Wayflyer, a revenue-based financing and growth platform for eCommerce merchants, has made a series of senior hires in the UK.
Earlier this year the Dublin-headquartered firm cemented its place as a unicorn, valued at $1.6 billion, following a Series B fundraising round.
Among the arrivals – which will be primarily based in the UK – are chief business, legal and talent officers from global brands including King, Stripe, Revolut and Paddy Power-Betfair.
Ciara Smyth, a former chief people officer at King – the mobile entertainment platform behind games including Candy Crush and Farm Heroes – joins as chief talent officer.
Roisin Faizullah-Khan joins as VP of talent acquisition. Faizullah-Khan previously led international recruitment at global payments FinTech Stripe.
The two will work closely with Aine Flanagan, Waflyer’s head of people, as the company looks to grow its global headcount from 250 to 600 this year.
Other key appointments include Will Mahon-Heap, who joins as chief business officer having spent four years at Revolut driving the digital bank’s international and product growth. He also founded equity crowdfunding platform Equitise.
Deirdre MacCarthy, the new chief legal officer, brings well over a decade of experience working with high growth technology companies, following time at the corporate technology practice at Maples Group, ByrneWallace and Arthur Cox. She has worked with Wayflyer as external counsel since its inception.
Emer McCarthy, formerly head of advertising and brand at Paddy Power-Betfair, joins as head of brand.
Dan O’Brien has been promoted to chief revenue officer and a new member of the executive team, having joined Wayflyer in February 2020.
The appointments follow significant expansion in 2021 which saw Wayflyer’s headcount increase by 525%, from 40 employees to 250. The amount of funding that Wayflyer provided to eCommerce companies grew by 900% in 2021.
“Our latest funding round means we can confidently meet our 2022 hiring targets, allowing us to scale quickly and reach even more eCommerce businesses around the world,” said CEO and co-founder Aidan Corbett.
“At the same time, we are a business founded on a strong company ethos where diversity of thought, culture and experience is at the core of everything we do.
“These hires are a great example of how we are delivering against this ethos. I have no doubt the depth and breadth of talent and skills they collectively bring to the table will be invaluable as we grow.
“As we continue through the year, we have plans to make yet further additions to our wider team, along with several c-suite level appointments.”
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