Why COVID-19 was a watershed moment for Australian fintech

The COVID-19 crisis has caused significant interruptions for the startup ecosystem within Australia, posing a new array of challenges for those seeking to scale or raise money in an uncertain macroeconomic environment.

Yet venture capital firms and startup founders have found ways to remain resilient and succeed by adopting new measures in the face of an unprecedented global pandemic.

Seed Space Venture Capital is one such VC firm that argues the seismic shifts brought about by COVID-19 have triggered increased digital acceleration and uptake of mobile financial services, providing ample opportunity for fintechs to rise up and seize their moment.

“COVID-19 has increased the pace of change in the digitisation of financial services, and e-commerce,” said Dirk Steller, founder and managing partner of Seed Space.

“And that has actually been a tailwind for fintech in Australia because the backbone of e-commerce is driven by fintechs who, in the background, facilitate payments and interfaces with consumers.

“These companies have risen to the fore during the pandemic, providing fascinating new online experiences for customers.

“Being more isolated and doing things more remotely and more electronically has given a turbo boost to the changes that we already expected to happen, but now at a pace much faster than we anticipated.”

For many startup founders, Steller believes this boost has helped to kickstart new ventures, especially with the rapid growth of digitisation across the world when social distancing became mandated. Financial technology and e-commerce have particularly seen a rapid growth in our quest to adapt to the new norms of the COVID era, he added.

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Source: Why COVID-19 was a watershed moment for Australian fintech – Stockhead