Customer story
Bitpanda bolsters compliance through one unified platform for intake to pay
18
days to complete complex requests
âŹ156M
in annual managed spend
2,400+
completed requests annually
Company name
Bitpanda
About
Bitpanda is a European investment platform that simplifies trading in stocks, cryptocurrencies, and commodities.
Headquarters
Vienna, Austria
Industry
Financial Services
Employee Count
700+
At a glance
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With Zip, we centralized procurement into one system, providing full visibility into every step of the process. This wasnât just about automationâit was about enabling compliance and building trust across teams.
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Damyan Grozdanov
,Â
Head of Procurement
- Manual procure-to-pay processes fragmented across Jira and NetSuite.
- Friction and delays due to lack of purchase request transparency.
- Inconsistent process for compliance checks.
- Full end-to-end request visibility in one intake-to-procure and procure-to-pay platform.
- 18-day cycle time for complex procurement requests.
- Single source of truth for managing vendor relationships.
The challenge
A rapidly scaling enterprise outgrows its fractured workflows
When Damyan Grozdanov joined Bitpandaâs procurement team, the company was on an incredible trajectoryâevolving from a fintech startup into a mature financial institution with the company goal of being the leading European crypto platform. At the time, Bitpanda relied on a custom procure-to-pay system built within Jira. While functional, the system required extensive manual effort and it was becoming increasingly clear that they needed a better solution.
âRequests were raised in Jira, but you had to manually loop in a stakeholder and navigate scattered processes across NetSuite and other systems,â said Damyan. âIt worked, but it required several extra steps and created friction between teams.â
Once the request was approved and PO was created, procurement had to manually update the status in the Jira ticket. When accounting received and booked an invoice through NetSuite, there was no way to track in Jira if the invoice had been booked or not.
These inefficiencies of all these sub-processes werenât just time-consuming and error-proneâthey were risky. With complex regulations like the MaRisk in Germanyâs BaFin in place (plus several upcoming changes to the regulatory landscape in Europe), Bitpandaâs compliance framework needed to level up to support the companyâs ambition to dominate the European market and retain its reputation as one of the safest and most strictly regulated trading platforms in the industry.
âGermany is the biggest market in Europe, and itâs stringently regulated. We believe that regulatory compliance is key to the company we are building, and ensuring we are compliant is critical to maintaining our reputation.â
The solution
Enhancing efficiency and compliance with Zip
Bitpanda implemented Zip in late 2023 to replace its fragmented procurement system with a centralized, automated solution. The transition was rapid and Bitpanda was able to go live with Zipâs full intake-to-procure and procure-to-pay solutions in under eight weeks.
For Damyanâs team, Zip wasnât just a new toolâit was a new way of working. âWith Zip, we centralized procurement into one system, providing full visibility into every step of the process,â Damyan explained. âThis wasnât just about automationâit was about enabling compliance and building trust across teams.â
Zip allowed the team to design workflows that adhered to the strictest standards, such as Germanyâs MaRisk framework and the upcoming MiCA rules for crypto-assets. These workflows ensured that every procurement request followed a consistent path, incorporating necessary due diligence checks and approvals.
âWith fresh MiCA licences from Germanyâs BaFin and Maltaâs MFSA, weâre not just leading Europeâs regulated crypto space - weâre defining it. These licences mean we can operate seamlessly across the EU, setting the gold standard for compliance. And with Zip in our corner, every procurement process runs like clockwork, keeping us ahead of evolving regulations while reinforcing trust at every turn.â
The teamâs focus on reporting and SLAs also evolved with Zip. âWe use Zipâs reporting and analytics monthly to capture year-to-date results, benchmark against past performance, and post updates in an internal bulletin. This oversight allows us to identify and address issues, such as unrealistic SLAs, ensuring processes remain efficient and adaptable.â
The result
In its first year using Zip, Bitpandaâs procurement team processed over 2,400 requests and managed âŹ156 million in spend while maintaining compliance with Europeâs most stringent regulatory requirements and cutting down cycle times to just 18 days.
A standout improvement has been the ability for Damyanâs team to independently adapt Zipâs no-code workflows to accommodate new requirements. âWith Jira, we had to raise a ticket with the IT team who would try to implement it, and it took much longer.â
Zip also centralized and simplified vendor management, creating a single source of truth for all vendor-related activities. âYou see the whole thingâpurchase orders, spend, the business owner, and the audit trail,â Damyan explained. This comprehensive view made it possible for the team to efficiently manage over 2,500 vendors.
âEvery interaction that we have with an external company goes through us,â said Damyan. âZip provides the visibility and structure we need to manage these relationships effectively.â