Chrisitan Owens, the CEO of London-based fintech unicorn Paddle, is stepping down after ten years in the role.
Owens is moving aside to become executive chairman, making way for Paddle COO Jimmy Fitzgerald to take over the reins.
In a Linkedin post, Owens said: “I started this company in my bedroom, and together we have scaled it to an enduring and recognised business approaching $100m in revenue.
“As we push forward into our next phase, I know now is the right time for me to pass the baton of day-to-day operations.”
In January, Paddle, a provider of payments infrastructure for SaaS companies, laid off eight per cent of its 350-strong workforce, citing the need to cut costs amidst rising inflation and interest rates.
The firm, which last year raised $200 million in Series D equity and debt financing at a valuation of $1.4bn, was a beneficiary of the Covid era as the shift to digital saw it sign up a slew of software companies who wanted to sell globally. In May it went on to acquire US subscription management firm ProfitWell for $200 million
In a memo announcing the layoffs, Owens admitted to making two "key mistakes".
"The first was assuming that the growth our customers saw during Covid was a signal of fundamental change and the growth would be sustained largely in perpetuity. The second was allowing our operating costs to increase at a faster rate than we were growing our revenue," he wrote.
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