Australian fintech leaders shine at Finnie Awards

Australia’s FinTech industry celebrated its brightest stars at the annual Finnie Awards ceremony, held in Sydney for the first time in six years.

The prestigious event, hosted by FinTech Australia, recognized outstanding achievements across a wide range of categories, showcasing the sector’s resilience and innovation even amidst a slowdown in funding.

WeMoney, FrankieOne and emerging fintech Waave are among the biggest winners of this year’s annual FinTech Australia Finnie Awards.

The annual award celebrates achievement in Australia’s growing fintech industry. FrankieOne picked up the coveted Fintech Organisation of The Year award and digital wallet fintech Waave won Emerging FinTech of The Year. WeMoney won three separate awards: Excellence in Open Data, Excellence in Wealth Management and the People’s Choice Award.

John Winters from Superhero was named Finech Leader of The Year. This year also saw two joint winners for the Female FinTech Leader of the Year award, with both Anna Hawter from Lumi and Lisa Wade from DigitalX picking up the accolade. Erica Xie from Tanggram was named Emerging FinTech Leader of the Year.

The Finnies winners were selected out of 322 entries across 19 categories, and faced a rigorous two-round judging process. Following the reveal of the shortlist in April, a second round of new judges were brought in to cross-check entries and decide on the winners for each category.

Rehan D’Almeida, CEO of FinTech Australia said: “The fintech industry continues to play a key role in our transition to the digital economy. The Finnies is considered the most prestigious platform to showcase the incredible innovation in the country. As a result, the calibre of Finnies entries continues to climb. We pride ourselves on the effort we put in through the scrutinisation and judging process to ensure our winners are the best of the best. But that said, it gets more difficult each year.”

“I’d like to congratulate our winners for 2024. There were some standout innovations over the past 12 months and I can safely say that a slowdown in funding has not deterred ingenuity in the sector.”

“I’d also note all the finalists that didn’t quite make it over the line this year. As we keep saying, it’s an incredibly tough contest. Many categories came down to a few points between judges. Even making the finalist list is an achievement in itself. Some of our winners this year have been finalists in the past, so don’t let this result deter your next entry.”

The annual FinTech Finnie Awards Ceremony was held in Sydney for the first time in six years at Doltone Wharf in Pyrmont.