Headline leads Series B for Australian payments start-up Zeller

Existing investors such as Square Peg Capital, Addition, and Spark Capital re-upped. The company is now valued at more than AUD 1bn – up from AUD 400m in the Series A – and has raised AUD 181m since its founding in June 2020 by Ben Pfisterer and Dominic Yap, both of whom previously worked for global payments business Square.

Square Peg and Apex Capital provided AUD 6.3m in seed funding in 2020. This was followed by a AUD 25m Series A led by Addition, an investment firm established by former Tiger Global Management executive Lee Fixel. Square Peg and Apex re-upped. This was said to be one of the largest ever Series A rounds raised by an Australian start-up.

In June 2021, Zeller secured an additional AUD 50m led by US-based Spark Capital. The three existing investors also contributed capital. This came shortly after the company’s formal launch, which saw more than 1,500 businesses sign up in the first month and weekly payment volumes grow 200%. It now has more than 10,000 customers, with four in five switching from traditional banks.

The company offers a fully integrated payments and financial services solution, including a point-of-sale terminal, a business transaction account, and a Mastercard. Omnichannel commerce capabilities will soon be introduced, enabling merchants to use Zeller when selling products or sending invoices online, and then track sales and analyse payments data across every sales channel.

The Series B proceeds will go towards the development of new payments and business banking services. Priority areas include enhanced credit and debit cards, expense management, and lending.

“Our team set out to reimagine business banking by delivering a two-sided finance services operating system. We’ve built new solutions from the ground up that redefine how merchants accept payments, manage finances, and spend their funds,” Pfisterer said in a statement.

“Banking should no longer be purely transactional – it’s about connecting buyers with sellers, and enabling merchants with a better understanding of how their customers, suppliers and employees interact with their business.”

The payments space globally is going through a period of consolidation, with Square’s USD 29bn acquisition of Australia buy now, pay later platform Afterpay among the notable transactions. At the same time, payments providers like Zeller are expanding their coverage areas in a bid to become cornerstones of the financial cloud.

Airwallex, which was founded in Australia, is another example. CEO Jack Zhang told AVCJ last year that he wanted to create a single platform to empower modern businesses – a financial infrastructure provider in the same way that Google Cloud is a technology infrastructure provider.

“Essentially, we are a technology company, not a financial services company, although we do financial services. Everything is embedded into the business and operational workflow. To be one of the winners globally, we need breadth and depth,” he said.

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• Topics
• Australasia
• Early-stage
• Financials
• Technology
• Australia
• Square Peg Capital
• Addition
• Fintech