Sales at ASX-listed buy now pay later (BNPL) fintech Afterpay passed $20 billion a year ahead of schedule. The company’s (ASX: APT) continued astonishing growth, revealed in the 2021 financial year figures today, comes as the fintech announced a proposed sale and merger with US-listed payments company Square for A$39 billion. Afterpay posted FY21 underlying… Read more »
US-listed small business software company Bill.com (NYSE:BILL) is acquiring Australian SMB fintech Invoice2go for US$625 million (A$850m). The deal has been approved by the boards of both companies and is expected to close by the end of 2021, subject to receipt of regulatory approvals. The acquisition cost is split between 75% in Bill.com common stock… Read more »
Shares in BNPL Zip crashed nearly 8% today after the company released its Q4 trading update. The fintech (ASX: Z1P) painted a rosy growth picture, but analyst nemesis UBS said the 4Q volumes “were below expectations” resulting in a “significant volume miss” compared to forecasts, with US momentum starting to slow. Zip closed at $6.99,… Read more »
PayPal’s AfterPay-copycat product launched in Australia today and the expected, yet sudden news sent the value of ASX-listed buy now, pay later shares plunging. The US payments giant’s ‘Pay in 4’ option is a direct copy of the AfterPay model, but with a crucial difference to the Australian fintech’s version: PayPal won’t charge late fees.… Read more »
There’s some relief for investors in Youfoodz Holdings Ltd today following a takeover bid by German-owned meal kit delivery rival HelloFresh. Youfoodz (ASX: YFZ) shares have jumped 77% to $0.902 cents following the offer at $0.93 per share in cash by way of a scheme of arrangement. The company said it has entered into a… Read more »
A takeover bid for ASX-listed online car sales venture iCar Asia by rival Singaporean car e-commerce platform Carsome has pushed the shares up more than 41% in early trade today. The non-binding acquisition proposal from Carhome at $0.55 cents a share pips a previous offer last year at $0.50 cents from China’s Autohome. iCar Asia… Read more »
US technology workforce development company Pluralsight has closed its acquisition deal for online learning startup A Cloud Guru. The $2 billion deal for the London-based startup, which began life in 2015 in a Melbourne bedroom as the vision of brothers Sam and Ryan Kroonenburg, is one of Australia’s biggest M&A tech deals. Sam, the company’s CEO,… Read more »
Australian investors bought the rumour today, with shares in buy-now-pay-later company Zip jumping 13.7% on media reports that Klarna, the 1000lb Swedish gorilla in the BNPL space, had taken a holding in the Aussie fintech. Zip (ASX:Z1P) shares closed Thursday trade at $8.78, having startup the day at $7.70, giving the company a market capitalisation… Read more »
Small business transaction financing fintech Butn (ASX:BTN) went nowhere for investors on its ASX debut today with around 2% – 2.5 million – of the company’s shares traded before it, unusually, closing its first day of trade at the IPO price. Having raised $20 million at $0.50 a share for an indicative market capitalisation of… Read more »
Caravan rental platform Camplify listed on the ASX on Monday after raising $11.5 million in an Initial Public Offer. But despite starting the day with good news, upgrading its prospectus forecasts for gross transaction volume (GTV) and revenue, and seeing its listing price of $1.42 rise to $1.50 in intraday trade, shares in the Newcastle-based business… Read more »
Gina Rinehart’s mining business, Hancock Prospecting, has tipped $15 million into a $27.2 million capital raise by local medicinal cannabis venture Little Green Pharma. The raise comes as the five-year-old Western Australian ASX venture, which produce medical grade CBD and THC cannabis products for Australia, the UK and Germany, announced the acquisition of medicinal cannabis… Read more »
ASX-listed software company Nuix Ltd (ASX: NXL) has parted ways with its Chief Financial Officer, Stephen Doyle, with the company’s CEO, Rod Vawdrey, also announcing his retirement after the company recently revealed it will miss some of its prospectus guidance by tens of millions of dollars. Shares in the 20-year-old Sydney-based, global risk, compliance and… Read more »
Melbourne-based drinks business Mighty Craft has announced plans to buy South Australian producers Adelaide Hills Distillery, Mismatch Brewing and Hills Cider in a deal worth $47 million. The agreement also includes 75 % ownership of the popular LOT.100 venue, which is a destination distillery, cellar door, restaurant and function centre on an 84-hectare property near… Read more »
Melbourne customer engagement marketing company MessageMedia is being acquired by Swedish rival Sinch for US$1.3 billion (A$1.7bn). The deal is made up of US$1.1bn in cash and 1.126 million new shares in Sinch. MessageMedia offers mobile messaging solutions for SMEs in the US, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe, serving more than 60,000 customers and sending… Read more »
Shares in ASX-listed software venture Altium (ASX: ALU) jumped 40% after the company rejected an unsolicited $5 billion takeover offer from NASDAQ-listed multinational software behemoth Autodesk. The non-binding, indicative and unsolicited offer from for 100% of Altium at A$38.50 per share, by way of a scheme of arrangement, was rejected as “significantly” undervaluing the business,… Read more »
Daily startup news and insights, delivered to your inbox.
