Fintech Hub Stone & Chalk Welcomes Metamako to its Growing Community

The newly established Fintech hub in Sydney, Stone & Chalk, welcomes new residents to join its emerging innovation eco-system. The latest start-up to join is Metamako, a leader in deterministic, ultra-low latency hardware.

Stone & Chalk is an independent, not-for-profit fintech hub, helping to foster and accelerate the development of fintech start-ups. According to its own description, it is a physical "centre of gravity" for Australia's vibrant fintech eco-system.

It came into existence catalysed by a KPMG report for the Committee of Sydney and now boasts about 120 entrepreneurs. Stone & Chalk expects to have 200 people working there by the end of the year.

Although backed by many large corporates -including American Express, AMP, ANZ Banking Group, the ASX, HSBC, IAG, IBM, KPMG, Macquarie Group, Oracle, Thomson Reuters, Westpac Banking Corp and Woolworths - the hub is committed and focused on its start-up residents.

Although backed by many large corporates, the hub is committed and focused on its start-up residents.

"It is important to make clear that while we are partnering with large organisations, they do not in any way control what we do with the teams, or how the teams operate, or get guaranteed access to the teams," said Alex Scandurra, who was appointed as CEO earlier this year, in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald.

Metamako, therefore, joins a flourishing community of fintech start-ups, including: Macrovue, a thematic stock picking start-up in which AMP recently invested; the big data company Zetaris, which counts Westpac's venture capital fund Reinventure Group as an investor; and the Google-backed, Silicon Valley-based fintech start-up Ripple Labs.

Commenting on the news, Dr. Dave Snowdon, founder and co-CTO of Metamako, said: "Metamako has been growing quickly since our launch at the end of 2013. We've recently made the decision to relocate to the Stone & Chalk offices in Sydney; we feel this environment will support and underpin our global strategy, focus and unique approach to innovation.”

Metamako is rather unusual amongst our members given they design and manufacture hardware for the global financial industry.

Alex Scandurra, CEO of Stone & Chalk, said: "Metamako is a valuable addition to our fintech hub and we are excited about helping them deepen their global reach. While the companies we support specialise in a range of services within fintech, Metamako is rather unusual amongst our members given they design and manufacture hardware for the global financial industry.”

The developments occur against the background of a strengthening fintech industry in Australia. Indeed, in a report to investors, Morgan Stanley forecasts that loans made on P2P platforms in Australia will grow to $22 billion by 2020. Overall, the growth in Australia is part of a strong global trend that Morgan Stanley forecasts, expecting the global P2P market, just one element of the broader fintech revolution, to grow to between $150 billion to $490 billion by 2020.

It came into existence catalysed by a KPMG report for the Committee of Sydney and now boasts about 120 entrepreneurs. Stone & Chalk expects to have 200 people working there by the end of the year.