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Image credits: Mollie

Amsterdam-based Mollie, a payments platform that offers a process for integrating payments into a site or app, announced that it will open a new fintech Centre of Excellence in the city of Maastricht, Netherlands.

Vice Mayor of Maastricht Vivianne Heijnen says, “Maastricht is positioned in the heart of Europe with its strong work-life balance, leading universities, and diverse population of multilingual citizens who bring different perspectives and skills to bear. It’s fitting that a true payments innovator should make its new home in the birthplace of the Euro. We look forward to welcoming Mollie to Maastricht and working with it as it helps our local community to grow.”

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The launch follows the company’s €672M Series C funding round led by Blackstone Growth, announced in June. It made Mollie one of the most valuable privately held fintechs in Europe.

Simplifying payment methods

Mollie was founded by Adrian Mol in 2004. It is a payments platform that offers an easy-to-implement process for integrating payments into a site or app. 

With a simple and clear payments-API, Mollie offers multiple payment methods uniformly. The company claims its mission is to make online payment simple for merchants by taking away the complexity from payment methods and offering a simple, but powerful API.

The company processes payments for more than 125,000 clients with local payment methods such as Mastercard, VISA, Amex, PayPal, iDEAL, Bancontact, Bitcoin, SEPA Direct Debit, Cartes Bancaires, ESP, Giropay, SOFORT Banking, and more.

In March 2021, the company appointed Shane Happach as a new CEO. Happach has 15 years of experience in the payment industry and worked for Worldpay, where he was an EVP and Head of Global e-commerce, before Mollie.

What will the Centre of Excellence offer?

Mollie chose Maastricht for its diverse and international workforce with over 63 languages spoken across the city. This will allow the company to cater to a wide range of markets from the hub, in particular its French, Dutch, German, and English-speaking customers and partners.

The Maastricht fintech Centre of Excellence will house new employees from departments including development, operations, and customer experience. Mollie aims to create a modern and relaxed environment in which the new staff can feel at home. The centre will be an extension of the company’s headquarters in Amsterdam, allowing the business to scale and drive growth for its clients.

Maastricht is well-known for its higher education institutions and many graduates choose to make the city their home after completing their studies. As a result, Mollie plans to work with local universities and schools, providing presentations and workshops to support students as they enter the professional environment.

More broadly, the company plans to become a key part of the Maastricht ecosystem, partnering with local businesses to help them grow, and provide support to regional non-profit organisations as part of corporate responsibility initiatives.

Plans to hire 200-250 new talents

CEO of Mollie Shane Happach says, “Mollie is going through an extraordinary phase of growth and it’s vital we ensure our customers remain our top priority. We are excited to open our fintech Centre of Excellence in Maastricht. The city has a distinct and wide talent pool that will support our company’s expansion.”

Happach adds, “We’re aiming to hire 200-250 ambitious and talented new Mollies, at all stages of their careers across the gamut of roles within Mollie – from engineering to support, commerce to compliance. We want Maastricht to feel like an extension of our Amsterdam headquarters and are eager to replicate our company’s heart and soul at the Eiffel building.”

The centre will be overseen by Julien Cordonnier, Mollie COO and formerly a Senior Director at Uber, who joined in May. It will open in June, 2022, and 25 people have already been hired in the region.

Recently expanded to the UK market

In February, 2021, the Dutch fintech company expanded to the UK market to help merchants expand their businesses in Europe. Mollie collaborated with Stockholm-based fintech giant Klarna, Magento, and EU gateways to increase cross-border sales.

The company also launched a weekly newsletter for UK merchants selling cross-border, which includes crucial information on key developments, best practice, case studies, and useful resources on Brexit and international expansion. Josh Guthrie is heading the company’s UK operations.

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