Fintech startup Edstart launches platform to help parents pay for private school fees
Fintech startup Edstart launched a new lending platform last week to help Australian parents manage the cost of private school fees. The private school market is the first of many education sectors the company is looking to target, offering low-cost, customised loan packages to make paying education fees simple and easy. The loans help parents to spread out the cost of school fees over the period of tuition and beyond, allowing 6 years of high school to be paid over 10 years or more. Co-Founder and CEO Jack Stevens said the company’s focus from day one has been on solving for customer pain points. “Over 35% […]
What a peer-to-peer business loan looks like
RateSetter’s most recent release of its loan book data reveals the new age of business lending. In the one month since the launch of its business lending arm, peer-to-peer (P2P) lender RateSetter has funded nearly 100 business loans. The latest release of its loan book data, which includes every loan originated through RateSetter since its launch in later 2014, includes these business loans, and provides us with a snapshot of what alternative business finance looks like in Australia. Business owners have been embracing lenders outside of the Big Four and other more traditional lenders. According to a recent survey by eBroker, more than $1.1 billion worth of loan applications has […]
SocietyOne, Australia’s leading marketplace lender, appoints new board director
SocietyOne, Australia’s leading marketplace lender, today announced the appointment of Brett Clegg to its board as a non-executive director. Mr Clegg is Managing Director of News Corp Australia’s Community Publishing division. Among his responsibilities are its community titles in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, SMB digital marketing services provider newsXtend, and the company’s investments in a range of disruptive technology companies including hipages and Sports Technology Group. Prior to spells with News Corp’s The Australian newspaper where he was deputy chief executive and later Fairfax Media’s CEO and Publisher of the Financial Review Group, Mr Clegg was a journalist, columnist and senior editor on the Australian Financial Review. He […]
Crowdfunding firm CoAssets to test market
Technology-related floats are suddenly finding it challenging on the stockmarket: two recent IPOs have had dramatic outcomes for local investors. Music streaming website Guvera had its IPO closed down recently and the group has placed two subsidiaries in administration and is working on a rescue plan. Separately, the fortunes of financial services tech group ChimpChange, while less dramatic, revealed a pretty poor picture this week after the group that offered shares at 80c is now trading on the ASX at about 57c. No wonder there will be plenty of attention focused on CoAssets when it lists this week. CoAssets is an Australian software company focused on peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding. […]
Forex fintech Airwallex secures US$3m from Alibaba’s VC firm
Fintech startup Airwallex has strengthened its Melbourne and Chinese development teams and accelerated R&D of its international payments platform following a US$3 million pre-Series A investment round led by Shanghai-based VC Gobi Partners. Gravity VC as well as angel investors Huashan Capital One and Billy Tam (CEO of Easylink Payments, the company behind Chinese payment powerhouse PAYECO) also participated in the fundraising. Currently in beta trial stage, the Airwallex platform is powered by a peer-to-peer algorithmic engine that enables businesses to issue and pay invoices in their preferred currency at the mid-market foreign exchange rate, avoiding inflated bank margins and minimising currency fluctuation risks. Airwallex Co-Founder and […]
H2 Ventures Fintech Expo 2016
H2 Ventures Fintech Expo 2016 H2 Ventures are hosting its third annual Fintech Expo, an opportunity to hear from some of the most talked about and exciting Fintech companies in Australia. Tuesday 19th of July 2016 Get your tickets here: http://h2vfintechexpo.eventbrite.com.au/ Save Save
Fintech losses blamed on rerating
DirectMoney chief Peter Beaumont yesterday defended the fintech company’s stockmarket listing and expressed disappointment over losses worn by shareholders, arguing there were many benefits and the sector globally had suffered a de-rating. As DirectMoney prepared to open a fresh $5.7 million capital raising, Mr Beaumont said marketplace and peer-to-peer lenders had been revalued in the past year, citing the more mature US market where industry icon LendingClub saw its shares plunge 70 per cent. “We’re disappointed there were investors that came in at higher prices and have had capital losses at this point, but marketplace lending globally has experienced a resetting of valuations, whether it’s LendingClub in the US or […]
Fintech is going to be much bigger than you think
If payments can be made anywhere, anytime, across any device, why do you need a currency? Or even a bank? The “fintech” revolution is upon us – but what we’ve seen may only be the start of it. Fintech – a term coined with the listing of peer-to-peer lending platform LendingClub on the New York Stock Exchange in late 2014 – is not only a portmanteau of ‘financial technology,” it describes a whole new industry composed of companies that use technology to make financial services more efficient. It’s big, it’s growing and it’s disruptive. “Fintech is set to change finance as profoundly as the issuance of the first permanent banknotes […]
