Silvija Martincevic, former chief commercial officer of To confirmone of the largest buy now, pay later startups in the US, leaves to become CEO of shift management platform Deputy. Based in Australia, Deputy is focused on expansion in the United States and other countries, and Martincevic will oversee the growth strategy. She will also serve on the delegate’s board of directors.
As part of her work at Affirm, Martincevic oversaw sales and strategic partnerships, growing the number of merchants offering Affirm as a payment option from about 5,000 to more than 200,000 and onboarding companies like Walmart, Shopify, and Amazon. Prior to joining Affirm in 2019, Martincevic led Groupon’s international operations in Europe, Asia and Australia as chief operating officer and chief marketing officer. She is also a board member of Lemonade and Kiva.
Founded in 2008, Deputy has raised $104 million AUD (approximately $72 million USD) from investors such as Square Peg and IVP, reaching a valuation soon. It is used by more than 330,000 workplaces around the world, including Nike, Everlane, Five Guys and Ace Hardware, and 1.3 million shift workers. Delegate says it has exceeded $100 million AUD (approximately $69.5 million AUD) in annual recurring revenue.
Martincevic succeeds Deputy co-founder Ashik Ahmed as CEO. Between its founding in 2008 and 2017, Deputy had no CEO until Ahmed stepped into the position after the startup’s first round of funding. Ahmed at the time announced he would look for someone new to take over, feeling it was important to find a new CEO with the skills to continue Deputy’s global growth.
Martincevic told londonbusinessblog.com that she grew up in a family of shift workers, including her mother, who worked in a shoe factory, and her father, who was a truck driver and is interested in how technology can have a social impact. During the first decade of her career, she worked in finance as a founder and investor in socially responsible investments and in women-owned and minority-owned businesses.
At Groupon, she focused on introducing small businesses to the digital economy, while her work at Affirm focused on creating financial products for unbanked consumers. Her work at Deputy will continue the theme as shift workers face more complex scheduling and pay calculations and their employers must adhere to labor regulations such as Fair Workweek rules.
“Building companies with two-sided networks, like Deputy, Affirm and Kiva, is very difficult, but once that business model is built and both sides of the network reinforce each other, these are sustainable companies,” said Martincevic. “I want to be incredibly thoughtful in how we scale our employer and shift worker networks, making sure the products we build create a fair balance that leads to better outcomes for both parties.”
Martincevic’s goal as deputy CEO is to focus on growing its global presence. She said Deputy’s experiences in Australia and Europe, which have strict worker protection rules, give it an advantage as the US adapts to new policies.
“In the US, we have seen the growing momentum of Fair Workweek protections, and this will inevitably create a major shift in how employees and employers interact,” she said. “And Deputy’s technology can accommodate any needs that may arise for employers and employees.”