Cuscal takes c11% stake in software development company Moroku
Cuscal and Moroku, a Sydney-based developer of mobile banking and payments software, have agreed terms which see Cuscal take a circa 11% stake in Moroku and a seat on its Board. Cuscal’s investment is part of a broader capital raising by Moroku. Moroku was founded in 2012 by Colin Weir and Dave Durbin. Its main business is creating immersive digital experiences to help banks connect better with customers, so increasing their competitiveness and ability to acquire more customers. In the financial services area Moroku has already developed two innovative products: Game System – a platform for next generation financial services applications that employs motivational theory and gamification to build financial […]
DigitalX announces deal with global telco Telefónica
ASX ANNOUNCEMENT: DigitalX Limited (ASX:DCC and “the Company”) is pleased to announce that Telefónica Internacional S.A.U. (“Telefónica”) is the Company’s first strategic partner in Latin America following the successful integration of the DigitalX AirPocket App into Telefónica’s network. The mobile phone giant signed a marketing, distribution and sales agreement with DigitalX, which was announced to the market via the ASX on 17 February 2016, that will give Telefónica’s Latin American customers access to DigitalX’s unique value transfer and remittance application, AirPocket. Telefónica, which has nearly 232 million telecommunication access points in Latin America, is one of the largest telcos in the region and is among the top five biggest telecommunications […]
OFX celebrates a momentous $100bn transfers internationally milestone
MEDIA RELEASE: OFX, Australia’s leading international payments provider and Fintech leader, have today announced a significant milestone in their transaction history, reaching $100bn in international transfers since launching nearly 18 years ago. The announcement follows CEO Richard Kimber’s first financial year results, revealing the company exceeded $100m in profit for FY16. In the process of notching up their billion-dollar century, OFX have helped customers with more than 5 million bank-to-bank transfers. An estimated 31,000 properties have been bought or funded, over 10 thousand students supported and countless other weird and wonderful things financed. Whether it’s blocks of Italian marble for a sculptor’s next masterpiece, containers of pig’s ears […]
Need to Know: Practical Bitcoin basics
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard the phrase Bitcoin uttered around tech circles, or maybe even on mainstream news outlets. Maybe you’ve seen Bitcoin as a payment option on stores like Steam and Microsoft’s. But what is Bitcoin, why should you care and is it worth bothering with? As to what Bitcoin is, simply put, it’s way of transferring money around. Some people think it’s a challenge to government reserve banks (probably not) or a whole new system of finance technology akin to the credit card (quite likely), but for us plebs, right now, it’s main utility is cheaply and quickly sending money from A to […]
Fintech specialists say ‘NextGen banking’ may replace Big Four
Banks of the future will be technology companies with a banking licence, and traditional finance options may give way to more digitally advanced methods and platforms, say fintech specialists. According to panellists speaking at the Fintech CEOs on the Future of Finance seminar in Sydney on Wednesday night, financial technology firms will soon attract market share and talent away from current banking incumbents, while new digital roles set to replace traditional finance jobs. Speaking at the event Jost Stollmann, CEO of Tyro Payments, predicted that ‘next generation banking’ would eventually take over, with at least one of the big four banks to disappear completely in the next few decades. “Can […]
SocietyOne shifts from edgy start-up to $100m lender
The nation’s biggest peer-to-peer lender, SocietyOne, is growing up fast, and not in the same way as its renegade US cousin Lending Club. An ASIC search has revealed the stranglehold of the so-called media consortium (News Corp, Kerry Stokes and James Packer’s media-free Consolidated Press Holdings) over SocOne after the recent $25 million Series C capital raising. The consortium, through its vehicle S. One Holding, holds a commanding 37 per cent stake, with the News and Stokes interests believed to be dominant in the S. One Holding structure. Not only that, but Westpac’s in-house venture capital fund, Reinventure, speaks for a further 17 per cent of SocOne. Put the two […]
Budget 2016: fintechs; MoneyPlace, OzForex hail recognition
The Turnbull government’s maiden budget may have lacked the necessary fireworks for the local innovation sector but fintech start-ups are not complaining. Melbourne-based peer-to-peer lender MoneyPlace’s founder and CEO Stuart Stoyan is pleased to see the Australian fintech ecosystem singled out in a budget that didn’t dole out many handouts to start-ups. “It’s an election budget so they had to balance a few things but the fact that fintech got attention is a big win,” he said. The government overnight unveiled measures designed to boost the fintech industry that Mr Stoyan said is a reflection of the sector’s growing prominence. “What we have is a number of factors coming together […]
Afterpay fintech float closes up 25pc
The Ron Brierley-backed buy now, pay later fintech Afterpay got a positive response to its $125 million listing on Wednesday, closing up 25 per cent. The company – which received $8 million in private investments before the float from several former members of Mr Brierley’s Guiness Peat Group – listed at midday at $1 and ended the day at $1.25. The All Ordinaries closed down 1.47 per cent. The executive chairman and co-founder is Anthony Eisen, former chief investment officer of Guiness Peat Group. “What we’re pioneering in Australia is buy now, pay later online, in real time,” said Mr Eisen. “We have a transaction integrity engine that allows us […]
