OwnHome, the winner of Xccelerate2020, the startup competition run by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia's fintech incubation unit x15ventures, has walked away with £150,000 in funding after grabbing the top spot in the competition.
More than 80 start-ups applied to participate in the Xccelerate2020 programme - the second staging of this event for the year. Of those, 10 companies were shortlisted and invited to attend Community Days earlier this month, while only four were invited to pitch their business idea to CommBank’s Investment Committee. The theme for the event was ‘helping young Australians get ahead on their finances’.
After pitching to the Investment Committee, it was OwnHome, a startup which helps renters become home owners, which managed to impress the judges the most.
In a nutshell, OwnHome buys a property for the customer. This customer is able to move into the home straight away and simply make a monthly payment to OwnHome. Within the first two to five years, the customer is able to buy the property off OwnHome at a pre-arranged price.