The Australian alternative lending space has a new player in its midst, with new offering Lumi launching following the raise of a $31.5 million Series A round.
As the statistics show, access to capital can be life or death for a business – but it can be difficult and expensive to obtain.
Fintech startup Study Loans, which looks to help students finance their tertiary education, has secured a $50 million finance facility from an ‘ASX200 finance company’ and launched a $5 million capital raise.
Just a few weeks on from securing a $20 million debt funding facility from National Australia Bank, fintech startup Brighte has raised $18.5 million in a Series B round led by Airtree Ventures.
US fintech Credible, founded by Australian Stephen Dash, is raising $67 million (US$50 million) as it lists on the Australian Securities Exchange today.
Study Loans works with the educational institutions to have tuition paid to the organisation as a student progresses through their studies, like the government study loan programs.
Sydney-based fintech zipMoney has announced a strategic partnership with global ecommerce tool Shopify, which will see the startup’s digital wallet solution rolled out to Shopify’s network of merchants.
Online Home Loans is a startup looking to harness AI in order to make a splash in the, well, online home loans industry with their new chatbot, Sophie.
At 11 years old, Nimble is now one of the oldest players in the burgeoning loans market, but the veteran company is based on the Gold Coast and actually first launched with a bricks and mortar storefront.
Fintech startup Sail Funding is bringing airport-grade ID security to SMBs seeking small business loans. The startup has already raised $8 million in funding and is one of eight Australian startups participating in the Tel Aviv Landing Pad program.
Art Money was established with the simple goal of making it easier and more affordable for people to buy art. As founder and 10 Group CEO Paul Becker puts it, Art Money is “an enabler, a means to an end, which is increasing access to art.”
Edstart allows parents to receive a loan for their child’s school fees, which they can pay back over a period of up to 10 years.
Australian startup Bigstone has today announced the launch of its online lending marketplace to offer the best small business loans in the country. The startup aims to help fill the $2.4 trillion credit gap in the SME lending market by giving small businesses a better risk adjusted rate of return.
Westpac’s VC fund Reinventure has invested in fintech startup Valiant Finance, a business loan marketplace that matches borrowers with lenders to provide SMEs with an alternative source of funding. This is the second round of funding for Valiant, with Westpac in the process of finalising the deal, following on from its first seed investment of $800,000, along with H2 Ventures and a range of angel investors.
Australian startup TruePillars recently launched to serve small and medium sized businesses seeking loans to finance growth. In turn, the startup helps investors expand their portfolios and show their support for local businesses.
Paul Little’s seed round fund, Skalata Ventures, has made its first investments, including F1 engineers using driving simulators to make roads safer 
Web development platform Codebots lands a $1.4 million Series A 
The NAB wants to back tech startups to the tune of $2 billion over the next 5 years 
The hospitality industry now has an app that solves two of the sector’s biggest problems 
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