced funding than other forms of public funding.