Dublin based financial technology start-up Deposify has raised €1.1million to fund its US expansion.
The funding has been raised from a number of sources including Bank of Ireland’s Start-Up and Emerging Sectors Equity Fund, which is managed by Delta Partners. Funding was also provided by Escher Group Holdings plc, Enterprise Ireland and a number of angel investors. Deposify which has also partnered with Bank of Ireland for its banking solution and Escher Group for its technology platform, provides escrow services to landlords, tenants and letting agents.
Deposify was founded by Jon Bayle with the aim of bringing trust to the landlord and tenant relationship. Its payments platform allows landlords and tenants manage and control how and when rental deposits are paid and to resolve deposit related disputes quickly.
Speaking about the expansion, Jon Bayle said: “We are delighted to welcome our new investors and excited about building out our US offering. We think it’s very important for fintech startups to be well funded given the ongoing investment required in technology and regulatory compliance. We’re effectively a mobile first payments company and we’ve worked very closely with the innovation team at Bank of Ireland, leveraging their banking experts and other solutions and resources.”
Dave Tighe, Head of Innovation, Bank of Ireland said: “It is fantastic to see Deposify expanding their innovative business model into the US market. At Bank of Ireland we have worked closely with the team to provide the best possible banking solution for their requirements and we are delighted to play a part in their success. Support for the start-up community is one of our pillar of activities, which is very important to Bank of Ireland and we look forward to working with the team over the coming years.”
Liam Church, CEO of Escher Group said: “I believe Deposify has a great future and I am delighted that our Digital Services Platform is being used to deliver this service in the Fintech sector.”
Beyond payments, Deposify is designed to provide three main services - banking, compliance and dispute resolution and one of the core elements of its technology is bank-level security and infrastructure when handling users’ money and information. Bayle added: “We plan on retaining our technology development in Ireland, where we have access to talent and expertise through our technology partnership with Escher Group, and expand our sales and customer support capability in the US. We are relentlessly focused on delivering the best product we can and offering exceptional customer service.”
Deposify has also expanded its management team. Tony Kelly, former CEO of Demonware and early stage investor in Deposify, has joined as CTO and Kevin Gannon, former COO/CFO of financial services company Chill Insurance has joined as COO.