Payments

Why SpotJobs co-founder Lewis Romano has switched into fintech and is looking to raise $10 million for Credit Clear

An Aussie fintech company co-founded by Lewis Romano of SpotJobs fame has launched a $10 million Series A fundraising round to help expand the business overseas. Credit Clear was founded in 18 months ago by Romano and prominent property developer Mark Casey to act as an online, on-demand debt payment service for individuals and businesses. The company has not raised a seed round and to date has been largely funded initially by Casey. Romano co-founded SpotJobs — one of Australia’s largest job board websites — in 2012 with Jake Williams, before exiting the business in October last year. A switch into fintech from the recruitment industry might not seem intuitive […]

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Nov
09

Sunshine Coast business promising easier bill payment

A Sunshine Coast business is promising to take their innovative bill payment platform to the next level with Queensland Government backing from the Advance Queensland Ignite Ideas Fund. Innovation Minister Leeanne Enoch said Noosa Heads business Promis Network’s automated bill payment platform had the potential to change the lives of business operators across Queensland, nationally and globally. “Promis Network have been working on the automated bill payment platform for over a year and have some customers already established on the Sunshine Coast. This Ignite Ideas funding will allow the business to take their amazing idea to new markets,” she said. Promis Network’s automated bill payment platform allows invoices to be […]

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Nov
09

FinTech will change more in the next 5 years than the last 30, says PayPal CEO

PayPal’s CEO has said that the financial technology (fintech) sector is going to change more in the next five years than it has done in the last 30. Speaking with CNBC’s Mad Money host Jim Cramer, Dan Schulman, CEO of PayPal, said that millennials are changing the shape of many industries, in particular the finance sector. He said: You have to, to serve these markets, re-imagine how money can be managed and moved because there’s going to be more change in the next five years in financial services than happened in the past 30. According to Schulman, the millennial generation, those under the age of 30, think about everyday processes […]

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Nov
07

Jacaranda Incubator Program – Backing Australian Fintech

Jacaranda Finance is on the hunt for Australia’s most exciting, high growth potential Fintech startup, establishing the Jacaranda Incubator Program.   Background Jacaranda Finance is one of the fastest growing financial technology start-ups in Australia. With the recent launch of the new and improved Jacaranda decisioning engine, the young startup analyses vast quantities of data from numerous data sources within seconds. This allows the company to make smarter credit decisions and expand the availability of fair, affordable, responsible and more transparent credit solutions for consumers. “It’s no longer hard, expensive or impossible to acquire and process large volumes of data relating to our applicants”, says Daniel Wessels, CEO of Jacaranda. […]

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Debt payment start-up Credit Clear poaches OpenPay’s CEO Simon Scalzo ahead of raise

Fintech payments technology start-up Credit Clear has poached the CEO of one of its start-up rivals as it prepares to embark on a $10 million capital raising push. The company, which automates the debt collection process and facilitates customer communication over Facebook Messenger, SMS or email, has lured Simon Scalzo from “buy now pay later” platform OpenPay to lead the company. Credit Clear launched in July and has been predominantly funded to date by its chairman and co-founder Mark Casey, a property developer who made $14 million from the sale of a sheep farm near Geelong. Mr Casey started the business alongside SpotJobs co-founder Lewis Romano, saying it would make it easier for people to pay […]

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Nov
01

Supplying services to business the new growth area

Australia’s fintech sector is firing on all cylinders. More than 400 fintech companies are jostling for shoulder room in the market right now, and 72 per cent of these companies are supplying services to businesses. The upsurge in fintech companies can be attributed to the speed of business today, which places a greater premium on business readiness. Fintech companies are typically new financial services entrants providing genuine alternatives in areas such as wealth generation, lending, payments, insurance, cyber security and regulatory management. By global comparison, Australians are big fintech adopters. A recent report reveals that we have among the strongest fintech market penetration in the world, ahead of other advanced […]

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Nov
01

Finch raises $2.25m for Gen Y finance app after ‘proving it can rival’ Silicon Valley fintechs

Melbourne-based fintech startup Finch has closed an oversubscribed seed round, raising $2.25m in funding for its social payments app for millennials.    Launched in July, the Finch app allows users to pay and request money instantly (without a BSB), split bills, run tabs in groups to track shared expenses. According to Shahirah Gardner, who co-founded the startup with her husband Toby Gardner and their friend Eric Kuhn in 2016, the seed funding will be used to complete product market fit, scale product development, grow its Melbourne-based team and accelerate customer acquisition. In conversation with Dynamic Business, Gardner said the app began to generate interest from investors after Finch graduated from Envestnet | Yodlee […]
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Nov
01

CommBank, Westpac, NAB to launch new mobile payment app Beem

Three giants of the Australian banking sector are collaborating to create a new mobile payments platform for consumers and businesses. The application is called Beem and will allow users to store their debit card information and make instant contactless payments using the same technology as applications like Apple Pay and Android Pay. Beem will also allow users to request payments and split bills, making it useful for both personal use and for businesses. Although being created by Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and NAB, the app will be open for use by all Australians regardless of which bank they use. Like regular online transfers, Beem will include built-in encryption of payment details […]

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