Swiss fintech company Yapeal has named Michael Eidel, former managing director at Credit Suisse, as its new CEO after closing a fresh financing round. Eidel takes over from Thomas Hilgendorff, Yapeal’s co-founder and CEO since 2019, who will now transition to the role of Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). In his new position, Hilgendorff will focus on commercial business development and expanding strategic partnerships.
As CEO, Eidel aims to steer Yapeal’s focus towards the growing market for embedded finance solutions, designed for both corporate clients and their end customers. With a robust background in fintech, Eidel has held senior management roles at Raiffeisen Switzerland, Credit Suisse, and Commonwealth Bank, and played a key role in launching Australia’s New Payments Platform (NPP) in 2018.
Yapeal, based in Zürich, offers app-based account services and embedded finance solutions across Europe. The company was one of the first to secure a fintech license from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority in 2020.
The announcement comes as Yapeal successfully completed a new financing round, bringing in fresh capital from existing backers like ERP provider Abacus, as well as new anchor investors Markus Granziol, Dominik Bollier, and Christoph Burkhard. Both Bollier and Burkhard will also join Yapeal’s board of directors, further strengthening the company’s leadership team.
This new leadership and funding milestone marks a significant step forward in Yapeal’s mission to expand its innovative fintech solutions.