Ex-Monzo exec Meri Williams joins Pleo as CTO

Danish spend management firm Pleo has hired Meri Williams, the former chief technology officer at Monzo, to lead its tech strategy going forward.

Williams will join Pleo’s senior leadership team as CTO and, as she did at Monzo, will help scale Pleo’s technology team.

Since leaving Monzo in 2020 Williams has been working as CTO of Healx, an AI-driven rare disease treatment discovery firm, before now making the leap back into fintech.

“I’ve been incredibly impressed by Pleo’s journey over the past few years, from a disruptor in the business spend management market to an essential platform of choice for thousands of enterprises across Europe,” said Williams on her appointment.

“The excitement of this journey is in how, along with the Pleo team, I can continue the company’s journey into becoming an indispensable partner during a time of economic uncertainty and trepidation.”

While Pleo raised $350m in Series C funding online in December 2021, the company earlier this month announced layoffs of around 15 per cent (or 150) of its 1,000 staff.

The company explained that it was no longer operating under a “growth first” mandate but is instead focusing on “growth through focus and efficiency”.

Pleo has launched in 12 countries during the past 12 months and says it has onboarded around 100 new employees a month.

Despite the wider layoffs, Pleo has continued to make key hires at the senior level, including Williams as well as new head of UK and Ireland Abigail Slater, who recently joined the company from American Express.