Online lender
Prospa has been recognised as a leading Australian business, winning the 2017 Telstra New South Wales Medium Business Award.
The firm is the first fintech to be given the accolade. The win is the culmination of three consecutive years as a finalist in the Telstra Business Awards which have been running for 25 years.
Celebrating its fifth birthday on Monday this week (17 July), Prospa has originated more than 12,000 loans to small business owners, injecting over $400m over the past year into the community. It has formed strategic partnerships with
Westpac, Reckon and IAG during this time and raised $25m in January from entry ventures and shareholders.
“We’re honoured to be the first fintech company recognised as NSW’s top medium-sized business. We believe this win highlights Australia’s changing attitudes towards startups and confidence it has in the fintech industry,” said
Beau Bertoli, joint CEO of Prospa.
With the firm now going into its sixth year, Bertoli told
Australian Broker that it was interesting to watch how the market had evolved during this time.
“There are a number of things which have changed in relation to the fintech industry. The first one is around customer awareness and a general acceptance from customers that it’s ok to deal with someone who’s not a bank.
“The second change is around the investor focus. The community was quite small when we started – there were only a handful of us in the market. Today there is a very vibrant fintech community. There are a couple of hundred of fintechs operating around Australia who are raising money and getting a lot of support and resources from investors.”
Both these trends will continue to accelerate in the coming years, Bertoli said.
The achievement was also a result of the continued success of Prospa’s small business clients as well as the unmatched commitment of the firm’s team members.
“It’s been an amazing year looking back. Our team has grown from around 80 people at the start of the year to 150 – we’ve almost doubled. We’re very fortunate to have such an incredible team who are so passionate about what they’re doing in trying to help our small business customers.”
Prospa’s finance broker channel partners are also an important part of the business, Bertoli added, with the firm providing support through a dedicated team. Almost 4,500 finance brokers are registered and accredited with the lender, he said.
Greg Moshal, Prospa’s other joint CEO, also expressed his pleasure at winning the award, saying he was proud the firm had been recognised for its work.
“This week Prospa celebrates its fifth birthday and we are proof you can build a big, high quality, successful business in just five years. We look forward to continuing to solve problems for small business owners and supporting the growth of the two million small businesses across Australia.”
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