Brisbane’s global fintech, Change Financial, unveiled Doing Good Rewards as the debut participant in their ambitious Prepaid Incubator program.

Doing Good Rewards is the world’s first loyalty program to automatically combine shopping discounts and charity giving in the same transaction. Their fresh approach has drawn attention for its powerful social impact and novel application of Mastercard prepaid cards, contributing to merchant onboarding and enhancing business visibility in the Australian market.

“Being chosen as the first participant in this remarkable program marks a pivotal moment for Doing Good Rewards. It validates our innovative approach in blending commerce with charity, and we are thrilled to work alongside esteemed partners like Change Financial, Fintech Actuator, and Mastercard,” said Brad Langdon, Chief Executive Officer of Doing Good Rewards.

“Brad and the team put forward a compelling value proposition and we’re excited that our first incubator participant has such positive social impact goals,” added Tim Boucaut, Managing Director, Fintech Actuator.

In this alliance, Change Financial will issue Mastercard prepaid cards, with Fintech Actuator managing the program, aiding fintechs with comprehensive guidance from onboarding to design and execution.

Mastercard will support the participants with access to industry experience, technology, and connections to help validate their program. Change Financial and Mastercard aim to create an environment that allows emerging fintechs to experiment, innovate, and prosper by offering them a platform to test their prepaid card solutions in the real world.

“This collaboration helps remove many of the barriers for local fintechs to enable card issuing programs, it’s designed to be accessible whilst allowing partners to test, learn and scale,” said Dan Martin, Vice President and Head of Digital Partnerships, Australia at Mastercard.

Each program will run for a period of six to nine months, providing continuous support and guidance to the participating fintechs.

“This innovative incubator program has been crafted with a vision to accelerate the growth and innovation of Australian fintechs, ensuring they have the necessary tools and support to navigate through the initial stages of development and market testing,” said Tony Sheehan, Chief Executive Officer of Change Financial.

To find out more about or apply to be part of the Incubator Program, head to https://www.fintechactuator.com/

Change Financial, along with Mastercard and Fintech Actuator launched their Australian first Prepaid Incubator Program at Fintech Australia’s Intersekt Festival in Melbourne.

A panel session, Creating Change and Mastering the Art of Issuing with Fintech Actuator was hosted by Simone Thompson from Thoughtworks. The panel saw Ashima Chaudhar, Mastercard VP Head of Development, Vinnie D’Alessandro Change Financial Chief Product Officer and Tim Boucaut from Fintech Actuator explain the value of the program.

You can view the panel session here.

To find out more about or apply to be part of the Incubator Program, head to https://www.fintechactuator.com/

• Change Financial (Change) and Fintech Actuator are partnering with Mastercard to launch an incubator program for Australian fintechs to trial prepaid card solutions.
• Under the partnership, Change will issue Mastercard prepaid cards and Fintech Actuator will act as the program manager to assist fintechs with onboarding, scope and design.

August, 1st 2023: Brisbane-based global fintech and payments as a service (PaaS) provider, Change Financial, has partnered with Mastercard and Fintech Actuator to make card programs more affordable and accessible to local fintechs and startups.

Under the program, Australian companies will be able to run small scale prepaid card solutions to test their products in market, without the cost and extensive processes involved in launching their own custom card programs.

Chief Executive Officer of Change Financial, Tony Sheehan, said the partnership was one of the first of its kind in Australia and will nurture startups by providing greater access to enabling card programs, previously unattainable.

“Australia continues to be a popular global fintech hub and we see many of these new businesses unable to complement their product offering with a card program because they don’t have the capital, expertise or understanding of the process,” Mr Sheehan said.

“This partnership with Mastercard and Fintech Actuator will significantly reduce these barriers to entry for startups creating greater opportunities for local fintechs.”

The advantage of the program is that it will offer low-cost onboarding and holistic support and guidance services throughout the establishment, testing and rollout stages.

Dan Martin, vice president and head of digital partnerships, Australia at Mastercard, said that as the fintech market in Australia continues to evolve and expand, collaboration between likeminded organisations can drive real impact in helping new entrants scale quickly.

“Speed to market, testing and increased agility are paramount in driving innovation and propelling smaller fintechs forward. Mastercard’s aim is to foster an ecosystem that allows fintech startups to thrive, contributing to the overall advancement of the Australian fintech industry. Mastercard supports fintechs with the industry experience, technology and connections that it has built across many decades,” said Martin.

Each program will run for between six and nine months and at Mastercard and Change Financials’ discretion, fintechs will have the opportunity to roll out a prepaid card program that is serviced through Change Financial and Mastercard.

Fintech Actuator’s Tim Boucaut commented “Startups and many smaller companies don’t meet the scale and volume requirements to launch a card program, and this partnership changes that. By guiding businesses through the process and providing support to test and validate an idea, we are enabling more local innovations to successfully launch in the ever-growing payments space.”

The program will commence in September 2023.

You can find more information at https://www.fintechactuator.com/