Irish insurtech startup Kota has appointed Peter O'Sullivan as chief revenue officer, tapping an executive with deep expertise in scaling payments and fintech go-to-market operations. O'Sullivan, who most recently held a sales leadership position at Stripe, brings experience spanning multiple high-growth platforms including Airwallex and FastSpring. The appointment comes as Kota, which manages employee benefits through an API-driven platform, seeks to accelerate customer acquisition and pursue nine-figure annual recurring revenue targets in coming years.
O'Sullivan was already connected to Kota's leadership through an angel investment in the company's seed round and served as an advisor to the startup's go-to-market team. According to Luke Mackey, Kota's founder and CEO, the two first met three years ago through venture capital firm EQT Ventures, which backed both Stripe and Kota. Mackey said he attempted to recruit O'Sullivan multiple times before the executive finally joined full-time. O'Sullivan is rare among sales leaders, according to Mackey, for having led sales across both developer and API product motions as well as small and medium-sized business go-to-market functions, a dual competency directly relevant to Kota's two-pronged product strategy. No search firm involvement was disclosed in the appointment announcement.
O'Sullivan brings nearly two decades of sales and commercial leadership experience. At Stripe, the Dublin-headquartered payments infrastructure company, he held a sales leadership position, contributing to the company's aggressive expansion into enterprise and SMB segments. His previous roles included sales leadership at Airwallex, an Asia-focused payments platform, and FastSpring, a commerce platform for software vendors. His track record suggests particular skill in building sales teams that navigate complex, fragmented customer bases and operating in high-velocity, venture-backed environments where multiple product lines require different go-to-market approaches.
Kota, founded in 2022, has raised €20.2 million in total funding, including a €12.8 million Series A led by Eurazeo in May 2025. The company operates as an insurance and retirement benefits platform, allowing employers to manage pensions and health insurance policies through a single interface and API rather than fragmenting administration across multiple brokers and spreadsheets. The platform integrates directly with leading insurance and pension providers and offers employees a dedicated app for managing their benefits. Kota obtained regulatory authorisation from Ireland's Central Bank in May 2025, positioning itself as one of relatively few fintech platforms operating under formal supervision. The company recently ranked ninth on Sifted's list of fastest-growing UK and Ireland startups.
The move signals Kota's intent to scale revenue operations and tap talent pools steeped in high-growth, venture-backed fintech culture. O'Sullivan's experience at Stripe during a period of rapid expansion and his dual expertise in both API and SMB sales motions align closely with Kota's stated strategy of operating two distinct product categories simultaneously. As employee benefits represent approximately 25 percent of total compensation yet remain administratively fragmented for most companies, market opportunity is substantial; the global benefits administration software market is valued at roughly €100 billion. Whether O'Sullivan can replicate his Stripe-era sales scaling in a smaller startup environment, however, remains to be seen; execution risks are inherent in any transition from a hyperscale platform to an earlier-stage company, even one that has achieved Series A status and regulatory approval.
