China giant Tencent funds Melbourne fintech start-up
Melbourne-based fintech start-up Airwallex has landed a $US13 million Series A funding round, becoming one of the first Australian companies to raise money from China’s biggest internet company, Tencent. Airwallex, which is building a new foreign exchange payment network, raised funding from the world’s fourth-biggest internet company, along with Sequoia Capital China and Mastercard. “We’ve built a digital banking layer and a digital compliance layer across traditional banking infrastructure,” co-founder and CEO Jack Zhang told The Australian. “You can think of us as a payment network; we’re offering a faster, cheaper way of making payments happen.” Airwallex lets businesses issue and pay invoices in their preferred currency at the mid-market […]
Australia to be a cashless society by 2022
Cash is predicted to make up only 2% of all payments within the next five years. If you still pay for your morning coffee with a crisp $5 note, you’re a rare breed and clearly missed the “cash is no longer king” memo. New research shows that the number of cash payments received by Australian merchants has plummeted by 46% between 2010 and 2016 alone and currently makes up less than 10% of all payments. According to the research by market analyst East & Partners, if this trend continues, cash payments across Australian businesses are predicted to fall below 5% by 2019 and below 2% by 2022, creating a virtually […]
You can email your bills to this fintech and it will pay them – after checking they’re not scams
A Melbourne fintech startup has commercially launched its new service today, where customers can send their utility bills for the system to automatically make the payments after intelligently sorting out scammers. Gobbill, founded in 2015 by Shendon Ewans and Quentin Marsh, has developed the service after receiving financial support from Microsoft’s BizSpark startup programme and partnering with the federal government’s Stay Smart Online campaign. “We decided to create Gobbill because we were finding it increasingly time-consuming to manage bill payments. We decided there had to be a better way to manage bills and still be in control of our payments,” said Ewans. After registration, the user just needs to email […]
BGL & SelfWealth team up to provide value added services for Accountants
BGL Corporate Solutions and SelfWealth have teamed up to provide free value added services for Simple Fund 360 clients. SelfWealth, Australia’s only flat fee brokerage solution is now fully integrated with Simple Fund 360; Australia’s leading SMSF cloud solution. The integration gives Accountants free access to SelfWealth’s fixed fee trading solution, portfolio construction tools and stock research powered by Thomson Reuters with the ability to extend these services to their clients. “The integration is well timed” said Ron Lesh, Managing Director of BGL. “With the early adopters of Simple Fund 360 experiencing significant time savings through automation, they are now looking to expand their services to provide more value to […]
Powerhouse disruptors NowInfinity and View Legal join forces
Two powerhouse disruptors – cloud-based document and entity management platform NowInfinity, headed up by fintech entrepreneur Amreeta Abbott, and groundbreaking law firm View Legal, headed up by innovator and recognised expert in estate planning and tax law, Matthew Burgess, have joined forces, merging the digital business units of each firm and forming a strategic partnership on legal services. “The partnership and merger provide accountants and bookkeepers, financial advisers, SMSF specialists and adminstrators and legal firms with a whole new level of solutions,” said NowInfinity CEO, Amreeta Abbott. “It enhances the NowInfinity platform, enabling members to efficiently create, collaborate and manage specific governance and life events for their clients.” Ms Abbott […]
Become a property investor for just $57 with BRICKX
Australians can now invest in an apartment in Darlinghurst for just $57 with BRICKX. BRICKX CEO Anthony Millet said it’s the lowest Brick price yet. “We’re thrilled to offer investors a share in this inner-Sydney property at such a low price point,” Mr Millet said. “With the Brick price starting at just $57, BRICKX continues to strive to make property investment affordable for all Australians”. BRICKX breaks down traditional barriers that exist when it comes to investing in residential real estate by dividing properties into 10,000 units or “Bricks”. Investors may then earn capital returns and monthly net rental income in proportion to the number of […]
Proptech meets fintech: Construction software platform Aconex eyes payments
Aconex is planning to expand into financial services by using operational data about subcontractors and their projects to help lenders price credit to them. The business that sells construction software to let companies exchange project information and track progress was looking to develop a payments function on the back of its newly launched Connected Cost product, executive director and head of product and engineering Rob Phillpot said. Aconex saw an opportunity to ease the cashflow pain felt by subcontractors, who often had to wait for payments from higher-level contractors even though they had already paid their own costs, Mr Phillpot said. While some subcontractors, particularly larger ones, factor their invoices […]
DigitalX partners with Lateral
Perth-based software companies DigitalX and Lateral have teamed up to leverage each other’s strengths in the creation of blockchain and ledger-based products. DigitalX said today its development partnership with Lateral, which is led by 2016 40under40 winner Tommy Shin, would provide a well-resourced team to design products and services for the blockchain industry. Blockchain, a distributed database that maintains a continuously growing list of ordered records, is considered a core component of the digital currency known as bitcoin, as it serves as the public ledger for all transactions. The partnership will work to introduce blockchain-based solutions to existing customers as well as new clients within Australia and abroad, with DigitalX […]
