Podcast
67: X15 Ventures, Toby Norton-Smith.
Fintech Chatter Podcast #67 Dexter Cousins is joined by Toby Norton-Smith of x15 Ventures.
x15 Ventures (the CVC arm of Commonwealth Bank) is a venture scaler focused on building, investing or acquiring ventures that can deliver the next generation of services in and around banking, advantaged through integration and support from CommBank.
Toby launched x15 in 2020 and is currently the Managing Director. Prior to x15 Ventures, Toby was General Manager of Digital Growth at CBA, CEO of a fintech venture in the wealth space (StocksInValue), and commenced his career at McKinsey and Co.
Tune for a candid and insightful chat as Toby shares how he and the x15 team are taking a different approach to CVC.
Toby also shares some exclusive news on the latest talent and venture acquisitions. Plus he gives his views on the future of Fintech and why banks need to focus on collaboration.
Find out more about x15 Ventures
Listen to more episodes of the Fintech Chatter Podcast
What happened next.
This episode was published in January 2021. Toby had launched x15 Ventures, the venture arm of Commonwealth Bank, in 2020 and was its Managing Director.
In August 2023 Toby joined Dexter again. Three years in, x15ventures had 11 companies in its portfolio, some of them owned and operated by x15. He said CBA’s investment in x15 had grown every year, and that it would not hit its early commitment of 25 ventures in four years because it was funding its strongest ventures more deeply. Unloan, its digital mortgage business, had just passed $4 billion of fundings in its first year, and conveyancing business Home-in had passed 4 billion of homes settled. That year’s Xccelerate program focused on climate tech and Australia’s transition to net zero.
