Scaling a global payments infrastructure platform requires more than product excellence. It also requires strong governance, clear execution, and thoughtful alignment across every part of the business. As Payrails continues to accelerate its growth, the legal function becomes increasingly central to how we operate, how we partner with merchants, and how we build a durable company for the long term.
Today, we are pleased to welcome Valesca Molinari as our General Counsel.
Valesca brings deep experience across top-tier international law firms, innovation-focused organizations, and high-growth technology environments. Most recently, she served as General Counsel & VP Legal & Compliance at Sunfire, where she built and led the legal, compliance, and risk functions and supported the company through major strategic milestones. She also brings entrepreneurial experience as the co-founder of an energy tech company and a global perspective shaped by her work with the World Economic Forum in San Francisco.
At Payrails, she will establish and lead our legal function: ensuring strong governance, supporting responsible scaling, and partnering closely with the business to navigate an increasingly complex regulatory and commercial landscape around the world.
In this conversation, Valesca shares why she joined, how she views the evolving role of legal in high-growth tech companies, and what she sees ahead for Payrails and the payments landscape as a whole.
Why did you decide to join Payrails at this particular moment?
Valesca: What drew me to Payrails was the momentum. The company has done the foundational work, proven the product, and is now entering a phase where scaling becomes both exciting and complex. That’s exactly the point at which a governance role can make a meaningful contribution.
What stood out to me from the beginning was how consciously the leadership team thinks about legal. They’re not bringing legal in to fix problems when they appear – they want strategic guidance upfront. For me, it’s an exciting time to help shape a function, build structures that enable scale, and be part of the broader strategic considerations as the company grows.
You’ve said before that legal should act as a strategic puzzle piece. What shaped that perspective?
Valesca: A lot of that thinking goes back to my time in San Francisco, where I worked with the World Economic Forum. That experience taught me that legal guidance is most effective when it’s embedded into the wider strategy. That applies whether you’re dealing with AI, autonomous driving, or any other complex regulatory framework.
Understanding the regulatory viewpoint is important, but it’s just as essential to understand the business needs from the ground up. When you combine both, you can align stakeholders far more effectively.
That’s the approach I want to bring to Payrails. It’s also what motivated me to return to the B2B tech environment: I enjoy the complexity, the pace, and the opportunity to help shape a company’s trajectory early on.
You also have an entrepreneurial background. How has that influenced your approach as a legal professional?
Valesca: At the beginning of my career I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to pursue business or law, and entrepreneurship allowed me to explore that intersection. The company I co-founded itself was still quite immature, and we ultimately decided not to raise money, but the experience was foundational for me.
Working with people outside the legal world reinforced something that has stayed with me ever since: you can’t build a legal career inside an ivory tower. You have to be close to the business, understand how different functions operate, and contribute with a sense of shared responsibility. That mindset continues to shape how I view the role of legal today.
Your most recent position was General Counsel at Sunfire. What did you learn from that experience?
Valesca: The company develops hydrogen electrolyzers, which at the time I joined had just received significant attention through the European Green Deal. Joining at that point gave me the opportunity to transition from being a strong legal advisor to becoming a legal manager and leader.
What motivated me to go in-house, and to take this specific role, was the desire to take on more accountability: shaping decisions, managing strategic projects, building and developing a team.
We achieved several major milestones, including an equity raise of over €200 million, two large debt transactions, and ultimately the conversion of the company into a European SE. That combination of strategic, operational, and organizational work is something I’m very proud of: and it’s directly relevant to what I aspire to build at Payrails.
What excites you about the future of Payrails?
Valesca: I’m very optimistic about the direction and future potential of payments. It’s clear that digital transactions will continue to grow, and that the number of merchants and customers operating internationally will only increase.
One aspect that particularly resonates with me is Payrails’ mission to democratize payments. The industry has relied on outdated lock-in models for too long. Businesses today are more sophisticated: they’re looking for smarter, sustainable ways to increase efficiency and gain flexibility. Payrails is positioning itself squarely in that space.
Another decisive factor is the truly international footprint of the founders and leadership team. Their experience operating at global scale is a major strength, and it’s one of the reasons I’m confident we’re building something with the potential for real long-term impact in this market.
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