Pleo has appointed Abigail Slater as its first head of operations in the UK & Ireland.聽
The Danish FinTech unicorn, valued at $4.7 billion by its latest funding round in late 2021, offers a simplified expense management tool and smart company cards.
It told us last year that it planned to double the size of its team in the UK, which then stood at 60 heads in Shoreditch, London.
Slater joins from American Express, where as vice president of global commercial services she played an integral leadership role in accelerating the growth of the company鈥檚 SME unit and client base, overseeing account management, sales and stakeholder strategies.聽
She has also held several previous senior roles at American Express, including vice president of the commercial servicing network for the UK and US, and the director of merchant group in Asia.
Since February 2021, Pleo has expanded into six new markets in Europe, and in the past year, users on the platform across the continent have doubled, while transaction volumes have tripled.聽
The likes of Hello Fresh and E.ON Next are among the companies now relying on Pleo鈥檚 platform to simplify their finance processes.
鈥楨mbedded finance will disrupt our lives on same scale as internet鈥�
鈥淧leo鈥檚 momentum over the last 12 months has been incredible to watch, so I am honoured to be tasked with driving and leading the next phase of the company鈥檚 growth in the UKI,鈥� said Slater.聽
鈥淭he demand for Pleo鈥檚 platform shows UK businesses are actively looking for ways to transform and simplify the way their finances are managed, especially at this important time of increased economic uncertainty.聽
鈥淚 look forward to meeting and working with my other talented colleagues as we strive to continue growing Pleo鈥檚 footprint in the UK and Ireland.鈥�
Sara Brooks, Pleo鈥檚 head of Europe, commented: 鈥淎bigail鈥檚 hire comes at an incredibly important and exciting moment for the growth of our business in the UKI.聽
鈥淲e have ambitious goals to continue building out our product set to help UKI businesses radically change how they manage their financial operations in the years ahead, so we are thrilled to have secured Abigail鈥檚 talent and expertise.聽
鈥淲ith her experience in both payments and driving the growth of AMEX expense management solution, she has the experience needed as we embark on the next phase of the Pleo journey.鈥�
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