Super will help fund the next wave of unicorns
The country’s leading venture capitalists are tipping more direct investment will flow from superannuation firms such as Hostplus into start-up deals, as more $100 million-plus raises test the funding capacity of the VC firms. Last week cross-border payments start-up Airwallex became the latest Australian company to achieve the lauded $US1 billion valuation milestone, making it the quickest local start-up to achieve unicorn status. The valuation came on the back of a $US100 million raise ($141.3 million) for the fintech, which is less than four years old. The raising was led by US investor DST Global, with participation from Sequoia Capital China, Tencent, Hillhouse Capital, Gobi Partners, Horizons Ventures and Square Peg […]
What impact could Facebook’s digital currency have on the financial industry?
According to a New York Times report we have recently covered, Facebook is on pace to issue its own digital currency in the next few months. Prompted by its rivals, especially Telegram, which managed to raise a whopping $1.7 billion in its ICO campaign, the effort Facebook has put towards creating its own cryptocurrency could have a substantial impact on global commerce. In this article, we are going to discuss the primary reasons why Facebook’s digital currency could lead to a revolution in e-commerce, what advantages Facebook has over the competition in the payment processing space, and the likelihood of Facebook solving the huge remittance problem workers and employees are facing around the […]
Digital Commerce Association and Blockchain Australia to merge
The Australian Digital Commerce Association (ADCA) and Blockchain Australia have announced plans to merge the two organisations to create what they say will give them a stronger and consistent voice advocating for the blockchain community in Australia. According to the industry bodies, bringing the two organisations together will allow the whole Australian blockchain community to speak more clearly and consistently to key stakeholders including governments and regulators and “will strengthen the connections between all parts of the Australian blockchain ecosystem”. Traditionally, ADCA’s focus has been on businesses utilising or investigating blockchain technology – from start-ups to SME’s and through to corporates – and it has worked with regulators and policy […]
Archa joins list of new neobanks aiming to transform Aussie banking
Australian banking is changing rapidly and a new wave of digital banks are hitting our shores, with companies like volt, Xinja and 86 400 set to launch this year, but there is another player coming to town soon that may be worth your attention. Archa is a new Melbourne-based neobank that is scheduled to launch in the near future, offering a state of the art online banking app that is connected to a pre-paid debit card. Oliver Kidd, Archa’s founder and CEO doesn’t come from a banking background, but “he hopes by founding Archa, his friends and colleagues have access to a totally refreshed relationship with their money,” – according […]
The Winners of the 2019 Fintech Business Awards have been announced
The Winners of the 2019 Fintech Business Awards have been announced. Congratulations to all the Australian fintech companies and leaders – well done! Individual categories Femtech Leader of the Year Jodi Stanton – SendGold Fintech Entrepreneur of the Year Ruth Hatherley – Moneycatcha Fintech Mentor of the Year Peta Tilse – Sophisticated Access Fintech Thought Leader of the Year Charmian Holmes – The Fold Legal Fintech Business Excellence Award (Individual) Ruth Hatherley – Moneycatcha Company categories Accounting Innovator of the Year Class Limited Compliance Innovator of the Year Advice RegTech Financial Advice Innovator of the Year Myprosperity Fintech Start-Up Business of the Year Trade Ledger Insurance Innovator of the Year […]
Wisr $10 million placement heavily overbid, upscales to $15 million
Wisr Limited (ASX: WZR), Australia’s first neo-lender, announces it has received commitments to raise approximately $15 million after costs via a placement of approximately 220 million shares. The Placement was oversubscribed and completed with the support of new and existing institutional, sophisticated and professional investors.The issue price for the Placement is 6.8c per share, representing an 8% premium to the last traded price of the Company’s shares on 25 March 2019. The shares issued pursuant to the Placement will rank equally with existing ordinary shares of the Company.The Company will issue shares for the Placement in two tranches. Settlement of Tranche 1 of the capital raise, for 134,767,857 shares, is […]
Nayax Australia chosen as Reis & Irvy’s Australia’s exclusive cashless solution provider
Nayax Australia, a leading fintech company has been selected to provide Froyo Robotics Reis & Irvy’s Australia business with a cashless payment solution for their robotic frozen yogurt franchise business. Like its American franchisees, the partnership will see Reis & Irvy’s robotic machines fitted with Nayax’s VPOS Touch device. Nayax will enable consumers to choose between a wide range of cashless payment methods when purchasing a customizable frozen dessert. Nayax was selected because cashless payments are vital to the Australian market, where cash is rarely used, and contactless payment plays an important part of Australian consumers payment experiences. With Nayax’s management and telemetric capabilities, Reis & Irvy’s franchisees will be able to access real-time […]
How will the escalating deployment of mobile wallets help enhance consumer experience and sustain business growth?
Over the past decade, mobile connectivity has given rise to innumerable business opportunities and consumer-centric developments, the mobile wallet being one of them, that have grown beyond expectations. From taking low quality pictures to QR code scanning and from mere internet browsing to digital payment applications, mobile phone technology has significantly advanced to deliver more convenience to users as fast as possible. As money transactions are an obligatory part of everyday life, they represent a boundless potential for different payment solutions to be utilized in various commercial settings. One can say that initially, e-commerce platforms had already laid down the foundation and shown the viability of secure online payments, inspiring […]
