Carlo Gualandri is founder and chief executive of Soldo, the London spend-management company that combines company cards with software for finance teams. He founded Soldo in 2015 after building digital ventures across fintech, gaming, and media in Italy, and he has said the goal is a company card for every employee, not only executives.
Earlier ventures
He studied physics at the University of Milan and helped launch Italy's first major web portal at Matrix/Virgilio, worked on online advertising, and held leadership roles tied to Telecom Italia's internet division. Public profiles also credit him with helping shape Fineco Bank and Italy's online lottery, and with founding Gioco Digitale in online gaming. That mix of payments, media, and regulated digital products fed the Soldo idea.
Founding Soldo
He started Soldo in London with banking and technology co-founders who wanted better control of everyday business spend. The company name comes from an Italian word for a small coin. Soldo welcomed its first customer in 2017 and now says it serves more than 25,000 organisations across 31 countries. In a 2020 TechRound interview he described building from the bottom up with fifteen engineers from day one rather than sitting on someone else's stack, and framed the product as automating expense processes that companies still treat as inevitable.
"At Soldo, everyone is a builder. Every employee gets a company card to help move the business forward," he has said on the company about page.