BlueYard automates quarterly portfolio reporting with Next Matter

BlueYard is a venture capital firm based in Berlin that specializes in investing in early-stage companies that are at the forefront of technological advancements, societal changes, and emerging markets. With a global portfolio of early-stage funds totalling around $600 million, their team diligently manages investments to support innovative and promising ventures.
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BlueYard's workflow challenges

As their assets under management grew, they found themselves working with a portfolio of 60-70 companies. This resulted in the management of large amounts of data and an increasing need for collecting portfolio data for compliance and quarterly reporting.

Collecting and processing all of this data had become increasingly time-consuming and inefficient, relying heavily on manual emailing to gather information from all the portfolio companies via email as well as transferring and transforming that data into internal spreadsheets for further analysis. Faced with this vast volume of work, BlueYard knew they needed to streamline their operational processes.
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Automated quarterly reporting with data collection workflows

To address BlueYard’s data collection challenges, they chose to use Next Matter, a reliable, efficient and easy-to-manage workflow automation software. Importantly, the tool streamlined their quarterly reporting process through automation. 

Now, each of BlueYard’s portfolio companies receives automatic personalized emails and follow-ups on a predetermined date set by Lukas Hänle, Finance Manager at BlueYard. The portfolio companies can then directly upload their financials and Next Matter's automated workflow transfers the data into BlueYard’s database. This eliminates the risk of errors that may occur during manual data transfer and transformation. As a result, the BlueYard team has experienced significant gains in both time and data quality.

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This is a huge time and quality gain because we are able to send out individual standardized data requests instead of writing manual emails.

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Lukas Hänle, Finance Manager at BlueYard 

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Blueyard has also standardized several data request processes through Next Matter, as well as quarterly reporting data requests, improving quality of data flow even as volume scales. The company can now easily trace process changes and approvals, enabling them to remain prepared in the event of a standard audit, with full transparency.

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We have a better process now that includes timestamps where I can go back and see when something was approved and such, which helps us be a lot more standardized

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Lukas Hänle, Finance Manager at BlueYard 

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The Results

BlueYard has successfully automated a significant part of its quarterly reporting process, freeing up valuable time and resources to focus on data-driven decision making. The improved process through using the NextMatter software has also resulted in better data quality and consistency, allowing them to unlock valuable insights from their vast pool of data.

With the implementation of Next Matter's process automation software, the team has successfully shifted their focus towards strategic initiatives and value-added activities. This has eliminated the burden of repetitive manual administrative tasks, allowing them to provide increased direct support to the founders they work with. Moreover, they now have more time to analyze the performance of their portfolio.

By streamlining standard processes, BlueYard and other VCs can leverage Next Matter's software to drive innovation and enhance their collaboration with founders. The reporting process has been optimized for efficiency, ensuring a seamless and streamlined workflow.