Fractional CFO for financial data & analytics companies
Financial data businesses present like software but carry data-licensing economics underneath. Royalty payments to exchanges and vendors, multi-year enterprise contracts, usage-based tiers and deferred revenue from annual prepayments all sit alongside the standard SaaS metrics. ASC 606 gets specific when a contract bundles data feeds, terminals and analytics modules with different delivery patterns.
The CFO work sits in the contract layer. How revenue is recognised across data, platform and services components; how royalty cost of revenue is accrued; how net retention is measured when buyers add seats and modules mid-term; how billings reconcile to ratable revenue when annual upfront payments distort cash conversion. Gross billings, ratable revenue and contracted backlog have to be readable separately every period.
Flow provides financial modelling, FP&A and fractional CFO advisory to financial data and analytics companies across market data vendors, alternative data providers, ESG and ratings businesses, research platforms and analytics tools for asset managers and banks.
KPIs to track for "financial data & analytics" startups
We're very 'KPI-driven' fractional CFOs, and we make sure to monitor the right metrics for your startup.
ARR
Net revenue retention
Gross margin
Contracted backlog
Data royalty cost
Logo retention
ACV per customer
Deferred revenue
Active terminals / seats
Financial modelling for "financial data & analytics" startups
As fractional CFOs, we build KPI-driven financial models that are insightful and easy to maintain.
Financial modelling is both art and science - models must be robust, but also understandable, and useful for both internal planning and VC fundraising purposes. Hire a fractional CFO who knows how to handle both sides of the equation.
ARR waterfall by module
Bookings to billings to ratable revenue split across data feeds, terminals, analytics modules and services, with new, expansion, contraction and churn separated by cohort. Investors read net retention at the module level, not the customer level.
Contract unbundling under ASC 606
Each enterprise contract decomposed into standalone performance obligations with their own recognition pattern - point-in-time data delivery, ratable platform access, milestone analytics work. Removes the audit risk of treating bundled deals as a single subscription line.
Data royalty COGS accrual
Exchange, vendor and contributor royalties accrued by underlying usage rather than invoice date, mapped to the revenue contracts that triggered them. Surfaces true gross margin by product and prevents lumpy royalty true-ups from distorting quarterly margin.
Contracted backlog and RPO
Remaining performance obligation rolled forward by contract, with multi-year terms phased into the right periods and ratable versus consumption-based components shown separately. The metric acquirers anchor valuation on alongside ARR.
Billings to revenue bridge
Annual prepayments, multi-year invoices and usage true-ups reconciled to ratable revenue, with deferred revenue rolled forward each period. Makes cash collection visible without confusing it with the income statement.
Per-seat and per-terminal economics
Revenue and contribution margin by active seat, terminal or API key, tracked against the support, infrastructure and data cost they consume. Tells the board whether expansion is genuinely accretive or just adding cost.
Founders and investors we've worked with
We've supported winning builders across financial data & analytics and beyond.
Marcura
We acted as fractional CFO to Dubai-based Marcura, owner of maritime payroll and B2B payments platform MarTrust, advising on the strategic e-Wallet vendor selection and supporting product/finance integration.
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Bonart
We've worked as fractional CFO with Bonart, a Zurich-based independent Swiss strategic advisory and execution platform for PE and investor fundraising, providing long-term confidential valuation guidance.
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Lemonade
As a fractional CFO we performed a confidential valuation of Lemonade, the publicly listed full-stack insurer powered by AI and behavioral economics, supporting Elevator Fund's portfolio management.
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TBô
We acted as fractional CFO to TBô, a Zurich-based tech-enabled DTC male underwear brand, building a bottom-up financial / operating model with cohort-level KPIs and positioning the company for its next venture round.
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Onlogist
We acted as fractional CFO to Onlogist, a Hamburg-based online marketplace for last-mile vehicle transfer, providing confidential valuation guidance and operating model support.
See moreRecent fractional CFO track record
See our fractional CFO and financial modelling experience across financial data & analytics and beyond.
Simple pricing
No hidden costs, no complicated long-term contracts. We understand how important flexibility is for financial data & analytics startups.
Per month
- Accounting / FP&A tech stack implementation
- Monthly financial statements and reporting pack
- Quarterly board pack with detailed financial analysis (with variance analysis vs. budget, relevant KPI observations etc.)
- Investor-friendly output
Per month
- Everything in Core, plus
- Operating model (via an online platform like Runway or Excel-based)
- Ongoing model maintenance, refining projections, burn/runway management
- Customer cohorts modelling, churn and retention analysis
- LTV / CAC, unit economics analysis
- Cap table management
Per month
- Everything in Grow, plus
- M&A / fundraising support; review of business plan
- Pitch deck preparation
- Investor approach strategy / list building
- Due diligence support and deal negotiation
- Valuation as required and free access to Multiples Pro
Packages shown are illustrative, final pricing is tailored to client requirements.
Explore our fractional CFO offering for similar verticals
We're a specialized fractional CFO to fintech companies.
Our fractional CFO experience spans across all fintech verticals.
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We know tech inside & out.
We provide fractional CFO services to companies operating across the entire tech.
More services
We help you scale by providing fractional CFO advice, through fundraising and a successful M&A exit.
VC fundraising for financial data & analytics companies
We help you prepare materials, reach out to investors in our extensive network, negotiate fair term sheets and structure the VC round.
Learn moreM&A for financial data & analytics companies
We advise winning tech companies on M&A exits, and over the years successfully executed numerous transactions with both financial and strategic buyers.
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Schedule a call to get a health check on your business and see how we could help.
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