Four-year old digital bank Mynted is pitching investors for $35 million to get up and running, as it awaits its banking licence.Mynted wants to integrate lifestyle offerings on its digital banking app. AFRMynted was founded in 2018 by former stockbroker Peter Curtis and Eddy Qui, and wants to build a core offering of digital banking geared at Australia’s cohort of 10 to 15 million millennials, including international students. It also wants to marry its mobile banking application with lifestyle offers, in the vein of American WePay, Chinese Alipay and Indian Paytm.The company has spent the last three years putting together a nine-person team and working through its application for a restricted authorised deposit-taking institution licence with the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.While it’s waiting for APRA’s green tick, it’s hired Singapore’s Spark Plus to raise $35 million across two equity raises.
The first one, a $10 million series A round is being done at a $47 million pre-money valuation and will go towards developing its banking platform. The second one, a $25 million series B round, will fund both development and regulatory capital requirements.The company is hiring up to 40 more people in the next six months, swelling to 100 in the next 12 to 18 months as it works through deposits, debit cards, personal loans and credit cards, followed by home loans and its lifestyle product.The lifestyle offering, which Mynted believes neither the incumbents nor the new entrants in Australia have done so far, will include allowing partner retailers to directly offer services within Mynted’s banking app for things like paying for transport, dining and accommodation.This would generate additional data on their customers, which Mynted can use to offer proprietary rates and additional credit.
Mynted is chaired by Peter Curtis, a former stockbroker for Deutsche, Austock and APP Securities. On the board he’s joined by Westpac’s former head of Hong Kong private banking Cissy Law, APRA’s former chief internal auditor Greg Plummer and MasterCard’s former internet payments vice president in Sydney Howard Elliott.The chief executive is Neil Shilbury, who was the chief executive at Kaplan Australia and later at Catalyst Education.Another ex Mastercard digital payments operative Michael Moore is the chief product and marketing officer. Mynted’s chief risk officer is Paul Whitaker, who’s worked at Westpac’s BT and AMP Capital in risk management roles.
NOV Price at posting:
21.5¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
