Marta Krupinska is the co-founder of several major start-ups including FreeUp and Azimo. At just 31 years of age, this female entrepreneur has been instrumental in the FinTech arena. As the co-founder of Azimo (international money transfer platform), she helped secure $66 million of funding over the years, and has featured prominently on the big-money lists, including Europe's Top 50 Women in Tech (2018) and 30 under 30 Europe (Finance 2016). At just 31 years of age, this UK entrepreneur has carved out an impressive portfolio of achievements, and she's just getting started.
Marta Krupinska is the new face of UK technological wizardry. She is a self-styled diversity advocate and technology entrepreneur. She has been recognised by the leading industry authorities including Evening Standard in London's Most Influential People 2017, and as the top 60 Female Tech Executives in Forbes Magazine in 2018. Her meteoric rise to fame and fortune is largely credited with her exceptional insights in the money transfer arena where she poured her creative talents and business brain into Azimo, a global FinTech giant which facilitated cost-effective monetary transfers for migrants. Her tenure at Azimo began as head of operations and co-founder in December 2012. She stayed in this position for two years, building a company through her clear vision of making money transfers simple, easy, and cost-effective.
The Azimo system facilitated remittances between mobile phones, banks, and various payout locations across hundreds of countries. Azimo allows customers to transfer money to UK and from the UK, with effortless ease; a paradigm shift from the existing frameworks. As a disruptive FinTech operation, Azimo sought to end the dominance of major players MoneyGram and Western Union. To its credit, Azimo was noted with cost-effective fees and commissions of just 2%, as opposed to the industry standard of 9.5%. From January 2015 through December 2017, she stepped up at Azimo and became the general manager. Her leadership, strategic vision, and laser-sharp focus put Azimo on the map. By Q2 2019, the company’s expansions into south-east Asia and Africa had resulted in profitable activities, with 60% year-on-year money transfer expansion. Even without Marta Krupinska at the helm, the foundation she created has given birth to a juggernaut in the online money transfer industry. Today, this Polish/UK-based company boasts 1.5 million customers, 80 currencies, and 190+ receiving countries.
Head of Google for Startups UK
In December 2018, Marta Krupinska was appointed the Head of Google for start-ups UK. With Marta leading this important division, she has championed female-led start-ups in the United Kingdom, particularly with respect to big social issues. Her work introduces technology to communities across the spectrum, driving transformational change in the process. She is a social activist; particularly where developing economies are concerned. She believes that Africa should receive an increasing share of all venture capital funds that are provided. In 2019 for example, African start-ups received $800 million in VC funding compared to $34 billion that European start-ups received. She speaks proudly of her work with Google where she frequently interacts with 100,000 colleagues at all levels.
With respect to Google's programme, Marta Krupinska has clear ideas in mind vis-à-vis the corporate incubator world. Her plan is based entirely on developing the intricate ecosystem. She works with start-ups, understands their needs, and tries to find the best way to channel value through Google. By helping start-ups to derive maximum benefit from Google, she then moves onto working alongside start-ups that have a focus on creating a better world, and then the third phase involves connecting multiple start-up ecosystems together to the London Metropolis. She is deeply invested in working with the right people, and making Google more accessible to start-ups all over the world. Marta Krupinska uses social media as a powerful tool to relay messages of diversity, inclusion, and female power to the mass market. Among her many active social media channels are Spotify and Twitter, where she boasts thousands of followers.