Brighte
About Brighte
Brighte is an innovative digital-payment platform, connecting homeowners with solar and home-improvement businesses by offering affordable and convenient finance at the point of sale.
Brighte’s purpose is to enable a brighter future today. It believes every Australian family deserves access to an affordable, sustainable and comfortable home. The company is a proud fintech, leveraging technology to solve problems for its customers, remove friction at the point of sale and deliver best-in-class service.
Founded by Katherine McConnell in 2015, Brighte has enabled more than 1,700 solar and home-improvement businesses to offer finance to more than 60,000 Australian households. In four years, Brighte has approved A$500 million in finance. In the first half of 2020, one in 15 residential solar installations in Australia used Brighte to fund their purchase.
Ownership and history
As a private company, Brighte has demonstrated strong investor support by successfully raising capital each year. Brighte’s list of high-quality investors include Atlassian co-founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farqhuar – through Grok Ventures and Skip Capital (headed by Kim Jackson) respectively – AirTree Ventures, Singaporean venture-capital firm Qualgro VC, and other high net-worth investors.
Brighte is led by a senior executive team and board with deep experience in finance, technology and delivering innovative customer solutions.
Target market and asset performance
Brighte’s customers are Australian homeowners with high-quality credit who are financing an average A$8,000 purchase over 4-5 year term.
Brighte’s loan book has shown strong performance over time with 30-day-plus arrears of less than 1%. The resilience of the book has also been demonstrated by exceptionally low levels of hardship in the COVID-19 environment.
SIZE OF LOAN BOOK | A$200M+ |
MAKEUP OF LOAN BOOK | CONSUMER LENDING: 100% |
GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF LOAN BOOK | AUSTRALIAN HOMEOWNERS: 100% |
OUTSTANDING DEBT ISSUANCE | PRIVATE BILATERAL WAREHOUSE FACILITIES: A$275M+ |
Funding strategy
Brighte has established two warehouse arrangements to support its product offerings. They include a combination of Australian domestic banks and private mezzanine investors. The next phase of its funding journey will include establishment of public ABS issuance, giving access to a broader investor base. Brighte mandated a debut public ABS in September 2020.
Recognition
Brighte has been recognised with several awards, including:
•2020: Green Lender of the Year (Finder Green Awards).
•2019: Best Use of AI in Fintech (Australian FinTech Awards).
•2019: Best Fintech-Bank Collaboration (Australian FinTech Awards).
•2019: Deloitte Asia-Pacific Technology Fast 500 (fourth fastest-growing tech company in the Asia-Pacific region and second fastest-growing in Australia).
Katherine McConnell, Brighte’s chief executive and founder, has received the following individual recognition:
•2020: Medium to Large Business Award (Telstra New South Wales Business Women’s Awards).
•2020: Green Leader of the Year (Finder Green Awards).
•2019: Tech Fast 50 Female Award (Deloitte Fast Technology 50 Australia).
•2019 finalist: Alumni Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (University of Wollongong).
•2018: Outstanding FinTech Leader of the Year (Finnies – Fintech Australia Awards).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
John Rohl
Head of Corporate Development
+61 414 493 569
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.brighte.com.au
nonbank Yearbook 2021
KangaNews's sixth annual guide to the business and funding trends in Australia's nonbank financial-institution sector.