Small business invoice lender Waddle is getting new parents, with the Commonwealth Bank taking the fintech off Xero’s hands, three years after the ASX-listed accounting platform acquired the Sydney scaleup in an $80 million deal. Waddle, co-founded in 2014 by Simon Creighton and Nathan Andrews, makes it easier for banks and fintechs to lend to… Read more »
A Sydney venture fund that co-led agtech startup Loam Bio’s huge $105 million round, has raised $220 million in a Series A. Sydney-based Wollemi Capital, founded in 2021, is the brainchild of former Macquarie Capital boss Tim Bishop and Boston Consulting Group’s Asian venture exec Paul Hunyor. The pair set out to raise $100 million,… Read more »
The Commonwealth Bank’s venture-scaling arm, x15ventures, is on the hunt for startups focused on net-zero carbon emissions for its 2023 cohort. Applications opened today, July 17, for x15’s annual Xccelerate program, which develops early-stage startups develop their ideas for corporate partnership. This year’s Xccelerate investment thesis is “helping advance Australia’s transition to net zero” and… Read more »
The Commonwealth Bank (CBA) and Telstra have launched a pilot program to see if they can improve protection from phone scams, via an API. They’ve call the Telstra API Scam Indicator. It’s currently at proof-of-concept stage and to be piloted over the next few months. Early simulation results suggest it can help detect and prevent… Read more »
The Commonwealth Bank has launched its third technology hub around Australia this year, teaming up with Queensland educators to set up shop in Brisbane’s CBD. CBA has partnered with The University of Queensland (UQ), Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and TAFE Queensland, to offer students and graduates the chance to join CBA’s Tech Associates and… Read more »
Commonwealth Bank-backed fintech Klarna’s Australian foray is starting to look like a disaster for the Swedish buy now pay later startup. Banking Day reports that just two years after its launch, an EY audit of Klarna Australia’s CY2021 performance reveals a net loss of $56 million, with revenue falling 71% on its first year of… Read more »
Sydney fintech Paytron has won the Xccelerate 2022 run by the Commonwealth Bank’s x15ventures, landing a $250,000 SAFE note. Paytron, a full-suite workflows and spend management platform, was chosen from four finalists focus on payments, including Cape, Persollo and YouPay, pitching to the investment committee last night. The deal with x15ventures gives the fintech access… Read more »
The Commonwealth Bank’s venture-scaling arm, x15ventures, has revamped its accelerator program, Xccelerate, and is now on the hunt for five early-stage fintech startups to back. While the three previous iterations of Xccelerate have seen x15ventures choose an winner ultimate winner to back – givvable and OwnHome in 2020, and Splashup last year – this time… Read more »
The Commonwealth Bank is expanding its children’s banking products with a new digital app as part of a wider digital strategy announced by CEO Matt Comyn. The range of initiatives the bank launched include a new low interest digital home loan at 2.14% for owner-occupiers. It’s also adding the CommSec share trading app to the… Read more »
The Commonwealth Bank has taken a 20% stake in Brisbane fintech startup Paypa Plane for an undisclosed sum. Founded in 2018 by Simone Joyce and Jonathan Grant, Paypa Plane is a digital payments provider, building a bank-grade platform where traditional scheduled payments and payment initiation via the New Payments Platform (NPP) and PayTo, which is… Read more »
The Commonwealth Bank (CBA) has backed US cryptocurrency exchange Gemini in a US$400 million (A$500m) capital raise. It was Gemini’s first outside financing, and values the business, founded in 2015 by twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, at US$7.1 billion. The round was led by Morgan Creek Digital with CBA taking a minority stake alongside 10T,… Read more »
x15ventures, the Commonwealth Bank’s venture scaling arm, has tipped an additional $700,000 into its joint venture fintech Payble. The startup is a subsidiary of ASX-listed Sydney fintech Identitii (ASX: ID8), which uses blockchain and tokenisation to connect banks and businesses with the data for payments, in a joint venture with x15. Payble co-founder and MD… Read more »
The Commonwealth Bank venture-scaling entity, x15ventures, has launched a new venture targeting Gen Z and Millennials with a brand and deal discovery shopping app that offers cashback rewards Cheddar uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help customers discover personalised brands, authentic content and deals, alongside a rewards program, serving up bite-sized content in the style of… Read more »
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia announced last week that it will allow its customers to buy and sell cryptocurrency through its app, in the first move of its kind by a major Australian bank. If Australia’s biggest bank is willing to offer unregulated products like crypto to their customers and take on board a high… Read more »
Australia’s biggest bank, the Commonwealth (CBA) has made a major play in artificial intelligence, investing $134 million (US$100m) in California AI market leader H2O.ai, for a minority stake. The bank is hoping the exclusive partnership with the Silicon Valley machine learning platform will help make Australia a leading force in AI. H2O is CBA’s exclusive… Read more »
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