SME digital financial services start-up Finom hires OakNorth’s Kristjan Kaar as CPO
Finom, a Netherlands-based digital financial services solution for SMEs and entrepreneurs, has hired Kristjan Kaar as its new chief product officer (CPO) in preparation for its “next phase of accelerated growth”.

Kristjan Kaar joins Finom as CPO (Image: Finom)
Kaar moves from OakNorth Bank, where he has served as CPO for more than three years having previously held the role of product lead of the UK challenger’s credit intelligence unit.
Kaar will succeed Finom co-founder Ivo Dimitrov in the role, who writes on LinkedIn that after more than five years as the company’s CPO, he will now take on the role of Finom’s chief venture officer.
Founded in 2020, Finom’s core offerings include digital business account services as well as payment, financial management, accounting and invoicing tools. The company has more than 100,000 SME customers across five European markets.
Finom secured a €50 million Series B funding round supported by General Catalyst and Northzone in February last year. The fintech also previously enhanced its cross-border services through its 2022 acquisition of paytech Kapaga.
To support the company’s further expansion, Finom has named a string of new appointments within the last few months, including Alessandro Camilotti as CFO and Rob Allen as head of sales, as well as the additions of Kseniia Kutyreva, Peter De Caluwe and Frank Stockx to its board.
In a statement, Andrey Petrov, CEO and co-founder of Finom, says the latest appointment of Kaar, alongside the arrival of Elke Karskens as chief marketing officer (CMO), “will be instrumental in accelerating our product development and market expansion to serve one million European SMEs by 2026”.