Storfund has appointed Worldfirst’s former global head of enterprise Oliver Whelan as its chief revenue officer.
Whelan, who spent almost a decade at the payments giant, will be responsible for accelerating Storfund’s rapid growth.
Storfund claims to be the only European provider of factoring – immediate payment on sales – to marketplace sellers, an essential service given businesses wait 42 days on average to get paid.
The eCommerce funder is available in 20 countries on the world’s biggest marketplaces, including Cdiscount, Back Market, PcComponentes, Fyndiq and Amazon.
One of the UK’s fastest-growing FinTechs, it is already turning a profit.
The founders took the decision to fund growth from revenue rather than external capital, believing this would create an impact-driven culture: growth would only come if clients saw that its service was worth paying for.
“Unlike its competitors, Storfund has focused on its product and, most importantly, its customers,” said Whelan. “It knows why it exists and it hasn’t forgotten this in the pursuit of growth.
“Cashflow remains the biggest challenge for eCommerce businesses. There are a few startups offering loans to eCommerce sellers, but Storfund is still the only European FinTech to offer working capital in the form of factoring.
“Traditional banks, even digital challenger banks, still don’t understand the eCommerce sector. Storfund’s potential is immense.”
Storfund has doubled the financing it provides every year for the past three years, while last autumn it announced that it had put in place financing which would enable it to provide up to £5 billion each year to eCommerce businesses.
The next few years will be all about expansion through partnerships with fast-growing marketplaces across Europe, Asia and the Americas.
“Oliver is the right person at the right time,” said Akbar Ahsan, co-founder. “Not only does he have an enviable track record and a vast network, he’s also the right cultural fit.
“He has an entrepreneurial mindset and gets our mentality of rolling your sleeves up and getting stuck-in, but he also brings the discipline and process-driven thinking that large corporations instil, which will be crucial as our international operations expand even further.”