Enterprise: WLTH
Why they stand out: These digital disruptors of the financial services sector have partnered with a New-York based organisation that will clean marine plastic pollution from 50m² of coastline for every loan settled with WLTH.
Brodie Haupt, co-founder and CEO of digital lending and payments provider WLTH, launched the business with his brother Drew in 2020. The company’s mission is to refresh the financial services industry in Australia, with a focus on technology and sustainability.
Having spent the best part of a decade in the financial broking industry, Brodie is determined to shake up the sector and offer customers a paper-free, digital alternative. “Currently, we have two main tech-centric offerings,” Brodie explains. “WLTH Lend, which is already in the market, and the soon-to-be-launched WLTH Pay.”
WLTH is a business with purpose at its core. “We have partnered with Parley for the Oceans, a worldwide leader in ocean conservation, to put the sustainability of our oceans at the forefront,” Brodie says. “Every loan settled with WLTH Lend empowers Parley for the Oceans teams to clean 50m² of beach and coastline of marine plastic pollution.” The brothers are determined that every present and future revenue stream ties back to their commitment to our oceans and they want to spread awareness to their customers and as many people as they can.
“We plan to leverage the firm’s resources to expand WLTH Pay and turn it into a long-term brand that SMEs around the nation are happy to work with.”
Technological innovation is also at the core of WLTH’s raison d’etre. WLTH Lend puts forward a broad offering in the digital mortgage sector with competitive pricing distributed by both direct and broker channels. “Our lending services primarily focus on investors and first-home buyers looking to get into the property market,” Brodie says. “We’ve created customer and broker portals, plus a state-of-the-art digital application platform to provide a seamless online experience. In addition, customers will be able to access their mortgage offset accounts through our Convego® Parley Ocean Card, that is made from intercepted and upcycled marine plastic waste.”
WLTH Pay is a payments platform that will allow business customers to make payments via various methods. The platform will allow for flexible payments via card (credit, debit or prepaid), bank transfer or buy-now-pay-later (BNPL), to cover expenses such as supplier invoices, tax bills and wages. “It saves countless hours when processing multiple transactions through direct integrations to your accounting platform of choice – XERO or MYOB,” Brodie explains. “SMEs will benefit the most from WLTH Pay services, by accumulating reward points for their transactions.”
The twin-pronged approach of innovation and a sustainability focus has reaped dividends for the Brisbane-based start-up, with revenue from the lend business continuing to increase rapidly over the past 12 months, as WLTH has opened its doors to more brokers. “Australian mortgage brokers are key to WLTH being able to offer its innovative and purpose-led property and SMSF lending products to Australians,” Brodie says. “With the increase in brokers, we have expanded our team to meet the growing demand for credit and support staff.” Brodie and Drew have recently welcomed Tim Ford to the WLTH team as national partnerships manager, to help them engage with more brokers and assist more Australians with their loans.
WLTH raised $3 million last year, and its capital-raising efforts are ongoing. “The funding round is to support our recent corporate acquisition of an established payments organisation,” Brodie explains. “We plan to leverage the firm’s resources to expand WLTH Pay and turn it into a long-term brand that SMEs around the nation are happy to work with.”
Brodie is expecting to acquire more market share from the Big Four banks on the mortgage lending front, and is excited at the prospect of establishing WLTH Pay as a trusted payments platform. He also plans to expand WLTH’s product suite to potentially include BNPL, transaction, credit, and loyalty pillars.
This article first appeared in issue 37 of the Inside Small Business quarterly magazine
