Students with a million to invest

May 20, 2019

A year ago, four students founded the Amsterdam Student Investment Fund (ASIF), an investment fund that exclusively invests in initiatives by recent graduates. ASIF now has more than € 1,000,000, an amount that the young board members will invest in promising startups in the coming period. The first in that list: Dyme, a fast growing fintech startup from Amsterdam. Dyme gives a user direct insight into his or her fixed costs by means of a secure link to his bank account. Within the application, unwanted subscriptions can be terminated with one click. It is also possible to switch to better alternatives. Dyme will use ASIF’s investment to make the application available throughout the Netherlands.

Last week, ASIF – led by four students – made its first investment. Former board member Gijs Schot was closely involved in this: “After a year of preparation and months of research, we saw Dyme to be a party with enormous potential – a very innovative start-up that we really believe in and fully support.”

A new way to save money
With the help of a secure bank link and a smart algorithm, Dyme immediately shows all fixed costs of a user in a clear overview. Within the application, users can then switch to cheaper alternatives with one click and cancel unwanted subscriptions. Dyme combines advanced machine learning technologies with the PSD2 directive, a new European legislation that gives consumers more power over their own payment data.

Co-founder Joran Iedema: “Because of the growing number of subscription services, complicated contracts and direct debits, more and more people are losing sight of their finances. Many people structurally spend too much money on this. We not only show users how much they can save, but also offer the possibility to do so with just one click.”

One million euros
Last week ASIF made the first investment in the young company, located at the Amsterdam Science Park where it participates in the ACE Incubation program. In six months, Dyme can expect a follow-on investment – provided good results are achieved in the coming period.
ASIF is in many ways a unique Venture Capital fund: In addition to being founded and run by students and recent graduates, the fund has both public and private capital. The more than € 1,000,000 currently available to ASIF consists of contributions from the University of Amsterdam, which is still low profile involved with the fund. The other half is contributed by various private investors, so-called Angels. The ultimate goal of ASIF is to make every student in our capital enthusiastic about starting a business. ASIF also wants to build bridges between the academic world and entrepreneurship. More information about Dyme can be found at https://dyme.app