{"id":38338,"date":"2023-10-20T14:55:48","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:55:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/how-dr-catriona-wallace-turned-software-startup-flamingo-into-a-24-million-fintech-firm-about-to-hit-the-asx-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T14:55:48","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:55:48","slug":"how-dr-catriona-wallace-turned-software-startup-flamingo-into-a-24-million-fintech-firm-about-to-hit-the-asx-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/how-dr-catriona-wallace-turned-software-startup-flamingo-into-a-24-million-fintech-firm-about-to-hit-the-asx-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"How Dr Catriona Wallace turned software startup Flamingo into a $24 million fintech firm about to hit the ASX – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dr<\/div>\n

After raising $3 million in a round led by Otsana Capital, Dr Catriona Wallace sits in wait as her fintech startup approaches its next frontier: the Australian Securities Exchange.<\/p>\n

Flamingo will list in a merger with existing ASX-company Cre8Tek and trade under the ticker CR8, making it one\u00a0of the first fintech startups\u00a0led, founded and chaired by women to list on the ASX.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really exciting on the one hand, and really disturbing on the other,\u201d Wallace tells StartupSmart.<\/em><\/p>\n

In just two years, Wallace has turned her tiny startup into a fintech firm with a market capitalisation of $24 million and major clients in the US and Australia, including NAB and Nationwide Insurance.<\/p>\n

In this time, Flamingo has grown into a highly sophisticated product for banks and financial services providers that plays into conversational commerce and chat bots.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been able to fuse web chat intelligence, guided work flow and machine learning to develop an artificial intelligence-based platform that an enterprise uses to help guide customers through their decision making and purchasing,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The rigorous process of listing under new ASX requirements<\/h3>\n

After an intense\u00a0six-month process, Wallace hopes that listing on the ASX will now free up some of her time so she can\u00a0divert it back to her\u00a0core business.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the challenges of being a startup founder is you spend 50% of your time capital raising rather than running your business,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this particular model, the markets help us take care of the capital raise.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it\u2019s a better investment strategy than a traditional VC path.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being one of the first companies to go through the ASX’s new listing requirements, Wallace says the process was an intense period of heavy lifting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was exceptionally rigorous, beyond what I could\u2019ve imagined possible,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe worked with lawyers, accountants, auditors, industry experts and corporate advisors to be able to fully meet the requirements of the ASX \u2013 there\u2019s not a stone left unturned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why Flamingo left home but has had a change of heart<\/h3>\n

After founding Flamingo in Australia<\/a>, Wallace went to the US to realise her global ambitions for the venture.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo years ago, we went to the US because we didn\u2019t think Australia\u2019s market could engage with startups effectively,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

But with the burgeoning growth of Australia\u2019s startup sector backed by groups like Stone&Chalk, Wallace decided to come back.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia is now ready and a very good market to launch fintech into,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

With Flamingo\u2019s next chapter aimed at Asia, Wallace and her team are focusing all efforts on launching an Asia-Pacific effort this November.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of our reason for choosing the Australian investment strategy is so we could enter the Asian market,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

She notes this will also open up the opportunity for the greater public to invest in a high-growth tech company, an asset class traditionally reserved for a specialised few.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the tech startup world, there\u2019s not been a long history of Australian mums and dads or retail investors being able to invest in high tech stock,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlamingo will be an Australian story around making that opportunity available.\u201d<\/p>\n

On this journey, Wallace says Flamingo\u2019s chairperson Cathie Ried has played an instrumental role in keeping her focused and headed in the right direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cCathie has been a huge motivator and supporter for me,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lot evidence that when women are backed by women investors, there\u2019s a very high likelihood of success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em>\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>\u00a0and iTunes<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After raising $3 million in a round led by Otsana Capital, Dr Catriona Wallace sits in wait as her fintech<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38338"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}