Fintech taking its next step for business borrowers
New startup Skippr shows how fintech innovation is about more than just financing. Fintech (financial technology) has always been about innovation, and it seems business finance is leading the charge. The need for business loans and the lack of options for owners who don’t meet the criteria of traditional banks has seen a surge in demand for alternatives. It just so happens that fintech companies have been there to offer some innovative solutions.Startup Skippr is one such company. “SMEs are the backbone of our economy, but nearly half will fail as a result of poor cash flow,” said Pat Crivelli, founder of Skippr. “Empowering SMEs to take control of their […]
The fintech phenomenon: Do Aussies only want to borrow from banks?
Marketplace lending, online business loans, robo-advice, blockchain – none of it means anything without consumers. So what do Aussies think of fintech? The threatening, disrupting nature of fintech is a widely discussed topic, with consumer benefits often being the focus. However, what’s interesting is that in the push to get companies, ideas and funding across the line, the actual customer — whether they’re a borrower, investor or seeker of advice — often gets left behind. Robert Allen, director of payments technology and consulting at PwCm spoke about what’s driving fintech at a Fintech Sydney event this week. “Fintech is being pushed forward by a new way of thinking, by millennials, […]
Manning targets super funds for P2P investor
Former JANA asset consultant Joshua Manning will be raiding his contact book of super fund investment chiefs as he does the rounds pitching his new business, Manning Market Place. His vision for the start-up specialist investment fund is to focus exclusively on the burgeoning peer-to-peer lending sector. Peer-to-peer (P2P), otherwise known as marketplace lending, is the buzzword for the plethora of online-based or “fintech” start-ups gnawing at the edges of the big banks’ loan books. After leaving his day job at the asset consulting arm of National Australia Bank late last year, Manning’s first investment is a stake in the darling of the local P2P set, SocietyOne. Other shareholders in […]
Sapien Ventures’ first fintech investment is in Hashching
Wealthy Chinese migrants will help disrupt the Australian mortgage broking industry via an investment in Hashching, an online marketplace for home loans that is putting pressure on banks and their brokers. The investment will be the first for Sapien Ventures, which was established last year by Victor Jiang and has raised a $50 million fund to invest in fintech and online marketplaces. Much of the capital has been raised from high-net-worth Chinese migrants after changes to the Significant Investor Visa program last year that require migrants bringing $5 million into Australia to invest at least $500,000 in eligible venture capital. Sapien Ventures has invested $1 million in Hashching, and is […]
Focused fintechs get the nod from Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley once threw money at start-ups that aimed to disrupt broad swaths of finance. Now it is rewarding those that have sharpened their focus. While overall venture funding into lending start-ups is slowing, some platforms still are raising money by taking aim at narrower or less-traditional borrowing niches than the first generation of financial-technology firms. Faced with a glut of online lenders and cooling interest from investors in some loans, a newer crop of fintech start-ups is focusing on areas including loans for real-estate projects, people with poor credit ratings, car buyers and, at the extreme, people getting married. Venture funding for US lending start-ups dropped to $US298 million […]
Global FinTechs take on Big Four in new Australian frontier
When U.S.-based financial technology company Acorns launched in Australia in February, its mobile app that helps people invest loose pennies in stock markets received nearly 70,000 downloads in just over two months, beating its own expectations. The ‘virtual piggy bank’ chose Australia as its first foreign market thanks to the country’s deep Internet and mobile penetration and tech-savvy population, Managing Director George Lucas told Reuters. Acorns’ entry is a reflection of rising interest in Australia from overseas financial technology – or FinTech – companies, drawn by its heavy banking concentration and limited competition, consultants and financial advisors said. The country’s $348 million alternate finance lending market, which includes peer-to-peer lending […]
Growing pains: Peer to peer lending hits puberty
The eye-popping climb in the number of people attending the LendIt USA conference over the past four years reflects a real coming of age for peer-to-peer lending. The first, in 2013, attracted 300 delegates. The second lured in just under 1000, while 2500 attended in 2015. Last week, the number swarming the Marriott Marquis hotel in San Francisco was nudging 4000. Peer-to-peer lending (also known as “marketplace lending” to reflect the large proportion of funds that come from institutions rather than retail investors) matches borrowers with yield-hungry investors on an internet platform. A decade since it was born in the United States, marketplace lending is now mainstream. In the past […]
Waddle Integration With Xero Transforms Invoice Financing
Media Release Waddle Loans Pty Ltd (Waddle) has today announced a first-of-its-kind invoice financing product that integrates with Xero’s cloud accounting software. The solution is available through Xero’s Australian add-on marketplace giving small business owners a simple way to fix their cash flow by establishing a revolving line of credit based on the businesses unpaid invoices within Xero. This new financing solution enables small businesses to use their Xero data to boost cash flow by drawing funds against unpaid invoices the instant they are created, automating every aspect of the financing through a two-way real-time data exchange made possible by the connection. The new offering transforms the traditional “factoring” system, whereby small businesses sell outstanding invoices to a third party financier in […]
