Metallbude: Gaining Control and Saving Time with Agicap's Spend Management
Furniture manufacturer Metallbude has integrated Agicap into its financial management processes, enabling more efficient navigation of its rapid growth and optimal liquidity management. Tobias Stermer, CEO & Head of Administration at Metallbude, explains how Agicap facilitates this and emphasizes the importance of comprehensive liquidity planning and efficient spend management.
Read moreKey takeaways
E-commerce brands like Metallbude often fund their growth through their own cash flow. Given the highly seasonal nature of the business, it's crucial to always have an up-to-date view of liquidity.
Using multiple tools for financial management is cumbersome and increases the risk of errors. The manual effort required for spend management and maintaining a liquidity overview is significant.
Agicap tackles these challenges within a single application, making it an essential tool for Metallbude and significantly contributing to their planned growth.
" Agicap es la herramienta perfecta para marcas de venta directa al consumidor y empresas de comercio electrónico que necesitan financiar su crecimiento a partir de su propio flujo de caja debido a una fuerte estacionalidad. "
€9 million
in revenue
50%
growth compared to the previous year
+ €1 million
in marketing expenses
Customer’s history
At Metallbude, customers get high-quality furniture directly from in-house production. Since 2020, the brand has been selling timelessly designed pieces made of wood and metal through an online shop. Tobias Stermer is one of the four founders of the e-commerce brand and, as CEO and Head of Administration, he handles the company's finances.
The company is growing rapidly. Founded in September 2020, they hit their first million euros in revenue by the following summer. Today, their planned revenue is nearly ten million euros. The biggest challenge of their business model is short-term liquidity management. In the e-commerce industry, significant seasonal fluctuations are common. For Metallbude, this means around half of their revenue is generated in the last quarter. To finance strong growth, seven-figure marketing expenses, and inventory primarily for the high-sales fourth quarter from their own cash flow, liquidity must be ensured at all times.
" "I don't want to use and switch between five or six tools; I prefer to have everything in one place. With Agicap, I have everything related to finances in one tool – from spend management to bank integration to liquidity planning." "
This posed a significant problem for Metallbude and Tobias Stermer. The current systems did not provide a comprehensive overview of all finances, as multiple tools were in use. Another challenge arose in the area of spend management. On average, 200 to 300 transactions per month without receipts – primarily from Meta and Google – required a high level of manual effort in spend management, just like other marketing expenses from various employees.
Customer’s needs
Greater transparency: at best, a daily overview of the cash flow within an individual project and the company-wide cash flows
More overview: a clear presentation of liquidity both for one company and in a consolidated view across all companies
More planning security: a fine-meshed presentation of the data situation and a forecasting function that clearly shows the expected expenditure and costs in all projects
Basic compatibility: a cloud-based software that can be integrated with all existing business accounts and financial tools in the company
Fast support and continuous development of the tool with an open ear for customer requests
Solution
The solution to these challenges for Metallbude lies in a single tool: Agicap. Tobias Stermer and his team primarily use the solution for short-term liquidity planning and spend management.
In short-term liquidity planning, the 30-day forecast is particularly useful. Tobias Stermer reviews it every morning and can quickly identify potential liquidity bottlenecks in the near future. All revenues and sales from the online shop (accounting for 80 percent of total revenue) are included in the calculation, as well as all marketing expenses, supplier and goods costs, and other relevant items. This allows for quick actions in case of potential bottlenecks, whether by extending an invoice or launching a flash sale to generate liquidity quickly.
" "Agicap Spend is our favorite tool in the area of cash management. All marketing expenses flow directly into short-term liquidity planning. This way, I don't have to waste so much time on bookkeeping tasks." "
One reason why all data is available in real-time is the integration of Agicap Spend. Metallbude primarily works with virtual cards used by various employees for different purposes. From Tobias Stermer's perspective, the advantage is clear: all data flows live into the system, and employees are automatically reminded to upload receipts. This makes budgeting significantly easier and reduces manual effort.
The use of the tool is further enhanced by the interface with the tax advisory service. All Metallbude data is transferred via the DATEV interface, which has significantly reduced the workload for preparatory accounting compared to the time before Agicap.
" Having everything in one tool is the biggest advantage of Agicap for me. This way, we don't experience any unpleasant surprises regarding our liquidity. We see the cash flow every day and know how much we have left at the end of the day. This allows us to anticipate and mitigate liquidity bottlenecks early. "
Conclusion
Agicap serves as an all-in-one tool for comprehensive cash management at Metallbude. While Agicap Spend and liquidity planning functions are at the forefront, the tool also integrates bank connections and interfaces with tax advisory services.
With Agicap, Tobias Stermer, the financial manager at Metallbude, has a real-time overview of all payment streams and cash flows, allowing him to identify liquidity bottlenecks before they occur. This is crucial for financing growth from the company's own cash flow and managing seven-figure marketing expenses.
In the area of spend management, Agicap significantly simplifies the handling of expenses. Hundreds of transactions without receipts can be automatically assigned to the correct invoice with just one click.
Agicap has streamlined the company's entire preparatory accounting process, resulting in significant time savings.
