Tic:Toc hires new CTO to accelerate digital lending capacity

The digital lender has announced Purple Group Limited’s former vice-president of software development, Shantell Williams, as its next chief technology officer.

The fintech platform and digital lender said her appointment was intended to “supercharge the fintech’s next growth phase”. 

Prior to joining Tic:Toc, Ms Williams was the vice-president of software development at the South African financial services and technology group, Purple Group Limited, from 2016 to June this year. 

During her tenure at Purple Group Limited, Ms Williams oversaw software development and implementation across the group’s subsidiary, EasyEquities, as well as leading the expansion of its software engineering teams.

Ms Williams also previously served in other senior positions within the financial sector, including as head of applications with Lombard Insurance Company and as a research and development technologist with Standard Bank.

In her new role as chief technology officer, Ms Williams will be responsible for building on Tic:Toc’s technical vision as well as the technical delivery and quality of its proprietary AI-driven lending platform. 

Ms Williams will also be overseeing Tic:Toc’s team of engineers and developers. 

Tic:Toc founder and chief executive Anthony Baum welcomed Ms Williams to the company, explaining that she joined at a “pivotal time” as the lender “accelerate[s its] capacity to respond to the surge in demand for digital lending and our technologies”.

He said: “Our model of running a direct-to-consumer digital home loan, as well as offering our technology to the industry, puts Tic:Toc’s platform at the core of our business, and Shantell’s strong technology and innovation background will be invaluable to us. 

“I look forward to having her lead our cross-functional technology team as we scale and strengthen our customer platform experience and enterprise offerings.”

On her appointment, Ms Williams said that: “I am thoroughly impressed by the sophistication and level of automation in Tic:Toc’s purpose-built platform, which drives better, faster and more affordable customer experiences. 

“I was drawn to this role as I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be a part of this ambitious, fast-growing company, disrupting a traditionally slow-moving industry. Equally as impressive is the close-knit, diverse and supportive team Tic:Toc has cultivated. 

“The team is so passionate about what they do, and it’s amazing to be in the midst of it all. I look forward to shaping this next phase of growth with [Anthony Baum] and the team.” 

Tic:Toc has also stated that Ms Williams’ appointment brings the percentage of women in its leadership team to over 62 per cent, and 44 per cent of its entire workforce.

In July, Tic:Toc announced that it had secured $25 billion of additional funding, to be distributed over seven years, from partner and non-major bank, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank. 

In April, Aussie Home Loans confirmed it had partnered with the digital lender to launch its first direct-to-consumer digital lending product, Aussie Online. 

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