Lance East Office, the Perth family office of Laurence Escalante, the billionaire founder of online gaming company Virtual Gaming Worlds, has led a $12 million Series A funding round in West Australian-founded financial wellness app WeMoney.
This was the third round of funding from Perth-based Escalante while other existing investors, Better Labs, Dorado Capital and Eastcourt Capital also supported the new round. Global payments technology provider Mastercard contributed as a new investor.
Dorado Capital is a Perth-based property-focused loans provider and equity investment firm. Eastcourt Capital is a venture capital and private equity advisory and investment firm led by investment director, Perth lawyer John Groppoli. Better Labs is the $23 million corporate venture capital fund of Western Australia motoring organisation RAC Group.
Investors in a 2022 $7 million raising by WeMoney included Full Circle VC, US firm Dream Ventures and US fintech founders and executives.
The WeMoney app went live in October 2020 and recently reported it had passed the one million downloads mark.
WeMoney was launched to take early advantage of business opportunities flowing from Consumer Data Right (CDR) legislation which came into effect progressively from 1 July 2020.
Under CDR, specified businesses that hold customer data, including banks, must share data if requested by a consumer. A consumer can also request data be made available to an authorised representative such as a budgeting app.
In August last year the federal government introduced Open Banking Legislation designed to enable bank customers to switch products more easily.
In response, WeMoney developed its BrightMatch platform to simplify for customers the process of switching banks, or other finance providers. So far, three companies have joined the BrightMatch platform. The company is targeting lifting that figure to 30 by the end of the year.
Dan Jovevski, founder and chief executive of WeMoney said being on the platform was advantageous to lenders.
“For lenders, this means streamlined direct applications, leading to higher approval rates and eliminating much of the overhead involved in managing product applications,” he said.
WeMoney has participated in the Mastercard Start Path Open Banking Program over the last year and this paved the way for Mastercard’s investment, according to Jovevski
Vice president and head of Open Banking Australasia for Mastercard, Brenton Charnley, said: “Mastercard’s deepened relationship with WeMoney will help more Australians securely unlock the benefits of open banking and better manage their money. The technology holds immense potential across various use cases.”
Jovevski said: “This investment will allow WeMoney not only to maintain leadership in Australia but also assess prospects on a global stage. Over 80 jurisdictions worldwide are now exploring open banking and we see huge potential for supporting consumers internationally.”
The company would consider an IPO “in coming years,” Jovevski added.
Founded in Perth, WeMoney is now based in Sydney.
Jovevski is a repeat fintech founder having previously founded mortgage marketplace SwitchMyLoan which was exited to Pioneer Credit (ASX: PNC) in 2016.
Image: WeMoney chief executive and founder Dan Jovevski.