Hello Clever Named in AFR Fast Starters for the Second Year in a Row.

Some news we’re genuinely proud to share: Hello Clever has been recognised in the Top 10 of this year’s AFR Fast Starters list.

Last year we placed #2, which was a huge moment for us. To be included again in 2025, this time inside the Top 10, feels just as meaningful, but for different reasons.

Back-to-back recognition isn’t about being the fastest. It’s about building with consistency, care and a belief that what you’re working on actually matters.

And that’s how this one feels.

The year that shaped this moment

So much of our growth this year didn’t come from one big launch or one big announcement.

It came from a thousand steady steps that added up to something real.

Some highlights:

✅ Tripled transaction volume

✅ 5 offices, 3 continents

✅ 70 people building one system, together

These numbers tell a story, but not the whole story.

The real story is the merchants who trusted us earlier than they needed to, the partners who backed us before we were “proven,” and the team who kept building even on the days things felt heavy. That’s what made this milestone possible.

Where we’re heading

From the very beginning, we believed payments, loyalty and data belonged together. Not as tools sitting side-by-side but as a single, cohesive infrastructure built to help businesses grow. There was just one missing piece: intelligence that could operate at the speed of every transaction.

The introduction of Clever AI unlocked that final layer. Now, payments, loyalty and real-time insight work together as one continuous flow, one system that learns, adapts and responds as money moves. It’s not just infrastructure anymore. It’s a growth engine.

This wasn’t a flashy product moment, it was a structural shift.

Three engines. One system.

Here’s how the ecosystem worked together this year:

1. Payments: the foundation

Our payment infrastructure has always been the backbone of Hello Clever. It handles complexity behind the scenes so merchants can scale without friction:

✅ A unified view of global transactions

✅ Support for local and international payment methods

✅ Reliable settlement across markets

✅ Compliance, trust and security built in

Every transaction generates real-time signals that fuel the intelligence layer above it.

It’s robust, proven and continually evolving, the quiet strength behind everything we do.

2. Clever AI: the intelligence layer

This is the layer that tied everything together. Clever AI helps merchants act in real time, providing:

✅ Proactive alerts

✅ Forecasts and simulations

✅ Conversational clarity

✅ Automatic pattern-sensing across risk and opportunity

Most AI tools explain what happened after the fact. Clever AI helps merchants act while it’s happening.

3. Rewards & Loyalty: built into every transaction

At Hello Clever, loyalty isn’t a separate program or marketing add-on it’s part of the transaction itself.

✅ Instant Cashback Rewards gives customers real money back the moment they pay.

✅ Milestone Rewards help merchants influence and shape behaviour over time.

✅ And for brands that want to embed this directly into their own apps or digital experiences, our white-label Embedded Loyalty API offers both Instant Cashback and Milestone Rewards as a native, branded, frictionless solution.

Whether it’s in-store, online or fully white-label, our approach is the same: Loyalty should be instant, intelligent, and built on real behaviour .

Growing globally,
staying grounded

With teams now across Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Japan and the US, we’re growing faster than we expected, but trying hard not to lose the things that matter:

✅ Clear communication

✅ Responsible scaling

✅ Building for longevity

✅ Designing for merchants, not dashboards

✅ And remembering that growth is only good when it’s sustainable

We’re proud of our momentum, but we’re also conscious of the responsibility that comes with it.

A genuine thank you

We’re grateful for this milestone not because it’s something to show, but because it’s something to reflect on.

To our merchants: thank you for trusting us with your payments, your customers, and increasingly your intelligence layer.

To our partners: thank you for helping us bring this vision to life.

And to our team: thank you for building the kind of company that earns recognition like this for the right reasons.

There’s plenty more ahead. But today, we’re taking a moment to appreciate this one.

Hello Clever

It Pays To Be Clever