Fintech Skippr scores $16m funding from fintech heavy hitters
Small business financing start-up Skippr has shrugged off concerns that the indefinitely delayed IPO of its venture-backed peer Prospa could put off investors in the sector, by attracting some of the local fintech scene’s biggest hitters to a $16 million debt and equity financing round. Pepper group co-founder and former chief executive Patrick Tuttle and SocietyOne and Douugh co-founder Andy Taylor have both invested in the round, which is comprised of $1 million in equity from high net worth investors, and $15 million in debt. Skippr was founded two-and-a-half years ago by former NAB senior corporate agribusiness senior associate and MarketInvoice team lead Alistair Lamond alongside former fund manager Patrick […]
Prospa named Best Employer by AON Hewitt for second year running
Prospa, Australia’s leading online lender to small businesses, has been named a Best Employer in the AON Hewitt Best Employers program for the second year in a row. Prospa, headquartered in Sydney, underwent an employee engagement survey and an inventory of their people practices and internal interviews, in order to be eligible for one of the most sort after, and credible, employer awards across Australia and New Zealand. The accreditation looks at a number of factors, such as agility within the business, staff benefits and new hire turnover, in order to determine whether a business is of Best Employer status. Prospa was awarded the status this year due to its […]
Crowd2Fund reduces default rate using AI
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has helped peer-to-peer platform Crowd2Fund improve its loan recovery rate, according to newly-released figures. Crowd2Fund has seen its default rate drop from 1.42 per cent in June to just 1.04 per cent in July after implementing the AI software from Australian fintech firm InDebted. “It is an amazing piece of technology and completely revolutionises debt recovery,” said Chris Hancock, chief executive of Crowd2Fund. “There is always a great need to competently manage all loans on our platform to ensure that businesses are upholding their obligations to the investors. “This software has allowed us to improve our already stringent recoveries process, and we have seen more timely repayments […]
A dive into the US mortgage market could be a Credible move for this ASX fintech
Its latest earnings may have fallen short, but student loan comparison site Credible Labs still has fans as it pushes hard to ramp up its new mortgage loan business. Credible (ASX:CRD) — founded in San Francisco five years ago by Australian investment banker Stephen Dash — hit the ASX late last year, issuing shares at $1.21. Of the $50 million raised through its IPO, $15 million was taken out by the company’s original backers. The bulk of the money, some $31 million, was earmarked to spend developing its platform which targets US consumers. Even though its existing business is centred on student loan refinancing, investors are much more interested in […]
Trade Ledger wins Ashurst FinTech Startup of the Year at the 3rd Annual FinTech Awards
Digital banking platform start-up, Trade Ledger, has been named the Ashurst Fintech Startup of the Year after expanding into the UK market and signing up a series of major deals in just one year. The award goes each year to a fintech start-up “that has disrupted the financial services sector with new and innovative services, creating competition and transforming the way we experience financial services”. Trade Ledger has done this by being the first corporate lending platform in the world to automate the entire credit assessment process, assess SME supply chain data in real-time, and calculate risk down to the individual invoice. This allows banks and other business lenders to […]
Wisr appointed to leading aggregator Connective broker panel
Neo-lender Wisr (ASX: WZR) has significantly expanded one of its personal loan origination channels after the company was appointed to the panel of Connective, Australia’s leading mortgage broker aggregator. Almost 3,000 brokers on the Connective platform will be able to introduce personal loans to Wisr from 1 August 2018. More than 20% of brokers in Australia aggregate through Connective, which had more than $41.5 billion in settled loans in FY2017. This addition to a key channel follows Wisr’s previously reported record growth rate in loan originations, with total loan origination value in H2FY18 rising by 136% on the previous six months. Today’s announcement means that, in conjunction with other key […]
Australian fintech Tic:Toc closes successful Series B funding
Australian fintech Tic:Toc, the world’s only fully digital home loan platform, today announced it has closed its Series B round, raising $11.5M in funding. The Series B funding, led by Genworth Mortgage Insurance Australia Limited (Genworth Australia) and Blackstone group entity La Trobe Financial, includes both new and existing investors and adds significant depth to the Tic:Toc share register, which also includes Bendigo and Adelaide Bank. The funding will allow Tic:Toc to further advance the capability of its platform as well as build greater brand awareness. It will also partially fund Tic:Toc ’s pending expansion into offering its automated assessment platform as a service to partners, as well as exploration […]
OnDeck Australia secures $75m Credit Suisse loan
Small business lender OnDeck Australia has secured a $75 million funding line from Credit Suisse, the latest partnership between fintech players and established institutions. The subsidiary of the New York-listed OnDeck Capital said the asset-backed revolving credit facility would be used to refinance OnDeck Australia’s loan book and to fund new loans. The facility is due to mature in June 2020. On Deck Australia managing director Cameron Poolman said the lender was striving to lower its cost of funding, origination and to build a “leading credit model”. He said the online small business lending market is growing at a faster pace than it did in the US at a similar stage in […]
