San Francisco, 20th of April, 2023 - ****Rafael Plantier has joined Gigs, the world’s first telecom-as-a-service platform, as new Head of Financial Services. He joins Gigs from Nubank, where he led Corporate Strategy & New Ventures. Previously, Rafael was the Head of Banking EMEA at Stripe, as well as the Head of UK & Ireland at Tink, among other roles. In his new position, he will advance Gigs’ offering for banks and fintechs and drive the acquisition of customers in the financial sector.
"Since we launched Gigs, we've seen a tremendous demand from digital banks wanting to launch their own branded mobile services to unlock new revenue streams, strengthen customer stickiness and differentiate their offering. That is why we are delighted to welcome Rafa to Gigs, whose wealth of experience and deep domain knowledge will help us to cater to the needs of the fintech industry even more effectively," says Hermann Frank, co-founder of Gigs. “Rafa has successfully steered large teams through complex challenges, led the development of various new financial services across emerging and established markets, and is uniquely equipped to help us drive the convergence of banking and telecommunications at scale."
“Analogous to banking, wireless connectivity is among the most used consumer services worldwide, yet has one of the worst customer satisfaction levels. This disparity calls for urgent innovation. That’s why, after 16 years in fintech and helping Stripe, Tink, and Nubank scale globally, I'm here to support Gigs in harnessing this immense opportunity,” says Plantier. “By enabling any company to launch their own branded, programmable mobile service, Gigs has created a category of its own, making it one of the most exciting high-growth businesses worldwide.”
This is how Gigs works
Before Gigs, companies interested in offering phone plans would have to spend months negotiating contracts with telecom providers, committing millions of $ in spend, integrating with their networks, and building software to offer and manage subscriptions to their users. This barrier proved insurmountable for most businesses, stifling innovation at a moment when connectivity is more important than ever.
With Gigs, companies are finally able to offer phone and data plans in any market they operate in, all through the same integration. Gigs enables any business to offer eSIM & SIM enabled phone plans of any size on any network globally. Businesses can launch their own mobile service and monetize their audience by unlocking recurring revenue streams, all while having full control over brand and pricing. From digital banks providing branded phone plans alongside their credit or debit cards, to employee management platforms enabling their customers to issue phone plans to employees in just a few clicks, to smartphone and wearable providers offering subscriptions bundled with their devices, Gigs is active in various industries.
About Gigs
Founded by Hermann Frank and Dennis Bauer in 2020, Gigs was born from the belief that connectivity will be a key to unlock the next wave of innovation. The company launched with an API and white-label product that allows businesses to create branded checkout flows to offer phone subscriptions to their users. Today, Gigs offers a broad set of features - including payments and analytics - to customers through a unified platform and simple API. Gigs is backed by Google, Y Combinator and prominent business angels and investors such as Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber. The company currently employs over 50 people in the US and Europe. For more information, please visit:
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