2022 Alumni Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Bachelor of Mathematics Advanced Honours, 2009
A visionary entrepreneur, Dr Alex Badran has brought innovation to the challenge of teaching children financial literacy in the digital age through his rapidly growing business at the forefront of fintech.
In 2015, Alex co-founded Spriggy – a simple, safe, and user-friendly mobile app that lets parents and children digitally manage pocket money collaboratively. Signing up 50 families and raising $300,000 in investment capital to launch in November 2016, it was the first of its kind, tapping into a ready market in our increasingly cashless society. Within a year, Spriggy had attracted 60,000 users at a growth rate of 10,000 per month. Its rapid success captured the attention of consumers, industry, and high-profile investors.
Today, Spriggy’s top-rated app and debit card boasts more than 700,000 users and is one of Australia’s fastest growing fintech companies, awarded Best FinTech Startup in the annual StartCon in 2018. In 2019, the founders were named among Dynamic Business’ Top 10 Entrepreneurs. The company has since generated significant investor capital, including $12 million through Mike Cannon-Brookes’ venture capital fund in 2019 and a further $45 million in funding led by NAB Ventures in 2021.
Alex and his co-founder have grown the workforce across the entire business, focusing on product engineering and design as a central tenet of its growth. The company has also rolled out two new products: Spriggy Invest, which helps families save and invest for their children and build future wealth, and Spriggy Schools, enabling parents to order and pay for their children’s recess and lunch directly through the app.
Chancellor, Dr Alex Badran has applied great technical and entrepreneurial skill to bring an innovative idea to life. He’s making digital financial literacy accessible and transforming how families raise financially fit Australians.
It is an honour to present Dr Alex Badran for the Alumni Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.