I am delighted to announce Chaser’s leadership team has been shortlisted for two categories at the Europe Fintech Awards 2022:
- Director of the Year for our Chief Executive Officer Sonia Dorais
- Innovator of the Year for our Chief Technology Officer Pedro Sampaio
The Europe Fintech Awards recognise innovations and ingenuity in the fintech sector, as well as highlight the success of both companies and individuals who lead the way in financial services modernisation and technological progress.
Being shortlisted for these awards demonstrates Chaser’s strong leadership team, including their experience and expertise in the fintech industry and their impressive innovation skills.
Innovator of the Year
Chaser’s Chief Technology Officer, Pedro Sampaio, has been selected as a finalist for the Innovator of the Year award. Since 2016, Pedro has led a fully-remote team of software engineers at Chaser who have achieved astonishing results. He has previously been recognised as Technology Innovator - Person of the Year at the 2021 Credit & Collections Awards.
Pedro started off at Chaser as Lead Software Engineer. But his passion for solving end-user problems and his innovation saw him quickly progress to Head of Engineering in 2019, and Chief Technology Officer in September 2020.
Pedro has over 10 years of experience in software engineering and has a degree in Computer Engineering and Communication. He is proficient in several coding languages including Node.js, JavaScript, AngularJS, JavascriptMVC, MySQL, Java, and Android to mention a few. And his technical expertise and experience have been invaluable when launching new features to help solve end-user needs.
Over 48% of all invoices are paid late, and more than £50 billion is currently being chased by SMEs in the UK alone. As tech lead at Chaser - the highest-rated accounts receivables software, Pedro has a passion for helping small-and-medium businesses (SMBs) put an end to these late payments, and building cost-effective solutions to help them do so.
Pedro shares Chaser’s vision to create “a world where all businesses have the confidence they will get paid for their work”, and has innovated numerous product developments and integrations to help achieve this.
Using his experience in the fintech sector and technical expertise, Pedro has contributed to a number of innovations for Chaser. Thanks to his leadership and work building, Chaser has supported users in chasing over $10 billion to date using their accounts receivables automation software.
Pedro has initiated, led, and successfully launched three key product features over 2021 and 2022.
Payment portal
To allow greater ease for users when getting invoices paid, Pedro led the launch and implementation of an in-app Payment Portal.
Released last year, the portal already has helped users collect over £2 million in late payments. Giving customers varied options within the payment portal (transfer, card payment, request payment-plan) has sped up payments for users.
SMS payment remindersInitially, Chaser’s users could only send payment reminders via e-mail to their customers. However, in February 2022, Pedro led the launch of our SMS payment reminders feature which has been proven to achieve open rates averaging 98%.
Debt recovery tracking in-app
To support businesses during the pandemic, Chaser launched a debt recovery service as an add-on to its accounts receivable software. With a clear understanding of our target market, Pedro rightly suggested there is stigma around collections among SMBs, as collectors often communicate in an aggressive and threatening way—putting reputations and customer relationships at risk.
To offer peace of mind for collections users, Pedro implemented a receivables ‘CRM’ tracking functionality in the Chaser software, letting users see every interaction collectors had with their customers (i.e. messages sent, any replies, any call notes).
Now, SMBs around the world use Chaser Collections and actively track communications with their customers - reassured that all cases are handled in a polite and professional manner, and Chaser’s debt collectors have recovered £480,000+ of debt that would otherwise have been written off due to hesitations around typical collection agencies.
A lasting impact on the overall fintech sector
Pedro has worked for six years on supporting SME accounting systems, and cloud software such as Xero, Quickbooks Online, and FreeAgent, with cost-effective accounts receivables solutions for their users.
In addition, Pedro and Chaser are supporting other fintechs through new features, such as the payment processing provider Stripe which is utilised in the Chaser payment portal.
By actively considering end user needs, innovating, and ensuring the software is available to hellp more businesses that need it every year, Pedro has enabled Chaser in becoming the highest-rated receivables software available, with 400+ reviews - at a perfect 5.0 stars.
Today, thanks to Pedro’s innovations, Chaser has been able to support SMEs worldwide to chase and recover over $10 billion in late payments.
Director of the Year
Sonia Dorais is CEO at Chaser. Chaser is a tech business and the highest-rated accounts receivables fintech provider, which helps businesses around the world put an end to late payments. She has previously been recognised as one of the Top 3 Women Leaders in Financial Technology in Europe 2022 and was shortlisted for Inspiring Women in Business Awards: CEO of the Year by Management Today.
Sonia has over 15 years of experience in fintech businesses and is driven by a passion for helping people and businesses reach their full potential.
Previous positions include CMO at cap table and ESOP software Capdesk and CMO for spend-management platform Compleat Software.
Outstanding leadership
Under Sonia’s leadership Chaser saw consistent revenue growth, reduction in burn, the launch of several new innovative solutions and features, and a complete shift in the company culture.
Sonia’s passion for helping SMBs has been the inspiration behind the company's restructure, new business direction and vision, and consequently its growth.
Since Sonia joined, she has led the launch of new features, services, and integrations to meet end-user needs, reduce SMB late payments, and facilitate Chaser’s business growth. To name a few:
Integrations strategy
Sonia launched an integration strategy, with nine new integrations to open up Chaser’s Total Addressable Market (TAM) to more businesses. This has already increased TAM by 700% and means Chaser can now help even more businesses get paid for their work on time.
New service lines
Sonia helped conceptualize and launch Chaser’s first service lines, a debt collections service and an outsourced credit control service which both integrate with Chaser’s software and champion a friendly approach to protect customer relationships whilst helping users get paid.
Payment portal
The Payment Portal, a key product development initiated by Sonia launched in January and has already sped-up £2 million+ in payments.
Additionally, giving end-users varied options within the Payment Portal (transfer, card payment, request payment-plan, dispute) has sped-up payments for users.
As a result of these changes implemented by Sonia, Chaser has achieved:
- Supporting thousands of SMB users and helping them to chase and recover over $10billion in late payments,
- An ‘excellent’ NPS score of 62
An incredible reputation in the fintech sector
Sonia embodies Chaser’s vision to create a world where all businesses have the confidence that they will get paid for their work, and under her leadership, Chaser has helped businesses worldwide to chase and recover over $10 billion in late payments.
Through Sonia’s vision and leadership, thousands of businesses around the world have been able to reduce late payments and focus on their business growth.
As a result of her efforts in helping SMBs to get paid on time, Sonia has achieved a reputation as an industry thought leader.
Sonia regularly speaks on and moderates finance digitization panels:
In March 2022 she hosted a digital event for the GlobalTreasurer, the leading global knowledge resource for 65,000+ treasury, finance, payments, and cash management professionals.
Sonia was invited to speak on two panels at Accountex London 2022, the largest trade show for accountants and payment professionals.
She regularly speaks on women’s leadership, and on the low representation of women in the fintech sector. For example, Sonia was interviewed for ChooseToChallenge100.
Healthy staff development and welfare
Sonia has implemented a number of employee benefits and well-being practices including:
- Upskilled staff through company-wide training with chartered institutions and accreditations such as from the ACCA and CICM.
- Arranged company onsites both virtually (during COVID-19) and in-person for the fully-remote team to meet for team building, activities, and social events.
- Introduced Friday afternoons off to promote work-life balance.
A notable impact on the wider fintech sector
Sonia has made her mark in the fintech sector by working across various businesses in the industry over the past 15 years in both North America and the UK.
Fintech is one of the sectors where women are most underrepresented, with only 30% of the total workforce being female. Furthermore, just 13% of fintechs are currently led by women.
In addition to the outstanding results achieved at Chaser and in her previous roles, Sonia has helped pave the way for women looking to enter the fintech sector. Sonia stands as an incredible example of the positive impacts female directors can have on fintech businesses.
Join Chaser in celebrating these nominations by booking a ticket at the European Fintech Awards 2022 ceremony on 7 July in London, and view the full awards shortlist here.
