Startup Business Showcase : AssureHedge

By @SimonCocking. Assure Hedge insures that foreign currency fluctuations will not destroy your business.

Describe the company – the elevator pitch …

Assure Hedge is an exciting Fintech startup based in the NDRC (Digital Hub) in Dublin 8. We are a specialist hedging solutions company, offering an alternative for companies seeking to hedge their foreign currency risk. Assure Hedge insures that foreign currency fluctuations will not destroy your business.

How are you different?

Banks do offer hedging solutions mostly in the form of FX forwards. This means fixing a future price now. The benefit is that the rate is fixed but the downside is that the customer will not gain from any favourable currency moves. The current bank solutions are blunt, uncustomised and expensive, with an antiquated user experience. Their approach is a one size fits all.
Banks do not treat SMEs in the same way as their bigger customers. On the Assure Hedge platform, every customer is treated equally.

Why will the company / product do well?

SMEs will choose take control of their own currency risk management through our platform. Never before in Ireland has there been a low cost and straightforward way for SMEs to manage their own FX risk. We estimate there is an untapped hedging market potential of 6 billion euros a year in Ireland alone, and we aspire to become the market leading solution.

Where are you based?

NDRC, Dublin 8.

When was the company launched?

1st of March 2016 (started NDRC Launchpad and company incorporated on the same day)

What have been your biggest wins to date?

1. Won a place on the highly competitive NDRC Launchpad programme
2. Prototype of the product running on www.assurehedge.com
3. Completed the EI Access Silicon Valley Programme in June and verified product-market fit in the US, the largest market in the world for Assure Hedge.

What type of people (market segment) are you trying to attract to your product?

SMEs with foreign currency risk. Over 95% of SME’s with foreign currency risk do nothing at all to protect themselves. Of the approximately 5% of exposed SME’s who take any action at all, virtually all of them turn to the inefficient, expensive and blunt solutions sold by banks, through an ugly and often painful user experience.

Tell us about your team?

See Barry McCarthy‘s Linked In Profile – Founder of Assure Hedge
We are seeking to employ between 6 and 8 people over the next 12 months subject to finalizing our current investor funding round.

What are you long term plans for your product / company?

We are at an advanced stage of development and should be ready for a full live release in Q4 2016. We are currently finalising an investor funding round that will enable us to accelerate the development of the product, and navigate our regulatory and compliance obligations in Ireland and abroad. This is a globally scaleable and automated Fintech product. We will be seeking Series A in 18 to 24 months for US, Canada and Mexico launch.

What are your favourite tech gadgets?

Can’t live without my Fujitsu Scansnap high speed desktop scanner – best purchase I have ever made.

What tech gadgets do you wish you could use to help you?

A Nespresso machine on my desk

Anything else you’d like to add / we should have asked?

We have just opened our seed funding round.

How do people get in touch with you?

info@assurehedge.com
Twitter: Assurehedge

If you would like to have your company featured in the Irish Tech News Business Showcase, get in contact with us at Simon@IrishTechNews.net or on Twitter: @SimonCocking