Payments infrastructure in Australia is largely controlled by the Big Four. mx51 was spun out of Westpac with a different mandate: to build payments-as-a-service for the rest of the market – banks, fintechs, vertical SaaS.
The team had built the original Westpac merchant platform. The spinout was a once-a-decade opportunity to take that operational muscle to the open market.
We co-led the seed in 2020. mx51 has since become critical payments infrastructure for dozens of Australian fintechs.
mx51 spun out of Westpac's Project 51 with Victor Zheng as CEO; Rampersand backed from pre-seed.
Mastercard, Acorn and Rampersand backed the Series A within 12 months of launch.
Closed led by a global fintech investor; Rampersand followed on.
Board observer since 2020. Paul helps mx51 on strategic banking relationships and Series-stage hiring.