• Jorge Lluch , COO at Abacum


• 02.10.2025 03:14 pm

Financial IT’s Tawney Kruger sat down with Abacum COO Jorge Lluch to discuss the company’s recent $60 million Series B raise, its journey from inception to today, and the evolving role of financial planning in the age of AI.

Tawney Kruger (Financial IT): Jorge, welcome. It’s great to finally have you with us. Congratulations on the $60 million Series B raise, that’s a major milestone.

Jorge Lluch:

Thank you very much, Tawney. We’re really grateful and happy with how the fundraising went. Now we’re extremely excited and optimistic about the future, because as we like to say, we’re still at the beginning of our journey. There’s a lot we still want to accomplish. We’re thrilled to have Scale and Cathay as new partners, alongside Kralando, Matomico, K-Fund, YC and many others who have supported us so far and who we hope will continue to do so as we grow.

Tawney: With this new funding secured, can you share what’s next for Abacum? Any exciting features or product developments on the horizon?

Jorge Lluch:

AI, of course, is a huge component for anyone in software today. Thanks to the round, we can now invest even more in AI, something we’ve been building into our product since day one. As technology evolves, we’re excited about what’s on our roadmap and how we can take the product further.

A large portion of the investment will go into strengthening our AI capabilities, alongside many other features. We also have a very clear ambition: we truly believe Abacum is already the best FP&A software in the world. Now, our task is to make sure everyone knows it. Step by step, we’re working toward becoming a global leader in the FP&A space.

Tawney: Ambition often helps founders push through challenges. What unique challenges have you faced on Abacum’s journey so far?

Jorge Lluch:

Julio and I started working on the idea in the summer of 2019. We quit our jobs and went all in by March 2020 - right when Covid hit. From day one, we’ve been navigating challenges, just like every company.

When we launched Abacum, we had to immediately adapt to the Covid crisis. I’ll admit, I was a little naïve at first. I thought Covid would be “just a cold.” But luckily, that naivety gave us the courage to push forward and commit fully.

The first two years were marked by rapid changes. 2020–2021 were strong years for funding, which allowed us to secure resources and grow quickly. But when interest rates began to rise in 2022, the environment shifted. The focus in the market moved from “growth at all costs” to “efficient growth.” That meant not only continuing to grow but doing it sustainably, maintaining strong growth while keeping efficiency front and center.

Tawney: Let’s talk about your customers. What are the main challenges Abacum is solving for them?

Jorge Lluch:

From my own experience as a CFO in fast-growing companies for over 10 years, I know firsthand the pain of doing all financial planning manually, with no proper tools for collaboration. That’s exactly what Abacum solves.

Our customers see two levels of benefit. The first is efficiency: automation makes reporting far easier and more collaborative. The second is impact: Abacum integrates financial, operational, and HR data, giving teams the insights they need to have more meaningful conversations at the right time and in the right format.

What I love hearing from customers is that Abacum doesn’t just simplify reporting. It helps them support their businesses by making better decisions. Whether it’s reporting, forecasting, or budgeting, our goal is to help companies be prepared for any scenario. That’s the real impact we strive for when working with clients.

Tawney: Balancing innovation and customer success is a challenge for many SaaS companies. How does Abacum ensure both product development and customer success remain seamless?

Jorge Lluch:

One of our core values is customer obsession. Everyone at Abacum needs to live by this principle. It means knowing our customers so well that we can help them succeed with the tool in any situation.

On one side, our product team focuses on evolving the platform and building exceptional features that enable a wide range of use cases. On the other, our FP&A experts, implementation team, and customer success team work hand-in-hand with clients. They support onboarding, training, and continuous adoption so customers always feel confident using Abacum.

We also aim to make the product as self-serve as possible, with AI playing a big role in enabling that. Ultimately, customer obsession drives us, it’s not just a value on paper but a motivator for the entire company.

Tawney: Abacum emphasizes innovation, but also regulatory compliance and data security. How do you manage these priorities, especially across different markets?

Jorge Lluch:

We’re fortunate in that we’re not an ERP, so localization and accounting-specific compliance are less of a challenge for us. Instead, our main responsibility lies in security and data protection.

When customers use Abacum, they trust us with highly sensitive business data. Protecting that data is a top priority. We comply with GDPR in Europe, UK GDPR, and other global standards, and we work hard to stay ahead of new regulations.

AI adds another dimension, we ensure that customer data is never used for external model training and is always handled securely. Security and compliance are non-negotiables for us.

Tawney: Looking ahead, what trends in fintech and financial planning will shape business planning over the next five years?

Jorge Lluch:

In the past, finance often lagged behind other functions. For example, if you asked someone in marketing about revenue on September 2nd, they could give you expected September figures. But finance might still be closing July.

That’s changing. Finance can now move at the same speed as the business. It’s no longer a bottleneck but a strategic partner. The CFO must act as the CEO’s right-hand, delivering the right data at the right time for informed decision-making.

Of course, businesses need to generate relevant data to enable this. But when they do, finance can analyze it in real time, run scenarios, and prepare for the future. The shift over the past five years, especially in response to macroeconomic changes, has made it clear: finance needs to be well-equipped and empowered to drive the business forward.

At Abacum, our vision is to make finance teams the heroes of their organizations. It’s deeply rewarding when customers tell me that replacing Abacum would mean hiring two or three extra people, and they still wouldn’t move as fast. Or when CFOs share that thanks to Abacum, they’re having more impactful conversations with their peers. That’s what makes us proud and keeps us motivated.