Member showcase March 2018
It's been another particularly busy few weeks, with some very exciting announcements from our members.Feast on these below:Wealthtech news
- MoneyBrillianthas released a new Optimise My Banking service to allow customers to automatically find accounts that pay more interest.This is an early taste of the potential of an open banking framework.
- Micro-investment platform Acorns has announced it will launch its own super product to sit within its existing app.
- Atlas Trend has launched Astro, a voice-activated personal investment assistant, with which users can bump up their investments using nothing but their voice. Hosted on Google's Home and Home mini platform, Astro allows anybody to access detailed investing information and general financial explainers which Atlas Trend say is "jargon-free".
- Leading fintech Macrovuehas announced the launch of its new investment portfolio built around the next phase of the wireless revolution 5G technology.
- Moneysofthas re-launched its client engagement and financial wellbeing platform with a more intuitive and streamlined user interface that cuts the time it takes professionals to analyse their clients key financial data.
Incubator news
- YBF Ventures (formerly York Butter Factory) has launched a dedicated Web 3.0 hub, YBF Mesh, following the launch of the YBF Fintech Hub in partnership with the Victorian Government.
- Melbourne-based university RMIT has joined forces with Stone and Chalk to launch blockchain course for entrepreneurs and business leaders. In addition, law firm Hall & Wilcox has partnered with Stone & Chalk.
Payments news
- Tyro, an Australia-based challenger bank, announced last week the launch of its new feature, Tap & Save. This featureallows merchants to save money by processing debit tap-and-go payments through the more economical eftpos network.
- Payments company Verrency has announced a partnership with social payments charity platform Goodworld to encourage charitable giving globally by allowing consumers to donate while they spend, with real-time notification of their donation and running totals.
- Toowoomba Regional Council is leading Australia in digital billing, by partnering with Australias first bank-agnostic payments and billing app, Sniip, to launch a patented m-billing function that will alert ratepayers of Council rates and water bills via push notifications directly on their smartphones.
- Instarem has extended its outbound money transfer operations to the European Union (EU).
Real estate tech
- Mortgage startup Hero Brokerhas begun a crowd-sourced funding campaign following the recent fundraising success of digital lender Xinja.
- The NAB Ventures fund is joining Westpac's Reinventure fund as an investor in BrickX, bringing to a close a wider funding round that will inject a total of $9 million into the platform.
Other fintechs
- The ANZ Bank has taken a stake in start-up data exchange platform Data Republic with a strategic investment it says is aimed at speeding innovation through secure data-sharing environments. In addition, Data Republic has announced it has entered a partnership with global analytics leader SAS, enhancing the services it can offer customers of its data exchange platform.
- Australian agriculture blockchain startup AgriDigital has successfully finalised a $5.5 million Series A capital raise, which will see the company investigate digital currency matters, along with soft launches into international markets.
- DC Power Cohas opened pre-registration via crowdfunding platform OnMarket for those interested in investing in the company, aiming to raise $4.75 million through equity investment to build an energy retailer promising better deals and financial savings for the nations 1.7 million solar panel households, a number predicted to grow to six million by 2050.