Toby Norton Smith is the head of x15ventures, the venture arm of Commonwealth Bank. x15ventures builds, buys, and invests in ventures to help them scale.

In this episode of Fintech Chatter, Dexter interviews Toby Norton Smith of x15ventures. They discuss the xccelerate program, which is designed to help early-stage ventures explore the potential for partnership with CommBank.

This year's program focuses on climate tech and helping advance Australia's transition to net zero. Toby explains the benefits and challenges of partnering with a bank and sets realistic expectations for founders seeking partnerships.

Toby highlights some of the challenges they are looking to address including measurement, traceability, and other tools in the climate tech space. Toby shares the success of previous program participants and reiterates x15 ventures' commitment to supporting the fintech community in Australia.

Apply to this years xccelerate program
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**Key Takeaways:**
- x15ventures is a venture scaler that helps fintech startups scale through access to the CommBank divisions and customer network.
- The xccelerate program is for earlier stage ventures exploring partnership opportunities with CommBank.
- Partnership with a bank comes with trade-offs, including increased regulatory scrutiny and a shift in mindset around risk management and compliance.
- Climate tech startups need investment and customers, and corporates, including banks, can help with both.
- x15ventures is committed to supporting the fintech community in Australia and has seen success with previous program participants.

"There's a tremendous amount of help corporates need if they're going to lean into the climate tech space with any authenticity." - Toby Norton Smith

"We're certainly invested for the long term. We've definitely got the backing of ComBank." - Toby Norton Smith

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