Australia has the 8th largest pool of managed funds in the world and its major four banks consistently rank amongst the world’s most profitable. The wealthy island nation is a fertile ground for innovation from within, with the nation’s populace serving as an engaged group of early technology adopters, which has led to great success for Fintech, Regtech, Insurtech, and Big Data startups. Recognizing the importance of innovation in the sector, the government has prioritized fintech, investing in open banking and digital identity technology and supporting an agile regulatory environment. There are over 800 Fintech companies in Australia tackling the challenges of the $196B domestic financial services industry.
With so many companies in the fintech space, we’ve put together a list of exciting companies to keep an eye on in the coming years. Each doing amazing things in their own right, here we present the 10 Australian Fintech companies to watch in 2021.
- Joust
The rise of online marketplaces has improved a variety of industries when it comes to saving consumers time and money, however, the mortgage industry is still behind when it comes to innovation.
Financial products – and home loans in particular – are complex and have traditionally been confusing for consumers to compare and understand. Joust is innovating in this regard and changing the way consumers connect with lenders. Thanks to their consumer-first approach, Joust is making it easier for consumers to identify the best loan products for their needs. Joust has processed over $5 billion worth of loan opportunities so far through their home loan market place and they have reduced the average customer’s interest rate by 0.74%. This means they have helped their refinance customers save an average of $3,348 per year or $279 per month.
Joust is simple to use. Consumers set up a loan profile so they can be provided with the most suitable options. Once they have compared the options that best suit their needs, the consumer can then select the right lender for them. The service provides transparency and places all the control in the hands of consumers.
2. Wefund
Revolutionizing the FinTech industry, Wefund provides a new way for companies to secure finances for all their development projects. They combine technology with human experience to provide something entirely new. Their goal is simple: to deliver fast, non-bank funding and become the perfect finance partner. Gain access to more than 75 of the best non-bank lenders in Australia so you can secure flexible and fair finance for your development project. Wefund takes the complexity out of acquiring commercial real estate finance, which is why they’ve been so welcome on the market.
With Wefund, you’ll have access to the top finance team in the country who strive to understand your project, offering debt structuring solutions and financial modelling so you understand the total cost of finance, as well as your capital contribution and return on equity. They have strong relationships that put you in front of the best lenders in the industry aiming to present the best offers available. Another great thing about Wefund is their all-in-one platform makes it easy to manage your finances and is 3 times faster than traditional financing.
3. Unhedged
Algorithms have come to rule the world, that much is undeniable. Unhedged proposes they should rule your portfolio as well! That’s why they have created an incredibly simple app that allows investors to assign their money to advanced AI trading algorithms and access returns that were only accessible to the super-rich 1%.
Unhedged tries to beat expensive asset managers with the use of algorithms. They are simplifying investment by making it transparent and inexpensive. They provide users with access to investment strategies that were reserved only for the rich and famous, all through an app that’s easy to use. They put their money where their mouth is, which is why most of the fees at Unhedged only get paid when they outperform the benchmark. This amazing Australian fintech company was introduced by Peter Bakker, a seasoned entrepreneur with a mission to upset the status quo that exists in the rono advice and asset management world.
The philosophy of Unhedged is based on this: asset managers align themselves to the performance of their clients. That means they have a “no gain, no pain” mentality and they are invested, which is what allows them to provide so much value to their clients.
4. Spark Finance
It is an Australian Fintech company with the noble goal of democratizing education for international students. Their goal is to remove finance as a barrier for brilliant students who want to enter Australia’s leading universities and build their education. So many students around the world don’t have the funds to pursue higher education in Australia, but Spark is turning things around.
They are able to achieve their goal by providing tuition assistance to international students and enabling Australian universities to access the world’s best talent and diversity in their international student cohorts. It’s a mutually beneficial situation that makes an important impact. However, they are not only focused on providing opportunities for international students, but also for Australians and New Zealanders who want to study overseas. Spark Finance is the only Australian company that provides tuition assistance to international students in the country and they are very proud of that.
5. Sipora
In Australia, Sipora is the leading round-up as a service platform and it has a ton of value to offer. Sipora’s latest service allows organisations to build, launch, and maintain their own round-up product at a fraction of the time and cost compared to starting from scratch. Sipora’s platform works perfectly with financial services, superannuation funds, lenders, and charitable organisations, among others, that want to launch round-up applications and products.
Sipora is the first platform of its kind in the country, so it’s greatly innovating an important sector of the market. Using Sipora’s platform, superannuation funds can increase funds under management, lenders can help customers pay down debt and this new form of technology is focused on helping charities increase donations to make a greater impact on the world and support the causes they champion, which is why Sipora’s platform is so powerful for all organisations.
Round-up products in Australia are typically locked into one system, but Sipora gives brands the power to launch their own round-up product. Sipora is the only brand that provides a platform for partners and they are always working on new products to introduce to the market.
6. Finspo
Founded by ex-bankers in 2019, Finspo is a digital broker making home loans simpler for Australians. They are a team of industry experts, mortgage brokers, software developers, and designers, on a mission to help you get a great home loan, and pay it off faster.
Finspo has access to thousands of loans from over 30 different lenders, and their home loan experts will help find the right one for you. They will get familiar with your situation, explain your options, and support you every step of the way. The Finspo app can help you pay off your home loan faster by delivering you personalised insights and alerts based on your connected accounts.
It will let you know when certain fees or interest rates have changed, and when you could pay something down, or top something up to avoid fees or interest. The Finspo app will help you stay on top of things so you can save smarter and get rid of your home loan sooner.
7. Sherlok
It is the first automated repricing and refinancing tool in Australia. They provide mortgage brokers with a wide range of services that will allow them to retain clients, reprice existing loans automatically, generate refinance leads, protect their trail book income, and more. Their AI engine can even predict when a client is likely to leave the broker, then takes action to keep them.
Sherlok was founded by Adam Grocke after spending 12 years as a mortgage broker. He won many awards during that time, including Broker of the Year and Top 30 Brokers Under 30 in Australia. However, it seemed unfair to him that banks offer better interest rates to new mortgage owners, while they charge a loyalty tax to existing customers. Thus, Sherlok was born. This AI engine is the perfect solution and it allows mortgage brokers to retain clients for longer, generate valuable refinancing leads, and protect their trail book income. As such, it provides useful and powerful features that benefit both brokers and clients.
This innovative tool has proven to be very valuable, but it won’t stop there. The talented team behind Sherlok is currently working on a single-click refinancing solution that will allow brokers to automatically process and approve loans in a matter of minutes, reducing the process from 45 days to just 1 day. Their value proposition is truly unique and it’s exciting to see what the future holds.
8. Moneycatcha
Experts at providing intelligent risk management solutions, Moneycatcha’s flagship Regtech platform, Regchain, can activate new value and enable increased growth for their clients. The Regchain solution allows organizations to perform real-time risk based pricing and ongoing reviews of home loan portfolios or individual loans, all while enabling compliance with legislation such as DDO (Design & Distribution Obligations) and CDR (Consumer Data Right). The Moneycatcha system also enables FI’s to actively engage with their clients earlier, manage their risk portfolio, and even consider applying risk-based pricing methods at the time of loan origination through multiple channels.
Because Regchain is configurable to each organisations Product, Pricing and Credit Confidence Rules, the platform enables real time alerts and offers when risk variances are detected within the FI’s risk margins. Ongoing reporting and analysis is also provided by the additional Regchain Services so organisations can report from the source of truth and identify and report on any variances to assist with compliance management.
9. Castlepoint Systems
Founded by Rachael Greaves in 2016, Castlepoint Systems is a data and records management platform built for the enterprise with a focus on compliance, security, and discovery. Organizations can catalog their entire infrastructure across multiple locations including cloud locations like Dropbox, 365, and AWS, databases, and proprietary systems using artificial intelligence. Castlepoint can then be used to manage and control the data irrespective of location. The platform’s intelligence engine automates the classification of the data, applying configurable rules-based logic to ensure regulatory compliance, at scale.
10. CheckBox
Founded by Evan Wong and James Han in 2016, Checkbox is a no-code and automation platform that allows organizations to build workflow solutions using intuitive drag and drop functionality. Users can design streamlined self-service tools with smart decision-based intake workflows that are fully compliant with audit trails, transcripts, documentation, and approval processes. By eliminating the dependency on IT teams, finance professionals can quickly deploy specific, powerful workflows to solve business needs without having to worry about tax, audit, regulatory, and legal concerns, which can bog down time-to-market in financial services. The platform offers a number of pre-loaded templates for common uses such as expense management, billing, compensation, trusts, risk management, and payables. Checkbox raised $1.8M in an angel round in 2018.
For any corrections, please connect at shilpi@startuplanes.com