Tide appoints George Schmidt as UK/Europe CEO
- Promotion for George, who has been leading growth function at Tide since 2018
- Newly-created role will support Tide’s market entry into Germany and ongoing international expansion
26 March 2024, London: Tide, the UK’s leading business financial platform, is pleased to announce the appointment of George Schmidt as CEO UK/Europe, reporting to Tide CEO, Oliver Prill.
George joined Tide in 2017 rising to the role of SVP, Acquisition Marketing. George has played a key role in Tide’s growth in the UK, which now serves over 575,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in, more than 10% of the market.
Regional CEOs drive Tide’s plans for international expansion. The appointment of George to this new role follows the recent announcement of Tide launch in Germany in the coming months. Germany is Tide’s second market outside the UK, after the successful entry of Tide into India in 2022 and is the Company’s first step onto the European continent.
Tide enters Germany at a time when the financial sector is rapidly evolving. Germany is Europe’s largest economy with nearly three million small businesses of which the vast majority employ less than 10 people. The German SME sector employs 5.9m people who are increasingly turning to digital solutions to manage their finances. Tide is recruiting a Managing Director for Germany who will report to George.
George joins Tide India CEO, Gurjodhpal Singh as the second Regional CEO reporting to Oliver Prill. Gurjodhpal joined in 2021 and has rapidly scaled the Indian business to more than 200,000 members. The Regional CEO covers the local operating and commercial remit for Tide in their region of responsibility, in particular ensuring sound strategy, product and engineering alignment, financials, and covering the member lifecycle: marketing & sales as well as member operations. Tide now employs 1,600 people globally and has offices in India and Bulgaria in addition to its headquarters in London.
Oliver Prill, Tide CEO, said: “With the expansion of our market presence into Germany, I am delighted to appoint George as our dedicated Regional CEO for the UK/Europe.
“George has been instrumental in achieving a remarkable 10% market share in the UK and his rise through the ranks is testament to Tide’s commitment to enabling talented people to grow and flourish into senior roles. I am confident that under George’s leadership our growth in the UK will continue, and our entry into the German market will be a resounding success.”
George Schmidt, CEO UK/Europe, Tide, added: “This is an exciting new opportunity, and I look forward to working with Oliver and the senior leadership team to deliver continued growth in the UK, and develop a successful German business. Like the UK previously, SME financial services in Germany is dominated by large traditional banks. We will bring our experience from the UK, and our simple, highly innovative offer, to help small businesses there. We are excited about the prospects for growth in Germany.”
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About Tide:
Founded in 2015 and launched in 2017, Tide is a leading business financial platform in the UK. Tide helps SMEs save time (and money) in the running of their businesses by not only offering business accounts and related financial services, but also a comprehensive set of highly usable and connected administrative solutions from invoicing to accounting. Tide has 575,000 SME members in the UK (more than 10% market share) and more than 200,000 SMEs in India. Tide has also been recognised with the Great Place to Work certification.
Tide has been funded by Anthemis, Apax, Augmentum, Creandum, Hambro Parks, LocalGlobe, SBI Group, SpeedInvest, amongst others. It employs around 1,600 Tideans worldwide. Tide’s long-term ambition is to be the leading business financial platform globally.
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