Moroku releases Australia’s first device agnostic, mobile business and payments platform
Moroku has released Australia’s first device agnostic, mobile business and payments platform. Designed to allow small businesses to manage their customers, products and sales, the Marrakash android app not only creates and stores orders, when installed on an NFC enabled phone the app can take “Tap and Go” credit card payments. Until Marrakash, merchants need to pay up to $80 per month to rent a card terminal from one of the banks. That’s a sizeable monthly outlay especially if you have multiple sellers out and about. The app is multi user, so if an electrical contractor has 4 or 5 electricians driving around the country taking payments for installations, each […]
Stockspot set to revolutionise the investment landscape with new technology
Fintech company Stockspot is set to revolutionise the Australian investment landscape, by becoming the world’s first automated investment service to offer clients the option to personalise their portfolio with investment themes. Stockspot Themes is a new offering that lets qualifying investors steer the direction of their portfolio, by choosing from 14 different investment themes, including socially responsible shares, global shares, property and international bonds. Themes are combined with the Stockspot Model Portfolios to create personalised portfolios that are diversified across thousands of companies. “Some of our clients already own Australian shares, so want more of a tilt towards global shares in their portfolio. Likewise we have clients coming to us […]
HashChing cracks the growth hacking code with young millennials
Growth hacking – the new buzzword for the techies – a growth strategy for businesses heartily embraced by many bold and out of the box startups and denounced by the conventional marketer. Simply put, growth hacking refers to using creative and technical marketing techniques with the sole purpose of growth. Current online users are quite wary of signing up on websites and providing their personal information. A lot of talent and creativity is required to engage them to sign up for a website or subscription; exactly what growth hackers do by organizing cool competitions, building email lists, offering double sided referrals and much more. If you are a start-up planning […]
Federal government set to introduce “regulatory sandbox” to help early-stage fintechs
Treasurer Scott Morrison has outlined the government’s plans to remove regulatory hurdles for early-stage startups in a move that could further push Australia towards being a regional leader for fintech, Fintech Melbourne founder Andrew Lai says. Morrison says a range of policy changes, including the introduction of a “regulatory sandbox”, will be released next week with the aim of helping entrepreneurs commercialise financial services technologies and cut through the red tape, as the Sydney Morning Herald reports. It follows a meeting between government representatives and a newly formed fintech advisory council last week. A regulatory sandbox was also one of three core policy requests from national body Fintech Australia, presented […]
Start-ups to banks: Wake up, Australia
It is Australia’s great sense of complacency that has opened the big four banks up to competition from an array of fintech disruptors, who are forming their own ecosystems to challenge the majors. That was the key message from a panel of financial technology players at a business conference yesterday who argued that the $30 billion of net profits made by the banking oligopoly each year made them a fair target. “Bluntly, the Australian consumer gets screwed at every single step of the way — credit cards, personal loans, auto loans, credit card fees,” says Mitchel Harad of the peer-to-peer lender, SocietyOne, whose backers include Kerry Stokes, James Packer, and […]
Invoice trading is the new darling of Australia’s fintech loan market
Invoice trading, where companies put up their unpaid invoices to get cash for their businesses, is booming in Australia. It’s grown from almost nothing two years ago to $US105 million ($A140 million) in 2015, according to the first comprehensive research of the fintech loan market in Asia-Pacific. This alternative way for small businesses to raise cash has been made possible by the rise of digital networks and tools, making it easier for startup fintech players to connect with borrowers to grab a slice of a loan market which has traditionally belonged to banks. Australia’s alternative finance market — including peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding — grew 320% to $US348 million ($A466 […]
Fintech start-up Afterpay plans ASX listing
Fintech start-up Afterpay — backed by legendary corporate raider Ron Brierley and a host of alumni from his former Guinness Peat Group — plans to list on the Australian Securities Exchange to supercharge growth plans after signing up more than 100 retailers to its online e-commerce product in the past nine months. Afterpay, whose backers include Mr Brierley’s ASX-listed Mercantile Investment Company, LinkedIn Southeast Asia managing director Cliff Rosenberg and Melbourne IVF founder John McBain, plans to raise $25 million in a float that will value the company at about $150m. Mr Brierley’s Mercantile last year bankrolled an $8m capital raising by the company. Mercantile is expected to emerge with […]
Treasurer Scott Morrison tells big regulators to prepare for new fintech rules
Australia’s top financial regulators have been told by Treasurer Scott Morrison to prepare for a new system to regulate financial technology start-ups that will allow entrepreneurs to spend more time building business ideas and less time navigating complex financial services regulations. The federal government is expected to release next week policy changes to support the growth of fintech companies threatening to disrupt banking incumbents. This will include a “regulatory sandbox” scheme, which will allow fintech startups to test their products and systems in a controlled environment. Under the proposal, early stage start-ups would be able to avoid extensive regulatory licence applications, which can eat up seed capital before they determine […]
