Business Beyond Borders E22: Samuele Pinta, Satispay

Building Satispay Beyond Borders | Samuele Pinta, Co-Founder, SatispayIn this episode of The Impact Founders (part of The Luxembourg Mind: Business Beyond Borders series), we sit down with Samuele Pinta, co-founder of Satispay - an Italian-born fintech that reached unicorn status and now serves nearly 6 million users with a network of around 400,000 merchants.Samuele takes us back to the early days: three young founders - no office, no money, but lot’s of energy, conviction, and a willingness to build something that felt almost impossible. He shares the moment he joined the journey and how enthusiasm and intuition helped him to make that decision. We explore the milestones that shaped Satispay’s trajectory: learning to raise capital in a European context where founders were often expected to give up control, and building the kind of investor track record that supports long-term scale. The conversation then moves into what makes Satispay different. The real breakthrough, he argues, was creating a network independent from the credit cards and solving the “chicken and egg” problem of bringing both consumers and merchants into the same system.A strong theme of the episode is Luxembourg as a strategic base. Samuele explains why Satispay chose Luxembourg in 2018 as the place “from which we offer the service all over Europe.” We then go deep into what is at the cornerstone of everything that Satispay does - culture. As Satispay grew from 3 people to 700, the company had to rebuild its operating framework repeatedly defining 11 non-negotiable pillars that act as a compass for behavior and decision-making. These aren’t posters: any employee can reset a meeting simply by calling out when a conversation is no longer “user first.”Satispay’s hiring process mirrors this discipline. Candidates are evaluated against the pillars, and hiring decisions require strong alignment across interviewers - because bringing in the wrong person creates long-lasting damage, while the right person changes everything “from the day after.” We also touch on co-founder dynamics. Sam describes a culture of direct challenge and continuous exchange - but with one crucial condition: the founders trust each other because they know they’re aiming at the same destination.The episode closes with a rapid-fire round: if you want to know Samuele’s favourite App, the fintech trend he’s most excited about and his view of AI in payments - stay with us until the end of the interview. Watch, share, and tell us your favorite takeaway in the comments.About the seriesThe Impact Founders spotlights entrepreneurs building with purpose - ventures rooted in innovation, impact, and long-term value creation. Part of The Luxembourg Mind, it highlights Luxembourg as a launchpad for high-impact entrepreneurship and cross-border leadership.Chapters00:00 Meet Samuele Pinta01:28 From Family Business to Startup Co-Founder05:48 Early Challenges: Hiring, Fundraising & Scale10:08 Why Satispay: Rethinking Payments16:58 Why Luxembourg: A Gateway to Europe22:52 Scaling Culture: From 3 to 70028:16 Hiring for Values and Fit32:34 Co-Founder Dynamics34:37 Rapid Fire43:11 Angel Investing: Backing Founders