Kiwi Financial Startup Enters Australia

Kiwi Financial Startup Enters Australia

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 23 of January 2016

Banqer, the Kiwi cloud software designed to teach school children financial literacy, is expanding into Australia.

CEO Kendall Flutey is relocating to Sydney today as the startup enters a new growth phase, with two years of impressive domestic uptake in New Zealand schools under its belt.

Australia presents a $16m-a-year market opportunity for the Christchurch-based startup.

Banqer is a cloud-based software for school children aged 6 to 12. Each student is given a Banqer account with fictional money which they can spend in their classroom economy.

“The money is virtual, but the classroom economy Banqer creates is real,” explains Flutey.

“Students experience saving, investing, borrowing, purchasing and other important personal financial concepts. From the basics of setting up automatic payments for weekly classroom wifi expenses, to saving for an investment property and calculating expected returns.

“Students can earn money through rewards for good behaviour and classroom jobs which they apply for with a CV.”

Four co-founders launched Banqer following a conversation Flutey had with her 11-year-old brother in 2014.

Flutey is an accountant-turned-programmer and her brother was quizzing her about financial and business concepts.

“I was blown away by how financially literate he was and found out it was thanks to his teacher who had initiated a virtual economy in the classroom using spreadsheets. I met with the teacher and discussed building a higher tech solution. He jumped onboard and the rest, as they say, is history.”

Banqer won the Wellington Startup Weekend in 2014, and went on to take out the $20,000 Webstock BNZ Start-up Alley prize in 2015. The company has been profitable since, without taking on any investment.

The software, supported locally by Kiwibank, is used by more than 20,000 students in around 450 schools throughout New Zealand. A handful of teachers also use Banqer in the UK, US, Canada, and South Africa.

"The children are absolutely loving it,” says Linwood Avenue School teacher Colin Hill.

“Some children have actually looked into opening their own [real] bank accounts especially realising they are getting interest on their savings."

Schools are charged $2 per student per term, but Kiwibank is currently covering this cost for all primary and intermediate schools in New Zealand.

There are just over two million primary school students in Australia, making the total market opportunity more than $16m-a-year for Banqer.

Flutey will base herself in various locations around Australia to sign on new schools throughout 2017. Beyond Australia, the team plans to make its next move into the US in 2018.

“Financial illiteracy is a global problem so we need to be a global solution,” says Flutey.

“I’m a firm believer that when it comes to money; knowledge is power. Banqer’s aim is to arm young people with the skills they need to make smart and informed financial choices as adults.

“If we do that, we think we’ll make strong in-roads at reducing inequality, crippling debt, and poverty in New Zealand and around the world.”

ENDS

© Scoop Media