The Glue builds financial spin-offs

This article was originally published in Dutch by Computable, on August 12, 2019. Author Kevin Stickens.

Helping the financial sector to digitise was the starting point for co-founder and CEO Stefan Dierckx in the summer of 2015, when he created The Glue. Computable talks to him about his company.

‘That mission is pretty broad’, laughs Dierckx. Quite soon, we evolved into a niche player. We are now mainly active in supporting financial institutions in setting up marketplaces. Financial platforms are increasingly living outside the company, where financial products are offered, often with a bank or insurer behind the screen’.

What that means in concrete terms? Think, for example, of a real estate website, where you can immediately apply for a loan via the same site, without having to contact the bank. The same applies when buying your car at the garage. Today there are dozens of platforms and we are happy to develop them and connect them to the financial institution in the back

Dierckx says that The Glue is being consulted more and more to build such marketplaces. We build these on our own platform use building blocks such as Itsme. Why should we develop certain components ourselves if high-performance solutions are available? In this way, we accelerate the implementation for marketplaces that are operational more quickly.

A collaborative approach and venturing
“We have no customers or suppliers, we have partners.”

In theory, any software developer can develop a marketplace, but Dierckx says that The Glue has a different approach. We do not have customers or suppliers, we have partners. We guide every project from concept to go-to-market and even spin-out. We can co-create a new company and financially support the new organisation. In this way, we participate and, together with our client, run the risks and share success.

An example of such a spin-off is TOCO, a financial compass for SMEs and accountants that simplifies their daily financial admin and communication. Moreover, it connects the different players in one cockpit including banks, social secretariats and gives a clear insight into the financial situation of your company. Launch is planned this fall. There’s a lot of enthusiasm in the market for TOCO’, notes Dierckx.

The Glue also wants to expand its portfolio of spin-offs. Initially, we think at a European level, but if we had to see opportunities outside of it, we certainly wouldn’t ignore them.

Additional employees

Fintech pioneer Jurgen Ingels is another co-founder of The Glue. Of course, Jurgen has a large network and is a true entrepreneur. That’s why we want more and more spin-offs. We want to be at the helm of companies in order to steer them with our expertise. In July last year, we managed to raise five million euros, so in terms of funding we are safe. What we do need in order to continue to grow are capable employees. We are looking for good analysts and experienced developers for both our branches in Diegem and Antwerp, but it’s quite a challenge’, concludes Dierckx.