Prospa

History

Prospa was founded in 2012 by Beau Bertoli and Greg Moshal. It was founded in response to the cash flow difficulties that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Australia face in securing bank financing.

In 2017, Prospa raised A$25 million from AirTree in a funding round that valued Prospa at A$235 million.

In 2018, Prospa was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, raising A$110 million in the initial public offering. The IPO was initially delayed just 15 minutes before it was supposed to open, and later described as "bizarre". The delay was triggered after issues regarding the fairness of their contracts were identified by regulators. A year later, in 2019, Prospa was launched in New Zealand.

In early 2024, Prospa acquired the loan portfolio from Zip Business, with a transaction valued at approximately $15.6 million. This move encompasses all remaining performing Australian commercial loans from Zip Co, which amount to approximately $18.4 million and were distributed among around 370 small businesses.

In 2024, Salter Brothers Tech Fund led the consortium to take Prospa private and acquired a minority stake in Prospa for $74 million. It was taken private at just A$0.45 per share, considerably lower than the A$3.78 it had sold for when it first went public.