Anger grows over crowdfund farce
Anger is growing over “farcical” delays to passing the equity crowdfunding bill that would extend the regime to private Australian companies, with the scheme now unlikely to come into effect until the end of the year. There are also concerns that cuts to corporate regulator ASIC will further slow the implementation of the scheme, which has been in the works since early 2013. Amendments to the Corporations Act allowing private companies to undertake a crowdsourced equity funding round were introduced to Parliament last September. Despite broad support by the Opposition, the bill was not passed in the House of Representatives until February this year. It has now spent three months […]
Top-20 banks should be investing in disruptors, says Reinventure co-founder Simon Cant
As Reinventure announces its third $50 million fintech investment fund, co-founder and managing director Simon Cant says its important for big banks to invest in the very startups that are disrupting their industry. The latest fund brings the Westpac-backed VC firm’s total funds under management to $150 million, and follows two previous funds, which have invested in 20 startups. Cant tells StartupSmart that, under its independent venture capital structure, Reinventure is focused on ensuring “our interests are financially aligned with those of the entrepreneur”. Specifically, this third fund will be looking for startups that could be relevant to top-20 banks and their global operations. While Cant says Reinventure will still […]
FinTech Australia announce finalist for The Finnies 2018
FinTech Australia and Jobs for NSW have come together for the second year to host the national fintech awards, The Finnies. The Finnies will culminate in a Gala Awards Night Wednesday 13 June 2018 in Sydney. For more information go here. Here is the full list of finalists for the 2018 Finnies: Best Workplace Diversity ● BRICKX ● FirstStep Investments ● Link4 ● Valiant Finance Emerging FinTech Leader of the Year ● Brad Delamare – CEO, Tank Stream Labs ● Louis Edwards – Head of Renewable Energy Finance, RateSetter Australia ● Nick Molnar – Co-Founder & CEO, Afterpay ● Jack O’Reilly – Director, funding.com.au ● Rebecca Schot-Guppy – Community Manager, […]
Macrovue thematic global share portfolios available as SMAs via Praemium
Thematic global share investing business Macrovue announce the first 3 of its 22 managed portfolios are available as SMAs via the industry-leading managed accounts platform, Praemium. Thematic portfolios are becoming more and more important for advisers to consider when thinking about a client’s overall portfolio. Having the Macrovue thematic global share portfolios available for advisers delivers leading investment solutions and global diversification for advisers managing clients’ investments. Macrovue’s investment management fee of 80bps with no performance fees provides access to global markets at reasonable cost for clients. Leveraging the more than 50-years’ global stock-picking experience of the Macrovue Investment Team, Macrovue’s portfolio construction process combines inputs from a proprietary quantitative […]
HashChing puts its hand out to go it alone
Online mortgage marketplace HashChing is looking to raise up to $5 million by the end of June through the power of crowd-funding, in a bid to ensure that it is immunised from the influence of any big bank, says CEO Mandeep Sodhi. Instead, HashChing has partnered with equity crowd-funding platform Equitise to issue its first round of shares to interested investors. According to Mr Sodhi, the crowd-funding route will help HashChing remain an independent voice in the mortgage market. “Unlike many other online mortgage platforms who are backed by a lender, we are and will continue to stand separate from the banks,” he said. “We want our customers to become […]
Westpac puts another $50 million into VC fund Reinventure
Westpac Banking Corp has triple-downed on its corporate venture capital fund Reinventure Group, investing a further $50 million into a third fund to bring its total commitment to early stage fintechs to $150 million. A week after Westpac CEO Brian Hartzer described the 20 start-up investments made by Reinventure’s first two $50 million funds as a new “strategic asset” for the bank, Westpac is providing Reinventure co-founders Danny Gilligan and Simon Cant with an additional $50 million to be invested under a more flexible structure. The third fund will consist of a unit trust stapled to an early stage venture capital limited partnerships (ESVCLPs), a new structure that will allow […]
Royal commission reforms boost investor opportunities in fintech
With the banks taking a battering at the Hayne royal commission, a raft of new fintech or alternative lenders is looking to take advantage of a more competitive playing field. For generations, risk-averse banks have been able to pick and choose to which consumers and small businesses they were willing to extend credit and at what price. But things are beginning to change. Ahead of any recommendations from the royal commission, the federal government is taking steps to foster competition. Last week, it followed the UK by flagging so-called open banking reforms, which will allow customers to direct personal data held by their existing banks to alternative lenders. Another reform, […]
When is the Right Time to Buy Bitcoin?
by Mary Ann Callahan With the highs and lows in the Bitcoin value and its obvious profitability, more and more people are asking the questions of whether they should get into the trade or not. And another big question on the minds of those, who have already made that decision, is the question of when the right time to buy Bitcoin is. We will not be giving you a direct answer, and we strongly advise you not to take the words of pundits who claim to offer price charts and pick specific dates for it. We believe a few well-informed pointers that will help you make the final decision is […]
