Airwallex, Employment Hero show the fintech freeze is thawing in Australia
After a dire fintech winter, nascent signs of activity and investor interest are warming the hands of those in the sector.
Winter looms in the northern hemisphere but for fintechs it’s been winter for 18 months. Now though there are signs of more clement days and that’s flowing through to Australia, where the actual days are getting longer too.
“While fintech has been affected by the broader funding downturn we’ve seen across the Australian startup ecosystem, we’re now starting to see renewed interest in the sector,” FinTech Australia General Manager Rehan D’Almedia told Capital Brief.
He says the latest example of this is Employment Hero’s massive $263 million raise. The company -- a HR and payment platform -- further edged into fintech with the launch of a superannuation product earlier this year.
“While we’re yet to see this translate into a critical mass of deals, we are also seeing significant interest in ESG-related or green fintech companies,” D’Almeida says. “One example would be NAB Ventures $4 million investment into environment-focused cost-reduction platform Greener.”
