Australian payments fintech goes global, with Melbourne-based Verrency
Verrency is one of Australia’s fastest-growing fintechs. The company provides specialist payments technologies to banks as an add-in service. This enables banks to quickly include value-added services into digital-payments, including carbon offsets, donations and personalised customer-engagement options.In this case study, Verrency CEO, Jeroen van Son, explains his company’s journey from Australian startup to global payments platform, including:
- why payments tech is poised for growth
- what makes Australian fintechs globally competitive
- how Austrade helps global expansion
New fintech potential in banks’ legacy IT
Verrency was founded in 2016 to help financial institutions create smarter and more sophisticated payment options for customers. The challenge is that bank’s IT systems tend to be fairly rigid. This makes rapid innovation a real challenge, which in turn makes it harder to meet customer needs.‘If an established financial institution can deploy a technology platform that delivers fintech products and services at speed and at scale, without replacing the current systems – that’s a gamechanger,’ says van Son.Verrency devised a cloud-based payments solution. This made it one of the first fintechs to offer a scalable payment solution using the software-as-a-service (SaaS) delivery model.‘Our breakthrough technology gave us our initial wins,’ says van Son. ‘And the confidence our clients placed in our secure and reliable service gave us the boost to go beyond our home shores.’
Verrency goes global after just two years
The startup grew quickly in international markets. In 2018 year, Verrency set up offices in the US, Singapore and the UK. The following year, Verrency signed the US fintech giant, FIS, as one of its clients.And in 2021 Verrency joined Visa’s Fintech Connect programme. This means it can sell to banks via the Visa payments system.Rapid growth shows how fast Australian fintech can globalise, according to van Son. It also highlights opportunities for Australian fintechs to partner with major global financial institutions.‘Today, approximately 50% of our revenues come from international markets,’ he says. ‘Also, 90% of our institutional clients are located outside of Australia.’
Top talent and pro-innovation policies power Australian fintech
The Chief Executive says that overseas events provide great exposure for Australian fintech globally. They also generate ideas for fintech development. He cites the Australian Fintech Mission at the worldwide Money 20/20 event in Las Vegas, US.‘Event exposure is a great way to get feedback from potential clients and service providers,’ says van Son. ‘This allows us to build on our Australian experience, understand local market dynamics and tweak our products in the context of those markets.’He also cites two factors in Australia that help create world-class fintech: high quality talent and appropriate policies.‘Despite being a small market, the rich Australian ecosystem gives us the confidence to compete on the biggest stage,’ he says.
Austrade contacts and the Landing Pads programs aid expansion
Austrade works closely with global trade missions and industry bodies – in Australia and overseas. Trade missions trigger a peer-to-peer exchange of ideas. And by taking part, Australian fintechs gain regulatory and legal insights into overseas jurisdictions before taking the plunge.‘Verrency engaged with Austrade from the early days of our launch,’ says van Son. ‘Our participation in events organised by Austrade since 2017 has played a substantial role in our expansion strategy.’Austrade residency programs have also helped. They are typically run in San Francisco, Singapore and Tel Aviv. These Landing Pad residencies promote networking, develop pitch skills, and provide introductions to venture capital in overseas markets.‘Our participation in the San Francisco Landing Pad paved the way for our US launch in 2018,’ says van Son. ‘Despite being focused on the theme of cybersecurity, it helped us gain an understanding of what it takes to launch in large and mature markets abroad.’
For more information
Please visit the new Austrade fintech hub to find out more about Australian fintech