Leading digital banking and payments company Novatti Group Limited’s (ASX:NOV) fintech is underpinning LITT, an Australian social media platform that just raised $1.5 million in record time.

Novatti’s Managing Director, Peter Cook, said LITT highlights the growing convergence of fintech and social media, as the platform combines e-commerce, advertising, and digital payments to connect people, businesses, and local communities. In an innovative approach, the platform also enables members to be paid to view ads, which is different to other social media platforms where revenue for users is typically generated by posting content, influencing or selling.

LITT has more than 18,000 members and 500 local businesses that are able to connect with each other. Notably, when Facebook banned news content in Australia during February, LITT saw an 83% increase in members signing up and an 85% increase in new businesses joining the platform, highlighting its recent growth.

It is also supported by a number of high-profile ambassadors, including West Coast AFL Player, Josh Kennedy, and Matt Wright, the host of National Geographic show the Outback Wrangler.

Mr Cook said Novatti’s fintech provides LITT’s members with access to a digital Visa Prepaid card and integration to instore and online payments networks, underpinning the connection created between social media and daily life transactions. This collaboration will see Novatti earn fees for project setup, transactions, and card issuing based on the take up of LITT’s services.

Earlier this month, LITT raised $1.5 million through what it notes to be the fastest maximum equity crowd source funding raise in Australia, highlighting the high level of interest in this platform and the sector more broadly. LITT will now seek to expand to new communities in Australia across 2021, with a view to also expanding overseas in future.

Novatti’s collaboration with LITT is another example of how we are creating new potential revenue opportunities by leveraging our existing digital banking and payments ecosystem. This ecosystem has now helped propel several new and innovative businesses, including Novatti’s Digital Payments Accelerator, Lifepay, with its commercial launch last week, and now LITT,” Mr Cook said.

“Each of these opportunities has tapped into Novatti’s digital banking and payments ecosystem to bring an innovative new product to market quickly. They also further Novatti’s strategy of connecting to new payment networks to drive overall growth while continuing to increase Novatti’s B2C exposure.

“The collaboration between Novatti and LITT also highlights the growing convergence of social media and fintech platforms, as payments are placed at the centre of users’ daily lives. This convergence creates even more opportunities to see daily life transactions powered by Novatti’s fintech to deliver users a more innovative experience.

“We are excited to see the strong level of interest LITT is generating, particularly through its recent record fund raise, and look forward to collaborating for further growth between us going forward.”