Launched in April 2016, TruePillars (TP) is a peer to peer lending marketplace built to connect small business directly with investors. TruePillars’ mission statement is to provide opportunity. Opportunity for investors to earn a good return, opportunity for businesses to grow and thrive and opportunity for the community to get behind the backbone of Australia’s economy – small business.

Currently, small to medium business employs approximately 70% of Australians and maintains a steady 1% growth on new businesses registered. TruePillars believe small business are the key to our economy and want to support their growth by connecting them directly to investors, bypassing banks and a lot of the associated red tape.

“The big four are often referred to as the four pillars of the economy. But we see it differently, we see small business being the true pillars of our economy and that is how we found our name – TruePillars” 

– Dennis Hakme, Co-founder and COO, TruePillars

The idea of investors connecting directly with businesses to fund growth is not a new one. In Europe, peer to peer lending is a billion dollar industry. According to tech.eu, the industry was set to exceed over 7 billion euros last year, up from 2.96 billion in the previous year.

With over 40 years of experience between them, co-founders John Baini and Dennis Hakme saw a gap in the Australian finance industry. With incredible passion and unique insight into the finance sector, John and Dennis decided to bring peer to peer lending to the Australian market.

There are only a handful of peer to peer providers in Australia and none as flexible as TruePillars. Loans through TruePillars have a comparable rate to banks, a value of up to $250k and a longer repayment schedule than competitors.

DiUS partnered with TruePillars to deliver a technology platform fit for their dream. The website was built as a single page angular application on top of a lightweight Restful API on Amazon Web Services. By integrating with 3rd party identity providers and credit services, the company is able to conform with stringent financial regulations.  The team’s focus was on creating a stable, secure platform able to scale quickly and with ease.

“Dennis and I are passionate about helping the small businesses of Australia reach their potential through loans designed at promoting long-term, sustainable growth.” 

– John Biani, Co-founder and CEO

As of June 2016, TruePillars marketplace launched its first investment opportunity on the platform. Read about TruePillars in the media:

• TruePillars first to let retail investors lend to business – The Age
• Online markets create new breed of alternative investments – Sydney Morning Herald
• Why choosing the hard path paid off for TruePillars founder John Baini – Start up smart
• TruePillars connects smart investors with established businesses –  Koshie’s business builders