Australia's NAB commits $36m to VC fund

NAB Ventures was established in 2015 with A$50 million and has since completed 12 investments, mostly in locally based start-ups that focus on consumer-facing fintech issues.

The extended fund will continue this mandate but with a stronger emphasis on improving NAB’s back-end efficiencies and advisory capacity beyond traditional banking, as well as cybersecurity, and customer data tracking technology.

“Beyond financial capital, we work with our portfolio companies to establish collaboration within NAB and create opportunities to drive positive outcomes for all stakeholders,” Todd Forest, managing director at NAB Ventures, said in a statement.

Previous investments include data exchange platform operator Data Republic, accounting software provider Wave, and healthcare payment services specialist Medipass. In February, the fund backed two real estate-focused fintech providers BrickX and ActivePipe.

VC investment in Australian fintech is relatively nascent. Deal volumes are estimated to have fluctuated between 15-18 transactions per year from 2013 to 2017. Capital invested reached as high as $175 million in 2015 after the launch of a fintech start-up hub in Sydney but fell to $71 million by 2016.

Other traditional financial institutions looking to access innovation in this space include Westpac Banking, which invests via a VC unit known as Reinventure. The bank topped up the program’s third fund with a A$50 million commitment earlier this year.  

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Australasia
• Fundraising
• Venture
• Australia
• NAB
• Financial Services
• Technology