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.”

Banking Transformation 2023

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.