Australian fintech startup Verteva raises $21.4m from NZ’s Bolton

Linda J. Dodson

HANOI — Australian fintech startup Verteva announced that it has raised A$33 million ($21.4 million) in a Series A round from New Zealand-based investment firm Bolton Equities.

Co-founded by chief executive Andrew Walker and Chris Lumby, both former Westpac execs, Verteva says it is building a transformative digital alternative for customers in the home lending space.

With the vast majority of home loans originating in face-to-face meetings and using paper-based forms and clunky credit assessment processes, the home loan industry is badly outdated. Verteva says it combines technology, data-driven insights and digital customer journeys to radically reshape the home lending experience for customers.

The startup plans to use the fresh funding for new market entry, product development, and business expansion.

“When we closed the round COVID was in full effect and we saw some investors who couldn’t look through cycles or who were overweight in impacted sectors fall away,” Walker told The Australian Financial Review.

“The reality for us is that the coronavirus pandemic is going to be a massive accelerator for digital transformation across the whole economy as a whole and banking in particular, as digital innovation is particularly lacking in this sector.”

Auckland, New Zealand-based Bolton Equities is part of the Asset Management Industry. Bolton invests in companies in New Zealand, Australia, the UK, and the U.S. and  focuses on sectors including fintech, tech-enabled services, healthcare and entertainment.

In the financial sector most recently, Australia’s Judo Bank, which provides loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), raised A$230 million in a new funding round from existing investors including Bain Capital Credit, Myer Family Investments and Abu Dhabi Capital Group.

Meanwhile, fintech company InDebted has raised A$14 million in its Series A funding round co-led by venture capital firms Carthona Capital and MassMutual Ventures Southeast Asia, with follow-on support from Reinventure in March.

For the original story from DealStreetAsia, click here.

DealStreetAsia is a financial news site based in Singapore that focuses on corporate investment activity in Southeast Asia and India. Nikkei recently announced the acquisition of a majority stake in the company.

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