Employee experience platform Culture Amp has acquired San Francisco cultural values recognition startup Disco. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Disco helps companies recognise and celebrate values-driven work, foster team appreciation and improve company culture across distributed teams. Founded in 2015, the venture is an app in Slack and Microsoft Teams. Culture Amp… Read more »
Business payments startup Novatti Group has $10.5 million in series A commitments for its new banking venture. The listed fintech (ASX:NOV) is launching a banking subsidiary, Novatti B Holding Company (NBHC), and has applied for a restricted banking licence from the regular, APRA, setting itself and investors a deadline of February 2022 for approval. In… Read more »
Shares in PPK Group spin-off battery tech company Li-S Energy skyrocketed by 175% on listing on the ASX today, pushing the company’s market cap to unicorn levels on debut. At one stage Li-S Energy shares (ASX:LIS) were up more than 250% to a peak of $3.05 before closing at $2.33. The company raised $34 million at… Read more »
US lists sports equipment business Slinger Bag is acquiring Sydney player data analytics startup Gameface.ai for US$24 million (A$32m) in an all-stock deal. The trans-Pacific ventures have already been collaborating on a new app for Slinger using artificial intelligence (AI) to provide instant analysis of match play to offer technical and strategy insights. The M&A… Read more »
ASX-listed buy-now-pay-later Zip is ramping up its offshore presence in one of the world biggest markets, taking a US$50 million (A$70m) stake in Indian BNPL ZestMoney. The six-year-old Indian fintech is the country’s market leading BNPL, with more than 11 million registered users, more than 10,000 online merchants and 75,000-plus physical stores on its customer… Read more »
Sydney-based materials technology company Xefco is launching a joint venture company to produce revolutionary face masks with the ability to kill the Covid-19 virus within minutes. Xefco developed masks coated in an ultra-thin layer of copper in a collaboration with Deakin University. Studies by the Doherty Institute found that the patent-pending technology has the ability… Read more »
ASX-listed voice data company Dubber (ASX: DUB) has acquired Brisbane tech startup Notiv in a deal worth $6.6 million. The M&A deal will see Dubber accelerate its artificial intelligence program and capabilities. Notiv was founded by tech industry veterans Chris Raethke, a BugCrowd co-founder, and Dr Iain McCowan in 2018 to improve meeting note taking.… Read more »
Australian digital broker Stake is turning its attention from Wall Street to the local bourse, launching a beta version of its trading platform for the ASX. The fintech has also launched a viral referral campaign among users, offering free ASX trades until the end of the year. People who sign on are put on the… Read more »
Competition regulator the ACCC has agreed to the proposed merger of BPAY Group Holding with eftpos Payments Australia, and NPP Australia (NPPA) in one of the most eagerly anticipated decisions for Australian fintech. ACCC Chair Rod Sims said they found that, at a high level, the services of the three companies do not compete closely.… Read more »
Raiz Invest founder and Group CEO, George Lucas appears to be locked in a power struggle with his own board and is seeking to remove three of the company’s four Non-Executive Directors, including chair Kevin Moore. The listed fintech’s board issued a statement late last week saying it had received notice from Lucas through his… Read more »
ASX-listed BNPL Afterpay helped generate an impressive $21 billion in sales in FY21, up 90% on the previous year, thanks to 16 million customers. But the company also did a stellar job growing its losses, which jumped 600%, from a $19.8m statutory loss in FY20 to $156.3 million last financial year. With a $39 billion… Read more »
Australian fintech Douugh (ASX:DOU) has continued its US expansion plans launching a Douugh Wealth, an integrated robo-advisory investment service, as part of its app Founder and CEO Andy Taylor said the launch of Douugh Wealth “a critical milestone on our journey to becoming a truly global ‘responsible’ financial super app” to help users manage their… Read more »
One of New Zealand’s largest ecommerce and daily deals websites, GrabOne, is being sold to Global Marketplace, the Australian company behind Click Frenzy, for NZ$17.5 million (A$16.8m). Melbourne-based Global Marketplace (GMP) also owns Click Central and e-commerce analytics firm Power Retail and is reportedly gearing up for an IPO in 2022. The company is majority… Read more »
Ecommerce retailer Kogan.com saw its shares fall nearly 16% after the company reported an 87% drop in net profit after tax in the 2021 financial years to just $3.5 million. Kogan shares (ASX: KGN) lost $2.07 to close at $11.06, after the company reduced margins and ramped up marketing to shift an excess of stock.… Read more »
Acumino, a recently launched Singapore venture studio focused on emerging technologies and disruptive innovation, has acquired the intellectual property assets of Melbourne-based startup Speakeasy. Speakeasy launched a social video streaming platform to deliver interactive live events to large-scale global audiences, launching in March last year just as the Covid pandemic hit. The Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) venture… Read more »
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