The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price has inched closer to that elusive $100 a share milestone today. Fittingly, Australia's largest bank is 'flying' to new heights after it placed a big bet on Melbourne start-up, Little Birdie.
At the time of writing, the Commonwealth Bank share price is 0.88% higher to $99.63 a share.
Image source: Getty Images
Setting records before even taking flight
Little Birdie is the brainchild of successful e-commerce entrepreneurs, Gabby and Hezi Leibovich. After selling Catch Group to Wesfarmers (ASX: WES) for $200 million in 2019, the brothers got working on their next venture.
The little company with big plans sees itself being the homepage for online shoppers. With over 70 million products to flick through, compare, and also share. But before Little Birdie has even launched, it's setting new records.
Significantly, the ASX's biggest bank, Commonwealth Bank pledged $30 million into the e-commerce company's latest funding round. That makes it the largest funding round for an Australian start-up before launching a product. As a result, Little Birdie is now valued at $130 million – with CBA taking a 23% stake.
What's in it for ASX's Commonwealth Bank?
The biggest Aussie bank isn't just investing in Little Birdie, it's bringing it on board. That's right, in the not-too-distant future, 11 million CBA customers will open their mobile banking app and have Little Birdie right there – ready to go.
Group Executive of retail banking, Angus Sullivan said:
Leveraging CommBank's Customer Engagement Engine, customers will have access to data-driven personalised offers that are exclusive to CommBank customers and based on their spending habits via the CommBank app.
It will be interesting to see whether CommBank's own buy now pay later (BNPL) installment offering will be directly embedded into Little Birdie on launch. Or, whether Klarna will make an appearance, considering the bank's investment in the Swedish BNPL competitor.
An official launch of Little Birdie is slated for mid-June. A positive reception on launch might just be the final nudge for the Commonwealth Bank share price to break $100.
