How Cledara Helped the Arex Finance Team Get Out of the Weeds
We chatted with Arex Cash Flow Manager Tuuli Kortet about how she went from chaos to order with the help of Cledara.
Arex is on a mission to level the playing field for SME financing. The startup uses an algorithm-based trading mechanism to open up capital for SMEs and lets professionals invest without transaction costs. And they’re doing very well.
The company has doubled headcount since Tuuli joined a little more than a year ago and has raised a $10 million Series A this year, to strengthen their innovative approach to invoice factoring.
Tuuli has been doing a bit of everything on the administration level: from office management to accounting and operations, and we discuss with her what it's like to manage a tech stack from the trenches.
“In general, the Cledara user experience is excellent.”
Getting Out of the Weeds
Arex uses more than 40 subscriptions that need to be actively managed, and that comes with a long list of tedious manual tasks.
And before Cledara, they didn’t have any process in place.
“We settled everything with the company credit cards. It was a nightmare. Controlling access, the costs, the receipts, everything. It was something we had to do every day. Not to speak about the month-end.”
How Cledara helped
Arex replaced their company cards with Cledara’s virtual cards, one for every subscription. A switch that has given Tuuli’s team a reliable process that has finally gotten them out of the weeds.
“We recently calculated how much time Cledara saves us. We estimated between 10 to 15 administration hours per month.”
And it’s not just the manual tasks, it’s about the control too. “Since day one, Cledara has been a huge help because we now have everything in one place - including the receipts. We feel in control now and users can get going with the apps they need.”
How Cledara helped
Moving on From the Single Company Card
Company cards may seem like a convenient way to pay for software subscriptions, but soon things can get out of hand. Visibility and control can be non-existent, and only at month-end do finance teams actually learn what has been spent, where and by whom. And then the invoice chase begins.
Furthermore, if the card fails for any reason (fraud, limits, loss), all subscriptions that sit on that single card are at risk.
How Cledara helped
Cledara makes these stories look like a problem of the past.
“With Cledara we can see how much available balance there is on each virtual card and we receive notifications that prevent us from running out of funds,” Tuuli says in relief.
“Plus, if something fails today, we notice it right away and it’s in our control. We don't need to get in touch with the bank or anything like that. And in case that happens, it only affects that particular subscription, not all of our software stack, which is great.”
Tuuli’s Highlight - Xero Integration and Usability
“The integration with our accounting software has been really smooth and easy so far. Just like the rest of the platform, I think it's great. In general, the Cledara user experience is excellent.”
Get Cledara today
Join 1,000+ customers and 6,000 software vendors to take control of your software today
Why Cledara
Solutions
Resources & Info
Company
Cledara is a proud member of the Mastercard Start Path program and Techstars
