B2B payments company Mondu has announced the appointment of two senior hires to its c-suite. Mondu has welcomed Julian Kurz as CCO and Lauren Hoehlein Joseph as CPO, who will support the expansion of Mondu’s team and product internationally.
The appointments follow the company’s $43m Series A round announced earlier this year.
Kurz joins Mondu after seven years at VMware, the global software and cloud infrastructure market leader. In his role as Head of Enterprise EMEA, he was responsible for driving the go-to-market approach toward large enterprise customers. Before that, he was Partner and Managing Director at The Boston Consulting Group in Germany and Sweden, focussing on tech and software companies and digital transformation. He began his career in Silicon Valley, where he founded and held leadership roles in multiple startups. Kurz holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University.
Speaking on joining Mondu, Julian Kurz, newly appointed CCO, said, “After spending some great time in the corporate world, I want to go back to my entrepreneurial roots, joining a winning team with people that are passionate about a new business and are having fun working together and making it happen. My aim in this new role is to work with the Mondu team to drive massive success with customers and partners in our target markets. I will apply my deep go-to-market experience to shape a highly effective and scalable commercial approach and provide a platform for collaboration and success for everyone in the team.”
In his role as CCO, Kurz will lead the commercial team covering sales management, customer success, partner management and strategy and enablement. Kurz will continue to develop and execute Mondu’s go-to-market strategy as it continues its international expansion, building an exceptional sales function and end-to-end merchant experience.
Newly appointed CPO Hoehlein Joseph joins Mondu after holding the role of VP of People for Grover, another fast-growing Berlin-based startup where she built the people function from a local support team to a global operation. Over the previous decade, she has gathered a wide range of business leadership experience, gravitating from management consulting and business development to organisational and people strategy.
Hoehlein Joseph credits her time with The Grommet, a recently shuttered US-based media, marketing, and distribution platform for early-stage consumer products, for her growth into a people leader and her awareness of the market gap for modern B2B payments solutions. She brings a commercial focus to the people space, having worked within the Strategy Practice with Bain & Company and across multiple commercial leadership roles in startups. She holds a BA with honours from Dartmouth College and a Master of History with distinction from Boston College.
On joining Mondu as CPO, Lauren Hoehlein Joseph commented,“I was committed to joining a high-growth, globally minded company grounded in a strong core mission and guided by people-centric values. Mondu’s founders and the team truly walk the talk regarding people-forward growth. The fact that they were proactively hiring a CPO this early in the company’s trajectory already speaks volumes and allows me to partner with them from the earliest stages to build a world-class capability.”
Hoehlein Joseph continued, “At The Grommet, I worked at the intersection of small product and small retail and witnessed first-hand how antiquated buying and payment processes limited growth suppliers and sellers. I firmly believe in the purpose and direction of Mondu’s products and the impact we have the potential to render. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to build the best team to match the vision and to bring these products to scale.”
In her role as CPO, Hoehlein Joseph will define and set up a structured and comprehensive people function for Mondu and be responsible for the teams working in Talent Acquisition, Engagement and Development, and Platform and Business Partnering.
Malte Huffmann, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Mondu, added, “Itis truly an exciting time at Mondu. We’re rapidly growing our team and attracting world-class talent like Julian and Lauren. Both of whom we know will add immense value to Mondu as we continue to expand internationally and introduce new products for our B2Bcustomers. Having already expanded to Austria earlier this year and grown to 120 people, their leadership and knowledge will play an integral role in continuing our mission, reaching more customers and providing payment solutions that enable any B2B company to grow quickly and safely.”