Crowdfunding reforms bolster investment pool for Aussie businesses
“It’s almost creating Shark Tank for the public, or be your own Shark Tank, which is phenomenal from an innovation perspective in Australia,” says Crowdfunding.com.au founder Chaz Prezident. Private Australian businesses will soon no longer need to become public companies if they want to access crowdfunding to raise equity, following reforms to the Corporations Act passed this week by the federal Parliament. Under the current law businesses can only raise money from retail investors through equity crowdfunding if they convert to an unlisted public company structure, but that will change as of 7 October. Crowdfunding.com.au founder and CEO Chaz Prezident says small and medium-sized businesses are already embracing the expansion of the crowdfunding […]
ASX gears up for fintech era as data foundation for financial services industry
The Australian Securities Exchange will push ahead with attempts to establish itself as a global technology pioneer, despite criticism of its governance, with its operations boss pledging to balance risk with the flexibility required to thrive in the fintech era of blockchain and artificial intelligence. Speaking to The Australian Financial Review following the release of a review by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission into its technology practices, ASX chief operating officer Tim Hogben said an ongoing technology improvement program was already bearing fruit and that the exchange was outpacing global peers in opening up its data for customers and startups. The ASIC report had originated from a costly outage in […]
Everything you missed at the Jacaranda Finance Drought Row-lief
Jacaranda Finance held their first ever charity fundraiser last Saturday the 8th of September. The Drought Row-lief row-a-thon was held at Science Fitness in South Brisbane and F45 Training Centre in Paddington. Each gym had a show of rowing machines going for 90 minutes and Founder and CEO of Jacaranda, Daniel Wessels, is now donating $40 for every kilometre that was rowed. With 10 rowing machines going on the day and a crowd of enthusiastic rowers, both gyms clocked 221 kilometres collectively. Originally Wessels was planning to donate $20 per kilometre. However, coming off a big win at the previous nights 2018 Young Entrepreneur Awards where we won the Professional […]
Happy Birthday Australian FinTech!
3 years ago, back in early 2015, Cameron Dart and Rob James set out on creating a website for a new industry called ‘Fintech’. A portmanteau of financial technology, Fintech was reasonably established in the UK and the US but in Australia it was only in its infancy. Australian FinTech was launched as a platform to help replicate the success in these other markets and assist the Australian Fintech industry to become a global player. By showcasing all the amazing Aussie Fintech companies and their incredible products and services, the platform has helped the world recognise Australia as one of the Top 5 Fintech countries in the world. In many […]
Equity crowdfunding extended to private companies
Businesses wishing to raise money from retail investors will no longer have to convert to an unlisted public company structure, after an amendment to 2017’s equity crowdfunding legislation passed federal Parliament. The legislation, which takes effect in 28 days from Wednesday, allows proprietary companies or unlisted public companies with annual turnover or gross assets of up to $25 million to advertise their business plans on ASIC-licensed crowdfunding portals, and raise up to $5 million a year to carry them out. Investors can put up to $10,000 a year each into an unlimited number of ideas. Australian private companies are typically limited to a maximum of 50 non-employee shareholders. However, under these […]
Guide to borrowing from fintech lenders released
The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO) and theBankDoctor.org released a guide to help small to medium enterprise (SME) owners better understand the ‘ins and outs’ of borrowing from fintech lenders. “This is another step closer to transparency and disclosure for the fintech industry; an alternative finance solution for SMEs,” Ombudsman Kate Carnell said. “Borrowing from fintech lenders is a joint project between ASBFEO and independent SME finance expert, Neil Slonim from theBankDoctor.org. “It provides answers to the questions asked by most potential borrowers: What is a fintech lender and how is it different to a bank? What products do they offer? How much can I borrow and […]
Thousands of self-managed super funds are now investing in cryptocurrencies
Cryptocurrencies have caught the eye of Australian self-managed super funds (SMSFs), according to staff from domestic crypto exchanges. So along with traditional holdings such as residential property or blue chip shares, a small portion of SMSF investors are looking for something a little more high-risk. Adrian Przelozny, CEO at crypto exchange Independent Reserve, told Business Insider there’s been “significant activity in the space” from SMSFs. He said the number of SMSF customers who are registered with the exchange now number “around six or seven thousand“. That’s still a relatively small percentage of the more than 590,000 SMSFs in Australia, which hold combined assets of almost $700 billion. But it’s a […]
Fintech payments startup Zip just closed a deal with Target Australia
Shares in Zip Co, the owner of zipPay, zipMoney and Pocketbook brands, jumped after the fintech announced a deal with Target Australia. A short time ago, the shares were up 5.8% to $1.09.The company announced a partnership with Target, owned by Wesfarmers, to offer Zip interest-free payments to customers in its 303 stores. Zip CEO and Managing Director Larry Diamond says Zip will be Target’s first in-store alternative payments offering. “We believe Zip will be a great fit for Target, providing their customers with a better way to pay,” he says. To read more, please click on the link below…. Source: Fintech payments startup Zip just closed a deal […]
