Montessus will draw upon his strong background in the payment industry to help Toqio develop a winning strategy. He will be a key player in fostering operational and organizational effectiveness, acting as a business partner to the CEO and advising on senior management execution in focus areas over the next 36 months, including international expansion, revenue growth, governance, and others.

The new Chairman joins Toqio as the company enters its next phase of growth, following a funding round of EUR 20 million. The Series A investment raised EUR 18.7 million, led by AlbionVC and joined by Aldea Ventures, Seaya, Speedinvest, SIX FinTech Ventures, and angel investors. The other EUR 1.3 million was due to a grant from the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI), a public institution focussed on technology development in Spain.

The Toqio platform lets companies create and launch their own fully branded banking or finance solutions. It removes the need to build and manage complex software solutions through its SaaS platform and a marketplace of banking and fintech partners. Creating with Toqio is faster and more economical than developing a homegrown app or site, and the end result goes well beyond expectations.

On joining the Toqio board, Gabriel de Montessus, said, “I’ve been following what Toqio has been doing for a while and am impressed with what the team has achieved so far. The company has the potential to revolutionize the fintech industry and I’m looking forward to helping the Toqio team achieve its mission of enabling the creation and delivery of embedded finance through its world-class platform.”

At Worldpay, Montessus is responsible for the Global Enterprise business, with activities and teams throughout the world (EMEA, APAC, Latam and North America). Before joining Worldpay, he was EVP of the Merchant Services Business Unit of Ingenico Group, which he joined in 2017 as CEO of Ingenico ePayments & Global Online, leading a successful turnaround of the company’s activities.

He has broad experience in technology and digital industries and has a strong interest in exponential technologies. Gabriel is a graduate of Université Paris Dauphine, EM Lyon, and Singularity University.

Eduardo Martinez Garcia, CEO and Co-Founder of Toqio, commented, “We are incredibly excited to have Gabriel lead our board! His extensive experience in financial services and scaling up highly successful businesses will be incredibly valuable to Toqio. We’re convinced that he will contribute massively to our undertaking: to become the platform of choice for companies that require an excellent and accessible embedded finance solution.”

Jay Wilson, Investment Director at AlbionVC, said: “I am delighted to welcome Gabriel to Toqio’s board. As the company secures its leadership position in the enterprise segment, his decades of financial technology experience will be invaluable. A calm hand and a steady voice, Gabriel’s support for Eduardo and the executive team will assuredly help the business. I look forward to working with him in the next phase of the company’s growth.”