Deposify co-founders Jon Bayle and David Brennan. Image: Deposify
Founded in 2014, Deposify took its software platform to the US market with backing from Bank of Ireland and Enterprise Ireland.
Irish-founded ‘escrow-as-a-service’ company Deposify has been acquired by a US private equity firm, the company’s chief executive announced on Twitter yesterday (6 January).
Deposify is a software platform that holds rental deposits on behalf of tenants and landlords and aims to manage any issues with its in-built dispute resolution process. Using international best practice, it creates a join account between the two parties, simplifying deposit management.
While founded in Dublin in 2014, Deposify focuses on the US market and has offices in Boston and New York. It also has a base in Dublin.
Co-founder and chief executive Jon Bayle, who is a former solicitor with Dublin-based law practice Matheson, tweeted the announcement without naming the acquiring firm.
He said that while it is possible to build a business in the US from Ireland, the deal will “give us stronger foundations in our home market”. He added that the plan for Deposify is to now build a banking service offering for real estate through new product development and acquisitions.
Bayle paid tribute to his co-founders David Brennan and Tony Kelly, along with Dublin-based investor Delta Partners. He also noted that Enterprise Ireland had been a great help to the company in the US, “opening up new opportunities and connecting us with their network”.
Bayle thanked the innovation team at Bank of Ireland, one of its first major partners along with Escher Group. Bank of Ireland was one of the backers of a €1.1m raise in 2016 that helped Deposify expand into the US market.
Brennan, who is the chief technology officer of Deposify, also co-founded a life insurance start-up called Life & Provide with Bayle last year. The idea for the company came after Bayle complained on Twitter about the complexities of finding good life insurance “if you’ve anything other than a vanilla medical history”.
“For me, I hope I’ve learned from the many mistakes made – some days it felt like drowning, other days it felt like the sun would never stop shining,” Bayle concluded in his announcement about the Deposify deal.
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