Young, male and educated: Australian fintech has a type

Australia’s typical fintech founder is a bloke in his 40s with a postgraduate degree.

That’s one of the findings of the 2018 EY Fintech Australia census, which shows 72 per cent of Australia’s financial technology startup employees and 81 per cent of founders are men.

FinTech Australia chairman Alan Tsen says the sector is focused on boosting the participation of women, noting female fintech staff numbers are up 4 per cent in the past 12 months.

“The Fintech Australia board, which is 50:50 gender balance, remains committed to driving tangible actions and initiatives to help further increase female participation in the sector,” he said in a statement when the census was released on Monday.

But female fintech founders say the issue is more nuanced.

“No disregard to the data, but sometimes we’re just too busy to fill out surveys. Sometimes we just don’t get counted,” CivicLedger co-founder Katrina Donaghy tells Fairfax Media.

CivicLedger works with governments to solve civic problems with the use of blockchain technologies.

Donaghy, a speaker at FinTech Australia’s Intersekt conference in Melbourne this week, says female representation is higher in businesses focused on blockchain and AI than on payments.

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