Laia Mena
Co-Founder & Director at Caliu.io
Laia Mena is a Malta-based fintech and payments professional specializing in the iGaming and high-risk payments sector. She spent over seven years at Trustly, a leading open banking payments provider, where she developed deep expertise in payments, card processing, and alternative payment methods (APMs). In 2021/2022 she left Trustly to co-found Caliu.io, a payments infrastructure company designed to help high-risk industries—including online gaming, gambling, and digital payments—balance compliance, innovation, and operational efficiency.
As Co-Founder & Director at Caliu, Mena focuses on payment facilitation, automated KYC, fraud prevention, and strategic growth. She is a frequent speaker at major industry events such as ICE Barcelona and the NEXT.io Summit, and is based in Malta. Her career reflects a consistent commitment to advancing payment solutions for regulated but high-risk verticals, leveraging both open banking and traditional card processing knowledge.
Mena studied at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) and maintains an active presence in the iGaming community through LinkedIn and industry articles. Her leadership at Caliu has been recognized by Deutsche Bank Corporate Bank and other financial institutions, positioning her as a trusted voice in the intersection of payments and gambling regulation.