Guillaume Pousaz
Guillaume Pousaz | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1981 Near Geneva, Switzerland |
| Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur, investor |
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Known for | Founder and CEO of Checkout.com |
Guillaume Pousaz (born 1981) is a Swiss entrepreneur and investor based in Dubai. He is the founder and chief executive officer of the payment processing company Checkout.com. As of May 2025, his wealth is estimated at approximately US$7.8 billion, according to Forbes.
Early life and education
Originating from the vicinity of Geneva, Switzerland, Pousaz pursued studies in mathematical engineering at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne before shifting to economics at HEC Lausanne. Initially aiming for a career in investment banking, he received an employment offer from Citibank in London. However, he left HEC Lausanne in 2005 due to his father’s health issues and subsequently relocated to California to focus on surfing.
Career
Pousaz began working at International Payments Consultants (IPC), a payments firm, in 2006 and co-founded NetMerchant, a money transfer service facilitating transactions between the US and Europe, which operated until 2009.
In 2009, he purchased SMS Pay, a Mauritius-based company, for US$300,000 paid over three years to build an advanced payments gateway. That same year, he established Opus Payments in Singapore to assist Hong Kong businesses with global payment processing.
Opus Payments was rebranded as Checkout.com in 2012 with the goal of simplifying online payment systems for merchants and consumers. Pousaz acts as CEO and holds roughly two-thirds ownership of the enterprise.
Checkout.com secured its initial external investment in 2019 through a $230 million Series A funding round, which valued the company at $2 billion—marking the largest early-stage fintech investment in Europe at that time.
In January 2021, a $450 million funding round raised Checkout.com’s valuation to $15 billion, increasing Pousaz’s net worth to an estimated $9 billion. After a $1 billion financing round in 2022, the company’s valuation surged to $40 billion, with Pousaz’s wealth estimated at $20 billion. He was ranked fifth on the Sunday Times Rich List 2022 with £19.259 billion.
In May 2021, Pousaz founded Zinial Growth, a family office that invests in European technology startups such as e-commerce companies Ziina and Wayflyer, supply chain emissions tracker Pledge, blockchain startup Snickerdoodle Labs, and fintech firm Bloom Money.
Personal life
Pousaz lives in London with his spouse and their three children—two sons and one daughter.
Philanthropy
In 2022, he and his wife launched Pousaz Philanthropies, an initiative dedicated to improving child safety and education around the world.