Supply Chain Finance: What’s It All About?
Picture this. You run a business. It’s successful. You’re a supplier (subcontractor, etc.) to a large company (major retailer, major contractor, think big and corporate). You get an invitation to join their supply chain finance program. But what does that mean for you? And why is it being offered in the first place? It’s possible this is the first time you’ve ever heard of supply chain finance, and if it is you wouldn’t be alone. It’s also referred to as supplier finance, or as an early payments program, and essentially, it’s a financing program by a large corporation that lets the businesses it deals with in it’s supply chain access […]
Beware of digital pickpockets: How to secure cryptographic keys
The Australian financial market is being increasingly disrupted by Fintech. The number of fintech startups in Australia had increased from less than 100 in 2014 to almost 600 in 2017. Banks are having to respond to digital disruption quickly and sometimes without warning or adequate preparation. The rise of cryptocurrency is already challenging banks with more innovative systems for transaction settlement. Despite its recent decline, overall, cryptocurrency values have skyrocketed over the past few years. With this comes a major financial incentive for cyber criminals to design malicious code and sophisticated hacking tools to harvest cryptocurrency coins. One quick way for attackers to enjoy a huge pay day is by […]
Stake unlocks $31 trillion US share market for Aussies, launching new trading app
Rapidly-growing Australian fintech startup Stake is set to revolutionise trading and open up direct access to the $31 trillion US stock market as its new trading app launches today. The app is the first to give Aussies access to more than 3,000 shares to invest in some of the world’s biggest companies with $0 brokerage, right from the palm of their hands. The app launch comes as Stake announces significant company growth. More than $50 million (US$38 million) has been transacted on the site, with more than 39,000 trades and 12,000 users who are taking advantage of low-cost, simple direct access to the US market. This next big milestone — […]
Independent Reserve launches Ripple
Independent Reserve, the Australian digital currency exchange, will commence trading in Ripple (XRP) on 7 July, 2018. All XRP trades will be discounted to 0.1% for the first two weeks. XRP is the third largest digital currency by market cap after Bitcoin and Ether. Developed by Ripple Labs, the protocol and currency were designed with the banking and institutional market in mind, enabling fast, low-cost transfers between fiat currencies as well as other assets including gold and airline miles. Ripple Labs has partnerships with a wide range of institutions around the world including NAB, Westpac and American Express. Its current market cap is around USD $18 billion. One XRP is […]
Fintech Startup Trade Ledger expands UK operation. Appoints New CFO
Fintech startup Trade Ledger — which describes itself as the world’s first corporate open banking lending platform — has announced the opening of its European operation, headquartered in London, along with additional hires. Lisa Callaghan will move from the role of accountant to Chief Financial Officer at Trade Ledger’s Sydney office, after representing technology start-ups from inception through to early fundraising as a partner at Interactive Accounting. The UK operations will be headed up by a new Chief Innovation Officer with the company tapping some talent from Equifax UK. The expansion is designed to boost Trade Ledger’s international traction and product market fit, and should allow it to take advantage […]
The cryptic message that has the bitcoin community buzzing
Is the unknown creator of Bitcoin writing a book about it? That could be concluded from a cryptic message posted Friday at a website possibly linked to Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonym used by the person or people who released the original Bitcoin white paper in 2008. The site details the “first excerpt to a literary work consisting of two parts” that promises to be “a short story if you will, with some of the most brought up questions and answers. I wanted the people and the facts to be known.” In true Nakamoto style, it even includes a cryptogram, which purports to reveal names related to the title of the […]
Airwallex in the money with $108m raise
Melbourne-based fintech start-up Airwallex has closed the second-largest fundraising round in Australian start-up history, taking in $US80 million ($108 million) for a Series B round led by Chinese conglomerate Tencent Holdings, alongside Sequoia Capital China and Melbourne’s Square Peg Capital. The company, which was founded by five Chinese-Australian 30-somethings, has built a system to enable cross-border payments by combining payments and foreign exchange transfers into a single transaction. In 2017 it raised $US19 million ($26 million) from the same investors, but it has now also added two more backers from China’s booming venture capital scene in Hillhouse Capital and Hong Kong-based Horizons Ventures, as well as Indonesia’s Central Capital Ventura. […]
CXi sets course for scale up
CXi Software has ended the financial year with a strong quarter of activity, as it moves from a “start up” to a “scale up” business model. The company made a number of new senior management appointments in March and April – which preceded a move to new (and larger) premises on Queen Street in Melbourne’s CBD. The company also completed a Series A capital raising over the same period. New staff Adam Gernon was recently appointed as Chief Technology Officer, joining CXi from CenITex, where he was General Manager, Innovation and Delivery. Prior to CenITex, Adam had over 10 years’ experience in financial services technology at organisations such as NAB, […]
