Sydney fintech firm MoneyMe to invest $10m in Newcastle operations
SYDNEY-based fin-tech firm MoneyMe plans to invest up to $10 million in Newcastle and create about 100 jobs over the next three years. Co-founder Clayton Howes says the move to set up a Hunter office by MoneyMe, which specialises in offering fast credit up to $15,000 via mobile, has been a year in the making. The company will soon temporarily move 10 staff in the DASH co-working space in Charlestown and has earmarked permanent offices in the East End. Mr Howes said the company was impressed by Newcastle’s smart city credentials and innovation culture and saw its proximity to Sydney as an advantage. “It’s a bit like how San Francisco […]
Afterpay challenger Splitit up 90 per cent on first day of trade
Israeli fintech start-up Splitit has got the tech initial public offering market off to a cracking start for the year, with the payments-splitting company jumping 90 per cent on it first day of trade. Having raised $12 million and listed with an issue price of 20¢ on Tuesday, Splitit ended the day at 38¢, giving it a valuation of $100.3 million, having capitalised on the momentum behind peers such as Afterpay and Zip Co. The company, which was founded in 2012 by Gil Don and Alon Feit, has created technology that sits on top of the payments “rails” used by Mastercard and Visa to allow individuals to split the cost […]
Prospa contributes $3.65 billion to Australian GDP
Prospa, Australia’s number one online lender to small business, today revealed new research into the economic impact of its lending to small business in Australia. Prospa undertook the economic impact assessment in partnership with RFi Group and the Centre for International Economics (CIE). The project considered the value of funds lent by Prospa over the period 2013 – 2018 and assessed how funds have benefited Prospa’s customers through increases in revenue and employment and the flow-on effects of these funds to the wider economy. The results of the research showed: For every $1m in lending by Prospa there is a corresponding $4m increase in GDP Since 2013, Prospa has contributed […]
Chinese tech giant WeBank poised to disrupt Australian banking sector
Australian banks have a new reason to look over their shoulders as Chinese digital-only bank WeBank moves ahead with plans to establish a foothold Down Under. WeBank, which is valued at $US21 billion ($29.4 billion) and has written more than 100 million loans in its first five years in business, quietly began laying the foundations for its digital-only banking venture with a flurry of trademark applications on December 5 last year. With the aid of Adelaide-based legal firm KHQ Lawyers, WeBank is seeking to trademark the phrase “WeBank” and a series of Chinese characters that can be translated into English as “microloan”. The application lists the Chinese company’s Shenzhen headquarters […]
US firm triples its stake in Radium
Rocketing growth at a fledgling Perth fintech has prompted its US financial partner to buy a bigger slice of the firm under “a multimillion-dollar” deal. New York-based Brevet Capital has tripled its stake in Radium Capital to 50 per cent by buying stock from the WA group’s seven other shareholders led by company promoter Tony Brennan. Mr Brennan’s son David founded Radium with schoolmate David Weir nearly two years ago to give cash-poor companies quick access to the Federal Government’s research and development rebate. While others also operate in the same space, Radium believes it is differentiated from those rivals by its sole focus on the R&D rebate, proprietary technology […]
Capify secures $135 million from Goldman Sachs for SME loans
Capify, a leading Australian alternative SME finance provider has secured a $135 million credit facility from Goldman Sachs Private Capital (“Goldman Sachs”) to support its future growth plans and provide working capital to thousands of Australian SMEs over the coming years. The Sydney-based fintech company will use the new facility to accelerate the growth of its lending business to Australia SMEs through its business loan and merchant cash advance (MCA) products. Capify has been active in Australia since 2008, executing over 7,500 transactions for Australian SMEs seeking business financing and most recently celebrated its ten-year anniversary. “This is a landmark achievement for Capify and we are very pleased that we […]
ANZ Bank buys into online mortgage broker Lendi
ANZ Banking Group has taken a strategic stake in online home loans platform Lendi. Street Talk understands ANZ paid close to $40 million for a minority stake, to become Lendi’s second largest strategic shareholder behind fellow Australian financial services giant Macquarie Group. Importantly for Lendi, which has 37 banks and lenders on its open home loans platform, the business will continue to be run independently and at arms length to its strategic investors. ANZ will not be given a board seat, as consistent with Lendi’s treatment of Macquarie and other strategic investors including Pepper. It is understood ANZ agreed to write the cheque after spending much of last year talking […]
Symple targets A-grade borrowers, leaves F-grade to big banks
New marketplace lender Symple Loans says it will lure in creditworthy borrowers with cheap loans and leave subprime loans to traditional banks. Symple Loans, which opened its personal loan book last month after raising $10 million, said it would use a risk-based pricing model and offer low interest rates to responsible borrowers who showed discipline with their finances. “Those customers are very predictable and the returns we earn on those loans are also very predictable. Those customers tend to be more resilient during times of economic volatility,” Symple Loans co-founder and chief executive, Bob Belan, said.Mr Belan and co-founder Paul Byrne previously were personal lending specialists at ANZ. Mr Belan […]
