European mobile payment provider Bluecode has expanded its executive team by hiring Daniel Koller as its new Chief Operating Officer (COO). Koller was formerly the COO for the Deutsche Handelsbank and Klarna Group’s subsidiary Sofort.
The 42-year-old Bavarian strengthens the managerial team headed by Bluecode CEO Christian Pirkner, Chief Corporate Officer Mirko Thomas Oberholzer, CCO Georg Schardt, and Deputy CEO Jens Lütcke. Koller, Schardt and Lütcke have previously worked together at Sofort and Klarna.
Since April 2021, Koller is responsible for operations and tech integration as well as project management. By integrating more banks, Savings Banks and merchants into the Bluecode mobile payment ecosystem, he will also drive the company’s growth.
The business graduate brings more than 15 years of experience from various executive positions in the payment and e-commerce sectors. As Sofort’s COO at the time, he and former Sofort CEO and current Bluecode Deputy CEO, Jens Lütcke, developed the Sofortüberweisung (instant direct transfer) into the leading direct transfer method in Europe.
After another role at Klarna as Director Merchant Development, SME Sales & Commercial Operations for the DACH region, the Allgäu native was most recently active as COO of Deutsche Handelsbank for more than four years.
The Bluecode payment network enables partner banks and retailers to keep their mobile payment-related value chain within their own apps and offer their customers secure mobile payments combined with attractive value-added services, in accordance to European standards and rules.
Bluecode had recently announced in April 2021 that it has received new funding worth €20 million with the Hopp Family Office leading the round.
Christian Pirkner, CEO of Bluecode said,
“With his years of experience, Daniel Koller is a great addition to the team comprised of his former Sofort and Klarna colleagues.
He is going to be an excellent COO. They all view Bluecode as the future of value-added mobile payments, and with their previous work developing similar payment solutions, they have proven that European alternatives to Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal and others can be very successful.”
Daniel Koller, COO of Bluecode said,
“The mission to support Bluecode’s growth as European mobile payment alternative truly intrigues me. Bluecode has recently secured the German drugstore chain Rossmann and the Unser Ö-Bonus Club loyalty program as its partners.
Partnerships with various other retail, technology and banking partners are currently in the works. It is my goal to integrate new partners into our ecosystem as quickly as possible, improve growth processes, and make Bluecode ready-to-scale.”
Featured image: Daniel Koller, COO Blue Code International AG © Olga Schmid
