Deposify signs major deal with Fortune 500 company Assurant

Dublin-headquartered financial services software company Deposify has signed a partnership deal with Fortune 500 company Assurant and taken on further investment as it looks to continue to grow its business in the US.

The fintech company, which provides escrow services to landlords, tenants and letting agents, has also announced the appointment of well-known Irish tech veteran Colm Grealy to its management team.

Founded by Jon Bayle and Dave Brennan in 2014, Deposify's 'escrow as a service' platform allows landlords and tenants to manage and control how and when rental deposits are paid, and to resolve deposit-related disputes quickly.

As a result of the new deal, Assurant’s property-management clients have access to Deposify’s solution, making it easier for them to manage deposits while also helping them to remain compliant with local laws.

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Currently available only in the northeast of the United States, the service will be rolled out nationally in the coming months.

The agreement allows Deposify to make further inroads in the US security deposit market, which is estimated to be worth more than $50 billion (€45.4 billion).

“The Assurant partnership gives us national reach fast, leveraging their existing sales and marketing infrastructure and very significant existing customer base who we are already selling to,” Mr Bayle told The Irish Times.

Fundraising

He also said the company had recently taken fundraising to more than $2 million following a new US-led round. Peter Oakes, founder of Fintech Ireland and a former director of the Central Bank, is among the backers, as is tech veteran Pa Nolan, one of Kerry-based financial services group Fexco's earliest employees and someone who has backed Irish start-ups such as Treemetrics, Orreco, OnePage CRM, Scurri and Wazp.

Deposify previously raised €1.1 million from a number of sources shortly after being founded, including Bank of Ireland's Start-up and Emerging Sectors Equity Fund, which is managed by Delta Partners. Other investors included Enterprise Ireland and the Escher Group.

Mr Bayle also said that Mr Grealy, who is widely regarded as one of the first people to bring the internet to Ireland, had been appointed as Deposify’s new chief revenue officer.

Along with Barry Flanagan, Mr Grealy established Ireland On-Line (IOL), one of Ireland's first internet service providers, back in 1994, with the two running the company out of a sittingroom in Galway.

“Colm brings many years’ experience building and scaling technology companies and sales teams here and in the US – Colm’s main role is to lead on our sales efforts, but having founded and exited a number of technology companies he brings much more to the team,” said Mr Bayle.