Bundaberg-born fintech founder is leading the latest Aussie unicorn, but says he’s still a “farmer at heart”

Stephanie Palmer-Derrien - SmartCompany - 24 July 2018

Supply chain financing startup Greensill has landed the title of Australia’s latest unicorn, having completed a $US250 million ($338.86 million) capital raise that values the Australian-founded fintech at $US1.64 billion ($2.22 billion).

The investment comes from US growth equity firm General Atlantic, which has taken a minority stake in the business.

Founded in 2011 by Lex Greensill, a Queensland native who grew up on his family’s Bundaberg sugar cane and sweet potato farm, Greensill has been bootstrapped until now, only taking capital from family and friends, according to a Fairfax report.

“The business is extraordinarily capital efficient and we’ve invested fully ourselves in growing the business because we wanted to maintain control,” Greensill said.

“The firm is still substantially owned by myself and the staff and I’m very proud of that … Dozens and dozens of our employees have become millionaires on the back of this,” he added.

The startup joins Canva and Atlassian in the hall of fame of Australian-founded unicorns, and also follows a $675 million Series-B raise from Aussie-founded Zoox, which values the self-driving car startup at $4.3 billion. Read more