ZipMoney Goes Public

ZipMoney has raised A$5 M on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). The company, which provides financing options for its partner companies’ customers, says that the investment should service its operational needs for two years.

ZipMoney provides loans of between $1,000 and $10,000 for up to 8 months, with interest free periods of between 3 and 6 months. Under the Zip system, once a purchase is authorised, Zip pays the retailer on the customer’s behalf and the customer makes payments to Zip. The financing option appears as a payment add-on at checkout on its partner companies’ websites, much in the way that PayPal does.

ZipMoney has made A$9M in loans since its launch in June 2013. The company appears to be taking off as loan volume has doubled since June, which is perhaps why ZipMoney has decided to list now. In a time and cost reducing move, ZipMoney has decided to list through a shell company: Rubianna Resources. Rubianna, which is already listed, will be renamed ZipMoney. Whil the lender differentiates itself from peer-to-peer lenders, and follows a different business model, its fundraising efforts does strike memories of Direct Money’s raise back in July, when they also used this cost saving technique.

What ZipMoney does have in common with peer-to-peer platforms, however, is that it is disrupting the closely held consumer finance space in Australia. No doubt Austalia’s alternative finance market has a long way to go to catch up to its US or European equivalents, but IPOs, and their ability to capture the attention of the public, will go a long way to promoting alternative finance in Australia.