Australian fintech Tic:Toc closes successful Series B funding
Australian fintech Tic:Toc, the world’s only fully digital home loan platform, today announced it has closed its Series B round, raising $11.5M in funding. The Series B funding, led by Genworth Mortgage Insurance Australia Limited (Genworth Australia) and Blackstone group entity La Trobe Financial, includes both new and existing investors and adds significant depth to the Tic:Toc share register, which also includes Bendigo and Adelaide Bank. The funding will allow Tic:Toc to further advance the capability of its platform as well as build greater brand awareness. It will also partially fund Tic:Toc ’s pending expansion into offering its automated assessment platform as a service to partners, as well as exploration […]
Why this female founder is bringing Australian entrepreneurs to the Big Apple
There are few globally-renowned hubs of culture and commerce around the world that can lay claim to the same thriving entrepreneurial spirit as that of New York City. And now, a growing number of businesses in Sydney, Australia are turning their attention to the Big Apple as a first port of call for global expansion. Based in Sydney, founder and CEO of FD Global Connections, Trena Blair is an expert in expanding businesses from Australia into the U.S., with New York as the entry point. Since establishing FD Global Connections in 2014, Blair has brought with her some of Sydney’s best and brightest entrepreneurs and businesses to New York across […]
Apple Pay predicted to be half of all mobile wallet users as contactless payments hit $2 trillion by 2020
Digital wallets are gaining momentum and Apple Pay looks set to be the most popular platform as contactless payments are projected to hit $2 trillion within two years. As spotted by TechCrunch, Juniper Research put out a new report today with the prediction that Apple Pay will account for 50% of global mobile wallet users by 2020. The data took into account competition from Samsung Pay, Google Pay, Huawei Pay, and Fitbit Pay. The firm believes 2020 will see 450 million users taking advantage of mobile wallets with Apple making up for 225 million of those users. Specifically, Juniper predicts mobile wallets will make up for 15% of the $2 […]
‘Walk rather than a run to cashlessness’ in Australia, says payments boss
Large-scale technology shifts like the introduction of the Reserve Bank’s New Payments Platform and the rise of tap-and-go are hastening the retreat of cash as a transaction mechanism. But don’t expect to see the RBA pushing the stop button on its dollar bill production just yet, said the chief executive of the Australian Payments Network, Leila Fourie. “Cash is traditionally used as a store of value and for transacting. As a store of value the use of cash is on the increase, as a transaction mechanism it is retreating and reducing,” she told a panel session at The Australian Financial Review Innovation Summit 2018 on Monday. “However, I don’t think […]
BPAY Group named one of Aon Hewitt’s Best Employers for 2018
BPAY Group has today been named an Aon Hewitt Best Employer for 2018, following the release of its annual Employee Engagement survey. 84% – BPAY Group Employee Engagement Score 90% of BPAY Group employees completed the survey 68% – Aon Hewitt’s entry point for the highest performing quartile of all organisations in Australia and New Zealand 81% – Aon Hewitt’s Average Best Employer score in the region Aon Hewitt’s Best Employers program is Australia and New Zealand’s leading accreditation and research program looking at the people practices of high-performing organisations. John Banfield, BPAY Group CEO said, “BPAY Group is incredibly honoured to be named as an accredited 2018 Aon Best […]
New TV show set to open Blockchain to the world
A new weekly business TV show is set to showcase Blockchain companies, cryptoassets and ICOs to a global audience. Coincast TV, created by ICO advisor DigitalX and respected crypto business news platform Multiplier Crypto, will be broadcast on Sky News Business, and syndicated across Apple TV, the Wall St Journal and related social platforms, reaching an audience of almost 200 million viewers worldwide. The program will profile Blockchain companies, provide in-depth market analysis and the latest Blockchain news with a focus on business journalism to educate people and grow the market. “Coincast TV will be a half-hour, weekly Blockchain news program, featuring sponsored news content from Blockchain and cryptocurrency businesses […]
Navigating compliance in a borderless world
The regulatory landscape for financial services and fintech companies is rapidly changing. The industry continues to be subject to increasingly strict legal and regulatory requirements, and cybersecurity is top of mind for businesses. The cross-border money transfer space requires navigation of these complexities up and down the payments stack. Cross-border payments by definition require businesses to operate globally immediately, which introduces multinational regulatory requirements from the outset. The time, money, expertise and resources it takes to adhere to the multiple layers of regulation in both originating and receiving markets is an ongoing challenge for businesses. A recent study shows that 59% of companies in the Asia-Pacific region see increased regulation as […]
The one ASX company Bronte Capital thinks could be a $100b global tech giant
Bronte Capital’s John Hempton, one of the country’s most vocal and aggressive short sellers, owns just one ASX-listed company in his fund: Xero. And he says the accounting software group, which has a $5.4 billion market capitalisation, has a shot at being a $100 billion company. “If any Australian company has the potential to be a $100 billion tech giant, it’s Xero,” Mr Hempton told The Australian Financial Review. “In order to pull that stunt, they need to succeed in what the global ambition of Xero should be – we are the backbone accounting system all round the world and everyone plugs into us.” Xero, bought at much lower levels, […]