Digital challenger bank Alex has been granted its full banking license by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA). The approval authorised deposit-taking institution (ADI) comes 18 months after the fintech, founded in 2018 by CEO Simon Beitz, a former Suncorp exec, and Chief Financial Officer Craig Fenwick, was granted its Restricted ADI licence amid a… Read more »
Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services have dramatically changed the landscape of personal lending, largely by being easy to access and not charging interest – thus avoiding national credit laws. In the 2021-22 financial year, according to data from the Reserve Bank of Australia, the number of active BNPL accounts in Australia rose from 5… 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 »
Ethic Adviser, a sustainable investing solution for financial advisers, investment brokers and accountants, is looking to raise $1 million in Seed funding to expand the globally. The fintech was developed by Tom Culver last year, before launching in March, to give advisers a SAAS solution offering specialist sustainable investing tools and information. “With the acceleration… Read more »
Privacy-focused payment startup Xiippy was the big winner from the River Rival pitch competition that closed out Brisbane’s Something Tech conference last week, taking out both the judge’s award for Best in Product and tying for the Best of the Best award with diabetes medicine subscription service Stripped Supply. Xiipy is encouraging retail merchants to… Read more »
The annual Australian fintech census by consulting firm EY reveals the sector continues to grow strongly, despite the headwinds of the last 12 months, but founders face the same challenges and concerns when it comes to talent, salary costs and access to capital as other startups The 7th EY FinTech Australia Census report, collaboration between… 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 »
A review into how to tackle the ongoing problem of de-banking in the fintech sector by the Council of Financial Regulators has come back with four key recommendations for the Australian government that industry lobby group Fintech Australia describes as “a good first step” on the issue. In March, the former Coalition government asked the… 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 selected four payments startups as the finalists for its Xccelerate22 program. The four – Paytron, YouPay, Cape and Persollo – were chosen from 16 fintechs chosen to take part in the Xccelerate Community Day a fortnight ago, going on to take part in a a deep-dive session known as the Pathway to… Read more »
Brisbane cryptocurrency exchange Swyftx has laid off 74 staff in the wake of its merger with share trading platform Superhero in June. Co-CEOs Alex Harper and Ryan Parsons broke the news to the a 320 team at a “townhall” meeting on Wednesday saying that they’d decided to reduce the site of the business in the… Read more »
Sugar Wallet is a New Zealand fintech cofounded by Devrath (Dev) Soni and Sophia Ritchie with a mission to make investment ‘ridiculously simple’ for everyone. “In APAC alone, there are 143 million who can afford investing but continue to primarily save through their bank,” Soni said. “One of the reasons for this is because platforms… Read more »
The 25-year legacy of local payments platform BPAY and US rival PayPal count for little in the fast-moving fintech space with buy-now-pay-later market leader Afterpay now better known by a majority of Australians according to the latest Roy Morgan Digital Payments Report. The report found that 17.5 million Australians aged 14+ (82.8%) are now aware of buy-now-pay-later… Read more »
Global payments platform Visa is reportedly looking at investing in a new in Melbourne fintech Airwallex in a raise worth up to A$290 million in an additional Series E round. Bloomberg, citing anonymous sources “familiar with the matter”, reports that the deal could be done with Airwallex maintaining the A$7.6 billion (US$5.5bn) valuation it had… Read more »
Ticket sales for FinTech Australia’s annual conference, Intersekt 2022, have opened, with the event set to repeat last year’s sellout status. FinTech Australia GM Rehan D’Almeida said this year’s Intersekt promises to be the biggest yet, featuring several international speakers, including the founder and CEO of the UK’s leading finance fintech Swoop, Andrea Reynolds, who… Read more »
Milkrun, the last local grocery delivery standing, is still trying to find fresh capital after raising $75 million
Bill Gates, Twiggy Forrest back livestock emissions reduction startup Rumin8 in $17 million Seed top up
Furniture startup Brosa to fold leaving customers $5 million out of pocket
Logistics giant Wisetech Global just gobbled up another tech startup for $327 million
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