Enterprise Ireland were delighted to support the largest contingent of Irish Fintechs to have ever attended Intersekt in September. Intersekt is the premier Fintech event in Oceania and attracts over 1,000 participants from the Financial Services and Fintech sectors to the event which is held at the Grand Hyatt in Melbourne. In total six Irish companies participated, five of whom shared their world class insights and experiences in panel or fireside discussions:
Swoop CEO Andrea Reynolds, who flew in from the United Kingdom, opened the event with a fireside discussion with one of Australia’s most influential and respected Fintech advisors in Dr Dimitrios Salampasis. Andrea shared great insights around the current funding landscape and advice for SMEs and founders on accessing funding on a global perspective.
Transfermate, who provide B2B Global payments infrastructure for Banks, Fintech and Software providers and were recently crowned as Ireland’s newest Fintech unicorn participated in a panel which focused on global first approach to building a Fintech. Led by their APAC Director Vijay Rao the panel delved into considerations for new market entry including building culture, brand, and relationships and which also analysed the need for significant focus on market research, competitive analysis, and localisation of pricing strategy.
Wayflyer led by Stephen Duke, Head of Marketing and Growth for the firm who has grown the Australian business from one employee to over thirty in two years provided rich insights around the considerations from a lending technology and culture perspective in a panel of SME companies which included large Australian SME Challenger Bank Judo. The most compelling insight from Wayflyer was simple – ‘stick to your brew’ which referenced Amazon Jeff Bezos reference to a strategic focus on excellence in a primary function for the business before expanding to different products or markets
Fenergo, who have a well-established Australian presence, currently employing over 130 people across their Melbourne and Sydney offices joined Deborah Young from Regtech Association in a discussion around Regtech. Led by their ANZ Sales Director, Eoin Keating the discussion delved into the shifting landscape of the Regtech industry. The panel explored the need to personalise solutions and drive more effective customer experience outcomes for users in order maximise returns for clients, whilst for Regtech companies their ability to differentiate is based on an ability to also provide trusted advice and support.
One of the newest Fintechs into the Australian market is credit and debt solutions management company Aryza, who were led by their Chief Strategy Officer Ariel Timothy in a panel discussion on Embedded Finance. Aryza’s ‘end to end’ solution has a particular strength in the collections journey and Ariel provided insights around the changing landscape, and recognition of the important role that technology companies can play in supporting clients from a financial education and inclusion perspective.
Outside of Intersekt, the teams also participated in many other events, aimed at supporting with potential buyer engagement. Enterprise Ireland facilitated multiple show-case style events with leading organisations Grant Thornton, Pitcher Partners in the Accounting Advisory space, Australia’s largest Broker Aggregator Loan Market, and the largest Australian Bank for SMEs in National Australia Bank. During these events, clients pitched directly to key decision makers in a ‘shark tank’ style format. Positively there were several potential partnership opportunities identified, and future collaboration between Enterprise Ireland and each of the organisations is also highly likely.
To close the week, client companies also participated in an informative event with Invest Victoria at their offices in Melbourne, where Enterprise Ireland’s newly appointed Advisory panel member Brad Gofman led a panel discussion which included Victorian Government’s John Bailey, and Antony Burrows who leads NAB’s Innovation division to discuss the Victorian Fintech ecosystem, investment, partnering and talent amongst many other key themes.
Overall, the week provided a great opportunity for our clients to collaborate across the Australian ecosystem, connect with potential buyers and partners, and highlight Irish Fintech capability. Irish Fintech continues to go from strength to strength in the Australian market with strong year on year growth and employment hitting unprecedented levels. Enterprise Ireland support for participation at events like Intersekt is another great example of how the team are working with clients to drive brand awareness and commercial opportunity. We look forward to participating at next year’s event with the intention to have even stronger levels of participation!
