Australia's Tyro Payments receives $72m in funding
Tiger Global Management, TDM Asset Management and Mike Cannon-Brookes, co-founder of Atlassian, have provided A$100 million ($72 million) in funding for Tyro Payments, an Australian financial technology company with aspirations of becoming a bank.
Tiger Global has contributed the bulk of the round, putting in A$59.5 million, according to a filing by Tyro. TDM has invested A$25 million, while Cannon-Brookes is contributing A$10 million. A further A$5.5 million in funding has been underwritten by TDM but will be made available to public shareholders.
Tyro was founded by entrepreneurs Paul Wood, Peter Haig and Andrew Rothwell in 2003. It specializes in electronic funds transfer at point of sale (EFTPOS) services for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), authorizing, clearing and settling credit card payments and health rebate claims. The company works with 14,000 Australian businesses and processes over A$8 billion in transactions each year.
Tyro generated revenue of A$72.4 million for the year ended June 2015, up from A$52.6 million in 2014, while net income fell to A$811,000 from A$2.9 million, mainly due to re-investment into product development, premises and staff. The company increased headcount by 74% to 221 and opened a financial technology hub for entrepreneurs.
In August, Tyro became the first domestic technology company to be granted a banking license by the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority, allowing it to accept deposits and to advance money to companies. It wants to compete with the four major Australian retail banks and provide services tailored to the needs of the country's 2.1 million SMEs.
Over the next three years, the company plans to triple the number of software engineers it employees to 450, with a view to launching a suite of new digital products that will save businesses time and money.
"SMEs are essential to productivity growth and job creation in our economy. We want to build a new banking ecosystem that allows SMEs in whatever business - be it retail shops, pharmacies, medical practices, restaurants, pubs or hotels - to compete better," CEO Jost Stollmann said in a statement.
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