DomaCom to crowdfund gay retirement village
Property investor DomaCom is using its crowdfunding platform to raise capital to fund a $25 million gay and lesbian retirement village, proposed near Ballan in central Victoria. In what may well be a world first, the crowdfunding model has been harnessed to drive the staged development of a 120-dwelling estate on 30-acre block, 80 kilometres north-east of Melbourne. “It will be the world’s first retirement village through crowdfunding,” said DomaCom chief executive Arthur Naoumidis. “Let alone being a gay, lesbian, bi and transgender, intersex retirement village: that’s definitely a world first. It’s great. It shows the versatility of our platform.” Already DomaCom is nearing the close of the first $1.5 […]
Jason Yetton the new CEO at P2P lender SocietyOne
Former Westpac Banking Group senior executive Jason Yetton will join peer-to-peer lender SocietyOne as its new CEO on Monday with a brief from the fintech’s high-powered owners to ramp up lending growth on the platform. SocietyOne co-founder and current CEO Matt Symons will stay on at the company as chief strategy and innovation officer. The appointment will be announced by SocietyOne on Friday morning. The platform has matched more than $78 million in loans since it was established in August 2012. Source: Jason Yetton the new CEO at P2P lender SocietyOne
MEDIA RELEASE: Aquire and Kikka Capital partner to reward SMEs
SYDNEY, 3 March 2016: Aquire, Qantas’ rewards program for small to medium-sized businesses and Kikka Capital have partnered to reward small business owners for taking out a line of credit. Aquire members will be able to earn 10,000 Aquire Points on eligible loans of $10,000 or more. In a recent survey[i], Aquire Members identified financial services products as the third most popular points-earning category after telecommunications and hotels. Kikka, Australia’s fastest growing small business lender, joins more than 35 Aquire partners. Aquire members can earn Aquire Points on a range of everyday business expenses including phone plans, office supplies and business advertising spend. Kikka Capital CEO Milko Radotic said the […]
Robo-advice drives Decimal revenue
Software provider Decimal has announced its half-year net loss after income tax has decreased by 14 per cent thanks to lower operating costs and increased revenue from its robo-advice offering. During the six months to December 2015, the company’s net loss after income tax was $4.2 million, down from $4.8 million during the same period one year ago. “The company completed a strategic and operational review during the period under review which led to a decision to reduce operating costs,” the statement said. “The Decimal platform has reached a level of maturity to enable enterprises to fully benefit from the business model in terms of low implementation and maintenance cost […]
Global SME lender picks fight with P2P lenders
Global small business lender Capify claims peer-to-peer lenders will suffer more than most during a downturn because they lend to risky borrowers for too long, but P2P lenders say the evidence doesn’t stack up. New York-based Capify lends to small business in the US, Canada, Britain and Australia. It introduced so-called merchant cash advances to Australia in 2008 under the name AusVance, which involves a business giving up future credit card takings in return for credit. Founder David Goldin claims most marketplace or P2P lenders that have sprung up during a period of rock bottom interest rates and low funding costs will not survive a downturn, whereas Capify made it […]
Personal finance start-up MoneyBrilliant bought by AMP
AMP has acquired Sydney fintech start-up MoneyBrilliant, after first investing in the company in 2014. The start-up, formerly known as Cha-Ching, is an app-based personal finance platform offering users a “fun and easy” way to get their finances in order. It gives users automatic access to their bills, spending and savings to see if they are tracking in the green or are slipping into the red. The bank (AMP) made the acquisition through its ventures arm, AMP New Ventures, for an undisclosed amount, and will continue to operate the platform under the MoneyBrilliant brand. The takeover follows AMP’s investment of $1.5 million in 2014. Co-founder and CEO Jemma Enright, who […]
Macquarie considers US fintech deals, but ‘risk retention’ a worry
Macquarie Bank is looking at a host of possible new online lending partners globally, but is worried regulators are closing in on the new players. Ben Perham, head of strategy and corporate development at Macquarie, said like most banks, it is exploring deals with the various new lenders, including the many small business lenders and P2P lenders. “We are [looking at] collaborating with US lenders and on the equity side as well,” he said. “We are hoping to partner with them and get some of their activities into Australia.” But he pointed out that many originate and make the risk assessment on loans, but then sell them off completely, and […]
Investec buys into H2 Ventures
This is great news for Ben and Toby Heap, the brains behind H2 Ventures, with Investec Australian taking a stake in their businesses. This is also great news for the Australian FinTech industry. Investec Australia has taken a stake in the fintech accelerator H2 Ventures, a move the specialist lender believes will put it in the box seat to win work from entrepreneurs as they scale their businesses. The amount of Investec’s investment in H2 has not been disclosed but is understood to be several million dollars. David Phillips, the head of principal investing at Investec Australia, will join the board of H2, whose only other two shareholders are the […]
