Zeller Bank Becomes Unicorn with Latest $100M Funding

Australian digital business bank Zeller raised $100 million in a Series B funding round that gave the startup a $1 billion valuation and brought its investment total to more than $181 million since June 2020.

The two-year-old FinTech is co-founded by two former Square executives: Ben Pfisterer, who serves as CEO, and Dominic Yap as COO. It operates an out-of-the-box payments platform for businesses and is developing a fully integrated financial operating system for business owners. 

The funding round was led by Headline and Hostplus with participation by previous investors Square Peg, Addition and Spark Capital. The fresh infusion of capital will be earmarked for furthering the development of Zeller’s new suite of products that will “further reimagine and replace traditional payments and business banking services,” Zeller said in a press release on Thursday (March 3).

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Pfisterer said that as Zeller moves into its next stage of growth, it’s been building out its range of products to “offer businesses access to every financial services product they might need to thrive.” 

More than 10,000 businesses became customers of Zeller during its first eight months of business, and it’s that feedback that has helped direct the development of new products “that meet their evolving needs, as they reestablish themselves following the pandemic,” Pfister added. 

Zeller offers Australian business owners a fully-integrated solution for payments and financial services. The all-in-one digital solution includes a next-generation EFTPOS terminal, business transaction account and Mastercard, according to the release. 

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“Zeller is well on its way to redefining how financial connectivity is delivered to Australian businesses, following in the footsteps of the tectonic shifts in the global B2B fintech ecosystem,” said King Goh, principal at Headline. 

“Businesses of all sizes are now expecting their financial services to be provided via a best-in-class, consumerized experience given the rapid evolution in modern data availability and business needs. Zeller’s remarkable growth over the past eight months is a testament to how they are reimagining the traditional business banking industry,” Goh said.