Dr Coombes will join Tyro’s executive management team in July, leading almost 200 product and design engineers.

He is the fifth senior Tyro appointment to join from an established institution in the last eight months, reflecting the company’s growing reputation in the market for excellence and innovation.

Tyro is a key player in the Australian payments sector and is the only technology company in Australia to be granted an unrestricted banking licence.
Tyro CEO Gerd Schenkel said that after more than 10 years as a startup, Tyro was preparing to scale up the business, by attracting some of Australia’s most innovative experts to its management team.

“Dave Coombes’ extensive experience with online and mobile platform development, agile methods and his deep knowledge of the financial services industry makes him ideal to lead our already highly skilled engineering team to deliver the next phase of our ambitious growth plans,” Mr Schenkel said.

“Tyro has a highly developed engineering capability and we build everything inhouse and own the entire solution infrastructure. By building our systems, processes and services from the ground up we control every aspect of our product and services development to produce superior system performance for Australian businesses.

“We create our own bespoke solutions for Australia’s 1.2 million small and medium sized businesses, many of which are in the retail, hospitality and health sectors.

“Overwhelmingly our customers recommend us to their friends and family, and that provides a solid base for us to innovate and grow further.

“With that in mind we have created two new roles of Head of Engineering and Head of Product. Our new Head of Product, Kareem al Bassam joined us in January from PayPal.”
Commenting on his move to Tyro, Dr Coombes says, “I am incredibly excited about joining an organisation that not only values engineering excellence but uses the enormous knowledge and passion of its people to push the boundaries of innovation.

“I was also attracted by Tyro’s clear purpose to fundamentally improve the banking experience for Australian businesses. I look forward to meeting and working with all of the talented team at Tyro and playing my part in their continued growth and success.”

Established in 2003, Tyro currently serves more than 18,000 businesses, processed $8.6 billion in transactions and generated more than $95 million in revenue in FY16.

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Mr Al-Bassam has more than 15 years of experience in the global payments industry.

He founded PayPal Credit in Australia, with the launch of small business lending product, PayPal Working Capital. In its first two years of operation, PayPal Working Capital originated more than $100 million in loans in Australia.

His experience in the industry is not just limited to Australia, having executed a range of innovation and payments roles in the United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Mr Al-Bassam will lead the ongoing development of Tyro’s suite of customer-focused banking and payments propositions. Current Head of Product and Engineering, Paul Peterson, will be transitioning into the role of Head of Engineering, to provide more guidance to a rapidly growing engineering team.

This appointment significantly strengthens Tyro’s leadership team following the appointment of new CEO, Gerd Schenkel, last October. Mr Schenkel is no stranger to making waves in the industry, having previously founded Telstra Digital and NAB’s UBank, Australia’s first digital bank.

Mr Schenkel said he was delighted to attract someone of Mr Al-Bassam’s talent to Tyro.

“Kareem brings enormous insight, experience and vision about payments and banking from around the world. He will strengthen our leadership and management team at a time of rapid growth for Tyro,” Mr Schenkel said.

”He knows what it’s like to compete against the established banking sector using technology and an innovative customer-first approach.

“Tyro has ambitious plans to continue our extraordinary growth path, and Kareem will help drive our NextGen banking and payments offering.”

Mr Al-Bassam said he was joining Tyro at a pivotal time in its evolution.

“Tyro has a unique set of assets in mission, technology, culture and scale to disrupt the traditional banking sector for the benefit of Australia’s two million small and medium sized businesses,” he said.

“Tyro’s customer-centred approach means we can identify and address unmet needs. In conjunction with its technology-driven approach, Tyro can meet those needs faster and more effectively than the traditional banks.”

Tyro’s growth and achievements to date have been remarkable. Currently serving more than 16,000 small businesses, Tyro processed $8.6 billion in transactions and generated more than $95 million in revenue in FY16.

In December 2015, Tyro raised about $100 million in fresh growth equity capital from Tiger Global in New York, TDM Asset Management in Australia, and Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes.

In August last year, Tyro became the first Australian technology company to be granted a full banking licence by the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority, allowing it to accept deposits and to advance money to Australian businesses.

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