Afterpay rival Zip narrows losses
Zip’s first-half net loss has narrowed as it more than doubled its turnover. On Thursday, the buy now, pay later provider posted a net loss of $6.8 million for the six months ended December 31, 2018, compared with a $14.6 million loss in the year earlier period. Its revenue was up 114 per cent to $34.2 million from $16.0 million turnover in the year earlier period. Zip said it now has over 1 million customer accounts and over 12,600 merchants. In the last six months Zip signed a number of major retailers to its platform, it said, including Bunnings, Target, Officeworks, Appliances Online and the Super Retail Group. To […]
Hut34 goes live with world’s first Google-powered Ethereum wallet and enhanced wallet-as-a-service offering
The Hut34 team has gone live with the world’s first Google powered cryptocurrency wallet. With a single click, users can securely, quickly and easily access their Ethereum and cryptocurrency tokens via their own Google credentials. The Hut34 Wallet beta launched late 2018 and since then a raft of exciting new features and functionality have been added to ease the public adoption of emergent token economies. “We are excited about the future applications of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, but as it stands access to and using the technology is too hard and time consuming. Only the highly motivated are willing to cross the pain threshold to enter the space,” says Tim McNamara, […]
New York fintech startup trueDigital’s new CEO to bring cross-border payments to Australia
trueDigital Holdings, LLC, a global provider of financial infrastructure technologies and products for the digital economy, announced today it has appointed former Bridgewater Associates executive Thomas Kim as its Chief Executive Officer and a Member of its Board of Directors. Kim brings an extensive track record of trading technology leadership at multiple major financial institutions and software providers to his role at trueDigital. He joins the company following seven years with Bridgewater Associates, where he most recently served as Chief Operating Officer of the Investment Engine Group. Earlier in his career he held positions as Managing Director at Lehman Brothers, responsible for the Townsend Analytics Electronic Trading franchise, and held […]
Google-backed fintech GoCardless eyes Aussie ‘subscription economy’
Australia’s fast-growing “subscription economy” is among the key markets being targeted by fintech firm GoCardless, which has secured more than $100 million to fund its global expansion plans. GoCardless, based in London, on Monday said it had raised $US75 million ($106 million) from investors including Google’s venture capital arm, to roll out a global direct debit payment collection system, which it offers to business clients. The company on Monday announced a series of new backers, including GV (previously known as Google Ventures, and owned by Google’s parent, Alphabet), Adams Street Partners, and Salesforce Ventures. Director of international expansion Pranav Sood, who is visiting Australia, said the funding round meant the […]
PlayChip lists on IDEX
PlayChip’s listing on IDEX is its fourth listing in less than three weeks, following its successful listing on Australia’s first regulated cryptocurrency exchange, Independent Reserve, in late January. The token is also listed on top ten exchange HitBTC and LATOKEN. The PlayXchange, the economic centre of PlayChip’s online gaming ecosystem, has had over 12,000 registrations since its inception in December of last year. The PlayChip was also integrated into online fantasy sports gaming platform, PlayUp, in January, where it can be used to enter daily fantasy challenges in numerous global sporting events. The PlayChip is expected to integrate into two additional gaming platforms in the coming months. In Q2 of […]
Novatti just started making pots of money from its Alipay bill website
Novatti isn’t buying Australian milk to send to China, but has found another way to tap the moneyed Chinese population at home and overseas. The company says its gamble on a payments service for China residents to pay bills in Australia is paying off so well they’re looking at transaction volumes rising from $460,000 in January 2019 to an estimated $700,000 in February. In the December quarter the dollar value of transactions still only averaged $200,000 a month. As to the reasons for the pick-up? Novatti CEO Peter Cook attributed it to an increasing level of trust as the product spends more time on the market. “We think it’s partly […]
Peppermint collaborates with BancNet on Mobile Banking
Peppermint Innovation Ltd (ASX:PIL) advises it has teamed up with BancNet to provide their mobile banking technology and services that facilitate electronic fund transfers (EFT’s) in real time to BancNet member outsourcing banks. BancNet is the Philippines single Automated Teller Machines (ATM) switch operator connecting the networks of local and offshore banks. It is a multi-bank, multi-channel electronic payments network that enables its members’ customers to transact not only at ATM but also at point- of- sale (POS) terminals, the Internet and mobile phones. BancNet is the largest interbank network in the Philippines serving ATM cardholders of its 114 members and affiliates with circa 20,000 ATMs and more than 5,000 […]
Square and MYOB team up to help small businesses
From today, global payments provider Square is teaming up with MYOB, one of Australia’s leading providers of online accounting solutions, to help time-poor business owners better manage their payments. The new partnership will completely automate the payment process for business owners, ensuring they no longer have to waste time manually rekeying their sales or customer data, making reconciling accounts easier than ever. The comprehensive integration will enable transaction data processed via Square’s payment platform to move simply and securely through to the business owner’s MYOB account. It will allow business owners to easily reconcile their sales in a number of different ways, including: by product or category, by store location, […]
