In the finance game, any way to generate more revenue or save money with low risk is an easy yes. Now it's truly set and forget - Primary handles the sweeps, the top-ups, the FX trade, and I just get the email confirming the balance is back.
Purpose, Phase, Presence + Philosophy
Purpose: Summ is a crypto tax platform that helps individuals, accountants, and businesses accurately calculate and report tax obligations on their digital asset activity across exchanges, wallets, and chains.
Presence: Headquartered in Australia, with a strong US presence.
Philosophy: Side-of-desk finance can still be strategic finance, as long as the tooling does enough of the work to free the operator from admin and into runway, capital planning, and product expansion.
Summ's Primary Problems
A USD payout problem
Summ's Stripe account was Australian, which meant it can only pay out to AU-domiciled bank accounts.
USD coming in from US customers got converted at unfavourable rates.
Large losses on currency conversion
US tax season pushed inflows heavily toward USD while the cost base sat in AUD.
Balancing the two meant a manual scramble: log in, work out how much to convert, execute the FX, push payments through.
Costly conversions every cycle, and constant background anxiety.
Manual cash movement
Every cash movement was manual.
Stripe paid into Airwallex. Airwallex paid the bills. Excess cash got pushed to the bank.
The process wasn’t automated and meant team members had to constantly check accounts.
What does Primary unlock?
- Native USD via Stripe — the unlock no one else gave them: Primary is able to set up accounts with US institutions, meaning inflows and outflows can be matched in USD, saving time and money.
- Tens of thousands saved each year on FX: Lower Stripe fees on native USD payouts vs the old AUD-converted ones, yield on USD balances now sitting in US investing accounts instead of idle, and paying USD bills directly in USD with no conversion.
- Four automations running cash management: Sweeps and top-ups all fire off a minimum balance the team set. Last week's payroll dipped below the threshold; Primary handled the sweep, and the team got the notification confirming the balance was back. No human in the loop required.
- Yield on all currencies: Idle cash earning across both AUD and USD, automatically.
How Summ are using Primary's MCP
- Building cash forecasts: "Based on historical cash data, when do we reach [x] position?"
- Mapping FX conversion timing: "Given our upcoming AUD bills and recent USD payouts from Stripe, when do I need to convert excess USD to AUD?"
- Generating flow-of-funds diagrams: "Build me a flow-of-funds diagram across the AUD and USD accounts" - done in seconds, not hand-built.
- Pressure-testing runway: "Compare your forecast against our modelled runway - where do we diverge?"
Could Primary be your smart CFO?
Lachy's view: what makes a smart CFO? Primary: the smart CFO
Knows where the cash is at all times, and knows the direction it's going in. Real-time visibility across every account, every currency, every Stripe payout. The dashboard tells you where you are and the MCP product helps determine where you should be going.
The biggest win for me personally is the stress that's been taken out of day-to-day treasury. Knowing the rules will always keep AUD and USD topped up for bills and payroll, without me checking balances or executing transfers, has turned treasury from a recurring background anxiety into something that just runs.
