Since April 2023, de Spiegeleire leads both central growth teams and international markets, to help Qonto pave the way to reach profitability. His arrival reflects Qonto’s strategy to hire people with the experience to continue building a business for long-term success, driving Qonto’s international expansion in the SME market.

“Even if you see a lot of innovation in Fintech today, SMEs are still heavily underserved,” says de Spiegeleire. “Qonto is here to energize them and to provide them with the means to really embrace change.”

As CRO, his mission is to lead growth in Qonto’s markets - France, Germany, Italy, and Spain - leveraging his proven ability to scale businesses while strengthening international sales and marketing functions. Over the past 20+ years, de Spiegeleire held different leadership roles across a wide range of company sizes, in the US and in Europe, like Cisco, Vodafone, Dropbox, and, more recently, Forto. At Qonto, he will take direct responsibility for Sales, Marketing, and Partnerships.

“I truly believe in Qonto’s mission to support and enable European SMEs. We have a real opportunity to demystify some of the complexity that comes with financial services,” adds de Spiegeleire. “I’m excited to join such a skilled team and help reach a very ambitious goal: becoming the business finance solution of choice for 1 million European SMEs and freelancers by 2025.”

De Spiegeleire joins Qonto at a strategic moment in its growth trajectory. After the record-breaking Series D fundraising in January 2022 and the Penta acquisition in Germany in July 2022, the company is now focussing on:
● Establishing its all-in-one offer for finance teams: Serving larger SMEs with tailored finance products for bigger teams.
● International Expansion: Growing the market share in international markets (Germany, Italy, Spain).
● Building a profitable business: Lay the foundations of profitability at the group level.
● CSR: Building a more sustainable and inclusive company.

“We are delighted to have Kenneth on board,” says Qonto Co-Founder and CEO Alexandre Prot. “His experience and commitment to helping companies embrace change, as well as his technical knowledge, are key for our growth ambition and expansion plans.”

About Kenneth de Spiegeleire
After studying electrical engineering and information security at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, the University of Gent, and the University of London, Kenneth de Spiegeleire began his career at IBM in 1999. Over the past 20+ years, he held different leadership roles across a wide range of company sizes, in the US and in Europe, like Cisco, Vodafone, Dropbox, and, more recently, Forto. Kenneth has long-standing experience in driving sales & marketing teams in international scale-ups. In 2023, he joined Qonto as CRO to lead the Growth team and international markets.