ASX-listed fintech MoneyMe is hoping to acquire one of the country’s original fintechs, SocietyOne in a deal worth $132 million. Surprisingly, the merger does not deliver an immediate exit for several key backers of the peer-to-peer personal lending marketplace over the last decade. Leading media companies including News Corp, Seven West Media, and Consolidated Press… Read more »
Sydney BNPL fintech QuickaPay has been acquired by legal services payments platform RapidPay. QuickaPay was co-founded by Nathan Carroll and Nick Glynn in 2019 and was one of the first companies to emerge out of the early-stage VC and startup accelerator Antler Australia. Antler invested pre-seed funding in QuickaPay and it’s the VC’s first exit among… Read more »
Sydney digital asset manager TCM Capital has hitched its wagon to Singapore-based digitisation, tokenisation and provenance services firm Trovio to create the Trovio Group in a deal that values the merged cryptocurrency entity at $200 million. An oversubscribed raise as part of the merger, led by Ellerston Capital, Sun Hung Kai Strategic Capital and Amherst… Read more »
ASX-listed hipages Group has acquired New Zealand online tradie marketplace Builderscrack for A$11.8 million in cash and equity. The deal gives hipages (ASX:HPG) access to a NZ$26 billion total addressable market in addition to Builderscrack’s 4,000 active tradies and 200,000 registered homeowners. The Kiwi marketplace saw 95,000 jobs posted on its platform, worth NZ$67 million… Read more »
Afterpay’s $39 billion takeover deal with Square dragged down the Australian fintech’s share price yet again amid delays and the US payments company announcing a rebrand. Because the takeover is an all-scrip deal, Square’s (NYSE: ASX) 6.6% fall in its stock overnight weighed on Afterpay (ASX: APT) in Thursday trade, falling 6.08% to close at… Read more »
Seven West Media has taken a 6.6% strategic investment in financial services platform, Raiz Invest Ltd in a $10 million deal. Raiz (ASX: RZI) shares jumped more than 11% to $ 1.77 in Tuesday AM trade following the news The investment will cost Seven (ASX:SWM) $2 million in cash, with the balance made up of $8… Read more »
Ruslan Kogan, founder and CEO of the ASX-listed online retailer bearing his name, is paid more than the chief executives of retail giants Woolworths, Coles and Wesfarmers, taking home a whopping $9 million pay packet last year. But it seems many of the company’s shareholders question that cost, with the company’s remuneration report copping a… Read more »
Casual jobs marketplace Airtasker this week held its first AGM since listing six months ago and despite the disruption of 2021’s pandemic lockdowns, pent-up demand to get things done has seen use of the platform soar. Airtasker’s (ASX:ART) gross marketplace volume (GMV) – a measure of activity on the platform – crossed $200 million as… Read more »
Shares in alternative drugs development company Emyria (ASX: EMD) popped 20% today on news that mining billionaire Dr Andrew Forrest’s family investment firm, Tattarang, had invested $5 million via a share placement. Emyria (ASX: EMD) shares closed at $0.39 cents following Monday’s trade after news of Tattarang becoming a strategic investor at $0.25 cents a… Read more »
Shares in hotel commerce platform, SiteMinder jumped 38% on debut on Monday, adding $500 million to the value of the business. SiteMinder’s IPO raised $627 million at $5.06 a share, for a market capitalisation of $1.36 billion. Shares in the business (ASX:SDR) closed at $7.10 on Monday for a $1.88 billion market cap. Equity funds… Read more »
Assembly Payments has completed its merger with Irish cross-border payments marketplace CurrencyFair and rebanded as Zai. The Melbourne fintech announced the merger in April this year, which went ahead following regulatory approval. It’s the second rebrand for Assembly Payments, which was founded in 2013 as PromisePay by Darren McMurtrie, Simon Lee and Simon Jones. The Westpac-backed… Read more »
Judo Bank made its ASX debut today, delivering comparatively modest gains for investors in the fintech’s IPO compared to some recent tech listings. Judo (ASX: JDO) ended its first day up trade up 7.6%, closing at $2.26 from a listing price of $2.10. More than 19.5 million shares changed hands. The float raised $657 million… Read more »
Artificial intelligence (AI)-driven startup Hyper Anna has been acquired by NYSE-listed California analytics automation firm Alteryx. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Alteryx (NYSE: AYX) has a market cap of more than A$6.9 billion. Founded in Sydney in 2015 by Natalie Nguyen and Sam Zheng, the data science startup delivers business insights to… Read more »
Employee experience platform Culture Amp has acquired San Francisco cultural values recognition startup Disco. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Disco helps companies recognise and celebrate values-driven work, foster team appreciation and improve company culture across distributed teams. Founded in 2015, the venture is an app in Slack and Microsoft Teams. Culture Amp… Read more »
Business payments startup Novatti Group has $10.5 million in series A commitments for its new banking venture. The listed fintech (ASX:NOV) is launching a banking subsidiary, Novatti B Holding Company (NBHC), and has applied for a restricted banking licence from the regular, APRA, setting itself and investors a deadline of February 2022 for approval. In… Read more »
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