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CHAOTIC, REWARDING HYPER-GROWTH: ZIPMONEY’S LARRY DIAMOND ON THE FINTECH STARTUP’S SUCCESS

By Administrator | 4 October 2017

Any way you slice it, 2017 has been a blockbuster year for zipMoney. The Sydney-based fintech startup – a provider of point-of-sale credit and digital payment services – has been onboarding around 1200 new customers per day, with CEO Larry Diamond attributing this growth to traction with millennials. 

Significantly, Zip landed the two largest fintech deals of the year. After securing a $260m debt facility, including $200 million in funding from NAB, four months ago, the startup attracted a $40m equity investment from Westpac in August.

Diamond, who co-founded Zip with company director Peter Gray in June 2013, spoke to Dynamic Business about his mission, the benefits of collaboration between fintechs and big banks, the personal challenges of leading a ‘hyper growth’ business and the long-term goal of becoming a ‘product house’.

DB: What is the problem you address, your motivation for doing so and your method?

Diamond: I’ll break it down…

PROBLEM: We believed the old way of doing retail finance was broken. The old way suffered from hard sign ups, lack of flexibility and high interest rates that ripped consumers off. Millennials – and almost everyone else – are wising up and know that there has to be a better way.

MOTIVATION: We saw the need for transparency and openness when dealing with consumers. We don’t often give them the credit they deserve (pardon the pun!).

METHOD: We offer an interest-free digital wallet that allows consumers to shop seamlessly and responsibly, both online and in-store. This not only helps consumers, it also helps retailers, too, driving engagement, conversion, and larger baskets.  We have pioneered payments as a powerful marketing tool, and that’s a very strong value prop. Read more

James Harkness - Dynamic Business - 29 Sep 2017

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