Treasury4 Inc., a Spokane-based fintech company that offers tools and software for treasury and finance practitioners, has raised $20 million in series A funding. 

Tom Simpson, CEO of Spokane-based Ignite Northwest and president of the Spokane Angel Alliance, says Treasury4’s funding round represents the largest sum secured by a Spokane-area startup so far this year, by a large margin. Looking back, he says, Treasury4’s funding round rivals those of other successful Spokane startups in past years, he says. 

“It’s a signal that Spokane is a place to build industry, great technology, sizeable companies, and create high paying jobs,” says Simpson, who is also an early investor in Treasury4. 

Steve Helmbrecht, president and CEO of Treasury4, says that while there has been an underinvestment in treasury technology, rising interest rates and bank failures have created attention of and demand for better financial technology.  

“We didn’t know there would be more focus on banks, or ‘counterparty risk’; we certainly didn’t predict that interest rates would go from almost zero to five percent,” he says. “These trends and rising rates have created an awareness and demand for new technology.”

Led by New York-based growth-equity firm WestCap Group, the series A funding round marks the first round of venture capital funding for Treasury4. 

The investment from WestCap further emphasizes the demand Treasury4 has been hearing from its customer base, which is the need for some of the company’s future modules, such as Payments4 and Debt4, to be built out sooner than the company had planned, says Ed Barrie, chief product officer.

“The additional capital is going to help us accelerate those modules around cashflow forecasting, payments automation and debt management, and a few other areas that are core to treasury,” he says. 

Nathan Brown, chief analytics officer at Treasury4, says the investment to the company represents an affirmation of Treasury4’s strategy and vision.

“WestCap is comprised of very talented and accomplished individuals, and they have long had a long and strong interest in treasury technology,” he says. “To have them look at what we’re doing and want to be a part of it, again, it’s just a great affirmation of the direction we were heading in our roadmap.” 

In addition to WestCap, Spokane-based participants in Treasury4’s recent funding round are the Cowles Co., Kick-Start Seed Fund, and W.T.B. Financial Corp. 

Other companies include Seattle-based and Greater Seattle-based Voyager Capital and Fortson VC. 

As reported by the Journal, Treasury4 had raised about $8 million through two rounds of seed funding in 2021 and 2022, which helped the company launch its first software products. Series A funding is a type of equity-based financing that is considered the first major round of external funding after seed funding that startups can raise. Each round is named after the type of stock being issued, in this case, stock A. 

“Series A is a big milestone that we’re proud of while we are still growing in our customer base and revenues,” says Helmbrecht. 

Brown says the founders and employees retain a large ownership in the company but declines to disclose further details.

Treasury4 was established in 2020 by Helmbrecht, Barrie, and Brown, three former Itron Inc. employees who worked in that company’s treasury department.  

The startup has 30 employees and leases office space in the Wonder Building, at 835 N. Post on the North Bank of the Spokane River. With the addition of WestCap as an investor, Treasury4’s board has grown from three to five and includes: Barrie, Helmbrecht, Simpson, former Treasurer of Airbnb Inc. Jeff Mullen, and WestCap principal Sean Duncan. 

Helmbrecht says Treasury4 has a recurring revenue model in which customers pay for their products on an ongoing basis. So far, the company has about 10 customers and expects to grow with the infusion of funds that will help bring more products to market. 

Helmbrecht declines to disclose projected annual revenue but says he and his partners expect significant growth. 

Treasury4’s software solutions are primarily intended to serve large companies that make between $100 million and $1 billion in annual revenue. Since its founding, the company has brought two of its software solutions to market—Entity4 and Cash4 modules. 

Treasury departments are like the central banks of companies, say the founders. While most people are familiar with accounting departments—which record and reconcile what has happened—a treasury department deals with more complex issues, says Barrie. 

“Treasury cares about what has happened, and they partner closely with the accounting function, but treasury also has to look forward and ask what is going to happen, or what could happen?” says Barrie. “Treasury has to look both directions and be able to make the right decision for the organization.”

As former practitioners at global, publicly traded companies, the founders say they are intimately familiar with the pain points faced by finance and treasury professionals. 

“What we’re doing at Treasury4 is really no less than building the tools that we wish we had when we were in the trenches of corporate treasury,” says Brown.