Xero backs itself with $413m convertible notes
Cloud-based accounting company Xero has backed itself to continue growing strongly, raising $US300 million ($413 million) in five-year convertible notes with an exercise price 70 per cent above its share price on Thursday. Capital raising via the issue of convertible notes is relatively commonplace among US technology companies – NASDAQ-listed Atlassian raised $US850 million this way in April – however Xero chief executive Steve Vamos said it was “groundbreaking” for an Australasian company. “If we think we’ve got strong growth potential in the future, we don’t want to issue stock at current prices and dilute our shareholders,” Xero chief financial officer Sankar Narayan said. “We were well placed to raise in […]
Ecosystems the way of the fintech future
Swiss tech giant, Avaloq, has high hopes for the future of fintech, pointing to an integrated ecosystem of start-ups that could look something like a larger-scale Silicon Valley. Avaloq’s group CTO, Thomas Beck, told Money Management that, while planners find siloed technology a problem, the solution was not to find one fintech to fix them all. Beck said leaving a particular solution to a fintech with the skillset to produce it is in fact best practice, but integrating all the vertical technologies on to the one platform would significantly improve efficiency and simplicity of use. Country head of Avaloq (Australia), Anantha Ayer, said the end goal was, at least in […]
Australian Fintech heavyweight to launch institutional-grade security token exchange in Malta
Rick Klink the founder of Paritech and OpenMarkets, Australia’s largest independent trading platform by trading volume of over AUD50 billion per annum, heads up Malta Digital Exchange (MDX) and brings his ground-breaking technology to the digital asset space. The cryptocurrency and blockchain sector saw exponential growth in 2017, now a push towards regulation will provide trust and a safe environment for institutional investors, allowing them to participate in the global economy. Security tokens are the next generation of regulated securities, which are being built on blockchain-based infrastructure rather than being restricted to legacy systems. MDX aims to become the world’s premier security token exchange, which will enable greater market efficiency, […]
FinTechAus reels as CEO departs
There are now discussions within the sector about the creation of a new, representative body separate to FinTech Australia, InnovationAus.com understands. But FinTech Australia chair Alan Tsen has defended the organisation’s track record, and said it’s impossible to please everyone in the wider sector all of the time. The lobby group’s chief executive Brad Kitschke, who took on the role in late May, tendered his resignation to the FinTech Australia board late last week, citing health concerns. The resignation comes at the busiest period of the year for FinTech Australia, with its two major conferences fast-approaching, the launch of its annual census, and the imminent passage of a series of […]
Wisr shortlisted for two Optus My Business Awards
Australian neo-lender Wisr (ASX: WZR) is in the running to take out one of county’s longest-standing business awards after being shortlisted for the prestigious Optus My Business Awards. Wisr has been shortlisted as a finalist in two awards in the Fintech Of The Year and Business Leader of the Year categories at the 2018 Optus My Business Awards, the premier event of the year for SMEs. Founded in 2014, Wisr offers personal loans and financial wellness solutions using its unique neo-lending platform. The company recently announced it had increased annual revenue by 37% last financial year, on the back of a 409% increase in loan origination volume. The Optus My […]
UK fintech GoCardless expands to Australia
UK fintech GoCardless, the online payments business simplifying Direct Debit, today announced that it has opened an office in Melbourne. GoCardless, which already serves more than 35,000 businesses every month across the UK, Eurozone and Nordics, is now able to offer businesses in Australia a better way to collect recurring payments. GoCardless will help the more than two million small businesses in Australia to improve their cash flow and cut the time they spend on administrative tasks, by making it easy to set automatic payment collection dates and automatically reconcile payments from within billing platforms like Xero. GoCardless’s intuitive API technology and integrations with subscription software including Chargebee and Zuora, […]
Digital disruption disrupting brokers
Digital disruption could be a threat to broker networks, according to APRA chairman Wayne Byres. The chairman spoke at the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s (APRA) Curious Thinkers Conference in Sydney on 24 September. He discussed the impact on emerging fintechs, saying it was “too soon to tell whether the financial world faces evolution or revolution”. Outlining several scenarios which could play out, Byres said either way the production and delivery of financial services would change. In his speech, he said technological advancements in finance will change in the future as new technologies have already allowed smaller businesses to enter the space. Here he said, “The advent of digital distribution and […]
Fintech dwarfs Big Four at finder Awards, winning Best Home Loans & Tech Innovation
Tic:Toc, the fintech lender offering the world’s only instant home loan, was awarded Best Owner Occupier Home Loan – Variable; Best Investor Home Loan P&I Variable; and Best Tech Innovation, at the finder Awards held in Sydney last night; identifying the best value finance products across 20 categories. Tic:Toc founder and CEO, Anthony Baum, said the awards recognised the immense value Tic:Toc brings Australians. “It was so exciting for us to receive yet another source of validation for us that we’re filling a real need in the home loan market. It’s an industry that has been ripe for disruption, and we’re proud to have made such a big impact on […]
