London, 5th June 2023 — Nium, the leader in real-time global payments, today announced the appointment of Manuel Sandhofer as Senior Vice President and General Manager, Europe, following unprecedented growth in the region.
A seasoned fintech industry veteran from Payoneer, Manuel brings to Nium over 15 years’ experience in building teams, leading M&A integrations, and scaling global organisations from seed to IPO.
The appointment will enable Nium to further accelerate its growth in Europe, a region critical to its global success. The fintech unicorn more than doubled European revenue last year with the region contributing to over 40% of the company’s global revenue. Nium serves financial institutions, travel companies, and digital platforms in the region and is experiencing rapid growth. It currently manages over USD 12bn in annualised transaction volume and is expecting to double European revenue again in 2023.
Prior to joining Payoneer in 2021, Sandhofer spent nearly a decade at UniCredit before co-founding Optile, a Munich-based tech company streamlining payment acceptance processes for merchants worldwide. His strategic vision, leadership, and execution culminated in its successful acquisition by Payoneer, after which Sandhofer joined the firm in an SVP Sales and Partners role and saw its transition from a private to public company.
“Despite a challenging macroeconomic environment in Europe, Nium is continuing to hire, sign new customers, expand its product suite, and enter new markets — and I can think of nobody better to spearhead this growth than Manuel,” said Prajit Nanu, Nium CEO and Founder. “As we hire regional GMs across the globe, my goal is to find trusted talent that can act as an extension of myself. Manuel is just that; his experience as a founder brings a proven track record of scaling companies at speed, building and nurturing talented teams, and meeting the payments needs of global enterprise customers.”
Nium plans to expand into Amsterdam later this year, with the goal to open an office and hire over 50 new employees. Last week, the company announced enhancements to its payroll solution which enables global payment platforms and businesses to seamlessly onboard, transact, and manage payroll for employees and contractors worldwide.
“Over the last few years, I’ve watched Nium evolve from a disruptive market entrant into the real-time global payment platform of choice for businesses across Europe. Payments are no longer just the cost of doing business; they are a way to improve performance, create new products and services, and generate revenue. But we’ve only reached the tip of the iceberg when thinking about the opportunity for businesses in Europe, especially when applied to payroll, spend management, marketplace, and travel use cases. It’s exciting to be at the forefront of the real-time payments revolution and unlocking its potential for our customers in Europe and beyond,” added Sandhofer.
About Nium Nium, the leader in real-time global payments, was founded on the mission to build the real-time global payments infrastructure of tomorrow, today. With the onset of the on-demand economy, its single platform for global payments and card issuing is shaping how banks, fintechs, and businesses everywhere disburse and collect funds instantly across borders. Its payout network supports 100 currencies and spans 190+ countries, 100 of which are in real-time. Funds can be disbursed to accounts, wallets, and cards and collected locally in 35 markets. Nium’s growing card issuance business is already available in 34 countries. Nium holds regulatory licenses and authorisations in more than 40 countries, enabling seamless onboarding, rapid integration, and compliance – independent of geography. The company is co-headquartered in San Francisco and Singapore, with regional offices in London, Malta, Lithuania, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Chennai.