In a bid to attract top fintech talent, a new incubator in Sydney, Australia has formally launched with more than 40 businesses and 120 employees to be housed in the new not-for-profit Centre, which has been funded by the local government as well as many of Australia’s leading banks including Westpac, ANZ, Macquarie and HSBC.
The new incubator, Stone & Chalk is only the second fintech incubator to open in Australia, after EFTPOS provider Tyro Payments recently opened a similar innovation hub in Sydney. Commenting on the news Alex Scandurra, co-founder of Barclay’s Bank’s accelerator programme and one of the project’s heads said,
“From the outset our aim has been to attract the highest quality fintech startups in Australia, co-locate them under one roof, and support fast tracking their growth to ultimately help them go global.”
With several countries in Asia opening new fintech centers in recent months and years, Australia is set to be on par in terms of fintech development and ensure that top fintech entrepreneurs look to stay in Australia rather than travel abroad to develop their technologies. For the payments and banking industry in Australia this is a significant boon and is a major reason behind the collaborative nature of the Stone & Chalk lab.
Overview by Tristan Hugo-Webb, Associate Director, Global Payments Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
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