From left: Jonathan Kane, Alan Quinlan and Colm McLoughlin. Image: Dimply
Dublin-based fintech Dimply is on a mission to ‘help humans think and feel better about money’ using its engagement platform.
It is no secret that there exists a global financial advice gap which exacerbates the problem of income inequality. Those who need it most have the least access to it.
Businesses operating in the financial services sector, such as banks, pension managers and insurance providers, are trying to better educate their customers on their financial health and keep them up-to-date with how things are going – but the feat requires technology to work.
This is where Dimply steps in. Based in Dublin’s Dogpatch Labs, fintech start-up Dimply is on a mission to “help humans think and feel better about money” by providing financial institutions with an AI-powered, no-code customer engagement platform.
“Financial institutions need to keep pace with increasing customer expectations by providing an exceptional user experience,” CEO and co-founder Alan Quinlan told SiliconRepublic.com.
“Dimply enables banks, insurers and pension and wealth management companies to deliver data enriched, intelligent digital experiences that empower their customers financially.”
‘Right financial experience at the right time’
Research conducted by the start-up has found significant gaps in retirement savings, insurance and general financial advice in various markets around the world. Quinlan gave the example of the UK, where an estimated 39m people are considered financially ‘unadvised’.
And this presents a significant opportunity for Dimply to help bridge the gap.
“We’ve developed an engagement platform that enables financial institutions to build on open banking data and payments infrastructure. It gives them complete ownership and control of their integrations, intelligence, engagement and experience delivery,” Quinlan explained.
“This helps them build long-lasting and high-value relationships with their customers.”
Like any technology that involves financial services, Dimply’s platform is the result of a complex interplay of different skillsets and ideas coming together to ensure a robust and secure system.
“It’s taken a highly skilled and experienced team of designers, engineers, researchers and financial advisors to build a platform capable of doing just that,” added Quinlan, who has more than two decades of experience working with large financial institutions as well as start-ups.
Quinlan founded Dimply along with chief product officer Johnny Kane and chief commercial officer Colm McLoughlin in the middle of lockdown in 2020. The three have previously worked with the global leadership team of a digital advice business.
While Quinlan has previously worked with Canada Life, Zurich Insurance, Mercer and Westpac, McLoughlin has 27 years of experience working within the financial services sector. Kane is a product design expert and former partner at a digital agency with large enterprise clients.
From a technology perspective, Kane explained that the end goal is to ensure that Dimply’s enterprise clients can give their customers “the right financial experience at the right time”.
“We’ve designed the dimply platform to address a wide range of requirements including data collection, enrichment and integration, experience building, orchestration and deployments,” Kane said.
“What sets the dimply platform apart is the ability to understand what our clients’ customers need and then deliver the optimal experience for them.”
Dimply’s ‘fast and furious’ growth
Dimply uses what is known as a server-driven user interface which helps it to control the user interfaces of the apps it generates.
“This has lots of benefits but most importantly allows full control over the experience from the platform,” Kane said.
“We also have a powerful fact engine which can take data from pretty much any standards-based API. These facts can then be leveraged to drive personalised customer experiences.”
And this technology has been paying off for Dimply so far.
Over the last two years, the fintech has raised €3.1m to invest in its product including a €1m seed funding round last April that led to a partnership with asset management company Mercer.
By October, Dimply announced plans to create 20 new jobs over the next 18 months, riding on a wave prompted by the funding round as well as a series of large clients coming on board.
While there have no intention of raising funding in 2023, Quinlan describes the company’s recent growth as “fast and furious but amazing”. In December, Dimply was awarded bronze at the National Startup Awards in Ireland.
But starting a company in the middle of a lockdown and scaling it during tumultuous macroeconomic conditions is no easy task.
“One of the main challenges was to build a global team culture and efficient delivery cadence while being predominantly remote first. It’s working,” Quinlan said.
“We’re also scaling during a period of steep valuation corrections, increased commercial scrutiny and changing investment timelines. We’ve been pragmatic and have maintained a laser focus on our strategy and roadmap.”
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