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oma (2)Halved the time spent producing management reporting packs

idea iconStaff time freed up to spend on higher-level work 

Untitled design (8)-3Easy access to accurate information  

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Dawn Capital is a venture capital firm investing in B2B, tech and SaaS businesses.  

It backs founders who are building future global giants in B2B software and fintech. 

 Sector
Venture Capital

Number of iplicit users 
2

Objectives
Bring accounting in-house; quicker reporting; automation; scalability.

Go Live 
July 2024

Website 
dawncapital.com

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The challenge

 Dawn Capital relies on quality finance data. But in the past, it has taken an outsourced finance function 60-80 hours a month to produce the necessary management reporting pack. 

After shopping around for an in-house accounting system and judging the contenders against a demanding list of criteria, Dawn Capital chose iplicit. A few months on, that reporting time has been cut in half, allowing the team to focus more on higher-level work.  

Dawn Capital has existed for 15 years. “We exclusively back European founders building global giants in B2B software and fintech, with a primary focus on Series A and B investments,” says Financial Controller Gurvinder Sandhu. In some ways, the business is straightforward, he says, with the accounting system serving a single corporate entity. But dealing with issues such as prepayments, or forwards, is a major complication. 

The solution

When it came to choosing a new system, Dawn had a checklist of criteria. 

It included: 

  • Automation of recurring functions 
  • A comprehensive VAT module 
  • Ability to customise the system 
  • Visibility of information and segregation of roles to see who’s made what changes 
  • Pricing: “Were we getting all this functionality as part of the package, or was it an extra bolt-on?”


“It was clear for us quite soon in the process that iplicit was the system to go for,” says Gurvinder.  

“It was good to see a tool that checked a lot of the boxes that we believed should be standard in a good accounting system. Those features were just there and ready.” 

“It was good to see a tool that checked a lot of the boxes that we believed should be standard in a good accounting system. Those features were just there and ready.” 

Gurvinder Sandhu
Financial Controller at Dawn Capital 

‘The implementation and support teams were very helpful’ 

Dawn Capital needed its accounting software to integrate with three other key systems:  the accounts payable platform Lightyear (which is already integrated with iplicit), the expenses system Soldo and the financial planning and analysis tool Adaptive. 

Accountant Frankie Boffey says the team was well-supported with these integrations and the rest of the implementation.  

“We frequently use the support email and find the team to be very responsive. Since we got the setup sorted, we’ve not really had any issues with the system and, day to day, it’s working perfectly. 

Frankie Boffey
Accountant at Dawn Capital 

 “Both the iplicit implementation team and the support team have been very helpful,” she says. 

“We frequently use the support email and find the team to be very responsive. Since we got the setup sorted, we’ve not really had any issues with the system and, day to day, it’s working perfectly. 

“There’s a customer webinar every couple of months where the team talks about the tool and gives advice, which is useful.  

“Now that we’re onboarded and everything is set up, I’ve been joining a few of the webinars to see the updates to the system and that’s been useful so far.” 

 ‘It’s freed up our time’ 

Dawn Capital remains happy with the information it’s getting from iplicit as well as the big time savings it’s made; it's cut in half the amount of time it takes to produce monthly management packs.  

“It’s a very strong system. It works very well,” says Gurvinder. 

“It’s easy for the CFO and me to go in and search for what’s allocated where. Making sure the journals are correct gives us control over the accounts. 

“It’s sped up our reporting timeline significantly, so it’s freed up our time internally to actually think about other things – so we’re quite happy with it." 

“It’s sped up our reporting timeline significantly, so it’s freed up our time internally to actually think about other things – so we’re quite happy with it."   

Gurvinder Sandhu
Financial Controller at Dawn Capital 

"It’s a very strong system. It works very well,” says Gurvinder. 

“It’s easy for the CFO and me to go in and search for what’s allocated where. Making sure the journals are correct gives us control over the accounts. 

“It’s sped up our reporting timeline significantly, so it’s freed up our time internally to actually think about other things – so we’re quite happy with it." 

Find out more about how iplicit helps venture capital and private equity businesses. 

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