JULY 20 2021

Published in the Australian Financial Review

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Geoff Levy’s Monash Advisory has been given the directive to shop around local fintech Eftsure, on the back of the anti-fraud payment technology business receiving multiple unsolicited bids.

It is understood the bids, which have come from both onshore and offshore parties, have valued the business at about 10-times revenue. Given the competition, Eftsure and its bankers are likely to be looking for a higher price.

On track for annual recurring revenue of $10 million, it means interested parties will have to be willing to stump up $100 million-plus to get a look-in.

Offers for the business so far are believed to have come from banks, cloud accounting software players and credit bureaus, with the most recent offer made two months ago.

The board of Eftsure is believed to have met late last week and chose to formally test the market for a sale, given the level of interest.

Our Innovation Fund, which Street Talk revealed earlier this month had upsized its new fund to $100 million, is the only VC invested in the business, with the majority of shares still owned by management.

The business, which was started by former accountant Ian Mirels with CEO Mike Kontorovich and Mark Chazan in mid-2014, has largely flown under the radar.

It enables users to ensure a payees’ account name, number and BSB all match.

Traditionally when a person or business makes a bank transfer, there is no way of knowing if all of these details line up, because banks do not have access to each others systems and account records.

This has huge implications for fraud. You may think you’re paying an invoice from Officeworks, when in reality someone could have tampered with the BSB and account details and the payer would never know.

Eftsure has amassed a database of 2 million verified accounts, where it automatically checks that a business’ name and bank details match up.

It has customers such as Pizza Hut, 7 Eleven and Laing O’Rourke.

It has a presence in South Africa as well as Australia and it iss exploring an expansion to the UK and New Zealand.

The business also has a partnership with PwC, which promotes Eftsure’s product to its clients.

It is understood that the business is hoping to have finished testing the waters for a sale within the quarter and Monash Advisory will be sending out an information memorandum soon.