{"id":42564,"date":"2023-10-20T15:22:08","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/aussie-record-small-business-lender-prospa-raises-60-million-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:22:08","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:22:08","slug":"aussie-record-small-business-lender-prospa-raises-60-million-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/aussie-record-small-business-lender-prospa-raises-60-million-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Aussie record: Small business lender Prospa raises $60 million – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The most important part of raising capital is making sure investors are properly aligned with your company, Prospa joint-CEO Beau Bertoli says.<\/p>\n

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Prospa has just closed what it says is the largest to capital raising to date by an Australia online lender, gathering $60 million from US global asset management firm the Carlyle Group, Ironbridge Capital, Entr\u00e9e Capital and Airtree Ventures.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bertoli says an investment won\u2019t work in the long-term if the investors don\u2019t cover the \u201cwhole spectrum\u201d of the startup.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cMake certain it\u2019s the right group of partners coming into the business,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhen businesses are starting up they often make difficult choices around where they get funding from.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019ve always been very disciplined about making sure we bring together the right group of partners with deep understandings of finance capital markets along with tech expertise. That gives us a really good competitive advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

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After a long and gruelling process, this is exactly what Prospa achieved with the Series B funding round.<\/p>\n

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\u201cGetting groups like Carlyle and Ironbridge Capital and combining them with Airtree and Entr\u00e9e Capital means we\u2019ve got investors who understand the whole spectrum,\u201d Bertoli says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A securitisation first in Australia<\/b><\/h2>\n

The Series B investment round included a $50 million securitisation deal with the Carlyle Group, and Bertoli says this is the first of kind in Australia for unsecured, online business loans, and only the third globally.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re pioneering that whole form of funding,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s a great endorsement of the model.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

Lofty long-term ambitions<\/b><\/h2>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

The funding round is a \u201cgreat step forward\u201d for Prospa, Bertoli says, with the capital being used to expand growth in the small business lending market and establish itself as a key player in the fintech industry.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThe funds will be predominantly used for growth in the loan book,\u201d he says. \u201cThe securitisation will allow us to have a very scalable model for future funding requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Prospa has some \u201cvery big aspirations\u201d, Bertoli says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It wants to triple originations from last year, and aims to give out half a billion dollars in the next few years.<\/p>\n

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The online small business lender uses a propriety technology platform to facilitate a fast online application process, with 90% of customers receiving funds within a day.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Since launching in 2011 the company has lended over $70 million to small businesses.<\/p>\n

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The fintech scene shouldn\u2019t be a competition<\/b><\/h2>\n

Competition in the online business lending and fintech markets in Australia is growing rapidly, but Bertoli says Prospa\u2019s established presence and success gives it the credibility to stand out from the pack.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole fintech sector is newly established, but we\u2019re heading for our fourth year of operation,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThe market is really in its infancy. We believe Prospa is the largest lender in this space, and we\u2019ve got the best investors behind us.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s not about the competition though and Bertoli says he hopes the huge funding round will inspire and encourage other startups in the industry.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully announcements like this can stimulate a lot more investor interest in the Australia fintech market,\u201d Bertoli says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people kicking off their business can look at what we\u2019ve done and realise it is possible, that you can build a big business and raise capital from a lot of impressive people.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Bertoli says it all comes back to helping other small businesses flourish.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a neglected part of the economy for many, many years,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cBanks certainly haven\u2019t supported them. It\u2019s great to be a part of the story of many small business owners.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Raising your<\/i> first round of capital<\/i><\/a>? Starting a<\/i> crowdfunding campaign<\/i><\/a>? Want to grow your business<\/i> with Instagram?<\/i><\/a> StartupSmart School can help.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The most important part of raising capital is making sure investors are properly aligned with your company, Prospa joint-CEO Beau<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42564"}],"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=42564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}