AUGUST 15 2022

Published in The Australian Financial Review

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Biza.io, a five-year-old data management start-up founded by a former Rabobank executive, has raised its first round of capital, banking $7.5 million from OIF Ventures and Jelix Ventures, despite the tough capital market.

The Brisbane-based company, which offers cloud-based software that helps organisations comply with consumer data right (CDR) rules, was founded by Rabobank Australia and New Zealand former head of innovation Stuart Low, and has been bootstrapped to date.

Its first customer was Regional Australia Bank, and it now counts Commonwealth Bank’s Unloan, Bank First, Australian Military Bank, TrueLayer, the Capricornian, Family First Bank and Envestnet Yodlee as customers. Mr Low said the company hit profitability in March last year.

The software targets both data holders (banks, energy companies etc) and data recipients (consumers), which are designed in compliance with CDR regulations.

The first application of the CDR, open banking, launched in Australia in 2020, with a staged rollout taking place until February this year.

The next industry to confront the changes will be the energy sector, with providers required to share product information via application programming interfaces – a software-to-software interface that allows different IT systems to talk to each other – from October.

From November, energy companies will need to provide consumers with access to their usage and connection data, similar to the obligations on financial institutions as part of the open banking regime.

Mr Low told The Australian Financial Review that innovation and engagement with the CDR had been a “slow burn”, but he was confident momentum was building.

“In late 2020, there were literally no other options [for financial institutions looking for a CDR provider]. Even now, there is very limited competition in this space, and we have managed to capitalise on that,” he said.

“We have had some really solid growth off the back of our success, but we also see opportunities approaching ... and when you’re bootstrapped, you always have to prioritise the customers you’ve signed, rather than invest in the product you think is possible.

“This funding is about growth capital – introducing the capability to skill up and add more staff, and push development at a more rapid pace, rather than waiting for revenue to be signed and realised.”

Mr Low started the business in his garage, after working with the Data Standards Body (the agency responsible for creating standards for the CDR), and seeing how financial institutions needed technical partners to help them meet their obligations and solve problems related to the CDR.

He now employs 16 staff and has aspirations to hire up to 30 more this year.

As well as its banking customers, Mr Low said Biza.io was already working with major energy players ahead of the industry’s November deadline.

He said he used connections to help raise the funds. He knew Ian Gardiner of Jelix Ventures from his days running Innovation Bay, and Mr Gardiner connected him to OIF Ventures.

Having already hit profitability, Mr Low said, helped the business in its new capital raise.

“The market certainly isn’t as frothy as last year,” he said.

“It was easier for us to be able to say we’ve got these long-term, sustainable contracts, and we’re above breakeven. You also don’t run a bootstrapped business without some realism. We didn’t go in with a frothy multiple ... we didn’t have stars in our eyes.”

Mr Low declined to comment on the valuation of the round.

OIF general partner Laurence Schwartz said Mr Low had been one of the “visionary” contributors to the development of the CDR.

“The CDR has the potential to reshape the consumer landscape in Australia and what one can imagine through CDR is very exciting for consumers, businesses and innovation alike,” he said.