Prospa raises more than $100 million

Prospa has raised A$109.6 million on the Australian Securities Exchange to fund future growth plans, including expansion in the New Zealand market.

The Sydney-based company sold 29 million shares. Following the stock market listing it will have 161.4 million shares on the market worth $609 million.

About $50 million raised by the IPO will go to the company's founders, Greg Moshal and Beau Bertoli. In a statement, Prospa said its new firepower would be used for "funding the equity portion of the company’s growing loan book and working capital, investment in new products and geographies and to repay corporate debt". 

The stock market listing comes as Prospa plans to ramp up its lending in New Zealand. The online lender has already signed agreements with aggregators including NZFSG and Newpark. 

Prospa has also hired business development managers to build awareness in New Zealand, including former Resimac head of sales Huia Manuel. 

In a recent interview, Adrienne Church, general manager of Prospa in New Zealand, told TMM there was a great opportunity for non-bank business lenders. 

"There are 500,000 small businesses in New Zealand, and we believe the market opportunity is $4 billion a year. If they aren’t getting service from the bank, where are they getting it? It’s an opportunity to help people," Church said.