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 »
Airwallex has raised US$100 million (A$159m) is what it dubbed a “Series E2”, while managing to avoid a down round. The Melbourne fintech held its existing US$5.5 billion (A$8.7bn) valuation in landing fresh funds from existing investors Square Peg, Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia Capital China, Lone Pine Capital, Hermitage Capital, 1835i Ventures and Tencent. Local super… Read more »
Early stage investment company Antler Australia recently backed 13 startups as part of its ongoing program to build great local tech companies. Over six weeks, Startup Daily will share the details of each venture in the “Antler Investor Memos” series. You can also meet the founders on the Startup Daily show on ausbiz.com.au every Monday… 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 »
Embedded finance platform Shaype has raised $33 million in a Series C round that has delivered a significant increase in the fintech’s valuation. Regal Funds Management led the round, which also included family offices. The cash will be used to accelerate growth, with particular focus on expanding the team to support Australian clients, as well… 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 »
Investment tech platform Jacobi Inc. has raised US$10 million (A$15.4m) in a Series A led by Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC). QIC joined existing Silicon Valley investors Illuminate Venture Partners, 8VC and Western Technology Investment (WTI) in the round. Crystal Russell from QIC and Bill Miller from Makena Capital are joining the Jacobi board. The Brisbane-born,… Read more »
Small business financial management platform, Thriday has raised $6 million in a pre-Series A. The round was led by the NAB Ventures, the VC arm of the business bank, alongside “significant participation” from existing investor Lempriere Capital. Thriday recently shifted from Beta mode to launch its platform for sole traders, amid more than 11,000 small businesses… Read more »
Early stage investment company Antler Australia recently backed 13 startups as part of its ongoing program to build great local tech companies. Over the next six weeks, Startup Daily will share the details of each venture in the “Antler Investor Memos” series. You can also meet the founders on the Startup Daily show on ausbiz.com.au… Read more »
A buy-to-earn fintech Hello Clever has raised $4.5 million in a Seed round as it looks to build out its instant rewards ecosystem. The round was led by Vectr Fintech Partners with participation from CrossFund, Yolo Investments, Magnivia Ventures, Son Tech Ventures, Boson Ventures and notable angels such as Ken Cheung, the former APAC head… Read more »
The architect of the Senate report into regulating Australia’s cryptocurrency sector, released nearly a year ago, says the new Labor government needs to get on with introducing legislation rather than once again reviewing existing reviews into the issue. Liberal senator Andrew Bragg coauthored a landmark Senate Select Committee report into digital asset regulation last year,… 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 »
Queensland consumer data right startup Biza.io has raised $7.5 million in a Series A. The round led by OIF Ventures and Jelix Ventures in the first raise for the Brisbane fintech after five years of bootstrapping. Biza helps banks, financial institutions, energy retailers and others in the CDR space with Software-as-a-Service solutions for both data… Read more »
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