Tinka: 50,000+ Users in 3 Months with a Buy-Now-Pay-Later Mobile App

Tinka is a Dutch fintech company offering buy-now-pay-later, installment plans, and consumer credit services in the Netherlands. They needed a mobile-first platform to reach consumers directly, scale user acquisition, and deliver a payment experience that builds trust.

• Headquarters

  Netherlands

• Market

  Dutch consumer finance

• Focus

  BNPL and consumer credit via mobile

Market context

The problems

• No direct consumer channel

  Without a mobile app, Tinka had no direct touchpoint with consumers. User acquisition and brand awareness were limited to merchant partnerships.

• Complex financial integrations

  BNPL functionality required integration with existing financial infrastructure, iDIN KYC verification, and fraud prevention systems.

• Security vs. friction trade-off

  Creating a passwordless, frictionless login while maintaining robust security and fraud prevention in a financial app.

• Cross-platform requirements

  The app needed to work on both iOS and Android without doubling development costs.

• Startup constraints

  Tinka needed flexible team scaling to match budget and sprint priorities as a growing company.

The goal

Why Tinka chose HyperSense

• Cross-platform mobile development expertise with Flutter
• AWS cloud architecture for secure, scalable microservices
• Experience integrating complex financial systems (KYC, fraud prevention, credit risk)
• Agile methodology with flexible team scaling

Our approach:

• 

  We started with stakeholder workshops to understand Tinka's business processes, regulatory requirements, and user needs. Close collaboration with Tinka's internal teams to build domain knowledge in Dutch financial services and iDIN verification.

• 

  Agile Scrum with 200-hour sprints. Continuous improvement based on real usage data and user feedback. Communication through Slack and Jira. Quality assurance included security testing, mobile performance optimization, and iterative UX refinement using Firebase A/B testing.

What we delivered

• Core app:

  • Cross-platform applications

    Cross-platform mobile app (iOS and Android) built with Flutter for consistent UX and performance

  • Scalable microservices backend

    AWS CDK-based microservices backend in TypeScript for scalability and maintainability

  • Secure passwordless authentication

    Passwordless email-based authentication with biometric security integration

  • Integrated BNPL payment solution

    Buy-now-pay-later functionality with real-time credit risk calculation

  • Digital identity verification

    KYC identity verification using iDIN (Dutch banking standard)

  • Real-time customer support

    In-app customer support chat for real-time assistance

  • Comprehensive account dashboard

    Account management dashboard with full transaction visibility

• Supporting infrastructure:

  • Serverless cloud infrastructure

    AWS cloud infrastructure with serverless architecture for cost efficiency and auto-scaling

  • Mobile engagement platform

    Firebase integration for push notifications, analytics, and A/B testing

  • Fraud detection & prevention

    Fraud prevention algorithms and monitoring systems

  • Automated CI/CD pipeline

    Continuous integration and deployment pipeline for rapid, reliable releases

  • Team enablement & documentation

    Knowledge transfer and documentation for Tinka's internal team

  • Ongoing support

    Ongoing support and feature development (2019-present)

Measurable outcomes

• 01

  Growth

  • 50,000+ users in first 3 months
  • EUR 300,000+ monthly transaction volume
  • 4.8 App Store / 5.0 Google Play ratings
  • 8,000+ hours of development over 6+ years

• 02

  Operational efficiency

  • Passwordless authentication reduced login friction by 90%
  • Real-time credit risk decisioning eliminated manual approval delays
  • iDIN KYC verification reduced onboarding from days to minutes

• 03

  Technical performance

  • Stable, high-performance app across iOS and Android
  • Auto-scaling AWS infrastructure handled rapid user growth without downtime
  • Fraud prevention maintained security while minimizing false positives

What made this work:

1. 01

   Flutter for cross-platform efficiency

   Single codebase for iOS and Android. Reduced time-to-market and maintenance costs while delivering native-like performance that financial app users expect.

2. 02

   Flexible Agile scaling

   200-hour sprints with scalable team sizing let Tinka match development investment to business priorities and budget.

3. 03

   Domain knowledge through collaboration

   Close work with Tinka's internal teams let us quickly build expertise in Dutch financial regulations, iDIN, and BNPL processes. Critical for delivering a compliant, market-ready product.

4. 04

   Data-driven UX iteration

   Firebase A/B testing and analytics informed continuous optimization. Features aligned with actual user behavior, not assumptions.

Technical approach:

Passwordless authentication with email magic links plus biometric security eliminated password friction without sacrificing security.

Real-time credit risk and fraud prevention running in serverless AWS Lambda functions demonstrated instant decisioning at scale without infrastructure overhead.