27 March 2015

Australia’s First Fintech Hub Opens in Sydney

Australia’s first hub for financial technology startups has opened in the heart of Sydney to act as an exchange for ideas and to provide a place for the country’s most ambitious fintech entrepreneurs to meet and work.

The Tyro Fintech Hub has desks for 125 fintech entrepreneurs, and features an event space, two board rooms, meetings rooms, a chill out room, informal sitting areas, a communal kitchen and eating space, and a rooftop terrace. Desks are $625 per month fulltime, $420 for 10 days and $250 for five days.

The Hub offers co-working desks to fintech startups and high growth companies, and will also host accelerators, conferences, hackathons, meetups and seminars in a push to build and support Australia’s burgeoning fintech community.

Heading the Tyro Fintech Hub is Andrew Corbett-Jones, an entrepreneur himself who has also spent the better part of a decade advising and mentoring hundreds of Australian startups. “Australia is late to the party, but the time has come for financial services to be disrupted and radically improved by a swarm of fintech entrepreneurs,” Mr Corbett-Jones said.

“Startups face barriers in this space, and we want to give them a boost by giving them somewhere to work, learn, collaborate and drive change. We’re not the cheapest and we’re not the most expensive. What we are is a location in the heart of Sydney’s financial district, with a space that is open, bright and informal, and is also the sort of place you would happily bring a client or investor.”

“The Hub doesn’t need to make a profit, but it does need to foster innovation, and that is what we will be measured on. We believe this space will be particularly attractive to anyone thinking about leaving a large, slow-moving employer – whether that’s a bank, an insurance company or a professional services firm – and launching their own startup.”

The space is being provided by one of Australia’s great fintech success stories, Tyro, Australia’s business-only bank and EFTPOS provider. Tyro CEO Jost Stollmann said “we are very keen to see more companies do what we have done – powerfully disrupt banking in Australia”.

“But it’s not easy. We believe it takes an ecosystem to drive real change, and so we have committed substantial resources to build and grow the fintech ecosystem,” Mr Stollmann said. The company is also offering its banking experience and expertise to a handful of companies who may benefit from co-developing with Tyro.

Need to know more?

For more about this news story please contact:
Monica Appleby, Head of Corporate Communications on 0466 598 946 or mappleby@tyro.com
Sophie Cotterill, Corporate Communications Manager on 0414 960 292 or scotterill@tyro.com