Australia is a country where fintech is a top priority right now. Local accelerator H2 Ventures received an AU$4m warchest from Investec, which will be sued to invest in up to 40 different financial technology startups over the coming years. Moreover, they also received a government-backed guarantee of AU$2m to boost fintech innovation in the country.
Fintech Startups And Australia
A lot of countries around the world are keeping a close eye on the fintech sector right now. After all, no one wants to be left out when it comes to again a part of the next financial revolution. Australia has taken some big steps in the right direction to ensure they are one of the fintech market leaders. With a new round of “funding” waiting to be spent on investments, the future’s looking bright.
H2 Ventures will gain a lot from this warchest and government-backed guarantee. Jobs for NSW, the state’s private-sector job creation agency, feels this loan guarantee will help create at least 400 new jobs in the New South Wales region over the coming year. Fintech jobs are not difficult to come by, and that situation will only improve over the coming years.
That being said, H2 Ventures were forced to scrap their original plan of raising AU$55m in October of 2016. The group had planned to raise said funds through an IPO, but they were unable to gain enough interest from institutional investors to go ahead switching to a private fund makes a lot more sense, especially since banking and asset management group Investec has a stake in the venture startup accelerator. That plan was scrapped as well, as Investec wanted a minimum 50% return guarantee on its stake.
H2 Ventures founding partner Ben Heap stated:
“With the support of the NSW Government and Investec Australia, we are looking forward to taking the H2 Accelerator to the next level. This support will allow us to attract more domestic and international entrepreneurial talent to NSW and to support a significant number of new fintech ventures, creating new channels growth and jobs.”
It is positive to see Australia take major steps towards becoming one of the global fintech hubs. A lot of funding is needed to make startups realize their true potential, and H2 Ventures will be among the ones to make sure that becomes a reality. It will be interesting to see which companies the group decides to invest in moving forward.
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