Payments start-up Fire fires up
Colm Lyon, founder and CEO at Fire
Fire Financial Services – now trading as Fire – has launched and is targeting the UK and Irish markets with a digital account.
Colm Lyon, founder and CEO at Fire, says: “It has taken some time for us to reach this day – several years of trying and getting it wrong.”
Now the business has rebranded itself to Fire and updated its web site to reflect its new name. Fire Financial Services was founded in August 2009.
Fire provides businesses and personal customers with digital accounts. The accounts are opened online and via mobile apps.
Customers can open multiple accounts in both sterling and euro enabling bank transfers to/from any bank account in the UK or Eurozone. Fire has signed up with MasterCard as a principal member and is now offering both its business and personal customers a Fire debit card.
The new “Fire Personal” app is available in the Apple and Android stores and customers may order their cards via the app.
The Fire business account is in beta and the firm says to date almost 900 businesses have signed up and are using its business account.
Lyon adds that “over 60% of our business clients are based in the UK – a market that is our primary focus”.
Lyon has worked in the fintech industry for a while. Among other roles, he was the founder and former CEO of Realex Payments from May 2000 to September 2016; and worked as director and chairman for FPAI – the Fintech and Payments Association of Ireland.
