How DistrictNine built a finance function that keeps pace with its growth
The Lisbon-based programmatic adtech company brought in Oakfyn's FinanceOS for on-time monthly closes, a forecast it can plan against, real cash visibility, and a CFO on call for the strategic moves ahead.
- Client
- DistrictNine
- Business
- Programmatic adtech, Lisbon · PulseNine platform
- Service
- Oakfyn FinanceOS
- Model
- Ongoing controlling + fractional CFO sparring
The starting point
DistrictNine had spent more than fifteen years building real expertise in programmatic advertising, with a proprietary platform — PulseNine — at the centre of its offering. As the business grew, its finance needs grew with it, and like most founder-led companies, finance had been built out last, after product and revenue rightly took priority.
That left an opportunity DistrictNine chose to act on: move finance from something handled ad-hoc to a structured, predictable function — a close that lands on time, a forecast leadership can plan against, clear sight of cash, and senior financial judgement for the decisions ahead. Rather than hire a full finance team prematurely, they brought in Oakfyn's FinanceOS.
An engine and a navigator
FinanceOS deliberately pairs two things most providers sell separately. The controlling service is the engine — it makes the numbers reliable, every month, without drama. The fractional CFO is the navigator — a few hours of senior leadership that turns reliable numbers into strategic moves. One without the other underdelivers: clean books nobody uses, or big-picture advice built on shaky figures. DistrictNine gets both.
The engine — ongoing controlling
- On-time monthly close
- A close that lands on a fixed date, every month — so DistrictNine plans on a rhythm instead of waiting on finance.
- Predictable forecasting
- A forward-looking forecast leadership can plan against, updated as reality moves — not a once-a-year guess.
- Cash management
- Clear visibility on cash in, cash out and runway — the number a growing company can least afford to be surprised by.
- FP&A
- The analysis layer on top of the numbers — variances explained, drivers identified, the why behind the what.
The navigator — fractional CFO
- Investor readiness
- Numbers, narrative and data room in the shape investors and lenders expect — before they ask.
- Story building
- Turning financial performance into a story outsiders understand — the equity story behind the figures.
- M&A target listing
- Identifying and framing potential acquisition targets, and what each would mean financially and strategically.
- Strategic advisory
- The broader strategic questions a founder shouldn't answer alone — pricing, structure, capital, timing.
Finance used to be the thing we dealt with after everything else. Now the close lands on time, we can plan against the forecast, and we have a CFO to call when the big questions come up — without carrying that cost full-time.
For a controlling engagement, days-to-close and forecast accuracy are the metrics buyers weigh most.
- On time
- Every monthly close
- 5
- Days to close
- 96%
- Forecast accuracy
The change DistrictNine's leadership feels most isn't any single number — it's that finance stopped being a source of uncertainty. The close is a routine, not a scramble. The forecast is something to plan against. Cash is visible before it's a question. And when a strategic decision comes up — a raise, a target, a pricing call — there's a CFO already close enough to the numbers to answer it.
Why FinanceOS fit DistrictNine
A full-time CFO and a built-out finance team is the right answer eventually — and the wrong cost too early. FinanceOS gave DistrictNine the two things it actually needed now: books it can trust, produced on a reliable rhythm, and senior financial judgement on tap for the moments that decide where the company goes next. It scales with the business, so finance stops being the function that holds everything else back.
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The profile this fits
If your finance function is improvised rather than built — the close runs late, the forecast is a guess, and there's no one senior to think the strategic calls through with — FinanceOS is built for exactly that.
Published with DistrictNine's consent.