Pagaya Transforms Its Financial Processes Ahead of IPO

The challenge

Pagaya is a cutting-edge company built to provide lenders with deeper insights. But as they moved toward their initial public offering, their procurement processes weren’t producing the insights they needed about their own finances. The team lacked full visibility into approvals and spent far too much time digging for critical documents in disconnected internal systems.

And of course, in the financial space, compliance is crucial and liabilities are many. So as the company grew from two hundred to six hundred people in a single year, they set out to find a solution that would provide not only transparency, but also reliable guidance and guard rails. Fortunately, they found a game-changer: Zip.

The solution

Before Zip, Pagaya’s procurement efforts revolved around a homegrown solution, with information spread across email and other tools. There were a lot of moving parts and if a document or approval wasn’t where it was expected to be, the team would be left looking for a needle in several different haystacks. As the company headed for its IPO, it needed a single, unifying platform to bring order and align procurement with Nasdaq-grade processes.

Shortly after joining the company, Director of Global Procurement David Eckstein put Zip in place. “We went from managing procurement through hallway discussions, WhatsApp, and email chaos to a fully integrated, full visibility system,” says Eckstein.

Zip seamlessly integrated with crucial systems like NetSuite and DocuSign to make getting everything in one place easy and painless. With formerly disconnected systems now able to talk to each other, the team was able to put a stop to paying blind invoices, unnecessary subscription renewals, and compliance shortfalls.

Moreover, Zip’s smart automation facilitated faster, cleaner processes across every area—including partner onboarding. “We’re saving so much manual labor when we bring on vendors,” says Eckstein. “They’re finally working for us instead of us working for them.”

The result

After trialing Zip with Pagaya’s IT team and achieving 100% department spend under management in under three months, Eckstein rolled out Zip company wide.

“Our management adopted the system and dived right in with very little training,” says Eckstein.
“They don’t have the time for learning curves, and luckily they didn’t need it. Zip is intuitive, easy, second nature.”

By leveraging Zip’s flexible, customizable workflows, Eckstein’s team cut down the time required to submit a request to just 90 seconds, while maintaining 100% visibility to both requestors and approvers – a result Eckstein describes as a “game changer.”

But he’s also quick to point out that what sets Zip apart is the platform and the people. “I work with many vendors,” he explains. “They don’t always do what they say they’ll do. Zip does. Every time. They delivered on every single expectation. The support is unmatched.”

Zip prioritizes continuity of service—never handling implementations with a revolving cast of characters who may or may not know the whole story. Because, as Eckstein puts it, “Success hinges on implementation. And Zip gets it.”