Over the last year, we’ve introduced you to 20 Australian fintech startups with the help of the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) in New York, the governmental trade promotion and investment attraction agency. This spring, another cohort of 9 market-ready fintech innovators are poised to scale their businesses in the US and this time, in person, in New York. “Australia’s fintech sector will be showcased in New York when 9 of the best and brightest Australian Fintech startups visit in May,” remarked Steve Rank, Trade and Investment Commissioner New York. “These startups will participate in an intensive program that will connect them to the dynamic New York Fintech scene.” This cohort is indicative of the maturation of the Australian fintech ecosystem as the participating companies all have built significant traction.
Despite the challenges of the pandemic, the fintech sector in Australia has been quite resilient and has been flourishing. 41% of post-revenue Australian fintech companies had more than 500 customers in 2021; up from 27% in 2019. This maturation has not gone unnoticed by investors, who poured $3.8B into fintech companies in 2021 across 205 deals, more than triple the number of deals in 2020. Australian companies, both large and small, are deriving revenue on an international stage, with 40% generating revenue from overseas as well as attracting the attention of foreign investors. Strong government support and an appetite for collaboration between upstarts and incumbent institutions have served as a driving force for this international expansion and market-tested readiness. Australian privacy standards and compliance regulations have also enabled Australian companies to seamlessly offer their industry-leading solutions to an international market.
Some of the innovation emerging from Australia will be showcased over the next few weeks when Austrade hosts 9 cutting edge companies in New York to give them an in-depth and immersive introduction to the fintech ecosystem, allowing them to develop a strong business network in the US, as well as build relationships with the investor community. All nine companies will be participants in the upcoming LendIt conference at the end of May and will be culminating their program with a Demo Day, co-hosted by WEVE Acceleration and Austrade, in the first week of June. However, we have an exclusive preview of the participating companies today.
Here are the nine disruptive fintech, regtech, and insurtech companies that Austrade in partnership with WEVE is unveiling:
AssuranceLab
Founded by Paul Wenham in 2017 in Sydney, AssuranceLab is a cybersecurity audit platform that focuses on SOC2 reporting as well as other compliance-related audits. SOC 2 is a compliance standard for service organizations that specifies how customer data should be managed by focusing on security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy. While compliance isn’t mandated for SaaS and cloud platforms, it’s become commonplace for forward-looking organizations to build trust with their customers. In addition to SOC 2, the company’s cloud-native assurance end-to-end solutions can assist enterprises with compliance and reporting for HIPAA, sustainability, and consumer data rights.
Camms
A leading global provider of Integrated Risk Management SaaS solutions, Camms uniquely delivers GRC, Strategy, and Project/Portfolio Management for breakthrough programs that resonate with executives and their boards.
Change Financial
Led by Alastair Wilkie in 2015 in Brisbane, Change Financial is a provider of scalable global payments and card issuance infrastructure solutions. The company’s payments platform, Vertexon, seamlessly integrates into a company’s technology stack, handling card issuance (both physical and digital), digital payments and wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay), buy now pay later functionality, and processing. Customers can opt to have Change handle the end-to-end payment process as a Payments-as-a-Service offering. For companies that are building payment solutions, Change also offers PaySim, a payment testing and simulation platform. The company’s solutions are currently equipped to handle transactions in over 40 countries.
Change Financial has been listed on the Australian Stock Exchange since the summer of 2016 (ASX: CCA) and currently trades at a $31.08M market cap. The company maintains offices in Brisbane, Melbourne, Auckland, Athens, Santo Domingo, and Los Angeles.
Ezidox
Founded by Giuseppe Porcelli in 2015 in North Sydney, Ezidox is a digital document and information exchange solution and storage platform that allows businesses to collect customer information at scale. The company’s platform is white-label, API-based, and secure (SOC2, Consumer Data Rights accredited, PCI-DSS compliant) to meet compliance standards, allowing businesses to offload the burden of document and information collection. Ezidox features templating, redaction, automated reminders and notifications, audit trails for compliance, and tracking to ensure that businesses can streamline data collection, indexing, and storage. Via its APIs, the company supports integration with existing platforms like Salesforce, DocuSign, and Zapier so that Ezidox is an extension of a company’s existing internal workflow. Ezidox’s industry-agnostic platform has handled over 2.4M documents to support over 150K transactions since its inception.
Karta
Founded by Clare Kinsey and David Anderson in 2021 in Sydney, Karta is a gift card infrastructure platform that lets merchants easily issue and distribute gift cards with just a single integration through an API. There are no on-boarding or setup costs for merchants, allowing them to frictionlessly integrate gift card options to increase their product offering. For consumers, the platform simplifies the purchase, delivery, and use of gift cards. Cards are purchased via Apple Pay or Google Pay, delivered electronically, and the digital cards are available for use in digital wallets.
Australian financial institution Commonwealth Bank purchased a 20% stake in the company last fall and Karta has developed a strategic partnership with Mastercard, which allows any Karta-issued gift card to be used wherever Mastercard is accepted.
Mycelium
Founded by Patrick McNab, Ray Mogg, Ash Morgan, and Jack Deeb in 2018 in Brisbane, Mycelium is a collective of professionals that are working on developing cutting-edge infrastructure solutions in decentralized finance built on the blockchain using a DAO-first approach. Thus far, the company has developed its own node (Mycelium Node to provide data feeds to smart contracts), Tracer DAO (open-source smart contracts for derivatives), Reputation DAO (reputation lawyer for the blockchain economy), and Koji (a dedicated investment vehicle for decentralized finance and Web3 applications).
Rich Data Co
Founded by Ada Guan, Charles Guan, and Gordon Campbell in 2015 in Sydney, Rich Data Co (RDC) is an AI-powered credit assessment engine that provides decisioning-as-a-service. Financial institutions are increasingly using automated models to accelerate credit decisions and these next-generation models must incorporate traditional and non-traditional data that are reflective of the dynamics of a modern economy (gig/flexible workers). RDC leverages machine learning to allow financial institutions to gain a comprehensive predictive model of potential borrowers’ behavior and portfolio risk, allowing banks to approve more loans, reduce credit closes, and reduce time to decisioning. The platform also opens up lending to new and previously underserved segments that are often overlooked in traditional credit models.
RDC has raised a total of $23.1M in funding led by BMYG Financial Group, a financial institution focused on Australian-Chinese opportunities.
WeMoney
Founded by Dan Jovevski in 2020 in Sydney, WeMoney is a personal finance management app focused on a holistic approach to addressing debt. By leveraging Open Banking protocols, the app allows users to connect to 400+ accounts to manage their finances from a centralized application. The app assesses all your debt and provides tailored alternatives designed to save you money by improving terms and rates. WeMoney also offers tracking of bills, recurring charges, and credit scores while using behavioral science and AI to develop prudent money management habits. The platform is built using bank-grade security with read-only access, ensuring that users are in control of their finances without having to worry about vulnerabilities.
WeMoney has raised $2M from investors that include Full Circle Venture Capital and BetterLabs Ventures.
Zai
Founded in 2013 in Melbourne, Australia, Zai is a global financial technology company delivering embedded finance orchestration solutions. In 2021, the company merged with CurrencyFair, an Ireland-based currency exchange platform for consumers and businesses. The merger gave Zai an immediate global footprint and the capability to orchestrate payment workflows across a multitude of payment methods and currencies in real-time. Zai serves businesses in various sectors including financial services, fintech, marketplaces, property technology, education, travel, and any business that requires domestic or international multi-party payments. The company’s global expansion is supported by a strategic investment from SC Ventures, the innovation, ventures, and fintech investments unit of Standard Chartered Bank.
