Fraud and Scam Protection for Secure Automated Payments
Gobbill is an end-to-end payment automation platform that helps individuals and small businesses to have maximum control over payments with minimal effort. The service digitises invoices, checks for fraud and clears payments saving up to 70% of time on accounts payable.
Gobbill has invested 5 years in proprietary research and development to develop Know Your Biller™ (KYB) technologies. In commercial use, its KYB technologies enable Gobbill to operate a secure payments platform to significantly reduce fraud risk and protect businesses.
UK Finance reports that £6.6 billion has been lost in BEC fraud payments over the last 5 years and the trend is escalating with an average loss of £28,000 to small businesses. The Financial Conduct Authority reports a growing “epidemic” of 3.8 million fraud cases reported 2019 – Nicky Morgan MP, Chair Treasury Select Committee.
Fraud and scams have exponential increased around the world, growing 7 fold in the last three years with the top 3 regions targeted by Business Email Compromise (BEC) scammers being the U.S. (39 percent of businesses), UK (26 percent of businesses), Australia (11 percent of businesses). Hence Gobbill founded in 2015, has continued to fight fraud and protect vulnerable individuals with the company expanding to other countries. There are 32 million small businesses and 51 million households in its initial customer segment for UK, US and AU.
The Gobbill SaaS platform digitises invoices received via email from authorised sources for automated payment processing against the account holder’s credit card or bank. Gobbill is able to pay a wide range of bills generated by councils, utility, telecommunication, insurance companies and 40,000 other billing organisations.
The company is sponsored by Microsoft, a partner of the Australian Government’s cyber safety initiative, AI partner of Silverpond and member of Stone & Chalk. Gobbill is an Authorised Representative (1261196) of Australian Financial Services Licence Holder (448066) and registered Australian Government disability insurance scheme provider (4050064402).
The company is expanding to the UK and has joined Fintech Scotland, NatWest/RBS FinTech Accelerator and EIE20.
Co-founders Shendon Ewans and Quentin Marsh both commenced coding 5 years ago using AI automation to protect businesses and vulnerable individuals from fraud and scams when making payments. After CEO Shendon Ewans’ father fell victim to invoice fraud, the pair wanted a solution to help protect others while saving time and effort in accounts payable. The founders identified an unmet need in the secure payments market as households and businesses struggle to find an affordable and reliable service they can trust.
Gobbill was built as a solution for their family and friends. It quickly grew from that point to become a leader in reducing the risk of fraud and providing secure payments. Hence, the company’s view about data and AI is that “if it wasn’t good enough for our family and friends, it’s not good enough for the general public.” The company is a wholly owned privately held company initially bootstrapped funded by the founders and was joined by a number of Angel investors who have invested over £1m.
Gobbill has received Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) advanced assurance for Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has ruled that the company satisfies the requirements to be an Early Stage Innovation Company (ESIC) which allows eligible investors in Gobbill to gain significant tax benefits. The ATO further added “Gobbill’s email bill innovation is the first holistic product that provides end-to-end processing using a digital service platform that includes the detection of fraudulent bills…”
The company has partnered with outstanding organisations including the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) Australia for bookkeepers and accounting technicians,
Myprosperity a leading private wealth platform, Cointree a digital currency exchange company, AirPay FinTech a Chinese WeChat/Alipay payment provider, and Westpac banking corporation.
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER AND CO-FOUNDER
Shendon Ewans
M.Enterprise (MBS), B.I.T., MAICD, MACS (Snr) CP, IP3P, AAT
Over 20 years of experience in ICT. Previously the VP & CTO for an Australian-American biotechnology company that he helped to startup and grow to 50 staff. The company served high profile clients in drug development and medical research, and was profitable in its third year. He was a former advisor in innovation and commercialisation for the University of Melbourne, Melbourne Ventures and National ICT Australia (now CSIRO Data61). Shendon consulted for global companies with PwC, Arthur Andersen and KPMG.
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER AND CO-FOUNDER
Quentin Marsh, COO/CTO & Co-founder
Lived and worked in the UK (Glasgow) in the banking sector.
Over 35 years of experience in the IT Industry with a strong focus in the Financial Services sector. Quentin has touched almost every aspect of IT from Operations, Development, Infrastructure, Pre-Sales, Solution Design, Architecture, Project Management, Vendor Management, and People Management for major IT firms such as, EDS (NZ) Ltd, Candle Corporation, National Australia Bank, National Australia Group (UK), Australia Post, and Victoria Police.
CHAIRMAN AND INVESTOR
Galen Gan, Chairman & Investor
Diplomacy & Trade, B.Eng (Civil & Comp)
Lived and worked in the UK. Established his own investment portfolio of property in the UK and Australia. Currently has active investments in UK and Australia.
Over 20 years of investment management experience in Australia and the UK. Galen brings a seasoned business mind and a strategic global view to the board. He is also currently assisting and volunteering with not-for-profit organisations.
Galen was the first angel investor in Gobbill.
UK BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
Michael Pollitt, Business Development Manager
B.Bus Sys
Lived and worked in the UK (London and Manchester) since 1999 and was a founder of several startups.
Over 20 years of experience in technical leadership roles including as tech founder in multiple startups and scaleups across UK and Australia.
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
Anthony Luvisetto, Chief Financial Officer
BBus(Acct)(Fin) BA, Dip. FP, CPA Australia, RG146
Experienced accountant and in-house CFO covering areas of company accounting and tax preparations. Experienced in financial services compliance. Previously worked in business development with World Vision. Anthony also owns and operates a private accounting and bookkeeping practice.
Assisting in finance and compliance.
GENERAL COUNSEL
Andrew Jaworski, General Counsel
LLB(Hons), BSc(Optom), GradCertTMLP, GradDipLaw(Commercial), CIPT, MAICD, AFACHSM
Andrew was a former director of KPMG (Legal) and a data privacy and technology lawyer for BBC (UK). He has been Special Counsel for tier one law firms, a Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales (admitted in June 2011) and Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria and High Court of Australia (admitted in March 2004).
MANAGEMENT ADVISORS
Jon Williams
Co-founder of Culture Amp, an Australian unicorn as of Aug 2019. Deep experience in scaling up tech businesses.
Investor in Gobbill
Appointed Oct 2018 as adviser on product & growth.
Dr. Jia-Yee Lee
Director at the University of Melbourne focusing on commercialisation.
Investor in Gobbill
Appointed Aug 2018 as adviser on intellectual property and commercialisation.
Mark Danaro
Co-founder of Centre for Intrapreneurship & former Sales Director at Amazon Web Services. Deep experience in sales and commercial transactions.
Investor in Gobbill
Appointed Nov 2018 as adviser on commercial transactions.
