Fractional CFO for industrial software companies
Industrial software is sold plant-by-plant into manufacturing, energy and process operators, with contracts blending perpetual or term licence, subscription, support and on-site implementation. On-premise and hybrid deployment is still common and the cost-to-serve profile differs materially from pure cloud SaaS.
Site-level rollout tracking is the spine of the model. Each plant or asset is its own commercial milestone, and bookings convert to revenue only as rollouts complete. Without a rollout pipeline and the next twelve months of expected go-lives, the board has no read on trajectory.
Flow provides financial modelling, FP&A and fractional CFO advisory to industrial software companies across MES, asset performance management, plant historians and industrial IoT, simulation and digital twins, and quality and EHS. We work as the outsourced startup CFO through growth, fundraising and sale processes.
KPIs to track for "industrial software" startups
We're very 'KPI-driven' fractional CFOs, and we make sure to monitor the right metrics for your startup.
ARR
Bookings
Site count / sites live
Net retention
Implementation backlog
Licence vs subscription mix
Time to deploy
Services margin
Customer concentration
Gross margin
Financial modelling for "industrial software" 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.
Site-level rollout pipeline
Every plant or asset modelled as its own commercial milestone, with bookings converting to revenue only as rollouts complete. Without a rollout pipeline and the next twelve months of expected go-lives, the board has no read on trajectory.
Licence vs subscription transition
Perpetual licence, term licence and subscription revenue reported distinctly through the on-premise-to-cloud transition, with the mix shift modelled explicitly. Investors read the transition pace as a primary value driver.
On-prem & hybrid cost-to-serve
Implementation, on-site services and support modelled at workload level so the cost-to-serve difference between cloud, hybrid and on-prem deployments is visible. Pure-SaaS COGS assumptions misstate gross margin in this category by several points.
Plant cohort retention
Net retention measured at site and plant level rather than parent organisation, because expansion happens plant-by-plant and a customer can be growing in some sites and shrinking in others simultaneously. The parent-level view smooths over the real signal.
Bookings-to-revenue bridge
Explicit bridge from lumpy multi-million-dollar bookings to recognised revenue over rollout, with sensitivity to deployment slippage. Bookings convert non-linearly and treating them as ARR-equivalent overstates the recurring base.
Cap table & SAFE stack
Pre/post-money cap table with SAFE conversions, option pool top-ups and waterfall scenarios under typical industrial-strategic investment terms. Strategic rounds in this category often include commercial commitments tied to plant rollouts.
Founders and investors we've worked with
We've supported winning builders across industrial software 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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Hector
We acted as fractional CFO to Hector Aurumi, a Dubai-based specialist software house with AI/ML, IoT and data science expertise, providing confidential valuation guidance to the management team.
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Testim
As a fractional CFO we performed a confidential valuation of Testim, a Tel Aviv-based AI-based software testing automation platform, supporting Elevator Fund's portfolio management.
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Panorays
As a fractional CFO we performed a confidential valuation of Panorays, a Tel Aviv-based software platform for third-party security management, supporting Elevator Fund's portfolio management.
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Percepto
As a fractional CFO we performed a confidential valuation of Percepto, a Tel Aviv-based autonomous drone monitoring platform for critical infrastructure and industrial sites, supporting Elevator Fund's portfolio management.
See moreRecent fractional CFO track record
See our fractional CFO and financial modelling experience across industrial software and beyond.
Simple pricing
No hidden costs, no complicated long-term contracts. We understand how important flexibility is for industrial software 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 software companies.
Our fractional CFO experience spans across all software verticals.
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We provide fractional CFO services to companies operating across the entire tech.
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We help you scale by providing fractional CFO advice, through fundraising and a successful M&A exit.
VC fundraising for industrial software companies
We help you prepare materials, reach out to investors in our extensive network, negotiate fair term sheets and structure the VC round.
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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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