Sumara's Founder

Ian Dillon- Founder

I am a serial entrepreneur and innovator. My early career was spent with HSBC in Capital Markets. Following this I co-founded and led NOW Money, the Middle East’s first mobile payment app designed for migrant workers and their employers, in the process securing the first regulatory permissions to do so in the region and raising $12m in GCC, US and European VC investment. NOW Money won a large number of awards for its impact on innovation and financial inclusion, and I was named UAE Founder of the year in 2019.

Today, NOW Money has reached over 100,000 customers, processed in excess of $500m of transactions, and continues to transform and disrupt the region’s digital banking ecosystem today.

Following exiting NOW Money in 2022 I was Global Head of Product at CMC Markets, where I led the build of a new machine learning-driven multi asset securities trading platform.

I also served on the board of a quasi-governmental organisation promoting Fintech across Africa, and between 2009 and 2015 founded and successfully exited the e-commerce company REDCUPS.com.

My ambition for Sumara is to create an industry-defining ‘global maximum’ company, that is successful through solving an acute global need.