Austrian fintech unicorn Bitpanda makes raft of hires from Big Tech for growth push

Austria's only fintech unicorn has made a raft of hires with executives who prevously worked at the likes of Netflix and Strava joining the company.

Bitpanda started as a crypto-trading company but has expanded to offer a wider range of investment products such as Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and commission-free fractional stocks alongside cryptocurrencies or precious metals. 

Former Strava executive Gareth Nettleton now leads Bitpanda’s marketing function as vice president marketing. 

Nettleton joined Vienna-based Bitpanda, founded in 2014, after seven years at sports tracking app Strava, where he led all international marketing activities. 

Natalia Ruban, previously an executive with meal kit firm HelloFresh, has joined Bitpanda as vice president user acquisition.

In her role, she will be building a user acquisition offering, coordinating performance marketing and affiliates, referrals and strategic partnerships.

Henning Dorstewitz, who has worked at Google, Twitter and most recently Netflix. is now Bitpanda’s vice president communications.

Meanwhile, Bitpanda’s former head of global growth & business development, Magdalena Hoerhager, has been promoted to vice-president growth. 

In her role, she will lead the market growth teams globally, as well as Bitpanda’s international expansion efforts.

And another appointment sees former Pandora executive Will Rust take on the role of global brand director.

The new recruits will report into Irina Scarlat, Bitpanda's chief growth officer.

Scarlat said: "We all have in common the fact that we’ve done it before and we share the drive to do it once again, as we shape the future of investing together. All new hires will be instrumental in powering the company’s growth and taking Bitpanda to the next level.”

Last year, Bitpanda was valued at $4.1bn after closing a  $263m Series C round.