x15ventures

Want to know more about the game changing new feature announced by our kids' pocket money app, Kit, yesterday? Stewart Perrie from Yahoo Finance has all the details...

Kit launches Australian-first feature to help kids earn and learn about interest. Parents and carers can now link a new or existing CommBank Youthsaver account to their child's Kit account, allowing their kids to see those savings grow over time, with interest up to 5.00% p.a.* Yish Koh, Managing Director of Kit, said: “While there’s no shortage of financial products enabling grown-ups to manage a child’s savings, most of these don’t have an experience designed for the child. We wanted to change that – helping get kids excited about the earning-potential of interest, and put into practice positive savings behaviours we hope they’ll carry forward into adulthood.” Learn more at https://hubs.ly/Q02Yt4h20 ... Kit financial products including the Kit Account and the Kit Card are issued by our partner Hay Limited (AFSL 515459). Consider the PDS, FSG, TMD, T&Cs and other important information at https://hubs.ly/Q02Yt5KB0 . CBA New Digital Businesses Pty Ltd (ABN 38 633 072 830), trading as Hey Kit, has been appointed as authorised representative (001296799) of Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ABN 48 123 123 124 AFSL 234945) who is the issuer of the CommBank Youthsaver account. Any advice provided is general only, Consider whether a Youthsaver account is appropriate for you. The TMD for the product is available at https://hubs.ly/Q02Yt4xK0. *Subject to eligibility criteria. 5.00% p.a. total variable rate when you make at least one deposit of any amount into your account and grow your balance (excluding interest and transactions initiated by the Bank) each calendar month on balances up to and including $50,000. The total variable rate includes 2.60% p.a. standard variable rate and 2.40% p.a. bonus variable rate when the above eligibility criteria is met. For the portion of the balance over $50,000 and/or if the bonus criteria isn't met, only the standard variable rate will apply. Interest is calculated daily and paid monthly. Rates effective 17 November 2023 but subject to change.

This month, we laced up and walked with purpose for the 10th anniversary of Can4Cancer. Born from a simple conversation, Can4Cancer has grown into Commonwealth Bank's flagship fundraising program, empowering a decade of life-changing impact alongside Tour de Cure Australia. The stats are in: 🚶🏽♂️ 80 x'ers  🦘 3 states represented 🤝 600 hours volunteer leave dedicated 🚶🏻♀️ 1,680 km walked 👣 2,400,000 steps taken 💸 $16.8 million raised to date  We've walked, we've fundraised, and we're proud to have made an impact. A huge thanks to our amazing team of x’ers, the organisers, and supporters for making a difference in the fight against cancer 👏🏼 #LifeAtx15 #Can4Cancer

It takes a lot to build a venture. It takes a lot more to build one that makes a difference. So... Dan Oertli and the Unloan team deserve congratulations for doing just that! With consistently high NPS (~50), expanded product and growing balances (we reached >$5bn in our first 18-months, helping customers save on one of their biggest costs), they're now ready to stand on their own two feet as a standalone divison within Commonwealth Bank and 'graduate' from x15! 🎓 🥂 🎓 For the broader x15ventures team - this is a big milestone. Our first "exit" and a great proof point in the model you've set up: a venture platform that delivers start-up speed, enterprise safety, and scale-up growth. Well done, thank you for all the hard work, and onwards, and upwards! Finally, to the many in CBA that helped build the integrations to provide smooth banking rails, compliance and reporting - thank you and in particular to Tess Sutherland for the epic early build and drive required! Good piece from Daniel Van Boom below which shares some of this great news (albeit with a much fresher looking, ie, old snap, of me...)

After a somewhat wet start to the week, the sun was out in full force as we showcased the six finalists of our #Xccelerate24 program at Commonwealth Bank‘s larger-than-life #SXSWSydney padlock space 🔒 A big thanks to Dragonfly Thinking, KomplyAi, Eidiex 🛡️ and GoFIGR for joining us for a chat, and to our friends at CommBank for coming by to support. But Xccelerate wasn’t all we got up to at SXSW Sydney… We also loaned out our MD Toby Norton-Smith to judge the Innovation and Retail Commerce category at SXSW Sydney Pitch; and our Portfolio Director Laura Faulconer moderated a panel on emerging AI alongside CBA Chief AI Officer Dan Jermyn, Agne Makauskaite from Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Bill Simpson-Young from Gradient Institute. Rounding out the week, umbrella at bay, Yish Koh took to the Discover Stage to speak about Kit’s mission to help build financial literacy in the next generation. Hopefully the forecast is looking bright ☀️ Thanks to SXSW Sydney for drenching us, drying us, hosting us, and (of course) inspiring us. Until the next time!

A few weeks ago, we finally gave Truyu the welcome party it deserved. With the Truyu logo now in prime position on our portfolio wall, we thought we’d take a quick look back at what the team has achieved in the last five months. 🕵️♀️ Truyu has detected over 37,000 compromised email addresses 🚨 Alerted customers of nearly 1,000 ID checks and 🔐 Helped over 6,000 Australians arm themselves against identity theft. Anthony Keane for The Australian took a deep dive into how tools like Truyu are helping people protect their identity👇 https://lnkd.in/gwBNJ9-R Congrats to Melanie Hayden and the team and a big thank you to Truyu partners GBG Plc - Carol Chris, Richard Zann, Megan Kerr 🎉

Introducing our #Xccelerate24 finalists 🥁 After receiving a record number of applications for this year’s #Xccelerate program, today we’re welcoming six shortlisted startups back to xBase for a day-long deep-dive into what a partnership with Commonwealth Bank could mean for their growth and success. Congratulations to our finalists: Dragonfly Thinking Cleric KomplyAi Gable GoFIGR Eidiex 🛡️ Over the next few days, we’ll be profiling each of our finalists, so keep refreshing our LinkedIn 👀

If the #Xccelerate24 Community Day and #Interesekt24 weren’t enough to keep us busy last week, we also had x’ers appear on two different panels at the Digital Financial Services Summit in Sydney on Tuesday. Repping x15, our Head of Security David Jorm spoke on balancing security with innovation, while Unloan Chief Experience Officer Sam Adeloju walked audiences through creating brilliant customer experiences ✨ A big thank you to the Forefront Digital Community and the team at Forefront Events for having us 🙌

What a week! 😮💨 From our Xccelerate Community Day in Sydney, to an equally jam-packed #Intersekt24 in Melbourne. Here's our 60-second recap... This year, we had the privilege to be involved with three separate panels covering #fintech partnerships, the current investment landscape, and the important question of how we teach the next generation about money. Speaking directly to fintechs considering a partnership with a corporate, our Portfolio Director Laura Faulconer urged founders to think *very* carefully about what success from the partnership would look like, and to be super clear about it — otherwise there’s every chance you'd end up running in different directions... with your shoelaces tied together 🤕 But we know that, for the right partnerships, the juice is definitely worth the squeeze. Someone who knows more than most on the topic, Dan Oertli said it would've been exceptionally hard to achieve everything he and the Unloan team have without the Commonwealth Bank connection. Switching topics from digital home loans to kids’ pocket money apps, Yish Koh shared the approach Kit is taking to improve financial literacy through empowerment — key to which is making sure Kit “meets kids where they are”, helping them make informed decisions about spending and saving, so they grow into financially savvy adults 🤓 For the last session before some hard-earned networking drinks, Laura was back on stage to check the temperature on the concept of a funding winter. From an x15 lens, she explained that because we’re focused on finding the right strategic partners, rather than the next unicorn, we were fortunately well-insulated against unexpected blizzards🧣 Thanks to Andrew Cornell and Bronwen Clune from Capital Brief and Ivan Muck from ff. next for keeping our panellists on their toes. Plus Anish Sinha from upcover, Isabelle Charter from Drip Invest, Bryan Wilmot from Stake, Kate Wilson from RFI Global, Justin Greenstein from 1835i, and Lucy Tan from SquarePeg for some great debate and conversation. And a final shout out to FinTech Australia, Rehan Mark D'Almeida and Lisa Gostinski – thanks for having us again this year. Hope to see you at Intersekt 2025!

After sifting through the mountain of applications we received for #Xccelerate24, the program got well and truly underway this week, with 21 #AI and #data startups joining us for our Community Day in Sydney. The aim: Give the next wave of entrepreneurs a sense of what it truly means to partner with a corporate like Commonwealth Bank. After a crash course on x15ventures from our Managing Director Toby Norton-Smith, participants heard from AI expert, mentor, and Director of Europa Labs, Kendra Vant, who spoke about the need to make sure AI is equitable for all, not just profitable for some. And, having spent her career building and leading teams in digital, AI and tech, Kendra went on to remind those in the room about the importance of building “a workhorse, not a ’show pony’”; something that'll create value well into the future and be something people still use on a daily basis, 10-15 years from now. After a quick caffeine fix, teams took a deep-dive into the AI investment landscape, followed by a session on prepping early-stage AI startups for scale. Thanks to our incredible panellists Taryn Pieterse from Rampersand, Casey Flint from Square Peg, Danielle Haj-Moussa from Main Sequence, Lynn Thompson from QBE Ventures, Chris Ellis, Ian Oppermann from ServiceGen, Samantha Lawson from Optus, and Alex Taylor from QBE Ventures. With a jam-packed agenda of panels, talks, and mentoring sessions like no other, our 2024 Community Day simply wouldn't have been possible without some serious effort from Fiona Aaron and Ryan Monk. A big thanks to both of you, to our 21 teams for really leaning into the day, and to the many mentors from CommBank and x15 that shared their time and expertise with this year's cohort. Stay tuned to find out which of our startups will join us for the next round in a few weeks.