Global payments service provider SumUp (www.sumup.co.uk) is today announcing the appointment of its new CTO, with Visual Meta Co-Founder and former CTO, Johannes Schaback, taking up the role as of May 1st.

Schaback will bring to SumUp extensive experience in software development, e-commerce, consumer-oriented product design, and machine learning, from a career spent building some of the European trailblazers in online commerce services. In addition to his extensive tech and innovation expertise, Schaback brings experience as an angel investor to the table, having invested in a mix of German and European companies over the last ten years.

Schaback joined Rocket Internet in 2007 as a founder in residence and software engineer, contributing to online services such as Zalando, eDarling and Toptarif. In 2009, Schaback co-founded Visual Meta, an online company that runs shopping platforms such as LadenZeile.de and ShopAlike in 13 countries and which was sold to Axel Springer in 2011. Schaback then joined home24 as Chief Technology Officer and member of the management board in April 2018 where he was responsible for the entire technical e-commerce, SAP, data and infrastructure operations and development, in addition to People & Organisation from April 2019 onwards. 

Despite the effects of COVID-19 on SMEs, SumUp has entered 2021 in its strongest position to date, with new acquisitions, international market expansion, and a new €750m injection of funding to fuel growth. Over the past year, SumUp has unveiled a host of new solutions and innovations to help businesses navigate the operating restrictions brought about by repeated lockdowns. This included the introduction of payment links & invoicing options, new online selling functionalities through the ‘SumUp Online Store’, and gift card collaborations with Google, Facebook and Instagram; solutions all designed to help business owners receive payments safely and continue trading in the face of uncertain economic circumstances.

Marc-Alexander Christ, Co-Founder of SumUp comments: “We’re very excited to finally have Johannes on board as our new CTO and as part of the SumUp senior team; his CV really does speak for itself. We’re looking forward to exploring the new levels of innovation which his expertise can help us unlock.”

Johannes Schaback, CTO at SumUp comments: “I am convinced that SumUp is at an inflection point, particularly when you look at how the events of the pandemic have catapulted the world five years ahead in terms of digitisation. "

“We are just seeing the beginning of a change in global payments infrastructure that puts the merchants and customers into focus, and I want to further push the boundaries of technical innovations and explorations for SumUp in the payments space."

“This is the perfect time for me to be joining SumUp, a company I have long admired; while I hope to contribute some of my past experience, I’m also excited to join a team full of winners which I know can help me to grow too.”