Cashrewards, an online shopping cashback platform backed by ANZ, has officially shut down.
On Monday afternoon, the company announced that from 12pm AEST, September 8, 2025, it would no longer provide offers on its website, app, or browser extension.
About two hours later, customers were sent an email with the subject line “URGENT: Cashrewards is closing – claim your cashback now”, informing them about the closure and urging them to redeem any pending cashback.
The shutdown of Cashrewards comes as ANZ faces big changes under its new CEO, Nuno Matos, who has been cutting costs and laying off staff. Last month, the bank faced criticism after an automated email mistakenly told employees they had been made redundant before they were officially informed.
On the same day, it was also revealed that 1835i, ANZ’s venture capital arm (and an investor in Cashrewards), sold its US$67 million stake in fintech company Airwallex ahead of the firm’s upcoming IPO—less than five years after making the investment.
The sale of Airwallex shares and the shutdown of Cashrewards suggest that ANZ may be winding down its support for 1835i, its venture capital arm, leaving the future of the fund uncertain. Startup Daily has reached out to both 1835i and ANZ for comment.
It’s understood that Cashrewards didn’t perform as well as its investors had hoped.
Cashrewards was started in 2014 by Andrew and Lorica Clarke and went public on the ASX in December 2020 at $1.73 a share, raising $65 million. However, its time as a public company was short. Within a year, 1835i Ventures, which already owned 19% of Cashrewards (a $26 million investment), made a takeover offer worth $72.5 million at $1.135 per share—a 35% discount. By January 2022, 1835i had spent around $100 million to take the company private again.
Last year, Cashrewards acquired online retail deals marketplace Little Birdie just two months after its shut down. At the time, Cashrewards CEO Anthony Seymour-Walsh said the deal was “a major win for consumers” and part of ambitions to create the ultimate shopping companion.
Almost exactly a year ago, Cashrewards announced a partnership with the ANZ Plus app, allowing customers to access Cashrewards offers directly within the app to help them spend and save.
Anthony Seymour-Walsh said at the time that: “We’re proud of our partnership with ANZ and the new Cashrewards integration to the ANZ Plus Add-On experience.”
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