According to the Australian Banking Association, of the 2.6 million businesses in Australia, the majority (98%) are small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
As the sector accelerates in 2023, it also suffers from “an increase in the cost of goods and services, leading to rising inflation and unemployment rates.”
In this scenario, entrepreneurs are “eager for help.”
Australian company Grow is ready “to help them. Grow is a leading lending partner for SME businesses looking to expand, manage cash flow and deal in today’s increasingly complex and competitive operating environment.”
It will launch its first credit card, “powered by Pismo.”
The Grow Mastercard credit card will be “available in market from September.”
This new offer will “give business owners better cash flow, management and capital to help them improve their businesses.”
Grow has chosen Pismo’s “all-in-one, public cloud-native financial services platform to support its card-issuing operation.” By using a modern and feature-rich platform, it seeks to differentiate itself “from other lenders and continue supporting the Australian SME segment, an estimated $410-billion market.”
David Verschoor, Executive Director and Co-CEO at Grow, said:
“Pismo brings us its extensive expertise in card issuing and payment processing, which includes managing 42 million cards. The Pismo platform enables us to develop our credit card business without building the infrastructure from scratch. While Pismo focuses on the technology, we focus on supporting Aussie SMEs to grow their businesses.”
Founded in 2016 in Brazil, Pismo reportedly “has operations in five continents with 450 employees. It processes 290 million transactions monthly.”
Pismo provides card issuing infrastructure “for Banco Itaú – Latin America’s largest bank; BTG Pactual, the largest investment bank in the region; NG Cash, a fintech focused on Generation Z; a German fintech N26, the global bank Citi, among others.”
Vishal Dalal, CEO (North America, EMEA, APAC) at Pismo, said:
“Grow has been having a significant impact on the Australian SMEs so far. It will serve these companies even better with their new credit card. We are very proud to announce them as our first Australian client.”
As noted in the update, Pismo is “a technology company providing an all-in-one processing platform for banking, payments, and financial markets infrastructure.”
Large banks, marketplaces, and fintech companies use their cloud-native microservices platform “to launch next-generation solutions and move from legacy systems to the most advanced technology in the market.”
The Pismo cloud-based platform “empowers firms to build and launch financial products rapidly, scaling as they grow to have a broader audience while keeping high security and availability standards.”
