EP #499 - Fatemeh Nikayin & Thomas Müller: How to Sell SaaS to Banks

Jun 4, 2025

In this engaging conversation, Fatemeh Nikayin and Thomas Müller, co-founders of Rivero, share their journey from the payment industry to launching a groundbreaking SaaS solution for banks. They discuss the challenges of selling to financial institutions, emphasizing the importance of trust and data security. The duo highlights their innovative products for fraud recovery and dispute management, along with their experience bootstrapping to profitability before their Series A funding. Their insights into navigating partnerships with major players like Visa and Mastercard are particularly captivating.

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ANECDOTE

Fatemeh's Global Journey

Fatemeh's international education from Iran to Malaysia to the Netherlands shaped her adaptability and comfort with change.
Her global experience influences her entrepreneurial mindset and readiness to embrace uncertainty.

ANECDOTE

Founders' Origin Story

Thomas moved into payments after being CISO in credit card company and meeting Fatemeh on projects.
Their shared frustration with old processes led them to found Rivero in 2019.

INSIGHT

Product Focus on Unmet Needs

They chose to build products where no adequate solutions existed, focusing on fraud recovery and dispute management.
Inefficient bank processes create an opportunity for ROI with streamlined SaaS solutions.

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Timestamps:

5:07 - Thomas’s leap from cybersecurity to founding Rivero

15:07 - Building partnerships with Visa and Mastercard

21:10 - Bootstrapping until Series A

23:00 - Founder salary realities

27:43 - Why it’s hard to sell to banks

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This episode was sponsored by Google Cloud. Join their Founder's Story event on June 24th to hear directly from blockchain startup founders about their journeys of innovation, disruption, and resilience, and discover how they are redefining industries with decentralized technology.

About Fatemeh Nikayin and Thomas Müller:

Fatemeh Nikayin and Thomas Müller are the co-founders of Rivero, a Swiss startup redefining how banks manage payment operations. Rivero provides the first and only SaaS solution for fraud recovery and dispute management, and has scaled to serve major banks across Europe.

Before founding Rivero, Fatemeh held consulting roles in the payment space and earned a PhD in Technology, Policy and Management from the Delft University of Technology, in the Netherlands. Thomas previously served as CISO of a major credit card issuer and has a background in cybersecurity. Together, they bootstrapped Rivero to profitability before raising their Series A in 2024.

Rivero’s products – Caio and Amico – are built to streamline compliance and fraud handling, allowing banks to operate more efficiently while maintaining high trust. Their vision? Go global and become the operating standard in payments.

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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