Fintech startup MoneyMe hits $100 million loans; sets eyes on niche loans market
Fintech startup, MoneyMe Financial Group, has this week broken through the $100 million loan mark, after record daily compounded growth of 2,747 per cent in its medium amount and personal loans offerings drove its lending volume exponentially in the past few months. This rapid acceleration, combined with record low default and customer complaint rates, now sees MoneyMe set to launch a series of niche loan products over 2017, all designed to provide greater financial inclusion for the growing Australian millennial market. “To have reached this exciting milestone so quickly really is validation that the millennial market is actively looking for financial alternatives to the big banks and their […]
Sequoia and Gobi hunting Aussie start-ups following Airwallex round
Big name Chinese venture capital firms are hunting for Australian tech start-ups to invest in, targeting firms in the fintech, agricultural and medical technology sectors. Sequoia Capital partner Steven Ji and Gobi Partners principal Chibo Tang were in Australia last week meeting with local start-ups, venture capital firms and government ministers, with the aim of finding new businesses to back and both agreed that Chinese investors were keen to invest in asset classes outside of property in the country. “We think Australia is a good place for innovation technology and products, particularly in the fintech area,” Mr Ji told The Australian Financial Review. “There’s been a lot of technology innovations […]
Crowdfunder signs-off on world-first ag land acquisition deal
THE crowd-funder which made headlines last year when it tried to mount a bid to buy S.Kidman & Co during the pastoral giant’s torturous path to sale has made its first rural property purchase – albeit on a much more modest scale. Crowd-funder DomaCom has finalised its first foray into agricultural assets with a ground-breaking deal that gives 90 smaller retail investors a stake in a high performance grazing property in Victoria’s prime Western Districts. The 150-hectare property, Doyles, just outside Casterton near the South Australian border, is in the undulating heartland of the prime beef and sheep region. Before entering a contract to purchase the property, the fund was […]
H2 Ventures announces new startups following fresh funding
The co-founder of fintech accelerator H2 Ventures, Toby Heap, has warned Australia’s big four banks that they are underestimating the wave of digital disruption taking place in their sector, as it announces its next intake of hopeful startups. H2’s next group of entrepreneurs will range from a startup that provides people with their own personal chef, called DishMe, to a social sporting platform that lets sport fans compete against their friends during live matches, called FanTrade. To date 25 startups have gone through the accelerator program, including online marketplace for home loans HashChing, which raised $1 million from Sapien Ventures last year, and crowdfunding platform Equitise, which also raised more […]
Square Peg has $US180m to invest in tech start-ups
Paul Bassat’s Square Peg Capital has officially closed the books on a $US180 million ($234 million) raise for its first fund, in another sign of the revival of the venture capital asset class in Australia. The Australian Financial Review can reveal the Melbourne-based start-up investment firm recently completed the fundraising process for its first fund, exceeding its original $200 million target. Square Peg was set up by Mr Bassat, a co-founder of employment website Seek, in 2012. It has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into start-ups since then, including taking an early stake in the world’s most valuable private tech firm, Uber. But until now it has been structured […]
ASIC to offer blockchain guidance to businesses
This year businesses will move from talking about the potential of distributed ledger technology inspired by Bitcoin’s blockchain to actually implementing and trialling it, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s chairperson, Greg Medcraft, today told the organisation’s annual forum. As a consequence, ASIC is planning to shortly release an information sheet for businesses that are implementing and testing distributed ledger solutions, Medcraft said in remarks prepared for the forum. “The information sheet provides a framework to help industry and ASIC to assess whether using the solution would meet the relevant technology and risk management requirements,” the ASIC chairperson said. “This information sheet will be relevant for both existing licensees and […]
Qantas partners with Slingshot for its first startup accelerator program
Qantas will open its technology platforms, data and anonymised customer information to up to 10 start-up or scale-up businesses when it runs its first ‘accelerator’ from May. The Avro Accelerator, named after Qantas’ first aircraft, is a 12-week program designed to help the airline innovate across its business, including its offshoots in insurance and banking. Qantas’ partner in running the accelerator is Slingshot, a specialist in bringing corporate sponsors together with relevant start-up and scale-up businesses. Slingshot’s venture capital fund, whose investors include industry super fund Hostplus, will back each business selected for Avro with $50,000 upfront, with a further $100,000 for those still showing promise at the end of […]
DomaCom signs off on new crowdfunding deal
DomaCom has finalised its first venture into agricultural assets with a deal that gives 90 retail investors a stake in a property in Victoria’s prime Western District pastoral land. The 150-hectare property, ‘Doyles’, outside Casterton near the South Australian border, is in the heart of prime beef and sheep region. Prior to entering into a contract to purchase the property, the fund was successful in securing a strong local operator as the tenant. The tenant will use the property to run beef cattle. “The identification of good operators to work with in the leasing of the property was key to the transaction. We are striving to deliver a packaged opportunity […]
