Ep 14: The Australian FinTech Ecosystem - Danielle Szetho, Georgia Beattie & Ben Williamson

Florence Guild

Speakers Georgia Beattie – CEO of Startup Victoria Ben Williamson –Co-founder at dealPad Danielle Szetho – CEO of FinTech Australia Facilitated by Sibel Buyukbaykal - Investment Associate at Reinventure (Westpac's Venture Capital arm) Type Live Conversation About this conversation London, Singapore, New York – these are the markets people think of when they think FinTech. They are rich in talent, have loads of capital, and are homes to some of the world’s biggest financial institutions. However, for a tiny nation of 23m, Australia has a strong case to be a world-leading FinTech market. With almost 600 FinTech Startups and growing – more than Hong Kong and possibly even Singapore – Australia’s rapidly maturing FinTech ecosystem is getting noticed, attracting strong investment from international VCs and Banks. Join the Florence Guild panel with Danielle Szetho – FinTech Australia CEO, Georgia Beattie – StartUp Victoria CEO, and Ben Williamson – Co-Founder dealPad; and find out about the evolution of Australia’s FinTech industry, its unique strengths, where the world’s FinTech leaders are focusing on the future, and the stories of Australian start-ups that are storming the world stage. Conversation Notes - Lots of innovation happening in Australian FinTech - from the consumer level (using data to customise and optimise service offerings) – through to the backend (AI, blockchain technologies, changing how you structure financial services). - Larger financial organisations such are not set up to meet the needs of startups. Startups need help with getting access to capital. Opportunities for smaller companies/FinTechs to fill the gap. - Blockchain is developing well here with increasing conversations with Chinese blockchain organisations. - Healthy local ecosystems developing in Australia based around startups, including HealthTech, andFinTech. Important to be aware what type of business you are and what industry you are in, so you can immerse yourself in the relevant ecosystem. - Key participants or core areas in startup ecosystems include: + Regulation technology/policies + Talent + Capital + Physical spaces to work - Invoice financing is a rapidly growing area. - Untapped potential in commercialising PhD research. - Australia is very friendly to ICO’s but regulation is a reality. Danielle's Linkedin: Danielle Szetho Danielle's Twitter: @mdm_z FinTech Australia Website: fintechaustralia.org.au StartupVic's Linkedin: Startup Victoria StartupVic's Twitter: @startupvic StartupVic's Website: startupvictoria.com.au dealPad's Linkedin: dealPad Ben Williamson's Linkedin: Ben Williamson Quote “Australia is now the second largest alternative finance market in the Asia Pacific region after China.” Join Us Did you enjoy the conversation? If so, make sure to subscribe! To join us at Work Club Sydney or Melbourne for our speaker conversations, email us at [e-mail]. For more information on Work Club, visit workclubglobal.com