Venture Capital

Jun
11

Prospa lists on the ASX

Prospa Group Limited are pleased to announce the company has been admitted to the official list of the ASX following the successful completion of the IPO.

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Jun
06

A record $117 billion in fintech deals have been done this year as cashless payments soar in popularity

Fintech-targeted mergers and acquisitions has increased rapidly over the last five years, and the value of deals in the space has hit a record high in 2019

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Apr
17

MYOB votes are in; shareholders hand keys to KKR

Almost four years to the day after re-listing on the ASX, and after an at-times remarkable takeover battle, the accounting software company is headed for a another stint in private equity hands. It is understood early votes and proxies received ahead of Wednesday afternoon's meeting are enough to ensure MYOB is headed into KKR's private equity portfolio. Manikay Partners, owner of a 16 per cent stake, has voted for the deal as flagged, along with former controller and now 6.1 per cent shareholder Bain Capital. Add in a handful of the other institutional shareholders and KKR goes into the meeting knowing it already has the numbers. It's understood to have […]
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Apr
17

Aussie blockchain investor goes global

Australian digital assets investment firm TCM Global Asset Management (formerly Token Capital Management) is making its first international foray. TCM is chaired by former ANZ managing director of global markets, Steve Bellotti, and its chief executive is former JP Morgan managing director of Asia Pacific commodities trading, Jon Deane. The firm has acquired a controlling stake, alongside high profile blockchain investor Frank Amato, in Cleveland-based Grasshopper Capital. Grasshopper Capital's first fund, launched in 2017 and closed in 2018, returned 29.28%. The fund was long only and focused on infrastructure opportunities in the blockchain ecosystem. Grasshopper has now announced it will be launching a new fund, Grasshopper Capital Fund II LP, […]
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Apr
10

London threatening San Francisco’s fintech unicorn dominance, research says

London could soon overtake San Francisco as the fintech (financial technology) unicorn capital of the world, according to a new study. Of the world’s 29 fintech unicorns – private companies valued at more than $1 billion – nine are based in San Francisco, while seven are headquartered in London, the research published Tuesday said. The report, by London-based recruitment firm Robert Walters and research group Vacancy Soft, said London was “showing signs of potential to threaten San Francisco’s historic dominance of the market.” It noted that London’s fintech sector received more venture capital (VC) funding than any other EU city in 2018, securing 39% of all European fintech funding. Berlin’s […]

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Apr
01

Super will help fund the next wave of unicorns

The country’s leading venture capitalists are tipping more direct investment will flow from superannuation firms such as Hostplus into start-up deals, as more $100 million-plus raises test the funding capacity of the VC firms. Last week cross-border payments start-up Airwallex became the latest Australian company to achieve the lauded $US1 billion valuation milestone, making it the quickest local start-up to achieve unicorn status. The valuation came on the back of a $US100 million raise ($141.3 million) for the fintech, which is less than four years old. The raising was led by US investor DST Global, with participation from Sequoia Capital China, Tencent, Hillhouse Capital, Gobi Partners, Horizons Ventures and Square Peg […]

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Mar
26

Australian fintech Airwallex confirmed as latest fintech unicorn following Series C fundraising

Airwallex confirms unicorn status following a successful Series C fundraising round of $100m USD, valuing the company at over $1bn USD. Founded in Melbourne in 2015, Australian fintech Airwallex has grown from an emerging start-up to a global challenger in the crossborder payment space, supporting a client base of internet titans including JD.com, Tencent and Ctrip, and large financial service companies including MasterCard. Top-tier investor DST Global led the Series C fundraising round, which closed at $100m USD. DST Global has been a primary investor across a number of global technology success stories, including Facebook, Airbnb and Spotify, and other fintech leaders, such as Robinhood. Alongside new investor DST Global, […]

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What’ll Waddle do with $4m injection?

Small business lender fintech start-up Waddle will step up its efforts to crack overseas markets and take a larger share of the big four bank’s local market share after closing a $4 million series A funding round. The funds, sourced from tech venture capital firm Allectus Capital, will be used to grow the fintech’s footprint in Australasia and push forward with its plans to integrate with overseas banks. “We are seeing strong demand from banks looking to digitise their working capital product offerings by partnering with fintechs with proven models,” said Simon Creighton, co-founder of Waddle. While it is the first major external venture-style funding round, co-founder Simon Creighton is […]

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