Funding

Queensland R&D finance fintech raises $2.3 million

- May 7, 2025 2 MIN READ

An R&D finance fintech based on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast has raised $2.3 million towards a $25 million fund to lend as non-dilutive capital to Australian startups. Founder Alex Knight moved home to Coolum three years ago to raise a family, having previously worked at crowdfunding platform VentureCrowd and debt financier Tractor Ventures, having also invested… Read more »

Fintech

Financial wellness fintech raises $12 million Series A

- April 22, 2025 < 1 MIN READ

Fintech WeMoney has exceeded plans announced less than 12 months ago to raise $10 million, banking $12m in its latest Series A round. Ironically for a startup that bills itself as a “financial wellness platform” to help people reduce their debts, the round was led by Perth online casino entrepreneur Laurence Escalante via his family… Read more »

Ryan Edwards-Pritchard
Business

Shaype teams up with UK fintech to launch startup super app for small business finance

- April 18, 2025 2 MIN READ

Embedded finance platform Shaype has teamed up with UK fintech ANNA Money to launch Australia’s first AI-powered finance “super app” for startups and small business. The app will act as a single financial co-pilot, consolidating everything from business banking to tax, expenses, company formation and cards. The collaboration also launches ANNA (Absolutely No Nonsense Admin)… Read more »

Business

How ‘smart’ investors are killing your future – and theirs too

- April 15, 2025 19 MIN READ

As I sat at the second ever Systemic Investing Summit in London in March, among 180 hand-picked global wealth holders and controllers, philanthropists, academics and industry practitioners, one disturbing image kept coming to mind. While we discussed innovative financing models and systemic approaches to capital deployment that could save humanity from collapse, I couldn’t shake… Read more »

Jason Leong
Fintech

‘You can’t borrow your way out of a cost-of-living crisis’: fintech founder on the problem with the government’s approach to open banking

- March 21, 2025 3 MIN READ

The founder of fintech PocketSmith believes ordinary Australians should be prioritised by the federal government through the Consumer Data Right (CDR) to address cost-of-living pressures. The call, by cofounder and CEO Jason Leong, follows a record 859 pre-Budget submissions to the Commonwealth Treasury, up from 789 last year, with more than a quarter highlighting the… Read more »

Rehan D'Almeida
Fintech

FinTech Australia’s pre-budget submission warns of ‘two-speed’ ecosystem hurting new startups without R&D tax incentive reform

- March 17, 2025 2 MIN READ

FinTech Australia is calling for an urgent recalibration of Research and Development tax incentives (RDTI) and the Early Stage Venture Capital Limited Partnership (ESVCLP) Program in its submission to  treasurer Jim Chalmers ahead of the federal budget next week The peak body’s 21-page pre-Budget submission makes 11 recommendations to Treasury, arguing that with the right… Read more »

Cryptocurrency

Digital currency exchange BetterX mints $2.3 million pre-Series A

- March 17, 2025 < 1 MIN READ

A B2B platform enabling financial advisers to securely access, trade, and manage digital assets on behalf of their clients has raised $2.3 Million in a pre-Series A. Digital currency exchange BetterX provides institutional-grade infrastructure for tokenisation, trading, and portfolio management, and the round was supported by existing backers Aura Group and Tibra cofounder Kinsey Cotton,… Read more »

Accelerator

CommBank picks Seattle startup as winner of x15ventures accelerator program

- February 19, 2025 2 MIN READ

The Commonwealth Bank’s venture-scaling arm, x15ventures, has chosen a US-based data change management platform, Gable, as winner of its annual Xccelerate program. The startup has secured a SAFE Note investment and is actively exploring multiple partnership opportunities with CommBank. The three other finalists -vUS-based Cleric, local AI fintech Dragonfly Thinking and Eidiex – are also… Read more »

Melissa Widner
Business

Lender Lighter Capital has another $30 million for startups thanks to the Victorian government

- February 4, 2025 2 MIN READ

Venture capital alternative Lighter Capital has extended another $30 million fund offering non-dilutive funding to startups, with the Victorian government and iPartners,  The 15-year-old revenue-based financier, originally from New York, launched in Australia in 2021, and was subsequently backed by Invest Victoria, the state government’s investment attraction agency, and iPartners, with an initial $30 million fund.… Read more »

BNPL, Afterpay, Klarna
Fintech

The BNPL sector is now being regulated as credit in Australia

- December 4, 2024 3 MIN READ

Financial institutions, fintechs, and regulators have welcomed new buy now, pay later (BNPL) rules that will finally treat the sector like other credit providers, with new legislation passed hours before shoppers tapped BNPL to propel Black Friday sales to record-breaking heights. The new regulations will apply corporate regulator ASIC’s National Credit Code (NCC) to a BNPL sector that has… Read more »