Fintech, pirkx has announced the expansion of its services in Australia, following successful seed funding rounds and successful launch in the UK market.
The UK fintech makes this exciting announcement with support from the Department for International Trade and Austrade through the FinTech Bridge programme.
Stella Smith, pirkx CEO and Founder commented: “pirkx started as a small idea to help friends in the gig-economy access wellbeing services. In those early stages, I would never have thought that we would expand to offer these services to people in Australia so quickly. It’s a really exciting moment.
“So far, we’ve seen success in creating something affordable to truly bring wellbeing benefits to everyone in the UK – whether you’re self-employed, an employee within a small or medium-sized business or supporting as a volunteer within an organisation that may not have the facility to offer benefits. We’re delighted to expand our mission of Happier, Healthier Humans overseas and help make this happen.
“The Austrade team and the Department for International Trade have been fantastic at helping guide us through the FinTech Bridge programme to launch us into Australia. I want to say a huge thankyou to them, and to my team as we look forward to working closely with Ella to support her in bringing the mission to Australia.”
International Trade Minister, Graham Stuart added: “It’s brilliant to see a company like pirkx expand their business into Australia following their participation in HMG’s UK-Australia Fintech bridge program.”
“The UK is home to some of the world’s leading fintech firms and it’s vital government continues to help them to expand into new markets to support their growth.”
Austrade’s Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner, Jennifer Mackinlay also stated: “pirkx was an early recipient of our support under the UK-Australia Fintech Bridge initiative, alongside the UK Department for International Trade. We recognised early on that their brilliant founders were determined to provide a fintech solution that enables everyone to have access to wellbeing benefits and as such pirkx was born global.”
“Austrade sees that COVID has and will continue to speed up the digital transformation across our economies and this has created both challenges and fast-tracked digital solutions coming to market. We are delighted to support pirkx as they roll out a highly innovative solution across Australia that can improve people’s wellbeing.”
Ella Hamilton will lead pirkx Australia, as Managing Director, and hopes these wellbeing services will be able to help those in Australia who cannot access these services currently: “I’m really excited to bring pirkx to Australia. There are so many people who can’t access these great benefits, just because they don’t work for a large organisation, or they’re self-employed.
“We are enabling them to access these benefits, and I’m hoping we can help make happier, healthier humans for the Australian people”
“A large section of our workforce has been missing out on access to important tools to support their mental, physical and financial wellbeing. We are proud to bring together so many Australian best in breed “Healthy, Wealthy and Wise” resources affordably so they are now accessible for everyone, no matter how they work.”
Success in its seed funding round has allowed the pirkx team to double in size and will also enable the enhancement of the pirkx user experience. The business has also appointed two new board members. The future expansion for pirkx includes moving into new territories, beyond Australia, with expansion into South Africa and the United States in the near future.
