Australia's Westpac invests $37m in Reinventure

Like its predecessors, Fund III will focus on financial and blockchain technologies related to the disruption of the banking industry. According to a statement, it will be structured as both a VC fund and a unit trust to allow for increased targeting of Asia-based companies.

Reinventure’s first two funds were set up in 2014 and 2016, with both receiving A$50 million commitments from Westpac. Recent investments from Fund II include Sydney-based cybersecurity company Kasada and Melbourne-based verification platform Everproof.

Previous investments also include fintech security systems provider Data Republic and Assembly Payments, a company which helped inform the creation of Presto Smart, a system that integrates business customers’ point-of-sale systems with Westpac’s merchant terminals.

Simon Cant, co-founder of Reinventure, said that investee companies would need to be self-sufficient in order to be good partners for Westpac. “You can’t just be building these with an eye ‘that looks good in Westpac, let’s fold it in,’” he said. “You really need to be building them to be successful in their own right. It can create tension, but it’s a healthy tension and the right tension to have.”

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