A fast-growing lending startup faced challenges raising capital and ensuring tax compliance due to an improperly set up Xero system. Lendwise lends to small and midsize companies from its own balance sheet, and as demand climbed the loan book grew far faster than the systems meant to track it. A rushed accounting setup left much of the lending activity outside the books, so closing each month meant hours of manual work and numbers that rarely matched the cash in the bank.
That became a problem when the company set out to raise its next round. Investors wanted timely, accurate accounts, clear evidence of loan-loss provisioning, and proof that tax was in order, and the existing setup could not produce any of it reliably. Lendwise brought in Alehar to rebuild the finance function and get to a monthly close it could stand behind before the raise went ahead.
