Melbourne-based Thrive preparest to launch “CFO in your pocket” for SMEs

Thrive is preparing to launch a small business banking account in Australia to streamline banking and accounting for business owners.

Co-founded in 2019 by Michael Nuciforo, the former head of mobile at Lloyds Banking Group and CEO of Parkhound, Thrive aims to launch with features including automated spend categorisation, reconciliation, cashflow forecasting and tax predictions.

“People start a business to control their own destiny, but the reality is they become a slave to financial admin,” said Nuciforo, who describes Thrive’s service like a “CFO in your pocket”.

“For every sale, there is an invoice to fill, a staff member to pay and an expense to be reconciled. In fact, small businesses spend over 42 days a year on financial admin. Our mission is to end that.”

Thrive currently has over 7,000 customers on its waitlist and announced a partnership with Mastercard last month to roll out debit cards later this year.

The fintech doesn’t have a banking licence and will provide its customers with a banking account via an existing registered bank, meaning deposits will still be protected by Australia’s Financial Claims Scheme of up to $250,000 per person.

Clearly, there are similarities between Thrive and Tide in the UK, which also offers SME banking services without a banking licence and has seen strong growth among new business owners looking for a better alternative to streamline their accounting.