High interest rates and ongoing financial pressures have made it crucial for finance teams to effectively manage their cash flow. Various startups are stepping up to assist in this vital area. Among them is Panax, a two-year-old Israeli startup that recently secured $10 million in a Series A funding round led by Team8, with additional support from TLV Partners.
Startups have shown promise in transforming the CFO landscape by optimizing processes and allowing finance teams to devote more time to strategic initiatives. The collapse of SVB has created favorable conditions for the cash management sector, attracting various players like Embat, Kyriba, Statement, and Vesto.
What sets Panax apart is its focus on midsize and large companies in traditional sectors such as manufacturing, logistics, and real estate. While these companies require more support than startups, they often lack the extensive treasury departments that legacy solutions are designed for.
In addition to targeting a specific market, Panax aims to differentiate itself through its comprehensive offerings, which go beyond investment accounts and credit lines. Panax CEO Noam Mills emphasized that while visualizing cash flow is beneficial, the company strives to deliver more than just dashboards. “We aim to leverage data to discern what’s truly significant, influence decision-making, and assist in treasury management,” she stated.
This approach has garnered interest from early adopters, including the publicly-traded beauty company Oddity, who value cash management automation as a means to save time and resources. With this new funding round, which brings Panax’s total investment to $15.5 million following a $5.5 million seed round led by TLV Partners, the company plans to scale its market approach and enhance its AI and data capabilities, now that it has sufficient data to inform these efforts.
AI plays a crucial role at Panax by processing financial data, uncovering insights, and forecasting cash flow. Mills believes that AI can significantly aid in surfacing actionable items: “Often, there is no formal treasury department involved, so AI enables us to proactively identify potential issues for clients.”
Panax primarily targets companies with intricate treasury management needs, particularly those operating in multiple locations and currencies. The platform optimizes aspects such as foreign exchange, which can lead to additional revenue streams beyond its SaaS model, priced according to the complexity of each client’s operations.
Numerous stakeholders are vying to provide solutions that help optimize cash flow. Companies can apply for loans and request working capital or credit lines through their banking apps or accounting software. However, Panax positions itself uniquely as a comprehensive treasury management dashboard that integrates recommendations and forecasts.
Mills stated, “Our goal is for finance teams to execute decisions directly within our platform. We want to deliver insights that enable them to allocate more cash to interest-bearing accounts. Embedding such functionalities into our platform is closely tied to our value proposition, and we are developing features across various money movement scenarios.”
Mills draws on her extensive private equity experience, shared with co-founder and chief business officer Niv Yaar. Additionally, her background is notably unique: before venturing into private equity and corporate finance, she was an Olympic fencer for Israel, earning multiple accolades.
When asked about the parallels between her athletic career and her role as CEO, she cited similar psychological traits like persistence and the ability to navigate uncertainty. However, she noted the difference between sports—an individual pursuit—and running a company, which is more collaborative.
Following its Series A funding, Panax plans to expand its New York City office—where Yaar will be relocating—while maintaining its R&D operations in Israel, alongside CTO and co-founder Sefi Itzkovich. Itzkovich has a background in machine learning at Facebook and previously served as CTO at Otonomo, a company that went public through a SPAC.
Mills acknowledged the fierce competition for talent but believes their deep roots in Israel's R&D community provide a competitive edge. She also anticipates that network effects will benefit their operations in New York City, where Team8 has a presence. The choice of NYC over the Bay Area was strategic, given its time zone alignment with Israel and its significance in the fintech sector. “The epicenter for fintech is shifting more towards New York and the East Coast,” Mills concluded.
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