The Company: A Next Generation Brand Builder
In 2018 Sant Qiu and a few young team members started the ecommerce division of Maneuver Marketing that aimed to build and scale its own ecommerce brands. In just four years, they grew from 0 to over $100 million in revenue without any external funding by being highly adaptable, learning and iterating quickly. They continue to be in hypergrowth, growing their brands and expanding their team rapidly.
The Challenges: Lack of Flexible Capital
Maneuver Marketing wanted to keep growing quickly, so they needed to make their finance processes more agile. This meant giving employees more freedom to make decisions, and creating processes that were focused on the most important things. However, they found that their processes for managing flexible capital were not strong enough.
#1 Time Consuming to Manage Client Payments
Maneuver Marketing uses a lot of marketing tools, software, and services that they pay for on a recurring basis. The finance team had to set up each payment manually, which involved getting receipts and approvals, and configuring payments through different payment platforms. This was a lot of work that took up time and resources. The company's bank also charged a fee for FAST payments, which added to the costs.
#2 Difficulty Controlling Spend
Maneuver Marketing used lines of credit in a single currency, which meant they had to pay high fees when they converted currencies. The company used many SaaS platforms that charged in USD, so they knew they needed to manage their FX costs to keep their capital flexible. Currency conversion costs were also a major obstacle to their growth.
The Solution: Aspire’s Corporate Advance Cards
Since their launch in 2018, Maneuver Marketing has built reputable ecommerce brands. To continue growing their brand awareness and business, they needed a simpler, more secure platform and user experience in their finance function.
This was when they turned to Aspire.
#1 Flexible Capital with Aspire’s Advance Cards
With Aspire’s help, Maneuver Marketing can now instantly issue Aspire’s multi-functional Advance cards to as many employees as necessary without any additional fees or overheads. These Advance cards come with comprehensive spend limit controls, merchant locks, real-time visibility, and limits that scale with Maneuver Marketing’s monthly revenue. These cards:
- Allow Maneuver Marketing to delegate purchasing power directly to their employees with clearly defined, automated and secure workflows for spend authorisation
- Provide an interest free credit line that minimally impacts their bottom line, boosts their cash flow, and allows them to focus on strengthening their revenue growth streams.
#2 Saving on FX Fees and Cashback
By issuing Aspire Advance cards in multiple currencies, Maneuver Marketing now pays their SaaS vendors and partners directly in USD, avoiding high FX markups or conversion fees. They now re-dedicate the cost-savings to supporting their clients’ growth.
Additionally, Maneuver Marketing has unlocked a new stream of cost savings: enjoying cashback on SaaS subscriptions and digital ad expenditure.