Now Silvija Martinsevich, former chief commercial officer of one of America’s biggest acquisitions firms, is leaving to become deputy CEO of the shift management platform. Based in Australia, Vice is focused on expansion in the United States and other countries, and Martensevic will oversee its growth strategy. She also sits on the vice board of directors.
As part of her role at Affirm, Martinchevich oversaw sales and strategic partnerships, growing the number of merchants offering Affirm as a payment option from 5,000 to 200,000 and onboarding companies such as Walmart, Shopify and Amazon. Prior to joining Affirm in 2019, Martinsevich led the Group’s global business in Europe, Asia and Australia as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Marketing Officer. She is also a board member of Lemon and Kiva.
In the year Founded in 2008, Vice has raised AUD$104 million (about $72 million) from investors such as Square Peg and IVP, reaching a soonicorn valuation. It is used by more than 330,000 workplaces worldwide, including Nike, Everlane, Five Guys and Ace Hardware, and 1.3 million shift workers. Vice said it exceeded $100 million AUD (about $69.5 million) in annual recurring revenue.
Martinsevich has been appointed as CEO, succeeding vice-founder Ashiq Ahmed. In the year It didn’t have a deputy CEO between its founding in 2008 and 2017, when Ahmed stepped into the position after the startup’s initial funding. At that time, Ahmed felt it was important to find a new CEO with the skills to continue Vice’s international growth, so he announced that he was looking for a new person to take over.
Martinsevich told TechCrunch that she grew up in a family of shift workers, with a mother who worked in a shoe factory and a father who was a truck driver, and was interested in how technology can create social impact. During her first ten years in finance, she worked as a founder and investor in socially responsible investments and women- and minority-owned businesses.
At Groupe, she focused on bringing small businesses into the digital economy, while her work at Affirm focused on creating financial products for unbanked consumers. As shift workers do more complex scheduling and pay calculations, and their employers must comply with labor laws such as Fair Workweek laws, her deputation continues the theme.
“Building two-sided network businesses like Vice, Affirm and Kiva is very difficult, but once the business model is built and both sides of the network reinforce each other, these are sustainable businesses,” said Martinčević. “I want to think critically about how we balance our employer and employee networks and the products we build to create a fair balance that produces better outcomes for both parties.”
Martinsevich’s goal as deputy CEO is to focus on growing its global presence. She said the US would benefit from adapting to new policies, with examples from Australia and Europe, which have strong labor protection regulations.
“We’ve seen growing Fair Workweek protections in the US, and that’s bound to make a big difference in how workers and employers interact,” she says. “And surrogate technology enables any needs that may arise for employers and employees.”
