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 […]
NAB to fund energy fintech Brighte, backed by Mike Cannon-Brookes
National Australia Bank has applied its special lending framework designed to support fintech start-ups to offer a scalable, debt financing package to Brighte, the home energy lender backed by Atlassian founder Mike Cannon-Brookes. NAB has provided a $20 million debt facility to Brighte, which will make its first drawdown on the funds in the coming weeks, and the bank has an appetite to increase that amount. Demand for solar panels and batteries is expected to surge as more households look to reduce home energy bills. The deal is the latest for NAB in the fintech space, after it provided a debt facility to instalment payments provider Afterpay, which was initially […]
Raiz Invest to list on ASX with a $120m valuation
Raiz Invest, the micro-investment fintech, has lodged a prospectus with the corporate regulator for a June float in a deal that will value the start-up at around $120 million. As flagged by The Australian Financial Review’s Street Talk column last week, the initial public offering for Raiz, formerly known as Acorns Grow Australia, will raise just over $15 million. The shares, which have an offer price of $1.80, are due to begin trading on the ASX on June 21. The offer has been fully underwritten by Bell Potter and is understood to be two times oversubscribed with strong support from institutions in Hong Kong. Raiz has plans to expand in […]
Ex-NAB execs raise $15m to disrupt home loan market with new start-up Athena
Macquarie Capital and Square Peg are the lead investors in a $15 million funding round for fintech start-up Athena, which aims to use the latest technology to steal a march on the big banks in the competitive home loans market. The firm purports to connect home buyers with loans backed directly by the superannuation industry and was founded by former NAB bankers Nathan Walsh and Michael Starkey. They have built a cloud-based digital home loan platform, which they claim will save some borrowers currently with the big four banks up to $100,000 over the life of a loan. The latest capital raise, which also had participation from Apex Capital and […]
Andrew Thorburn explains the fintech forces reshaping NAB
The emergence of fintech has fundamentally changed National Australia Bank’s strategy and the thinking of its chief executive, Andrew Thorburn. He’s deploying more start-up lingo, and said last week the nation’s largest business lender is no longer benchmarking its performance against its rival banks, but rather technology players. Thorburn and his newish tech chief, Patrick Wright, who was previously with Barclays in the United States, went to Seattle and Silicon Valley last month and met with Amazon, Microsoft and Google for some inspiration. Like the tech giants themselves, NAB is pumping up technology spending with sums that would make wannabe disrupters salivate. With a plethora of start-ups nipping at NAB’s […]
Myprosperity prospers with Macquarie partnership
Former Xero managing director Chris Ridd’s new start-up myprosperity is partnering with Macquarie, in a deal that will allow his customers access to Macquarie’s investment and cash management accounts. The company, which offers a personal wealth platform for advisers, says it is now up to 530 advisers and 23,000 active users, and is tracking more than $33 billion in assets and $6bn in liabilities. Mr Ridd told The Australian the partnership, one of a growing number of bank/start-up deals, would help give customers control of their own data. “The big issue that has come out of the royal commission is the fact that fee for no service is now a […]
