Finally, Stone & Chalk has opened its Australian fintech hub

August 25, 2015

Australian fintech hub Stone & Chalk is finally underway, opening its new Sydney office and revealing the first startups to join the community.

After switching locations Stone & Chalk finally settled at the AMP Tower at 50 Bridge Street.

It opens with 41 fintech startups, totalling 120 people, following an intense six-month selection process.

“From the outset our aim has been to attract the highest quality fintech startups in Australia, co-locate them under one roof, and support fast tracking their growth to ultimately help them go global,” Stone & Chalk CEO Alex Scandurra said.

“We have been inspired by the talent and diversity of the startups who have applied, and the potential they have to transform Australia’s multi-billion financial services sector.”

He’s hoping there will be 200 “Stone & Chalkers” in the 2300 square metre space by the end of the year.

The walls are covered with blackboard paint which people have already started writing over.

The first startups to join service a range of industries, from superannuation to cyrpto currencies, data analytics and consumer apps.

But it’s not all shiny new ventures, crowdfunding platform VentureCrowd, H2 Ventures and Zetaris will also be based there.

The co-working space received more than $2 million in corporate funding from the likes of American Express, AMP, ANZ, Macquarie and Westpac, as well as support from the NSW government.

Established to improve innovation in Australia’s financial services sector and bring startups and corporate together, Stone & Chalk will also run events and accelerator programs from the co-working space.

NSW industry minister Anthony Roberts said NSW has the potential to become a global fintech hotspot thanks to the not-for-profit entity.

“It will also grow our vitally important startup community by bringing these smaller operators alongside business leaders, financiers and regulators to drive new opportunities and solutions,” he said.

“The initiative is expected to attract some of the world’s best and brightest fintech talent to Sydney as well developing our local skills and expertise.”

Here’s the full list of the first lot of Stone & Chalk startups: