From Reinventure to reinvention: Westpac's mutating VC journey
Westpac was once the most enthusiastic of the big four banks on VC. Now it is taking a more nuanced approach to the fintech sector.
All of Australia's big four banks have been on a journey when it comes to venture capital and fintech investments. But perhaps none more so than Westpac.
At the start of the fintech boom a decade ago Commonwealth Bank stood on the sidelines, where it stayed for five years. ANZ brought in Silicon Valley talent and an ad hoc strategy. National Australia Bank launched an internal fund.
Westpac, under then CEO Brian Hartzer, dived in enthusiastically. It deployed $150 million into an externally managed fund Reinventure, which had its own mandate to pursue investments. It was the textbook CVC (corporate venture capital) approach, and on the outside at least, it seemed to work.
Reinventure famously backed US crypto exchange Coinbase, which went public in 2021 at the peak of the crypto bubble and delivered the fund (and bank) a $500 million plus windfall. It remains one of the biggest exits for an Australian VC fund to date.
