From Cork to New York

Conor Lyden was only 21 when he came up with a brilliant business idea. A UCC student at the time, he didn’t shy away from challenges. Today, he is the CEO of Trustap, an award-winning Cork-based company that has grown from a startup into an international player in the fintech industry.

Thanks to Trustap, Cork is once again on the map for innovation in finance. The company has been shortlisted for the Payments Innovation Award at the FS Awards 2025, which honours the brightest names in financial services. Speaking to the Cork Independent, the 31 year old CEO credits his team for the company’s success, but it was his light-bulb moment that set Trustap on the path to international recognition.

Last year, Trustap raised $5.5 million in funding to drive product growth and expand overseas. Today, the company processes millions worth of transactions every month and has offices in Dublin, New York, Barcelona, and Zagreb.

“It all actually started when I was in college in UCC. I was studying engineering, but I’m also a big Liverpool football fan. I was travelling back to watch games in the UK. At that time, you had to get physical tickets, and I was buying and selling these tickets with people internationally.

“They would always tell me that I could trust them—just send the money, and they’d give me the ticket afterwards. I wasn’t very comfortable doing that. I thought about creating something that would solve that problem initially.

“I didn’t really think about the wider applications for it. Once I built a basic prototype that would work for that, people started using it for other things, and I thought maybe there was an opportunity to apply this across other areas, or other problems that people have when they’re transacting online.”

From buying football tickets online to creating a trusted way for people to transact, Trustap now provides a secure system that is setting new standards for online marketplaces. “It started as a standalone app where people could buy and sell with each other safely. We’d hold the money in escrow, the seller would ship the product through the app, and then we’d release the money once it was delivered. Over the last couple of years, we’ve evolved to work directly with marketplaces and e-commerce brands, embedding secure transactions into their platforms. The latest example of our partnership is DoneDeal, the biggest marketplace in Ireland.”

Conor grew up in Carrigaline in a family of dentists. While his career choice was not what his parents might have expected, they placed their full trust in him and gave him unwavering support. Conor says it was thanks to that support that he was able to follow his dream, and he values it deeply. He also credits UCC for his success, particularly the Ignite Programme, which he calls an “incubator for people with ideas”.

Now, Conor speaks to UCC students himself, encouraging them to ignite their own ideas. “A lot of interns and graduates from UCC join us. I’ve gone back to speak to different courses and departments, especially marketing, and the Ignite Programme, which is still going strong.”

For Conor, building the right team has been the key to success. “The best advice I ever got was to hire people who are better than you at the jobs they do. That wasn’t difficult for me because there were lots of things I wasn’t good at.”

Now living in New York, Conor says the first thing he does when he returns home to Carrigaline is meet his friends. Living abroad, he says, makes him appreciate Ireland even more.

“A lot of people who complain about Ireland haven’t really left or seen what it’s like elsewhere. When you travel, you can appreciate what we have back home. For me, the biggest thing is the sense of community and the culture. There’s a big Irish community in New York, but it’s still very different.”

He misses his family, his friends, and the beauty of Cork’s coastline. At the same time, he is optimistic about Ireland’s future—and Cork’s in particular.

“Cork has enormous potential. It has great resources, a big port, one of the largest natural harbours in the world, English-speaking access on the western tip of Europe. But we must ensure that city decisions don’t ruin this potential. Housing and transport need to be non-negotiables. If we get that right, Cork can take full advantage of its opportunities.”

Conor believes the city has work to do, but he is confident in its promise. “Historically, we’ve only started getting wealthier recently, so some infrastructure hasn’t caught up. Compare this to countries like England, France, or Germany. They’ve had time to develop infrastructure alongside population growth and business location. So we have a little work to do on infrastructure. But if we get that right, there’s huge opportunity.Manhattan is probably smaller than Cork city, but NY and its suburbs have 9m people. That density allows for efficient transport systems and other advantages. Ireland has the countryside and that sense of space, which is great, but we also need to think about building upwards in cities to create more efficient public transport.”

As for the future of Trustap, Conor keeps his focus practical. “Right now, I focus on next week rather than next year. We’re at a cool inflection point, with many opportunities across different markets.”

But one thing will never change, he insists: Trustap will always remain Cork-based, with its headquarters in the Rebel City.