Access to talent critical for innovators
The “Tech Pioneers 50” report, released on Wednesday, ranked Australian and New Zealand businesses on their capital raising efforts, sector diversity, innovation and success with consumers. Software “unicorn” Atlassian, valued at over $6 billion in 2015, was named the leading tech pioneer, while Kiwi accounting software company Xero was ranked second and creative hub Envato came in third. H2 Ventures founder Ben Heap, whose firm produced the report alongside investment bank Investec Australia, said the top 50 firms employed 5400 people in high-skilled roles that didn’t exist even a decade ago. He said the companies were best placed to lead the charge into the digital economy. “The next 10 to […]
CXi Software announces Superannuation initiative, new Staff
CXi Software (“CXi”) has announced a new maternity leave initiative aimed at encouraging more women to work in the fintech industry and making it easier for them to take maternity leave without the worry of interrupting their superannuation savings. “From today, CXi will pay superannuation contributions for any permanent staff member who goes on statutory maternity leave. These employer contributions will be paid at an amount equivalent to the SGC rate payable on that staff member’s ordinary full time salary immediately before going on maternity leave – and will be paid for up to 12 months or the staff member’s return to work, whichever is the earlier”, said Séamus Ó […]
Ignition Wealth Teams’ integration as easy as 123
Following the April 14 launch of Ignition Wealth Teams the effortless integration process has ensured an enthusiastic response from professional financial businesses including advice practices and accountancy firms. “We are committed to building real partnerships with businesses in the professional financial industry. For clients adopting the off the shelf version of Ignition Wealth Teams we have made the integration process absolutely effortless. There is no upfront cost to the business and integration can be completed in as little as 24 hours. For businesses daunted by trialling automated advice this is the solution simple, fast and costfree.” Mark Fordree, CEO, Ignition Wealth. With three simple steps the Ignition Wealth […]
Sapien Ventures’ first fintech investment is in Hashching
Wealthy Chinese migrants will help disrupt the Australian mortgage broking industry via an investment in Hashching, an online marketplace for home loans that is putting pressure on banks and their brokers. The investment will be the first for Sapien Ventures, which was established last year by Victor Jiang and has raised a $50 million fund to invest in fintech and online marketplaces. Much of the capital has been raised from high-net-worth Chinese migrants after changes to the Significant Investor Visa program last year that require migrants bringing $5 million into Australia to invest at least $500,000 in eligible venture capital. Sapien Ventures has invested $1 million in Hashching, and is […]
Focused fintechs get the nod from Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley once threw money at start-ups that aimed to disrupt broad swaths of finance. Now it is rewarding those that have sharpened their focus. While overall venture funding into lending start-ups is slowing, some platforms still are raising money by taking aim at narrower or less-traditional borrowing niches than the first generation of financial-technology firms. Faced with a glut of online lenders and cooling interest from investors in some loans, a newer crop of fintech start-ups is focusing on areas including loans for real-estate projects, people with poor credit ratings, car buyers and, at the extreme, people getting married. Venture funding for US lending start-ups dropped to $US298 million […]
Cyber security has become an economic imperative
Cyber security is an economic imperative. It is key to the protection of organisations of all sizes, to the personal data of our people, and to ongoing jobs growth and wealth creation. After all, a robust and thriving digital economy is built on trust. The Australian financial services industry, perhaps more than any other, has the most to gain from a strong and innovative national cyber security eco-system. The sector has a more mature understanding of cyber risk than other industries, and with a major shift towards digital and mobile engagement with customers, now more than ever it has the motivation to invest and develop capability in this area. In […]
Fintech Market Growth to Add A$1 Billion New Value to Australian Economy by 2020
The global Fintech sector exhibited robust growth in 2014 when investment activity tripled to US$12.21 billion from US$4.05 billion in 2013. This activity continued in 2015 with an increase in global funding into Venture Capital (VC) backed Fintech startups. Fintech growth in 2015 was international, and Frost & Sullivan anticipates this international dispersion, as well as the global growth trend to continue with more Fintech companies successfully reaching the exit stage of funding in 2016. In the Asia-Pacific region, Fintech investments were concentrated in Australia, China and Singapore, and in 2015, skyrocketed to reach US$3.46b – a four-fold increase from 2014 to 2015. Asian Fintechs garnered strong support, with funding […]
UK fund to back ThinCats Australia
ThinCats Australia has announced that UK-based alternative finance fund ESF Capital will acquire a 30 per cent stake in the peer-to-peer (P2P) business lending platform. ESF Capital will also provide $10 million in funding for loans on the platform in the first year, joining another 300 lenders on ThinCats’ panel. ThinCats Australia CEO Sunil Aranha said the injection of capital and funding by ESF will provide a significant boost to the platform as well as the many SMEs seeking loans. “The injection of capital by ESF will allow us to ramp up our operations and technology platform, lift our market presence and hire more staff to tap into the largely […]
