Pleo, a fintech startup based in Denmark, has strengthened its leadership team by hiring a new chief financial officer, the company exclusively revealed to CNBC. This move appears to be a prelude to the company’s potential IPO.
The organisation brought on board Soren Westh Lonning, a financial services expert with over 20 years of experience at firms like the Danish bioscience startup Chr Hansen, the hearing device manufacturer WS Audiology, and the sports and outdoor gear startup Danish Endurance.
Of particular note was Lonning’s tenure as CFO at Chr Hansen, a Danish manufacturer of food enzymes. Listed on the Danish stock exchange, Chr Hansen has a market capitalization of almost $10 billion, making it one of Denmark’s most valuable publicly traded companies.
The $22 billion merger of competitor Novozymes and Chr Hansen was just approved by the European Union.
As CFO, Lonning told CNBC that his top priorities would be to steer the company towards profitability and maturity, evaluate how to grow the company in spite of the challenging macroeconomic climate, and promote the wise use of data to help the company make better business decisions.
Pleo is not alone among the numerous businesses that struggle to strike a balance between expansion and profitability or efficiency in the current business climate, according to Lonning.
It goes without saying that we want to keep growing quickly, but the surroundings have also altered. Businesses face that conundrum, but Pleo’s way of life and IT businesses face it much more.
Source (CNBC)
