Finance as a Service
for marketplace & platform companies
Maximize your success on the marketplace with our tailored financial services.
Whether you're just starting out or are already an established player, we offer the financial expertise you need to efficiently manage and scale your online marketplace.
Experience from 350 projects.
Quantifiable successes for
CFO as a Service
Draw on our financial expertise and see how precise analysis and tailored solutions help your platform company achieve demonstrable success.
Our experts work closely with you to optimize your financial processes and secure sustainable results.
Situations for Finance as a Service
Our Know How
Our experience spans 350 projects, including interim mandates and consulting projects such as digitalising a finance department. This includes working with common finance tools, from accounting and controlling to reporting.
Up to 80% of your consulting costs as a grant – we handle the application
Depending on where your business is based, the grant is 80 percent (up to €2,800) or 50 percent (up to €1,750) of the eligible consulting costs. It is calculated on the assessment basis of at most €3,500, not on the total project cost. We check which rate applies to your location in advance – and we take care of the application.
- We check whether you are eligible
- We take care of your application
Here is an example
Where is it hurting in finance right now?
Our Partners & Collaborations
Carefully selected to create synergies that provide real added value to our customers. We work hand in hand with leading experts and organizations to ensure innovative solutions and exceptional service.
CFO as a Service process
Initial consultation and needs assessment
The process starts with an initial consultation, in which we understand and analyze the specific needs and goals of your platform company. Based on this information, we develop an individual financial service plan that is tailored exactly to the requirements and challenges of your company.
Implementation of financial systems and processes
After defining the scope of services, we implement the necessary financial systems and processes. This includes implementing accounting software, setting up accounting frameworks, and integrating financial management tools specifically designed to help young companies grow.
Ongoing support and optimization
We offer continuous support and regular financial reviews to ensure the financial health of your business. Through ongoing advice and adaptive financial strategies, we help you to respond effectively to changes in the market and in your company development and always make optimal financial decisions.
What is different about finance in a marketplace
Gross or net: the most expensive accounting question
Whether a marketplace reports the entire transaction volume as revenue or only its own commission depends on whether it acts as principal or as agent. The answer follows from the contract structure, pricing authority and transfer of risk. It changes reported revenue by a multiple, determines comparability with competitors and is a checkpoint in every funding round.
Pass-through funds are not liquidity
A marketplace regularly holds money in its accounts that belongs to sellers. Anyone who counts those amounts in the liquidity plan is planning with other people's capital. What is needed is a clean separation – up to and including escrow accounts – and a payout reconciliation that shows at any time which part of the balance is a liability.
Steering by take rate and cohorts
GMV is a growth number, not a result. What matters for steering is the effective take rate after all discounts, the contribution margin per transaction after payment and support costs, and the development of buyer and seller cohorts. Marketplaces growing on both sides also need a plan that models each side separately.
Typical starting points at marketplaces
The revenue definition was never put in writing
As long as it is not documented why revenue is reported gross or net, the company's most important number rests on an assumption. Auditors and investors ask about it first.
Payouts to sellers cannot be reconciled
Fees, cancellations, refunds and payout cycles run through different systems. Without daily reconciliation, a stock of liabilities builds up whose size nobody knows precisely.
Two sides, one plan
Supply and demand grow at different speeds. A plan that simply extrapolates transactions overlooks that growth on one side forces investment on the other.
FAQ
Gross or net – which revenue does a marketplace report?
That depends on whether you act as principal or as agent. The answer follows from contract design, pricing control and transfer of risk – not from the wish for a big number. It changes reported revenue by a multiple and is therefore the most expensive accounting question a marketplace has to answer.
Why does the revenue definition have to be written down?
As long as it is not documented why revenue is reported gross or net, the company's most important number rests on an assumption. In our experience, auditors and investors ask about this first.
Why is pass-through money not liquidity?
A marketplace's accounts regularly hold money that belongs to the sellers. Anyone who counts these amounts in liquidity planning is planning with other people's capital. What is needed is a clean separation – up to escrow accounts – and a payout reconciliation that shows at any time which part of the balance is actually yours.
How do seller payouts become reconcilable?
Fees, cancellations, refunds and payout cycles usually run through different systems. Without daily reconciliation, a liability balance builds up whose size nobody knows exactly. The build-up therefore starts with a repeatable reconciliation with named owners.
Which metrics really steer a marketplace?
GMV is a growth number, not a result. What matters for steering is the effective take rate after all discounts, the contribution margin per transaction after payment and support costs, and the development of buyer and seller cohorts.
How do you plan a two-sided business?
Supply and demand sides grow at different speeds. A plan that only extrapolates transactions overlooks that growth on one side forces investment on the other. Both sides therefore belong in the plan separately – with the link between them.