x15ventures

Five years of scaling in the space between 🎉 Where did the time go? This month marks five years of building and scaling ventures we hope will make a difference to millions of Commonwealth Bank customers (and beyond). It’s safe to say we’ve learned a lot in that time. A lot about what works, what doesn’t, and what it really means to be a ‘venture scaler' (in a category of one, you might say we’re writing the playbook on it) ✍️ More than anything else, though, we’ve learned there’s something uniquely special in bringing together the best and brightest minds from both the corporate and startup worlds — and the new ideas and opportunities it can help unlock. So, to everyone who’s been part of the journey so far – our x’ers, ventures, partners, and of course, CommBank – thanks. We couldn’t have done it without you. Here’s to the next five years of reimagining what’s possible 🥂 While we mark the occasion with some celebratory doughnuts, we thought we’d leave you with five memorable moments from the last five years. What have some of yours been? Let us know below👇 #LifeAtx15 #MadeToScale

We’re excited to announce that Gable has won our 2024 Xccelerate program Gable was founded by Daniel Dicker, James Frost, Adrian Kreuziger, and Chad Sanderson to help businesses understand where their data is, who owns it, and where it's going. We were impressed with how Gable's approach could help shift important work back into the hands of our engineers, and we're looking forward to kicking off a project to help us detect code changes across our isolated technology environment (while exploring a number of more expansive opportunities across Commonwealth Bank, too). Please join us in congratulating Gable and the nearly 100 early-stage startups who made #Xccelerate24 the best yet. Read more 👇 https://lnkd.in/gAknFzC7

Want to know more about the game changing new feature announced by our kids' pocket money app, Kit, yesterday? Stewart Perrie from Yahoo Finance has all the details...

Kit launches Australian-first feature to help kids earn and learn about interest. With Youthsaver, your kids could start earning interest on savings in their Youthsaver account. Parents and carers can now link a new or existing CommBank Youthsaver account to their child's Kit account. Once linked, you and your child will be able to see their Youthsaver balance within the Kit app and transfer from Kit to Youthsaver. Yish Koh, Managing Director of Kit, said: “While there’s no shortage of financial products enabling grown-ups to manage a child’s savings, most of these don’t have an experience designed for the child. We wanted to change that – helping get kids excited about the earning-potential of interest, and put into practice positive savings behaviours we hope they’ll carry forward into adulthood.” Learn more at https://hubs.ly/Q02Yt4h20 ... Kit financial products including the Kit Account and the Kit Card are issued by our partner Hay Limited (AFSL 515459). Consider the PDS, FSG, TMD, T&Cs and other important information at https://hubs.ly/Q02Yt5KB0 . CBA New Digital Businesses Pty Ltd (ABN 38 633 072 830), trading as Hey Kit, has been appointed as authorised representative (001296799) of Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ABN 48 123 123 124 AFSL 234945) who is the issuer of the CommBank Youthsaver account. Any advice provided is general only, Consider whether a Youthsaver account is appropriate for you. The TMD for the product is available at https://hubs.ly/Q02Yt4xK0. Subject to eligibility criteria. Rates subject to change.

This month, we laced up and walked with purpose for the 10th anniversary of Can4Cancer. Born from a simple conversation, Can4Cancer has grown into Commonwealth Bank's flagship fundraising program, empowering a decade of life-changing impact alongside Tour de Cure Australia. The stats are in: 🚶🏽♂️ 80 x'ers  🦘 3 states represented 🤝 600 hours volunteer leave dedicated 🚶🏻♀️ 1,680 km walked 👣 2,400,000 steps taken 💸 $16.8 million raised to date  We've walked, we've fundraised, and we're proud to have made an impact. A huge thanks to our amazing team of x’ers, the organisers, and supporters for making a difference in the fight against cancer 👏🏼 #LifeAtx15 #Can4Cancer

It takes a lot to build a venture. It takes a lot more to build one that makes a difference. So... Dan Oertli and the Unloan team deserve congratulations for doing just that! With consistently high NPS (~50), expanded product and growing balances (we reached >$5bn in our first 18-months, helping customers save on one of their biggest costs), they're now ready to stand on their own two feet as a standalone divison within Commonwealth Bank and 'graduate' from x15! 🎓 🥂 🎓 For the broader x15ventures team - this is a big milestone. Our first "exit" and a great proof point in the model you've set up: a venture platform that delivers start-up speed, enterprise safety, and scale-up growth. Well done, thank you for all the hard work, and onwards, and upwards! Finally, to the many in CBA that helped build the integrations to provide smooth banking rails, compliance and reporting - thank you and in particular to Tess Sutherland for the epic early build and drive required! Good piece from Daniel Van Boom below which shares some of this great news (albeit with a much fresher looking, ie, old snap, of me...)

After a somewhat wet start to the week, the sun was out in full force as we showcased the six finalists of our #Xccelerate24 program at Commonwealth Bank‘s larger-than-life #SXSWSydney padlock space 🔒 A big thanks to Dragonfly Thinking, KomplyAi, Eidiex 🛡️ and GoFIGR for joining us for a chat, and to our friends at CommBank for coming by to support. But Xccelerate wasn’t all we got up to at SXSW Sydney… We also loaned out our MD Toby Norton-Smith to judge the Innovation and Retail Commerce category at SXSW Sydney Pitch; and our Portfolio Director Laura Faulconer moderated a panel on emerging AI alongside CBA Chief AI Officer Dan Jermyn, Agne Makauskaite from Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Bill Simpson-Young from Gradient Institute. Rounding out the week, umbrella at bay, Yish Koh took to the Discover Stage to speak about Kit’s mission to help build financial literacy in the next generation. Hopefully the forecast is looking bright ☀️ Thanks to SXSW Sydney for drenching us, drying us, hosting us, and (of course) inspiring us. Until the next time!

A few weeks ago, we finally gave Truyu the welcome party it deserved. With the Truyu logo now in prime position on our portfolio wall, we thought we’d take a quick look back at what the team has achieved in the last five months. 🕵️♀️ Truyu has detected over 37,000 compromised email addresses 🚨 Alerted customers of nearly 1,000 ID checks and 🔐 Helped over 6,000 Australians arm themselves against identity theft. Anthony Keane for The Australian took a deep dive into how tools like Truyu are helping people protect their identity👇 https://lnkd.in/gwBNJ9-R Congrats to Melanie Hayden and the team and a big thank you to Truyu partners GBG Plc - Carol Chris, Richard Zann, Megan Kerr 🎉

Introducing our #Xccelerate24 finalists 🥁 After receiving a record number of applications for this year’s #Xccelerate program, today we’re welcoming six shortlisted startups back to xBase for a day-long deep-dive into what a partnership with Commonwealth Bank could mean for their growth and success. Congratulations to our finalists: Dragonfly Thinking Cleric KomplyAi Gable GoFIGR Eidiex 🛡️ Over the next few days, we’ll be profiling each of our finalists, so keep refreshing our LinkedIn 👀

If the #Xccelerate24 Community Day and #Interesekt24 weren’t enough to keep us busy last week, we also had x’ers appear on two different panels at the Digital Financial Services Summit in Sydney on Tuesday. Repping x15, our Head of Security David Jorm spoke on balancing security with innovation, while Unloan Chief Experience Officer Sam Adeloju walked audiences through creating brilliant customer experiences ✨ A big thank you to the Forefront Digital Community and the team at Forefront Events for having us 🙌