Alan Burns named as CFO of Spotahome

London: Spotahome has appointed Alan Burns as its latest chief financial officer [CFO], having started in the role this month.

The former Photobox Group CFO joins the Spanish proptech company as it completes its C-Suite leadership team in anticipation of fast global growth.

Burns was recognised for his wide-ranging experience in high growth international e-commerce businesses, as well as his role in strategic finance and operations, which includes a mix of corporate, venture and private equity backed businesses. At Photobox Group, he led the acquisitions of Hofmann in 2014, PosterXXL in 2015 and Greetz in 2018, as well as the sale of the Group to Exponent and Electra in 2016.

Burns’ previous experience includes stints at Expedia and Hotels.com, where he worked during a period of substantial migration from traditional high street players to e-commerce enabled online travel agents, in much the same way that Spotahome aims to reinvent the property rental market online.

He will be transforming the Spotahome finance function, and has already made two critical hires with the intention of significantly increasing the team’s depth as well as its ability to successfully service the wider business through the next phases of growth.

Firstly, Burns has appointed a director of financial control, Mani Dhillon, who has spent the last five years working at Moonpig and Amazon. Dhillon will be responsible for Spotahome’s financial and management accounting, sales and purchase ledger, treasury and tax.

Secondly, David Anderson joins Spotahome as director of commercial finance to oversee forecasting, financial planning and strategic initiatives, as well as provide financial support to the wider business and its operations, when he starts in his role in March. Anderson has spent much of his career working in fast paced, disruptive consumer retail businesses including, most recently, TJX Europe, and prior to that in various online businesses within Tesco.

Spotahome CEO Alejandro Artacho said: “Alan’s wide-ranging experience will support our strong Spotahome leadership team and board in the evolution of Spotahome’s business model and development of its growth trajectory, as well as providing the highest quality of financial leadership, governance and control.

“His background in complex tech-enabled consumer e-commerce businesses will bolster our drive to reinvent the rental marketplace. Our team will be consolidating in 2020 to push forward a three year strategic plan and vision for Spotahome in a sector that currently underserves both landlords’ and tenants’ digital expectations,” he added.

Spotahome hired a number of highly credentialed executives in 2019, including senior executives from Amazon, Uber and HelloFresh, as a result of the $40 million funding secured from Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins.

Burns said: “Spotahome is carving a place in a market that needs reinvention in order to meet consumer expectations of simple, secure and trustworthy online transactions.

“There are huge opportunities in the property rental space to simplify the offering and provide more comprehensive availability of product in, what is currently, a deeply fragmented market.

“I’m excited and hugely delighted to be joining a talented and experienced team of e-commerce leaders as we reinvent online real estate. I’m also very excited to be able to welcome Mani and David to the team,” he added.

For more information, visit the Spotahome website here.