FinTech Australia General Manager Rebecca Schot-Guppy said the 2019 awards were a massive success, with entries increasing by 30% on last year. There were a total 237 submissions this year across 19 categories.
Afterpay was named Fintech Organisation of The Year for the third year in a row – the entire history of the awards – while AirWallex scored three awards, including Biggest Raise of The Year for its $141 million March round, which turned the company into Australia’s latest tech unicorn.
Up Bank and AfterPay both took home two awards each.
FinTech Australia General Manager Rebecca Schot-Guppy said the 2019 awards were a massive success, with entries increasing by 30% on last year. There were a total 237 submissions this year across 19 categories.
“I want to offer my congratulations to all the winners of this year’s Finnie Awards, this group of companies represent the best of our ecosystem and our achievements to date,” she said.
“AirWallex, Up Bank’s and Afterpay achievement also can’t be understated, given the calibre of all of the entries.”
The sold out presentation night at the Victorian Innovation Hub in Docklands saw 15 businesses recognised all up.
Schot-Guppy said the popularity of The Finnies reflected unprecedented growth in the fintech sector in the past year and the quality of entries in the partnership category was indicative of the growing importance of collaboration between fintechs and banks, especially in the wake of the Hayne banking royal commission.
“All of this remarkable innovation and the pace of change showed in the calibre of this year’s entries. We can’t stress enough how tough it was to select the finalists and how proud companies should be for even making it into shortlist,” she said.
“We saw the emergence of our first fintech unicorns in AirWallex and Afterpay. Over the next 12 months we will see the continued rise of neobanking in Australia, the launch of Open Banking and perhaps another of our winners will achieve unicorn status.”
Home loan disruptor Athena won Emerging FinTech Organisation of the Year. Co-founders Nathan Walsh and Michael Starkey said it was incredibly humbling to win so early in their journey.
“We are so proud of the team we have built and the mark we have made on the home loan sector in such a short time,” they said.
Here are the winners of the FinTech Australia 2019 Finnie Awards:
FinTech Organisation of the Year: Afterpay
Sponsored by Liberty
Emerging FinTech Organisation of the Year: Athena Home Loans
Sponsored by AfterPay Touch
Outstanding FinTech Leader of the Year: Jack Zhang, AirWallex
Sponsored by Stone & Chalk
Emerging FinTech Leader of the Year (under 35): Jessica Ellerm, Zuper
Sponsored by Reinventure Group
Female FinTech Leader of the Year: Van Le, Xinja
Sponsored by Seed Space Capital
Best Partnership of the Year: Up (Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, and Ferocia)
Sponsored by FirstMac
Biggest Raise of the Year: AirWallex
Sponsored by Primary Markets
Deal of the Year: MoneyPlace
Sponsored by Cornwalls
Best Workplace Diversity: Identitii
Sponsored by Liberty
Excellence in Blockchain/Distributed Ledger & Digital Currencies/Wallets/Exchanges: Enosi Australia
Excellence in Business Lending: Trade Ledger
Excellence In Consumer Lending: Wisr
Excellence in Crowdfunding: Equitise
Excellence in Establishing Market Presence: Global: Airwallex
Sponsored by Austrade
Excellence in FinTech Support Services: Reinventure Group
Excellence in Industry Collaborations & Partnerships: Up Banking (Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, and Ferocia)
Sponsored by StartUp Daily
Excellence in Insurtech: Huddle Insurance
Excellence in Payments: Afterpay
Sponsored by The State of Victoria Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions
Excellence in Wealth Management: Myprosperity
- Startup Daily was a sponsor of the 2019 Finnies awards.
