With the proliferation of cloud-based software in various aspects of contemporary business operations, the issue of data silos has grown disproportionately. This problem is especially prominent in the financial sector, where vendors often grapple with reconciling data from a diverse array of sources.
According to a survey conducted by InterSystems in 2022, which is worth noting is a data technology provider, 62% of financial leaders stated that enhancing access to segregated and dispersed data will be one of their primary objectives in the next 12 months. Additionally, 54% identified data silos as a major hindrance to innovation.
Albert Gozzi boldly asserts that his company, Aleph, offers a solution—or at least, a solution. Aleph enables finance and operations teams to centralize their financial data from various systems, including enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management platforms. This data can be directly integrated into spreadsheets, complete with permission settings and version control.
Speaking in an email interview with TechCrunch, Gozzi, who has experience as a startup CFO and consultant at Bain, shared his motivation for founding Aleph. He expressed frustration with the available tools for finance professionals, which were either outdated and cumbersome or attempted to divert users from Excel and force them to learn a new, arbitrary syntax. Moreover, the necessary data for financial models was scattered across source systems. Recognizing a gap in the market, Gozzi set out to fill it.
Gozzi created the minimum viable product (MVP) for Aleph in 2020, and in 2021, his co-founder, Santiago Perez De Rosso, joined the venture. Shortly after, they secured a spot in Y Combinator and signed their first customer.
At its core, Aleph offers software for financial planning and analysis, available through cloud, web apps, and Excel and Google Sheets add-ins. Using Aleph, customers can amalgamate data from accounting systems, human resource information systems, applicant tracking systems, and more. It facilitates automatic data retrieval and allows users to save versions of financial models within Aleph, ensuring a single source of truth.
Aleph can monitor changes in incoming financial data, permitting users to decide the level of data they wish to share and providing access to version history for reviewing changes in saved financial models. The platform is primarily used for month-end reporting, investor communications, and variance analysis tasks.
Gozzi emphasized that as financial professionals progress in their careers, they require more robust tools that grant instant access to accounting data and aid in running models efficiently. Aleph’s approach focuses on offering flexibility and power. Users work within Excel and Sheets but benefit from a centralized database with instant access to their financial data.
Aleph claims to have gained traction with brands like Turo, Envoy, Zapier, Postscript, and approximately 40 others. Despite the broader economic slowdown, it is currently experiencing a monthly growth rate of around 10% to 15%, according to Gozzi.
Nonetheless, Aleph faces competition in the financial planning and analysis tools market, which was valued at around $3.7 billion in 2022, as per Contrive Datum Insights. Gozzi listed key competitors, including incumbents like Anaplan and Adaptive, “out-of-Excel” software such as Mosaic, Pigment, OnPlan, and Casual, and “Excel-powered” solutions like Cube and DataRails.
Although the competition is fierce, Gozzi contends that Aleph’s technical superiority is, and will continue to be, compelling for potential customers. He highlights that Aleph can be set up with integrations in less than 10 minutes and requires minimal training, if any. Moreover, its usability is more contemporary and user-friendly, offering greater flexibility in terms of data modeling.
While Aleph may indeed offer advantages, it will need to convince users to shift away from multi-solution, multi-software setups. A 2021 survey from Advisor Software found that nearly 80% of financial advisors were using one or more financial planning apps or services—an increase of almost 14% from the previous year. Without consolidation, Aleph faces the challenge of persuading users to rely exclusively on its product.
Aleph recently announced raising $16.7 million in a funding round led by Bain Capital Ventures, with participation from Khosla Ventures, Picus Capital, and Y Combinator. The company intends to expand its 13-person team to 20 by the end of the year. According to Gozzi, Aleph’s financial position is strong, with a low burn rate—favorable circumstances for a startup.
