ASX-listed Identitii sells down stake in fintech Payble amid $2.5 million raise

Listed fintech Identitii (ASX: ID8) has sold nearly half its stake in its payments subsidiary Payble for $1 million, alongside a $2.5 million raise for the startup.

Identitii sold 48% of its Payble shareholding to OIF Ventures for $1 million. The Sydney VC also tipped $2.5 million in additional capital into the fintech, founded in 2020 by Elliott Donazzan, a former director of innovation at Identitii.

Payble tackles late and failed bill payments before they happen, seeing the possibilities in open banking through the Consumer Data Right. More than 75 million payments annually that are scheduled and fail or are late and the fintech hopes to reduce those incidents.

The startup has been backed by Commonwealth Bank’s venture scaling arm, x15ventures, which in early 2021 invested $1 million for a 26.7% stake and followed up with a further $700,000 in November of that year.

The latest raise and secondary sale values Payble at $10.5 million, with Identitii retaining a 10% shareholding, having sold 24,108 shares to OIF Ventures for $999,985.38, at $41.48 per share.

Identitii CEO John Rayment said the deal gives his company runway to 2025.

“We are delighted for Elliott and his team, congratulate them on the growth Payble has delivered so far, and look forward to supporting them into the future,” he said.

“Today’s transaction allows Identitii to capitalise some of its investment in Payble, as part of our ongoing effort to monetise previous investments in technology that no longer fit our strategy.”

Donazzan said that the fintech has focused more recently on local governments payments as people deal with their own cash flow pressures. 

“We’re all aware of the cost-of-living pressures facing households, and these impacts flow on to our local councils. In fact, 60% of councils expect payment arrears to increase again this year, and 69% of council rates teams say they’re already feeling under resourced in their response,” he said.

“With Payble, councils can now offer a flexible, self-service payment experience to their  community that’s designed to keep payments on-track. The community benefits because they can easily align payments to their own budget without frustrating paperwork or phone calls.”