Former Goldman Sachs Executive Director Laura Mineo has joined Byron Bay-based trade payments fintech Zepto Financial director.
Her C-suite role follows the appointment of Julia Bearzatto as Chief Product Officer last November.
Mineo was last in New York as CFO at locally founded, US based skirts, Australia’s third most valuable private technology company behind Airwallex and Canva, with a valuation of $750 million, reportedly preparing for an IPO.
Mineo said the role at Zepto was appealing because the fintech had “created something really special” in real-time payments.
“An incredible opportunity lies ahead of us. Zepto’s trusted, world-class technology opens up a unique set of entry points to Australia’s payments infrastructure,” she said.
“We are changing the way value moves through the economy and redefining the future of business payments.”
Zepto started life in 2018 in the holiday town of Northern NSW as Split Payments. The API embedded infrastructure was originally developed to solve the payment problems of the four founders in their skydiving company. The fintech was renamed Zepto in 2021 and last March raised $25 million in a Series A round led by Sydney VC’s AirTree Ventures and Decade Partners.
Zepto was the first non-banking fintech approved to connect directly to new payment platform for PayTo as a ‘Connected Institution’, and the first non-bank payment provider Accredited Data Recipient (ADR) under the Consumer Data Right (CDR). It creates real-time account-to-account payment solutions for businesses via API powered solutions.
CEO Chris Jewell said Mineo’s work with advanced financial institutions will benefit Zepto’s international experience and insight as the company looks for global opportunities.
“We are delighted to welcome Laura to the Zepto leadership team,” he said.
“It is exciting to leverage Laura’s experience in driving global strategy at Goldman Sachs through a period of transformation, and leading Rokt’s finance function and funding strategy.”