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 […]
Fintech set to reshape financial services despite slump
Global fintech investment’s boom year of 2015, when all the planets aligned and the hype factor reached its peak, was always going to make activity levels in subsequent years look feeble by comparison. Even so, the 47 per cent slump in funds invested in 2016 to $24.7bn, revealed yesterday in KPMG’s Pulse of Fintech publication, is eye-opening. Both macro and micro forces are at play. With the former, the uncertainty created by the Brexit vote, the schism between new US president Donald Trump and the tech community, a perceived economic slowdown in China and significant fluctuations in exchange rates all conspired to make investors more cautious. At a more micro […]
Australia weathers fintech slump
Global investment in fintech companies almost halved last year as “froth” comes out of the burgeoning industry and investors wait to see if they can successfully disrupt incumbents such as banks and insurers, according to a new report. Fintech investment funding declined to $US24.7 billion ($32.17bn) last year from a bumper $US46.7bn in 2015, driven by fewer merger and acquisitions, and private equity investments, KPMG found. However, the less mature Australian fintech industry bucked the trend as investment soared to a record high of $626 million last year, up from $185m in 2015 and $461m in 2014. The increase was powered by Champ Private Equity’s acquisition of Pepperstone, Stirling Products’ […]
