“From our stage’s point of view, what Primary really helps us do is, in terms of yield, give us the amount of money that we could spend on another headcount. That’s pretty substantial for a small company like us.”
Purpose, Phase, Presence + Philosophy
Purpose: By connecting cloud and AI spend to the outcomes it produces, Optimaze helps technology companies attribute costs by customer, product or user, build unit economics on top of them, and decide which technology to optimise or switch off.
Phase: Closed an A$3m pre-seed round in 2025.
Philosophy: Every dollar of capital should be tied to an outcome, not left sitting idle.
Presence: Headquartered in Sydney, with the US and Europe identified as future markets as the business scales.
Optimaze’s Primary Problems
Idle pre-seed capital
After closing its pre-seed round, Optimaze held its funds in a single cash management account with an Australian bank that paid barely any interest.
The team needed more rigour around the raise so the money kept working while it was allocated to people and other costs.
No finance team to manage cash
Ralf runs Optimaze’s finance function himself, with no dedicated finance team.
He had no time to compare yield options, manage risk, or weigh locking funds away for a higher return against keeping cash available.
Balancing liquidity against yield
A higher return means holding surplus funds in longer-term deposits, while operating payments run through Airwallex and need cash on hand.
Managing that balance by hand would mean moving funds between accounts at least 3 to 4 times a month, each one a context switch away from building the business.
What does Primary unlock?
- Yield equivalent to an additional hire: The yield Optimaze earns through Primary is roughly the cost of another headcount, which is a substantial gain for a company at Optimaze’s stage.
- Set-and-forget liquidity: Automated sweeps keep a bucket of operating funds immediately available in Airwallex, hold the surplus in a higher-yielding longer-term deposit, and top up the operating account automatically when it runs down. Ralf no longer has to think about it.
- A single picture of cash: Primary is the central control point for where Optimaze’s capital sits, so the fractional bookkeepers and finance personnel Optimaze brings in work from one place instead of a decentralised set of accounts.
- Foundations for a scaling business: Optimaze’s accounts are already set up and connected to its tools, and Primary’s FX capability is available for when Optimaze scales into the US or Europe.
“For smaller companies like us, that is a really, really substantial benefit that you can just start, and that continuously pays for itself.”
Every founder needs a smart CFO
Ralf’s view: what makes a smart CFO?
- Makes sure capital is never sitting idle and is always working for the business.
- Balances yield, risk and liquidity so cash is available whenever the business needs it.
Primary: the maker of a smart CFO
Primary does exactly that. It sets up the accounts, does the due diligence on returns, keeps operating cash topped up and puts the surplus to work, all as the orchestration layer on top of your existing finance stack. For a lean finance team, that means treasury discipline without adding headcount.
