OurCrowd reaches $1bn funds under management with $200m from Australian backers
Israel-founded equity crowdfunding platform OurCrowd has become one of the biggest sources of offshore venture capital for Australian investors, revealing it just surpassed $1 billion under management, globally with more than 20 per cent or $200 million coming from Australian investors. OurCrowd, which has achieved 20 exits from company investments since launching in 2012 and currently backs 150 start-ups and scale-ups including one in Australia, allows wholesale investors to back those companies with a minimum investment of $10,000. Since it launched in Australia in 2014 it has picked up 2000 accredited investors locally out of a global crowd of 25,000. It takes a minimum 5 per cent stake alongside its […]
ASX details timeline, features for new blockchain-inspired system
ASX Limited, the operator of the Australian Securities Exchange, has released new details of the system inspired by Bitcoin’s blockchain technology that will replace CHESS: The ASX’s Clearing House Electronic Subregister System. CHESS provides clearing, settlement and other post-trade services for the exchange. ASX in early 2016 revealed that it had acquired a stake in New York-headquartered Digital Asset Holdings, which develops blockchain-inspired distributed ledger technology (DLT). The intention was to explore whether a DLT-based system could potentially replace CHESS, which was originally rolled out in 1994. Although the exchange operator has emphasised that CHESS is stable and continues to function effectively, ASX says that replacing it with a blockchain-style […]
OnMarket closes world’s most popular equity crowdfunding offer
Equity crowdfunding platform OnMarket has successfully closed the world’s most popular equity crowdfunding offer. Solar energy retailer DC Power Co. has crowdfunded close to $2.5mil from over 15,000 investors. DC Power Co. is “Australia’s first solar-focused energy retailer” which offers to optimise household solar systems to use less energy and earn more money. Equity crowdfunding is the new way for everyday investors, mums and dads, and the millennial generation to invest in early-stage and growth-stage businesses. Where traditionally, this capital raising space was dominated by wealthy individuals, venture capitalists and angel investors, now everyone is able to handpick a company, invest and gain a stake. OnMarket Managing Director Rosie Kennedy […]
Soros prepares to trade cryptocurrencies as prices plunge
George Soros called cryptocurrencies a bubble in January. Now his $26 billion ($33 billion) family office is planning to trade digital assets. Adam Fisher, who oversees macro investing at New York-based Soros Fund Management, got internal approval to trade virtual coins in the last few months, though he has yet to make a wager, according to people familiar with the matter. A spokesman declined to comment. Soros, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, said digital coins cannot function as actual currencies because of their volatility. But he didn’t predict the hard tumble that some observers had forecast at the time. “As long as you have dictatorships on the […]
Westpac strikes deal with Assembly Payments
Westpac Banking Corp has bought an equity stake in Assembly Payments and will work with the Melbourne-based fintech to integrate the bank’s merchant terminals with customers’ point-of-sale (POS) software, removing the need for transaction amounts to be entered into retailers’ systems twice. For workers in the nation’s restaurants and coffee shops, entering the dollar amount of a transaction into a banking terminal to complete a sale might be a small frustration, but the extra process can add up to real dollars for business owners. Westpac estimates that for a typical Sydney CBD cafe – which completes between 1000 and 1500 transactions a day – the three to five seconds of […]
Australia’s first equity crowdfunding deal closes successfully
Equity crowdfunding platform OnMarket has successfully closed Australia’s first equity crowdfunding offer. Revvies Energy Strips Limited (Revvies) has become the first company in Australia to raise capital by utilising the government’s new equity crowdfunding legislation. Equity crowdfunding is the new way for everyday investors, mums and dads, and the millennial generation to invest in early-stage and growth-stage businesses. Where traditionally, this capital raising space was dominated by wealthy individuals, venture capitalists and angel investors, now everyone is able to handpick a company, invest and gain a stake. OnMarket founder Ben Bucknell said “Equity crowdfunding brings entrepreneurs and consumer investors together for the first time, and that is what we have […]
GROW Super begins group insurance innovation
GROW Super is partnering with one of the world’s largest reinsurers to explore the potential for blockchain technology within group insurance. Entering a joint venture with Hannover Life Re Australasia, GROW will use R3’s Corda blockchain infrastructure to deliver improved customer experiences. “Combining the scale, knowledge and brand of Hannover Re with GROW’s innovative technology and unique way of solving problems promises fantastic outcomes for customers,” GROW Super chief executive Josh Wilson said. “Using Corda allows us to be completely confident in the integrity of infrastructure of the distributed ledger. This will allow us to focus with Hannover Re on creating customer experiences that will eventually be seamless, immutable and […]
Moneycatcha uses blockchain to streamline mortgage applications
MoneyCatcha is using blockchain technology to make home loan applications quicker and cheaper. One of the most time consuming and costly processes banks go through is signing customers up to a mortgage. The full loan application process can take weeks and has a significant cost. Data is often captured and manually re-entered several times resulting in potential errors and a further waste of resources. As a highly competitive part of retail banking, and perhaps its most profitable activity, being able to differentiate from other banks is critical. Also, with increased scrutiny on loan documents as we’ve seen through the Royal Commission on banking, the need to be able prove the […]
