Gobbill co-founders, Quentin Marsh and Shendon Ewans (L-R)
Australian tech start-up Gobbill is set to see its international expansion plans get major boost after the Microsoft-backed company inked an agreement with global regtech player Isignthis (ASX:ISX).
Publicly listed in both Germany and Australia, Isignthis provides businesses with remote identity verification, payment authentication and payment processing solutions.
Gobbill, meanwhile, began its life in Melbourne under the guidance of co-founders Quentin Marsh and Shendon Ewans, and has since been recognised by the likes of Microsoft, which welcomed the company into its BizSpark start-up program, and the Australian Government.
The local start-up has made a name for itself creating and operating a digital finance assistant that automates bill payments using artificial intelligence for small businesses and households. Its service is hosted on Microsoft’s Azure platform.
The new deal sees Gobbill tap into the global identity verification and payment solutions of Isignthis in a move that will give the local start-up greater exposure to the global market and effectively bolsters its expansion aims.
Specifically, the partnership with Isignthis supports Gobbill’s international expansion plans utilising its identity verification services and transactional banking facilities to clear payments.
“Partnering with Isignthis is a strategic and important milestone for Gobbill,” Ewans said. “It enables our customers to pay any bill for billers that do not accept card payments or various card schemes.
“To pay any bill using UnionPay or American Express is a significant offering, particularly for overseas Australian property investors and small businesses using Gobbill,” he said.
For Isignthis CEO John Karantzis, the Gobbill deal represents an opportunity for the company to support a "prospective leader" in bill payment automation, as well as for the company to provide a means for the start-up to expand outside of Australia by providing facilities in Europe as they expand.
“Having witnessed Gobbill emerge over the last three years, we are delighted to be part of their future growth," Karantzis said.
Last year, Ewans told ARN that Microsoft’s backing helped to bolster the company’s pathway to a commercial launch.
“We were very fortunate to be connected up with Microsoft,” Ewans said at the time. “Without that, as a start-up, it would have been quite costly.
“Although we’re ramping up our user numbers, all the Azure infrastructure is covered until we get to a point where we can move to a paid state,” he said.
Ewans said at the time that the company planned to add additional functionality to its platform, giving users the ability to link up bank accounts and other payment options, beyond credit cards.
