CashDirector raises PLN12m from EEC Magenta

eecventures.com

Polish fintech will continue to develop its AI-enabled Digital CFO for SMEs, expand distribution channels beyond banking sector and launch the service in Western Europe.

80% of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) fail due to liquidity issues, which often could be avoided by better management of the company cash flows. Current solutions are either too expensive, too complicated or require in-depth financial knowledge, making it poorly accessible for a typical small entrepreneur.

CashDirector is based on a real-time accounting platform that automates daily financial tasks, helps manage day-to-day cash flow and provides easy access to financing when needed, replacing traditional accounting services and improves decision-making in SMEs. The product is directly accessible within online banking, utility provider or telecom websites. The service automatically books transactions in real-time, helps in invoicing, collecting money, registering expenses (photo, OCR), paying bills, planning daily cash flow and avoiding cash shortages. In case of more complicated or unusual problems the user has access to quick consultation with an expert.

The company has won numerous awards and graduated from top international acceleration programs including MIT Fintech Future Commerce, Hong Kong’s Supercharger and Barclays Techstars in London from which it received a seed investment. Polish firm was also one of the Top 10 hottest Fintech Startups at Web Summit in Lisbon, one of the most important tech conferences worldwide.

– CashDirector is a mature company, ready to scale-up in Europe – Voytek Siewierski, EEC Magenta Partner said. – They offer top-notch, refined product well-tested on the Polish market. It is a great start, but for the international success it is crucial to move fast, iterate the service to meet the client and the customer needs and build-up the scale with new partnership. I have full trust that Rafał Strzelecki and Luke Bystrzynski are the guys to do that.  

The team is already experienced in co-operating with the biggest banks in Poland. The financial institutions are one of the most demanding business partners, with well-established processes and security measures. Even the slightest system failure or data breach can damage the clients’ trust in the institution, making it particularly tricky to introduce new products. That makes the sales process more difficult and longer than in other industries. Cash Director is well-established in Poland, offering its service since 4 years for more than 100 thousand clients of mBank, the fifth biggest bank in the country. The company has also signed agreements with BNP Paribas, Nest Bank, Bank Millennium and energy sector firm TAURON. Together with Vodeno and Aion, the challenger banks based in Belgium, the Warsaw company will enter the European markets.

Banks are not the only customers of CashDirector. With the new investment round the company will start to test new distribution channels: direct B2C model offering the platform under own brand and the co-operation with energy and utility companies. Typical energy company has a widespread coverage of SMEs clients in the area covered by its distribution network and can cross sell additional services to increase its own margins.

– We are glad that the biggest CVC fund in Poland has shown trust in us and invested in our growth – said Rafał Strzelecki, the founder of CashDirector. – COVID19 pandemic is a difficult time for the SMEs. With the investment we are able to more effectively support Polish entrepreneurs in managing their finances. 

Just after the introduction of the set of public assistance measures by the Polish government, namely “Anti-crisis Shield” (Polish: Tarcza antykryzysowa), CashDirector rolled out an unpaid hotline, webinars and consultations, helping the business owners to participate in the program as quickly and effortlessly as possible. Even before the crisis one of the features of the platform was DocTransfer – an easy way to digitally share documents with an accountant, which became crucial in the times of COVID19.

The founder and CEO of CashDirector is Rafał Strzelecki. He is a seasoned entrepreneur, who knows both the accounting market and the technology sector. In 2016 he sold his accounting company Extor to the global business service company TMF Group. He had also worked as an IT director in Ciech (one of the biggest chemical companies in CEE) and Ruch (newsstand and retail group) and created an accounting platform and CashDirector predecessor Superksięgowa.pl .

– I’ve met Rafał in the US and since then I was curious to see how his endeavors develop. There’s not that many entrepreneurs in Poland who could match his determination, drive to succeed and sense of ownership and responsibility for the results. – said Voytek Siewierski. – Rafał sets ambitious goals for CashDirector and has can-do attitude necessary to reach them.

EEC Magenta is the largest Polish CVC investment fund and has been created by EEC Ventures in partnership with PFR Ventures, NCBR (The National Centre for Research and Development) and Tauron Polska Energia within the framework of the PFR NCBR CVC program.

The EEC Ventures group manages venture capital funds of a total capitalization of PLN 210 million. EEC Magenta is focused on the financing of digitalization in the energy sector, industry 4.0 and the circular economy. The fund is managed by Rafał Małecki, Voytek Siewierski and Konrad Sitnik. The partners together have considerable experience on the Polish, European and American venture capital and private equity markets. They have been working together for over 12 years and have concluded a range of successful transactions