VC is running hot with Zeller reaching Unicorn status

Paul Bassat of Square Peg is excited to be investing again with @Hostplus in the ex Square execs Ben Pfisteter and Dominic Yap and their  team - as  their fintech Zeller raised a further $100m and reached unicorn status at a $1b valuation within 2 years. 

(Beating Airwallex who became a unicorn in 3 and a half years )

What is Zeller 

Zeller’s aim is to be a one-stop shop for businesses’ banking needs.

It initially offered debit cards, business banking accounts and payment terminals, but it plans to also offer online payment acceptance, credit cards and expense management services.

In time, it wants to expand into lending and become a fully licensed bank under the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.

The company has more than 11,000 business customers -  81 per cent have switching  to Zeller from another bank.

Investors in Zeller 

Zeller has raised over $181M from investors  including Square Peg ,  Apex Capital Partners, Spark Capital, Addition (founded by Lee Fixel), Headline and Hostplus - starting with a $6.3m seed round in June 2020

VC is booming with Valuations at record highs 

Yolanda Redrup from AFR points out that that the Vc market is booming in Oz - with competition for dealflow pushing up valuations .

Zeller joins Cyara, Scalapay and Employment Hero in having raised more than $100 million this year, while Dovetail, HappyCo, Karbon, Milkrun and Eucalyptus have each raised upwards of $50 million. 

In 2021 $10 billion of capital flowed to Aussie start-ups