How a spreadsheet born in a Sydney living room became a fintech with 300,000 users
It was only in 2012 that Pocketbook founders Bosco Tan and Alvin Singh had enough of not knowing where their money was going, and decided they could only fix the problem themselves. “Pocketbook started out as a spreadsheet,” Singh told Business Insider. “I was trying to make my money go further — and not knowing where I actually stood financially in terms of money coming in and money going out meant that that was extremely difficult even to start out.” Singh said that he had a main bank, an everyday credit card and an occasional credit card for online purchases, which made it that much harder to form a high […]
Australian cashless future finding favour
Powering the payments process will be fintechs such as Australian start-up Assembly Payments, which provides a single payment platform that is compatible with various disbursement channels, with clients so far including Gumtree, Airtasker and carsales.com.au. Online innovations such as Amazon’s digital assistant Alexa are already enabling customers to shop via voice-activated transactions, while messenger apps and social media heavyweights such as Facebook are making forays into the banking and payments space. World of opportunity Fintech digital payments are forecast to be worth $1.8 billion by 2020 in Australia alone, and are proving to be a major disruptor of the banking sector. With increased convenience, flexibility and low-to-zero fees, could traditional […]
Fintech Down Under
Cameron Dart is the CEO of International Fintech, a hub that connects Australian fintech companies to the rest of the world and vice versa. The company recently opened a London “launch pad” office that helps Australian startups expand globally and links startups in other countries to the Australian market. To help shed light on the state of Australian fintech, Benzinga caught up with Cameron Dart for a Q&A about innovation and how fintech solves problems for Australian users. Q&A With Cameron Dart What’s the general “lay of the land” of Australian fintech? The Australian fintech industry as a whole is in its infancy compared to the United States and the […]
2 Upcoming FinTech IPOs
For decades financial services in numerous flavours were the exclusive province of the banking sector. To get a loan, pay bills, apply for credit cards, or transfer money, consumers and corporations alike turned to banks. It is hard to imagine the rise of the Internet is little more than 20 years old and the rise of smartphones is even more recent – less than 10 years. As a direct result new industries are emerging, among them FinTech, or financial technology. FinTech companies offer alternatives to the banks and as such stand ready to massively disrupt the way financial services are delivered. Direct peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding are changing the way […]
Two FinTech disruptors hit the ASX
Two new Diversified Financial offerings listing on the ASX have the potential to shake things up for money lenders in both the consumer and commercial space. The companies are Directmoney (DM1) – a Peer to Peer (P2P) lender with a twist; and zipMoney (ZML) – a unique online credit provider for consumers and businesses. Both are prime examples of one of the hot long-term trends in technology – FinTech, or financial technology. FinTech companies are disrupting traditional financial services with the use of software and online platforms. In truth, disruptive activity in financial services pre-dates the Internet and the extensive use of sophisticated financial software. Dealing with traditional banks for […]
