finder Awards 2017: Innovation finalists announced
Entrepreneurs, start-ups and leading businesses are among this year’s finder Awards finalists. Finalists have been named across seven innovation categories following an extensive judging process in a range of industries from finance to technology, retail and travel. Fred Schebesta, co-founder and director of finder.com.au, says the annual awards have uncovered a diverse range products and brands which challenge the status quo – all with innovation at their heart. “From new smartphone apps to bite-sized property investing, these outside of the box ideas have the potential to change lives,” he says. “We were blown away by the calibre and number of entries this year; all of the finalists are finding solutions […]
Four areas Australia should focus on to lead in the coming fintech boom
If Australia wants to lead the next wave of fintech innovation, it needs the next generation of start-ups to be successful. Although the federal government and the corporate sector are on board, it will take more than general support for Australia’s fintech scene to mature competitively. Sydney start-up hub Stone and Chalk’s CEO Alex Scandurra believes the Australian fintech industry is already maturing past apps and gadgets, but the “valley of death” – the time before a start-up is cashflow positive – still looms large in an industry riddled with failed ventures. This is one reason the focus for Stone and Chalk has grown into more of a “fintech ecosystem”, […]
Stone & Chalk to open in Melbourne, backed by AustralianSuper, NAB, ANZ
Fintech hub Stone & Chalk will open in Melbourne next month with the support of new corporate backers including AustralianSuper and National Australia Bank, in a move that will establish a centre of gravity for fintech in Victoria. Alan Tsen, who will become Stone & Chalk’s general manager in Melbourne, having stepped down as chief executive of Fintech Victoria, says the new location at 459 Collins Street, alongside agtech acclerator SproutX, will be its first base in the city. The space will open in mid-August and expand to accommodate about 15 start-ups (the space has room for 60 desks) before expansion into a bigger hub. The second centre for Stone […]
Exchange traded fund opportunities and risks
Australia is a long way from having “biblical” exchange traded funds (ETFs), as the US does, that exclude companies that support lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender rights. But a rush of new ETFs in this market is creating controversy. Local issuers expect a massive conversion of investors into ETFs in the next five years, tripling the market’s size and disrupting the wealth-management industry. If product promoters are right, ETFs will revolutionise how hundreds of thousands of people invest. iShares Australia director Jon Howie believes Australia’s ETF market could hit $100 billion in assets by 2023, from $29 billion in May 2017. “There’s no reason why ETFs cannot account for around […]
Ex-Turnbull adviser Paul Shetler joins Stone & Chalk to teach innovation
Paul Shetler and Alex Scandurra are on a mission: to get boards to stop merely thinking and talking about innovation and to start doing it. Shetler has emerged in his first private sector role after Malcolm Turnbull hired him to run the government’s Digital Transformation Office, which he left in November. He has been convinced by Scandurra, the chief executive of Stone & Chalk, to join the Sydney-based fintech hub for a couple of days a week to advise both tenants and companies wanting to deepen their engagement with new economy. AFR Weekend sat down with Shetler and Scandurra to understand directors’ psyche towards risk-taking and responding to the powerful […]
This fintech let Australians use Bitcoin to pay $5 million worth of everyday bills
A Brisbane startup has allowed Australians to pay off $5 million worth of common household bills with Bitcoin. The unusually named Living Room of Satoshi has created a service that allows any bill that you can pay through the common BPay platform to be paid with Bitcoin. These include payment for utilities like telecommunications, electricity, gas, school fees, water and credit cards. The startup’s chief executive Daniel Alexiuc said that he started the venture in 2014 because of a lack of practical use for the cryptocurrency. “As the first truly international, decentralised and peer to peer currency, Bitcoin is perfectly suited to bill payments in Australia,” he said. “It also […]
Top 25 Australian Fintech Influencers
The Australian fintech industry is booming, and according to Finder.com.au these are the people (in no particular order) that are helping to shape it: Alex Scandurra – CEO of Stone & Chalk Alistair Lamond – Commercial director of Skippr Andrea Myles – CEO of the China Australia Millennial Project Asher Tan – Co-founder and CEO of CoinJar Ben Heap – Founding partner at H2 Ventures Caitlyn Iles – Founder of XChange Cameron Dart – Founder and CEO of Australian FinTech Charlotte Petris – Founder and CEO of Timelio, vice-president of Fintech Australia Danielle Szetho – CEO of Fintech Australia Danny Gilligan – Co-founder of Reinventure and co-founder of Data Republic […]
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 […]
