Reinventure co-founder and partner Simon Cant has become the first individual to be inducted into Australia’s fintech hall of fame, receiving the industry recognition at the annual FinTech Australia Finnie Awards overnight.
This is the seventh year of the Finnie Awards, which recognizes the achievements of Australian fintech businesses and the people who lead them.
These leaders also include Up co-founder Dominic Pym, who was named Outstanding Fintech Leader of the Year; BTC Markets CEO Caroline Bower, who received the award for Female Fintech Leader of the Year; and Emerging Fintech Leader of the Year, Wagestream co-founder and CEO Josh Vernon.
Cant founded Westpac-backed Reinventure in 2013 with Danny Gilligan as Australia’s first dedicated fintech VC fund, and was described by FinTech Australia chief executive Rehan D’Almedia as “a true asset to our ecosystem”.
“Many of our winners this year, such as Flare and Zai, are flourishing due to early backing from Reinventure,” D’Almedia added.
“While many fintechs received funding from Simon’s firm, countless others have benefited from his advice and guidance over the years. He was also instrumental in capturing initial government support and focusing on fintech and regulation.”
Among the startups to take home awards last night were Monoova, Nano Digital Home Loans, and Tanggram.
While FinTech Australia pointed out that no one business picked up multiple awards this year — a first for the Finnies — some of last year’s winners were recognized again this year, with FrankieOne picking up the Excellence in Regtech award for the second year running, and Frollo scooping up the Excellence in Open Data award once again.
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In an email alert to subscribers this morning, Frollo said it is proud to have been recognized as a fintech producing an innovative open banking product.
“But just like Open Banking, we’re only getting started,” the company told subscribers. “And for us, 2022 will be the year of ‘go live’. After two years of building, our focus is on bringing clients live and helping them improve the financial wellbeing of their customers.”
Wow 🤩 We did it!! Only took 10 years of hard work, love, passion and imagination with the best team I’ve ever worked with in my life ❤️🆙⚡️ Thanks everyone at@Ferociaand@up_bankingand@bendigobankand@ausfintech😃 #finnies2022 #finniesawards pic.twitter.com/LA6a98rGLU
— Dom Pym (@dompym) June 23, 2022
The winners of the Finnie Awards 2022 are:
Best Workplace Diversity: Tanggram
Emerging Fintech Leader of the Year: Josh Vernon (Wagestream)
Female Fintech Leader of the Year: Caroline Bowler (BTC Markets)
Outstanding Fintech Leader of the Year: Dominic Pym (Up)
Excellence in Establishing Market Presence (Global): Wise
Excellence in Industry Collaborations & Partnerships: Flare
Excellence in Business Lending: Octet
Excellence in Consumer Lending: Drive and Wisr
Excellence in Payments (including remittance/fx): GoCardless
Excellence in Blockchain/Distributed Ledger: Civic Ledger
Excellence in Crypto and Digital Currencies/Wallets/Exchanges: Crypto.Com
Excellence in Regtech: FrankieOne
Excellence in Wealth Management (including PFM and Robo): Raiz Invest
Excellence in Open Data: Frollo
Excellence in Fintech Support Services: Asero
Deal of the Year: Zai
Best Partnership of the Year: Slyp and Divipay
People’s Choice (Emerging Fintech Organization of the Year): Betacarbon
People’s Choice (Fintech Organization of the Year): Hnry
Emerging Fintech Organization of the Year: Nano Digital Home Loans
Fintech Organization of the Year: Monoova
Hall of Fame Inductee: Simon Cant, Reinventure