{"id":43471,"date":"2023-10-20T15:28:49","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:28:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/new-fintech-player-launches-with-the-backing-of-the-victorian-government-after-two-years-of-jumping-regulatory-hurdles-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:28:49","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:28:49","slug":"new-fintech-player-launches-with-the-backing-of-the-victorian-government-after-two-years-of-jumping-regulatory-hurdles-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/new-fintech-player-launches-with-the-backing-of-the-victorian-government-after-two-years-of-jumping-regulatory-hurdles-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"New fintech player launches with the backing of the Victorian government after two years of jumping regulatory hurdles – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dragon<\/div>\n

A Melbourne fintech startup hoping to change the way SMEs do business has launched with a handshake from the Victorian government.<\/p>\n

Minister for small business, innovation and trade Philip Dalidakis joined Dragon Bill founder Luke Hally and his team to celebrate the exact second the platform went live<\/p>\n

Speaking at the launch, Dalidakis said it was great to see innovative Victorian startups like Dragon Bill working to make things better for small businesses, especially given the real problem of late payments.
The startup wants to improve the experience for people at both ends of service provision: customers and providers, Hally says.<\/p>\n

\u201cDragon Bill is a payment tool for small business service providers to help them get paid on time and to make sure customers get what they paid for,\u201d Hally tells StartupSmart<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The escrow service shifts control of payments to an independent, licensed third party to protect bother buyers and sellers.<\/p>\n

Hally says they developed the concept through working with Pay Pal\u2019s compliance team and the Startup Blueprint program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey said we\u2019re the first people doing something like this,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Hally says the average small business has over $10,000 in outstanding invoices and loses more than 80 hours a year chasing this.<\/p>\n

On the other side, he says nearly 60% of customers still pay for a job even when they\u2019re unhappy with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to change the way transactions are done in small business,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Nearly two years in the making, Hally says one of the key challenges in getting Dragon Bill to where it is today was navigating through the complex regulatory and legislative fintech space.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a technical background, not finance,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Hally is a web developer with a career in tech and engineering spanning more than two decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve gotten this far with a startup,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

To overcome this knowledge gap, Hally says networking and connecting with people in the local fintech scene was critical.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t be scared to do it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

With basic regulatory hurdles like the Australian financial services licence costing anywhere between $20,000 to $70,000, Hally says it\u2019s incredibly important for founders of fintech companies to link with experts in the finance sector before investing significant time and money in new ventures.<\/p>\n

This year, Hally hopes to raise as much as $1 million to help them make key hires in marketing, development and financial advice to achieve scale.<\/p>\n

He says their main goal for 2016 is to gain 300 customers so they can make Dragon Bill their full-time focus, but more would be even better.<\/p>\n

\u201cA thousand customers at the end of the year could give us revenue of $2 million,\u201d Hally says.<\/p>\n

 <\/strong><\/p>\n

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