LoanDolphin completes $1.1 million seed funding
LoanDolphin, Australia’s leading loan bidding platform, has successfully raised a total of $1.1 million from key investors to expand its presence in major capital cities in a bid to claim a stake in Australia’s $1.5 trillion home loan market. Strategic investor Barry Lambert provided $1 million, with the remainder from fintech investment firm H2 Ventures. Mr Lambert founded Count Financial in 1980 and sold the company to Commonwealth Bank in 2011 for $373 million. The seed funding values the Sydney-based fintech startup at $5 million post capital raising rounds. LoanDolphin is a free online platform for people to refinance or obtain new home loans at rates […]
EY FinTech Australia Census 2016
FinTech Australia and EY Sweeney release the most comprehensive analysis of Australia’s fintech ecosystem to date, the EY FinTech Australia Census 2016 FinTech Australia and EY Sweeney are today releasing the inaugural EY FinTech Australia Census 2016, the most comprehensive and detailed report on the Australian fintech industry to date. The research was formally launched in Melbourne today by EY’s Anita Kimber at FinTech Australia’s national summit, Collab/Collide 2016 in partnership with LaunchVic. This significant piece of research was commissioned by FinTech Australia as part of their efforts to foster a thriving fintech ecosystem in Australia. The report identifies important characteristics of the Australian fintech industry, and establishes a set […]
Progressclaim.com launches ProgressPay
Progressclaim.com, the construction industry standard for connected contract administration™, announced that it has partnered with international debtor finance specialist Omniveta Finance to offer General Contractors the ability to empower their Subcontractors by providing access to a product that helps improve their cash flows and strengthen and grow their businesses. The new product, ProgressPay™, enables Subcontractors to receive payments for their progress claims within 2 business days of their approval by a participating General Contractor. The current standard practice in the construction industry is for the Subcontractor to supply and pay for their own labour and materials to complete work as quoted, and then lodge a progress claim with the […]
Major Australian fintech Tyro just hired the UBank founder as its CEO
UBank founder Gerd Schenkel has been hired as Tyro Payments’ new CEO to build the fintech company’s next-generation bank. Schenkel has been hired by Tyro, Australia’s fast-growing nextGen banking institution, to run an ambitious growth plan and a strong public advocacy campaign. “When someone of Gerd’s talent becomes available you grab the opportunity with both hands,” says current CEO Jost Stollmann. “Now that Tyro has a bank licence and $100 million in new capital, Gerd joining the Tyro team as new CEO is the last piece needed to deliver very strong growth in the years ahead.” Stollmann, the company’s largest shareholder, will continue as a full time executive director. Gerd […]
Findex launches Family Office in Australia
Findex, Australia’s largest privately owned accountancy and financial advisory firm, today launched Family Office, an entirely new financial offering that gives individuals and businesses a single point of contact to build and maintain their wealth. For the first time, clients of Findex will gain access to their own office of financial and business advisory specialists for their personal and business affairs. Their adviser will act as a single point of contact and provide access an expanded suite of services under the one umbrella. These range from tax, wealth management, risk consulting, lending, insurance, self-managed superannuation, audit and assurance, management consulting to business advisory and more. The offering builds on the […]
Money for millennials: six popular investment options
Millennials have been locked out of the housing market, so are there other avenues of investment open to them? Certainly, the finance industry is working hard on creating products for younger people, but where to turn? The plan for young Aussies has always been: work hard, save your money, buy a house, start a family, then worry about the rest later. Now that the average 20 per cent deposit in Sydney and Melbourne sits at $156,000 and $115,200, respectively, part three (buy a home) in that classic four-point plan is changing. Claire Mackay, a director at Quantum Financial, says that whatever investment choice is made by a millennial investor, the […]
H2Ocean pulls float, but commits to raising new private fund
The listing of what was set to be Australia’s first public venture capital company, H2Ocean, has been pulled, but the firm intends to proceed with raising a private fund. As revealed by Street Talk, the company – the brain child of H2 Ventures founders Ben and Toby Heap – was unable to raise enough capital. H2Ocean had been trying to raise between $27.5 million and $55 million to establish a portfolio of 15 to 50 fintech start-ups, but Ben Heap told The Australian Financial Review the firm had fallen just short of its target. Rather than persist with a lower amount, Mr Heap said it was better to withdraw the […]
Prospa and The Entourage combine to inspire small business owners
Prospa, Australia’s largest online lender to small business, has launched an innovative partnership with educator The Entourage that enables business owners and budding entrepreneurs to fund education through their business cashflow. The partnership will enable business owners to access The Entourage’s Launch, Build and Scale education programs and advice from leading entrepreneurs using an interest free loan from Prospa, instead of a large upfront payment, credit card or expensive personal loan. Beau Bertoli Joint CEO of Prospa said “It’s amazing that two of Australia’s entrepreneurial success stories are partnering to offer Australian small business owners and fledgling entrepreneurs access to finance and education. “Prospa and The Entourage have the same […]
