The fintech winter shows signs of thawing
Major bank partnerships, raisings and actual profits signal there's some optimism in fintech, but capital and startups are in short supply.
Obviously you have to be an optimist if you’re in fintech — but also a realist. So payments consultant Brad Kelly’s recent “In Memorium” of the couple of dozen payments companies that departed this world last year was sobering.
Not all these were fintechs — and some were businesses of still operating parents — but payments has been seen as one of the few fertile paddocks for fintechs during the great Fintech Winter of the last 18 months.
There are green shoots: we reported last week on UK payments “orchestrator” Paydock partnering with Commonwealth Bank along with some other expansions involving Monoova and Primer.
The latest EY FinTech Australia Census has a broad perspective. Yes, there is resilience and grounds for optimism but also a real challenge in Australia — not just with the higher rates environment and the draining of liquidity but a loss of impetus from policy. This is something my colleague Bronwen Clune touched upon in our sibling newsletter Sweat Equity. Meanwhile, Innovation Minister Ed Husic is making interesting noises in this space.
