Paying your way
The rumblings of innovation are continuing to grow within the Matakana community, and advancing payment technology is set to be the next locally-grown success story.
The Matakana area is a burgeoning hub of innovation, with a number of founders of New Zealand's most iconic brands calling the bustling village home. One such is Ben Lynch, a tech entrepreneur who is working alongside two fellow Point Wells residents, Josh Daniell and Alex Devereux, and is pursuing the future of financial technology.
Ben isn’t your traditional tech founder. A self-taught software engineer, the father of two has set out to advance New Zealanders’ access to their own financial data and unlock a more efficient option for domestic payments. Inspired by the internet boom in the early-2000s, Ben taught himself to build websites whilst his flatmates attended university. “I have always loved figuring things out. That drive to learn, problem solve, and build things from scratch has always stuck with me, and is the spirit of what I do today with both Akahu and Dolla.”
Having seen open banking pick up overseas, there was a clear need for similar capabilities in New Zealand. Ben spent a number of years at accounting software company Xero, before founding his two current software companies. “Starting up a new business, my wife and I were eager to move out of the big cities to somewhere that felt like home. Visiting Matakana instantly reminded us of my roots in Arrowtown – the people, community and lifestyle, and we just knew this was where we wanted to base ourselves.”
With such close proximity to Auckland City, Ben and his colleagues Josh and Alex find little impact for them not being permanently based in the big smoke, with all three travelling down a couple of times a week on the Mahu City Express. The problem that Ben has set out to solve with Dolla is the need for faster and more intuitive payments, whilst reducing the merchant fees that get shipped off to big overseas multinationals. Through the creation of a QR code on your smartphone, Dolla enables direct payments between anyone with a NZ bank account, whether that be to pay your friends, pay your bills, or pay businesses. Users can send or request payments, split money, or pay bills directly through the app, securely linked to their bank accounts. “The world is going digital, and in 2023 New Zealand needs better ways to make and process payments.
“Particularly for small businesses, like our stall holders at Matakana markets, it's an extra expense to rent an eftpos machine and then there are fees to accept a payment. For some merchants this can be around two to three percent of their sales.”
Having seen the success of iconic brands such as BLUNT Umbrellas, and The Sawmill Brewery, Matakana is proving the perfect place to trial the Dolla app, testing the product with the likes of The Farmer's Daughter and The Matakana Bacon Company, before looking to scale up across New Zealand. “Our business community here in Matakana is quick to back each other and has been a fantastic village to have around us as we have grown. Being able to pop down for a weekly catch up at Sawmill Brewery and bump into other like-minded entrepreneurs, is something we couldn’t replicate in central Auckland.”
The team credit the Matakana way of life with their ongoing success and hope more in the tech industry will begin to see the benefits of living and working outside of the traditional tech centres. Get started with Dolla today by downloading the app, or find out more about Dolla for businesses on the website.