Neobank Xinja goes hunting for another $50 million from crowdfunding

Digital bank Xinja is looking for another $50 million from investors in a Series D raise from crowdfunding.

The bank has already secured the first tranche of $20 million and the fortnight-long raise through Equitise is offering 12.254 million shares – taking the total to nearly 70 million – at $4.08 a share to wholesale and sophisticated investors. The minimum investment is $20,400 (5000 shares).

The raise values Xinga at more than $285.5 million.

The neobank has now raised around $70 million through crowdfunding, including the first 40% of the Series D, with half the funds, $25m, from the latest round, allocated to regulatory capital, alongside $10 million to employees $9 million to IT, and $1.5 million to marketing.

The first Equitise campaign saw 1,220 investors buy shares at $1.25.  A year later, in January 2019, Xinja issued shares at $2.04 each to 1500 investors, and now, they’ve doubled in value a year on.

Since launching its high interest savings account in mid-January – receiving a full bank licence in September 2019 – Xinja has taken more than $300 million in deposits and now has 25,000 customers with more than 41,000 accounts.

Founder and CEO Eric Wilson said he would have liked to open the equity raise to Xinja’s customers, but the current regulations around equity crowdfunding prevented them from doing so.

“As part of our recent submission to the Australian Senate Select Committee on Financial Technology and Regulatory Technology, we recommended that this restriction
be lifted,” he said.

Wilson said said the bank had met its deposit targets already and plans to offer personal and home loans later this year.

“We are looking forward to continuing to grow the bank, with some really amazing banking experiences and features,” he said.