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 »
More than 100 fintech leaders have signed a letter to both the Labor government and Coalition opposition ahead of the May 3 election calling on them to live up to promises made in previous campaigns for reform in financial services, saying the sector’s growth is being hampered by “policy inertia”. Issues such as crypto and… Read more »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
Airwallex put the pedal to the metal for its ‘Shifted Perspectives’ campaign at the launch of the Formula 1 season in Melbourne this week, handing out startup grants and chatting to homegrown McLaren driver Oscar Piastri. The fintech sponsors the UK F1 team McLaren, originally founded in 1965 by Kiwi engineer, innovator, entrepreneur and driver… Read more »
Zeller cofounder Ben Pfisterer knows better than most what it’s like to deal with banks. The fintech’s CEO, who’s spent his career in payments, including six years building Square in Australia for Jack Dorsey, went on to build a banking alternative that became a unicorn (valued at more than $1 billion) in just two years… Read more »
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 »
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 »
A fintech that set out to streamline funds management in the private credit and real estate sectors has raised $3.2 million from strategic investor and customer Balmain. The unit registry and fund administration software startup was founded in 2023, and last year Caruso raised $3 million, led by VC Icehouse Ventures, with support from GD1,… Read more »
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 »
Zip cofounder Larry Diamond has called time on his board roles at the ASX-listed buy-now-pay-later fintech, stepping down as a director and US chairman, effective immediately. “Now is the right time for me to step back from my day-to-day role at Zip,” he said in a statement to the ASX. “I’m very proud of what… Read more »
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