Westpac buys stake in Lantern Pay to help deliver NDIS
Customers of the federal government’s $22 billion National Disability Insurance Scheme will be able to pay for health services through a new platform to be rolled out by Westpac Banking Corp, which has taken a 10 per cent equity stake in payments firm InLoop. InLoop is the parent company of Lantern Pay, which has created a “digital wallet”, or mobile application, that lets customers of government-backed medical services schemes monitor budgets. Lantern Pay pays service providers up front before claiming the payments back from the government. The deal is an example of the policy shift towards “consumer-directed care” in government medical schemes including the NDIS, which puts customers in control […]
The Benzinga Global Fintech Awards – entries closing soon
The Benzinga Global Fintech Awards May 11, 2017 in New York, is the premier event in Fintech, celebrating financial innovation from around the world. The Benzinga Awards is a competition to showcase the companies with the most impressive technology, who are paving the future in financial services and capital markets! Applications are still open, so apply now before the March 17 deadline. At the event, you’ll get a first look at groundbreaking technology, innovative platforms, and the chance to network freely with top industry professionals. Over 550 FinTech CEOs, C-suite executives of financial institutions, VCs, press, and others attended the 2016 Benzinga Fintech Awards. 45 exclusive exhibitor spots on the show floor […]
Westpac’s Reinventure hires new partner to help fintech startups crack the US
Westpac’s $100 million venture capital fund Reinventure has hired a new partner with experience from Wall Street and Silicon Valley, seeking to help local fintech start-ups attack the world stage and catch the eye of potential US suitors. US-born Kara Frederick, a former Goldman Sachs executive, was a senior adviser at US-based boutique investment bank GrowthPoint Technology Partners and also founded middle-market advisory firm Tiger Financial Group. She joins Reinventure founders and managing partners Simon Cant and Danny Gilligan as the firm’s first general partner. The fund was set up by the giant bank in 2014 to invest in fintech start-ups that could potentially compete with its own businesses. “Australia […]
SETL wants to settle and clear equities in competition with ASX
The ASX is facing competition for clearing and settling equities, with blockchain start-up SETL pledging to build a post-trading system cheaper and to deploy it quicker than the replacement for the existing CHESS infrastructure, which is being developed by the ASX itself and US group Digital Asset Holdings. London-based SETL is raising capital from some Australian brokers and has retained local lawyers to prepare regulatory applications to approve its system. The move comes as the federal government considers whether to remove the ASX’s monopoly over equities settlement and clearing – the vital “pipes” that underpin the operation of Australia’s equity markets – later this year, if regulators can devise a […]
Super fund Spaceship accused of high risk and not enough returns
A start-up super fund that is aggressively targeting millennials via social media has investment advisers alarmed that it is more expensive than most super funds and is taking significant risk without promising higher returns. But Spaceship, which has the backing of venture capital and tech luminaries such as Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes, says strict rules mean it can’t gamble customers’ super, while the fees are a small price to pay for the superior returns that will come from investing in technology. The super fund says it expects to kick off with $100 million of funds under management from young Australians when it launches later this month, after “early adopters” moved […]
Adelaide start-up and fintech company Joust to launch in New South Wales under NOVA Entertainment Group funding deal
A MAJOR entertainment company has thrown its financial support behind Adelaide-based technology start-up Joust, allowing the company to expand its home loan auction service into New South Wales. The Wakefield Street business today announced it had successfully raised another $400,000 and secured NOVA Entertainment Group as a strategic investor. The company, which operates in SA and Victoria, says the funding takes to almost $2 million it has raised since its inception in early 2015. Co-Founder and managing director Mark Bevan said 650 customers have used Joust to seek a better home loan interest rate and that the value of home loans “jousted” was already more than $250m. “We now have […]
Aussie fintech funding triples: KPMG
While global fintech investment almost halved last year, the budding Australian sector finally bloomed, according to KPMG International’s latest report. Heedless of the 47.2 per cent evaporation in total global investment in fintech companies (which dropped from US$46.7 billion in 2015, to just US$24.7 billion last year), Australian fintech funding in 2016 was in full flood, more than tripling over 12 months, after a string of deals and funding rounds. According to KPMG, Australia’s total fintech investment last year topped US$626 million across 25 deals, a major increase on 2015 – which saw $185M across 23 deals – and a figure contrary to the receding global trend. Ian Pollari, global […]
Touchcorp, Afterpay merger worth $500m
Melbourne-based fintech start-up Afterpay has announced a proposed merger with Touchcorp, in a deal set to create a new ASX-listed software and payments firm valued at $500 million. Afterpay MD Nick Molnar said the two companies had been working together, and the proposed merger would help the combined entity rapidly scale into new markets and grow faster than otherwise possible. Founded in 2014, Afterpay is a retail payments outfit that facilitates commerce between retail merchants and end customers, offering a “buy now, receive now, pay later” service that does not require end customers to enter into traditional loan arrangements or pay upfront fees to the group. It landed on the […]
