FTS Ventures
Managing Partner / CCO across five portfolio companies
Scaled the combined portfolio to $50M+ ARR, cut blended CAC by 30%, and closed 21 enterprise banking contracts averaging roughly $5M ACV.
Results
Outcomes from Daniel Bessmert's operating roles. These are not Greatweek client case studies.
Managing Partner / CCO across five portfolio companies
Scaled the combined portfolio to $50M+ ARR, cut blended CAC by 30%, and closed 21 enterprise banking contracts averaging roughly $5M ACV.
Commercial Director, CEE
Grew GMV from $100M to $1B+ and revenue from $5M to $20M+ in 24 months.
VP Sales
Took Zash from zero to $1.5M ARR through acquisition, then grew merchants from 800 to 4,500 and cut onboarding from 12 days to 2.
Career
RapidCanvas
Leading GTM for financial institutions, driving AI automation adoption across banks and Fortune 500 financial clients including PayPal.
FTS Ventures — fintech venture studio
Led commercial strategy and GTM as CCO across five portfolio companies — Floid (open banking / A2A payments), Defentry (AI cybersecurity), Cleo (BNPL), Lara (SME lending), and Greathub (banking AI lending tech). Scaled the combined portfolio to $50M+ ARR, reduced blended CAC by 30%, secured Mastercard, Experian, and Santander Bank as equity partners for Floid, expanded into three Latin American countries and led US market entry, closed 21 enterprise banking contracts averaging $5M ACV, and built a 40-person commercial team.
Euronet
Led GTM across issuing, acquiring, and cross-border payments. Managed a 17-person team, 120+ bank and processor relationships, and a $40M+ ARR footprint; closed two deals worth $15M+ combined ACV and deepened partnerships with Visa, Mastercard, Accenture, and IBM.
DNA Payments
Scaled Zash from zero to $1.5M ARR through its acquisition by DNA Payments UK; post-acquisition, grew the merchant base from 800 to 4,500 in 24 months and cut onboarding time from 12 days to 2.
PayPal
Scaled GMV from $100M to $1B+ and revenue from $5M to $20M+ in 24 months, onboarding 8 of the 10 largest regional retailers and 100,000+ SMBs.
Visa
Landed Vimpelcom and Vodafone partnerships, generating $100M+ in revenue in year one.
Sinch
Led an 8-person global enterprise team; signed Salesforce, Netsuite, and Lloyds Bank as new accounts.
Citibank
Grew a card portfolio from $300M to $2B across CEE, with annual unit sales rising from 50K to 700K.
Companies & brands I've worked with