Australia’s largest payment platform for student societies, QPay, is combatting the lack of innovation in money management by building a challenger bank for millennials.
QPay was originally formed in 2015 as a student marketplace for events, memberships and merchandise by former Australian National University (ANU) students Andrew Clapham and Zakaria Bouguettaya. Now, with a user base of over 150,000 students and over $15million of payments through the platform, they are wanting to extend their experience in the payment space to reform the banking experience with QPay Swipe.
Currently being rolled out at the ANU, more than 2,000 students are using the new MasterCard which gives them discounts, prizes and perks on campus. “Our machine learning platform makes sure to put the right deal in front of the right person at the right time.”
“While we can’t call ourselves a bank yet, our goal is to change banking for the better by wanting to give consumers more control over their money – which should have been at the forefront of the banking sector” says Moe.
With over 12,000 interested students on the wait list, QPay have taken the time to hear what their users want.
“Understanding your target market is one of the most important things that every business should invest their time and money in. Building a product without this analysis plays out a typical Wild West scenario, which is why many businesses fail or feel the need to pivot multiple times”
When asked to give a little advice to those aspiring to start their own businesses in Canberra Moe said, “Always validate your idea in the market by building something functional, on a basic level, instead of pouring resources with a main focus on form and design. A user will go to many lengths if your product or idea solves their problem.”
