Jon Santillan is a second-time founder and operator building fintech infrastructure in the Middle East. He is the co-founder and CEO of OCTA, an AI-powered contract-to-cash platform helping SMEs get paid faster through automated receivables, embedded finance, and recovery workflows across the GCC.

Previously, Jon founded Denarii, which was acquired by Careem in 2022, where he went on to work on Careem Pay and met his co-founder. He has lived in the UAE for over two decades and is focused on building global companies from the region by solving real, operational problems for business owners.

Jon is known for building in public, obsessing over distribution, and writing candidly about the realities of company-building.