Australian fintech Zeller has officially reached unicorn status – its valuation has surpassed $1 billion – and it's using that might to win customers from some of the ASX's biggest banks.
The unlisted company – provider of financial services for businesses – hit the milestone in just two years.
It was co-founded by Square's (Block Inc CDI (ASX: SQ2)) former head of Asia Pacific and Australia country manager Ben Pfisterer, and its former strategy growth lead, Dominic Yap.
The pair remain Zeller's CEO and COO.
Let's take a closer look at what Zeller is bringing to the table against S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) banks.
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Zeller fronts up to ASX banking giants
Zeller's latest funding round has inked it as the fastest Aussie start-up to reach unicorn status.
In doing so, it has overtaken Airwallex's previous record of three years.
Just eight months after its launch in May, the fintech had welcomed more than 10,000 Australian businesses to its books.
Zeller hit its milestone $1 billion valuation after a $100 million funding round. The round was led by venture capitalist firm Headline alongside Aussie super fund Hostplus.
And ASX big banks – look out! Zeller will be using the funds to push its product range's development and "reimagine and replace" traditional banking services.
Previously, Zeller dug into the minds of its customers, finding 67% of businesses wanted to dodge ASX big four banks.
That's bad news for Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB), Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC), and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ).
So far, 80% of its customers have switched from traditional banks, with most taking up more than just payment products.
"Australian business banking is fundamentally broken," Pfisterer said.
"A lack of innovation from the incumbents means merchants are overlooked and underserved, at a time when they should be thriving."
After its latest funding round, Zeller is looking to drop new financial offerings for businesses.
These will include online payments, "next-generation" banking abilities, "enhanced" credit and debit cards, expense management, lending, and more.
"Our team set out to reimagine business banking by delivering a two-sided finance services operating system," Pfisterer said.
"Banking should no longer be transactional … We want Zeller to be at the centre of a business's financial ecosystem, enabling them to have a complete view of every customer interaction and the overall health of their business."
